This is not a political comment

[devonwoody]

I have just realised that I have paid over £1000 car tax over the last 12 years on my present car. Mileage around 33.000 that is over 3p per mile.
No politics intentioned. Remember all parties get their finger in on this.

 

[CHJ]

You need to up your milage somewhat John to get the costs down
Overland route to Aus next time?

 

[WoodPecker]

Woody,,

Be thankful, I've paid that much in the last 3 years :shock: Over here car tax is based on engine size, for a 1.9 it's €520 pa.

 

[Neil]

Cor, you lucky thing Dev, that is fantastically cheap! You could have paid that for one year over here in Ireland if your engine is over 3 litres...

Neil

<crossed over with Adrian there, sorry>

 

[devonwoody]

Woody,,

Be thankful, I've paid that much in the last 3 years :shock: Over here car tax is based on engine size, for a 1.9 it's €520 pa.

E14 per mile?

 

[syntec4]

33k in 12 years
I think my car did that on the drive!

In the last 12 years I've3 done 1,400 000 miles. I've filled the tank 3111 times and spent £133990.00 on fuel.

You've had the same car for 12 years! I've had 33 cars since then and worn them all out.

Lee (Sick if driving)

 

[Les Mahon]

Trust this post to get the irish residents going

I calculate that my car costs me €1000 per month to run, approximatly 50c per mile and before anyone thinks I'm driving a Masarati, it's a 2001 Ford Mondeo the rub is here that car prices, tax, insurance are all higher than elsewhere in europe, the fuel is a bit cheaper than yours however!

No politics intended, I choose to live here and love it - wuld not move for anything!

Les

 

[andrewm]

Perhaps what is needed here is to move the cost of car ownership from fixed cost to variable costs. Abolish the road fund licence completely and put the equivalent cost onto petrol.

If the average car does 12,000 miles per year at 40mpg then that is 300 gallons of petrol a year. If the typical road fund licence is £150 then that works out at 50p per gallon extra on petrol for no change in total cost to the average motorist.

Once the costs are controllable in some way it might encourage people to take alternative forms of transport or drive smaller cars. People like devonwoody would end up paying less and those who feel that it is essential have a Chelsea Tractor to take the kids to school would pay more.

And, there would be an overall benefit because we could dispense with all the civil servants who administer the road fund licence.

Andrew

 

[StevieB]

Yes, fine in theory if you are Mr (or Mrs) average. However the drive more pay more model of funding transport simply wont work in my opinion - for me at least. I work in London but cannot afford to live there. Ergo I commute to work by motorbike.

Cost of the train is a shade over £90 per week and I have to have some way to get to the station and home again. Cost of fuel for my bike is under £50 per week. Does it cost me £40 a week to purchase, tax and insure my bike over its lifetime (3-4 years on average) - no, far from it. As things stand therefore I am considerably better off on a bike than on the train.

Train to London and underground to work takes 2 hours and 5 minutes without getting to the station from home if there are no problems. Bike takes me 1 hour and 20 minutes. That saves me 45 minutes each way at least. Now I am better off in terms of both time and money by using a bike over public transport.

What price should I put on my time? If it lets me be with my family for an hour and a half more a day rather than sitting on a train then quite a high price. My two year old son would certainly seem to indicate this is so - he runs and opens the front door when I pull up onto the drive and waves me off each morning.

All this indicates that my road transport costs are going to have to very significantly increase before I switch to public transport. Given that some train fares were raised by over 9% this January, I still couldnt get a seat on the train at rush hour, and network south east only manage to run 85% or trains on time (ie you will be delayed at least once a week on average!), which option seems most sensible to you?

This isnt a political rant, and there is no easy answer. But forcing up the price of travelling by road simply to make people use public transport will only work when public transport is efficient, fast and less hassle than private transport.

Steve

 

[devonwoody]

£90 per week!!!!!!!!!!!!! whats that 1st class.

 

[StevieB]

I wish! Thats a weekly pass from Faversham in Kent to Tooting is South London, standard fare ie stand up no seats, squashed next to other commuters for over an hour, heating possibly. We even still have slam door rolling stock down here :roll:

Steve.

 

[Anonymous]

I remember having to get the train to London to be at a venue by 10am, so went to Bath station for a return and saw a sign stating 'fare saver return, £17.50' Great, I thought, until I told them I had to be there by 10. 'Ooh, peak time! £110 return.(!!!) Now where is the incentive to get any workforce off the road and onto public transport, be it bus, train or any other when fares are so extortionate?
The problem is, prices of fuel, tax etc keep going up, car parking increases, so in theory, the general public should reach breaking point and go to public transport. Next breath, fares go up by way over inflation, and as StevieB rightly points out, it isn't efficiently run, so where is the incentive?
In my mind, this has been the problem for years and years, and is unlikely to change while there is money to be made by fatcats.

 

[Newbie_Neil]

Hi Guys

Just a friendly warning, please don't step over the political line.

Thanks
Neil

 

[ikd]

Can we take bets on when the thread will be locked by a mod - I give it until 7pm Thursday 25th Jan :lol:

 

[Newbie_Neil]

Can we take bets on when the thread will be locked by a mod - I give it until 7pm Thursday 25th Jan :lol:

The reason that I posted a gentle reminder, was to avoid a mod having to take action. :wink:

Cheers
Neil

 

[tim]

The nearest train station to us (thats on an Intercity line) is Newport. Newport to Paddington return costs around about £140 standard, unless you dont mind arriving after midday.

The service is regularly cancelled and is often delayed. It is a 40 minute journey to the station from our house and it costs c £12 per day to park. The train journey should take an hour and 48 minutes. Total journey time inc parking - 2h 45mins plus Paddington to final destination. If I drive it takes about 2 1/2 hrs going exactly where I want.

At a rough estimate, the train journey costs 60p a mile - why wouldn't I drive?

Cheers

Tim

 

[ikd]

Can we take bets on when the thread will be locked by a mod - I give it until 7pm Thursday 25th Jan :lol:

The reason that I posted a gentle reminder, was to avoid a mod having to take action. :wink:

Cheers
Neil

I know Neil, I was just unsuccessfully trying to inject a little humour :wink:

 

[devonwoody]

Looking at those fares, it now wonder that the roads are so busy.

By the way I'll have a fiver for 7.01 thurs.

 

[PowerTool]

33k in 12 years
I think my car did that on the drive!

In the last 12 years I've3 done 1,400 000 miles. I've filled the tank 3111 times and spent £133990.00 on fuel.

You've had the same car for 12 years! I've had 33 cars since then and worn them all out.

Lee (Sick if driving)

Lee -what do you do ?
When I was a long-distance lorry driver I used to do 120,000km/yr
You are doing more than that in cars :shock:

Andrew

 

[Shady]

I dare not even comment... But all politicians are... hungry for power... not for helping the ordinary person. Must stop now, must move on... :roll: