VTR1000.ORG

TfL want to get people out of their cars and back on public transport (despite most people feeling vulnerable on buses.trains with Covid) so they are making the busiest routes favourable for buses. Bikes can continue to use them 24 x 7 - good news?

https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/media/press ... e-pandemic

I detect a whiff of panic in the air, as businesses refuse to go back to the old ways of working.
I have to pay £30 a day to sit on a train, where there is no visible enforcement of face coverings, so most people put one on to get through the barrier, then pocket it for the rest of their journey.

No surprise, therefore, that I plan on working from home most, if not all, of the time from now on.

Buses and trains simply aren't cost effective with social distancing, and no amount of discounted lunches will make it so.

As a contrast, I can drive, it takes twice as long and costs £15 congestion charge, plus £15 to park for a day, plus fuel.
It would cost another £12 if my car wasn't exempt from the ULEZ emissions charge for some inexplicable reason.

I could take the Tuono, but I'd have to stop every ten minutes to let it cool down as soon as there was any traffic- and it would likely be stolen within a week, no amount of chains and security defeat a battery angle grinder.

On the other, other hand (that's three now) cramming more buses and cyclists together might be good for business, as my employer provides services for people with brain injuries. The battery powered scooters all help in that regards- they're breaking the law anyway, so why bother with a helmet?

Last point- as you ride through different Boroughs they all have different rules as to whether motorcycles are allowed in bus lanes, so you need to keep looking at the signs as it's easy to cross a border and find you've got a fine.

Apart from the above, everything hunky dory.....

Concur on the bus lanes

In my town you can ride a bike in bus lanes - in Ipswich you can't. Wish there was some consistency.

Not keen on the leccy scooters flitting about like Mayflys - illegal except if you hire them in town where they are being tested. But if they become widespread which is likely as its legal to sell em to Joe Public it'll be difficult to stop their free-for-all widespread use.

Re electric scooters. Are we not just in a transition period away from one dominant form of personal transport to another? They're not great now because we're entrenched in our existing methods of getting around: weren't car drivers forced to have a flag man walk in front of them in their early days (US I think)?

Maybe they'll end up as the Betamax to something else's VHS but if working never goes back to how it was, and why would anyone office based want it to, transport needs are going to be very different. Small communal office spaces in home towns will spring up and for me that's a mile, two at most. I'd walk but short range electric transport will be very appealing to others.

Wicky wrote: ↑Tue Sep 08, 2020 6:26 pm
Not keen on the leccy scooters flitting about like Mayflys - illegal except if you hire them in town where they are being tested. But if they become widespread which is likely as its legal to sell em to Joe Public it'll be difficult to stop their free-for-all widespread use.

Totally agree.

I've been in Paris, France before Covid, and these things run rampant throughout city streets, footpaths, and public parks. Very few 'riders' offer any courtesy to the pedestrian public. More so, they're in and out of cars at traffic queues and are a potential hazard to both vehicular traffic and themselves.

I have no bone to pick with them, but there'd certainly have to be strict regulation governing their use and speed. Having said all that, I'd love one for zipping around my local streets!!

I can see the attraction.
They don't take up much space carried on the train, and small enough to stick under your desk in the office, so nil chance of it being nicked.
And the office lunchtime gp would be a laugh.......once round Accounts, left at the water cooler and first into the canteen wins.

tony.mon wrote: ↑Wed Sep 09, 2020 11:35 am I can see the attraction.
They don't take up much space carried on the train, and small enough to stick under your desk in the office, so nil chance of it being nicked.
And the office lunchtime gp would be a laugh.......once round Accounts, left at the water cooler and first into the canteen wins.

Wait till a few catch fire...



https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/15/2080 ... -francisco