[sclug] OT: convert rail tracks to tarmac for private coach network which saves billions and provides a better service!

[Alex Butcher]

On Thu, 10 Sep 2009, Tom Carbert-Allen wrote:

> Matt Dainty wrote:
>> * Tom Carbert-Allen <tom at randominter.net> [2009-09-10 10:33:45]:
>> 
>>> I like your analogy but your argument miss's one important difference 
>>> between tracks and rubber wheels. They can drive around each other. So if 
>>> one service is delayed or breaks down, the rest just drive around it. So a 
>>> rubber wheel system has less chance of an incident causing systemic 
>>> problems.
>>> 
>> 
>> You've clearly never been on the M25.
>> 
>> Matt
>> 
>
> I have and have driven past many many vehicles in the hard shoulder who have 
> broken down and did not inconvenience my journey in the slightest, try that 
> on a train track. I have also over taken thousand and thousands of slow goods 
> vehicles without issue, also not possible on tracks.
>
> I know the M25 often gets slow, but that is caused by reaching it's capacity. 
> All systems suffer from this, you can predictably do the speed limit for your 
> whole journey until the traffic level goes over 75% of the capacity.

Thing is, like discs and memory, roads are either obsolete, new, or full. :-)

Anyway, my point really was that rail and roads (should) solve different
types of problems and you probably want both. The rest is just a simple
matter of getting people to use the right method, rather than petulantly
whining "but I want good, fast AND cheap!"

I doubt we'll ever judge that >100mph road-type mass transit to be safe
enough, as a society. Likewise, we'll never get literal-door-to-door rail.

Best Regards,
Alex