I see that Britain has got its first toll motorway. We've had them here in Japan since forever I think. Do they really reduce congestion? Here's what the UK Transport Secretary has to say, "At £2 a car, I think many drivers may decide that, for the journey time, it [using the road] would be something worth doing - I certainly would". Now, if that isn't laughable Bloggs is my real name. How long exactly will it be before this short stretch of road gets as congested as the road it runs parallel to? The only way to reduce congestion on roads is to give people a good alternative to cars. Get the buses and trains functioning properly. Japan's roads can be hellish but they would be so much worse if public transport didn't run as smoothly as it does. China, on the other hand, feels it's time to shun the bicycle. Lordy loo, heaven show us mercy!
Posted by Joe at December 10, 2003 01:24 PMI holland the same ideas where proposed, the idea was 'billed driving' where your car gets monitored and the owner of the road (probably the government) sends you a bill each month. I really must agree with you that measures like this won't help unless there is a feasible alternative, which I think there just isn't in Europe at the moment. Really the Dutch railways have no comparison to their Japanese counterparts, so they just can't be counted on that much if you must be somewhere at some time.
Posted by: steven at December 10, 2003 04:25 PMYou know Japanese trains are only as good as they are because the government spent a ton of money on it (then wrote of the debt and privatised it!). I don't know about Dutch railways, but in the UK they might as well scrap and rebuild. It would probably be cheaper in the long run. It's what you get for being the first block - your trains and track become the oldest on the block the quickest!
Posted by: Joe at December 10, 2003 04:47 PMThe thing I remember most about trains in Holland was that our ticket was never collected on the airport-Amsterdam route. Not when we got on, not during the ride, and not when we got off.
Posted by: DJ at December 11, 2003 06:20 AMI put Japanese businessmen on a train at Amsterdam Centraal on an inter-city express to Antwerp. They had a 4 hour appointment there. The train broke down just outside of Amsterdam and they finally got to Antwerp 2.5 hours late! :+(
Still, rather Dutch trains than British ones. ;+)
Posted by: Joe at December 11, 2003 08:19 AM