[Gllug] [OT] Fighting a virus

[Aaron Trevena]

On 16/02/07, salsaman <salsaman at xs4all.nl> wrote:
> >I sometimes drive a car, but fail to see why this would be irrelevant to
> >non-drivers; pedestrians and cyclists certainly have an interest in the
> >matter.
> >
> >The quoted amounts listed for road charging are intended to cause outrage
> >among the many drivers that exhibit a strong sense of entitlement towards
> >their car usage. I cannot judge whether they are disproportionate though,
> >because I haven't seen any sufficiently detailed evaluation of the negative
> >effects of current volumes of road transport.
> >
> >That said, I don't like the road charging scheme because of the tracking
> >aspect. Instead I'd rather see a very significant increase in fuel tax and
> >greater use of pedestrianization, although I doubt that the signatories to
> >the petition would view those as acceptable alternatives.
>
> The way I see it, the scheme is flawed because it doesn't take into
> account the fuel efficiency of a vehicle. So for example, four people
> sharing a hybrid or electric vehicle would pay the same as somebody
> driving an SUV getting 15 mpg.

Yes - I've noticed that recent 'green taxes' seem to be aimed at
making life harder for the poor polluter while having no impact on
rich polluters - blanket taxing that costs the same regardless of
whether your flying in tiny seats with 300 other people on a brand new
and efficient plane, or travelling with a dozen others in an older
luxury plane.

> Increasing tax on petrol might be a good idea, except that the UK
> already has among the highest fuel taxes in the world.

Yup - and even green fuels are taxed heavily - bio-diesel is still
taxed punitively despite being pretty much free of pollution.

> And of course, the privacy concerns as have been mentioned.

Yup.

> IMO, the government should subsidise public transport more, or cap the
> fares. Public transport companies have natural monopolies, and therefore
> it is acceptable for the government to regulate and/or subsidise them
> more strongly.
>
> Public transport in the UK is way more expensive than in other
> countries, and for a relatively lousy service.

I think that only paying MPs and councillors for travel by train or
bus would make the world of difference in their priorities for
transport - most seem happy to travel by taxi or plane rather than
with the plebs.

A.

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