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I agree with a lot that TJ says.
We have to change, a radical change, no if’s, no buts, no whataboutary, but with attitudes shown by some on this thread the changes that are needed (needed 30+ years ago) sadly won’t happen
I'm hoping the train services that were cut due to the pandemic are going to be reintroduced (idle chat at station suggested they might be back in May).
I hope they are as I think the reduced service has pushed people into using cars to commute.
The worry I have is the operators just use it as an excuse to permanently cut the "unprofitable" services and those who have moved to car commutes don't go back to public transport - the price of fuel might be a persuader thought!
IMO all on street parking should be at least a tenner a day.
Genius. That's another three and a half grand you've just cost me.
Buy more busses, pay more bus drivers, put more busses on. Done.
You must realise this is a gross oversimplification. Who's going to pay for more buses and higher wages to drive round even more near-empty vehicles?
Occasionally cleaning and maintaining the ones we already have might be a better start...
IMO all on street parking should be at least a tenner a day.
Genius. That’s another three and a half grand you’ve just cost me.
Only until you get another car and then it would cost twice that!
Genius. That’s another three and a half grand you’ve just cost me.
Nope - its a subsidy being removed. Why should you be able to use land owned by all for free to the exclusion of others? On street parking in general reduces quality of life for others.
Edit - got my sums wrong - £3- 5 a day is about the value of that public land you are getting exclusive use of
We scoff at people in the US struggling with petrol at $2.50 a gallon but their lives have been built around cars even more than our
Their choice of vehicles doesn't help. It's changing, slowly, but it's 'normal' to drive round in a gutless V6 and consider 24mp(US)g to be decent mileage.
I used to work in the automotive industry and went to Detroit a few times.
Not only is there very little public transport, apparently thanks to lobbying by the automotive industry, many places don’t even have sidewalks (pavements). It’s also illegal to jaywalk. If you want to go to a shop on the other side of the road you literally have to drive there.
Yeah, I've seen this. I once had a lengthy layover at the airport in Dallas so I got a taxi out to the mall. It was split across two sides of a road which, obviously, was about eight lanes across. There was a crossing but it'd clearly never been used because the lights changed back when you were like halfway across. Once surviving Frogger there was a path into the mall but... it didn't go anywhere, it just ended in the middle of the lawn. Purely decorative because what on earth would anyone be doing on foot over here?
I had similar years ago at manchester airport. We had an early flight so needed to stay overnight. Booked into a hotel on the airport estate. We asked at reception how we walked to the terminal. We were told a shuttle bus was laid on. We still wanted to walk. it turned out there was no way of walking the 500m to the terminal - it had to be a 3 mile bus trip
Why should you be able to use land owned by all for free to the exclusion of others?
It's not to the exclusion of all others. They can use it when I'm not there and the only people I'm excluding when I am is other people who want to park there.
What about you when you're on the bike or on foot? It's a smaller area sure but "why should you be able to use land owned by all for free to the exclusion of others?" If I'm paying a tenner a day for a car taking up space, you should be paying £3 a day for the space your bike takes up.
On street parking in general reduces quality of life for others.
A lack of on-street parking specifically would reduce the quality of mine. Aside from anything else it would have been a deal-breaker in buying the house I'm now living in, I'd still be stuck in the hovel I escaped from. Because what else am I supposed to do? I have no driveway, no garage, and we need at least one car between us.
it turned out there was no way of walking the 500m to the terminal
I wonder if that's a H&S issue, or a security concern, rather than "yes but vehicles"?
what I wonder is what would your employer do with a person in your position who did not have a car? Would they still require the part time move?
Let’s just say because I know my rights financially wise it’s worked in my favour.
I wonder if that’s a H&S issue, or a security concern, rather than “yes but vehicles”?
I do not think so. the problem was the layout of the buildings. No pavements and no signposts and no one was able to describe the way there. we could see it ( but not a marked entrance) but not walk to it. without walking along roads with no pavements and lots of junctions and cutting across grassy verges / bits of landscaping.
and the only people I’m excluding when I am is other people who want to park there.
Not so - there have been times when I literally could not get from my front door to the road without walking along to a junction because of parked cars ;lining the road. those parked cars also reduce sight lines for crossing roads etc.
If I’m paying a tenner a day for a car taking up space, you should be paying £3 a day for the space your bike takes up.
I do not park my bike on the street. Your VED pays for the time you are driving. I am only talking about the time your car spends parked taking up public land belonging to all
Edit - I am not suggesting this as an overnight thing - more like 10 - 20 years to ramp up to the motorist pays the real costs so folk have time to adapt and those extra funds generated go into public transport inprovements
Would you think it acceptable that every person put a storage box the size of a car on the road outside their house?
We have to change, a radical change,
Yeah but your radical changes and penalties for change are not inclusive and will only really penalise the already struggling.
I'm in favour of a pay per mile black box tracker system my self but that's seen as an invasion of privacy....
Seeing real time costs acrue ala taxi would make most think twice about unnecessary journeys
But yes campaigning for change without viable alternative is not really campaigning it's just moaning.
I do not park my bike on the street. Your VED
Never ? You have never locked your bike up on the street to enter say a cafe or a shop ?
We have to change, a radical change, no if’s, no buts, no whataboutary
I don't think anybody would disagree that 'we' can't go on using ICE cars, the problem is that it needs a massive societal change to achieve that. You can make the argument that we shouldn't have changed our world to accommodate private cars, but we are here, and that's taken 50-60 years. It will probably take that long to readjust, and it'll take intermediate steps to get there. Radical change isn't achievable for too many people who're already living marginal lives
I don't even think electric cars are solution. But they are a move in the right direction how ever at a massive cost again heavily penalising the lower classes
I acknowledge the issue is the space pollution of the largely single occupancy vehicles.
But as yet I don't see a viable solution for the masses
But yes campaigning for change without viable alternative is not really campaigning it’s just moaning.
Radical change isn’t achievable for too many people who’re already living marginal lives
I have suggested plenty of solutions. the problem is they need the political will and those living marginal lives are the least likely to own cars so will get the most benefit from improved public transport which is where I would put the money ( carrot) raised from increasing the costs of motoring ( stick)
But as yet I don’t see a viable solution for the masses
cheap convenient public transport. Car sharing and short term hire schemes. townplanning as a method of reducing reliance on cars. All solutions adopted in other countries
and those living marginal lives are the least likely to own cars
Not so, those at higher income levels are less likely to own a car. The percentage in the lowest 10% income is 33% whereas those in the very top percentile is 23%. (ONS)
Who’s going to pay for more buses and higher wages to drive round even more near-empty vehicles?
Government. Which brings us to:
the problem is they need the political will
Exactly. And changing the political landscape of the UK isn't going to be easy. Ooh.. wait, I walked right into that didn't I?
Anyway regardless of "you know what" it's still a problem that needs solving regardless of what ends up happening in future.
All solutions adopted in other countries
Which should be carefully planned to make sure we can accommodate those who are most vulnerable to societal change One only needs to look at what happened to South Wales, Northumberland, Nottinghamshire and so on, when their jobs and income were radically removed with no future plans to cushion it. Those communities are still reeling
Outside of headline city's - which countries are these that have this wide spread
Because I'll argue that my experiance Edinburgh is a poster child for the Scottish version and probably why you've succeeded for so long. And in all my traveling I've always been impressed with public transport in most European main city's but as you get away from the poster cities that are the ones that have the papers written about them that people quote about it being workable and doable .....the rest of the population are having the same struggles as the rest of the world.....over crowding / poor transport links /reliance of cars / poor planning.
A significant amount of the UK's problem boils down to the cost of housing so you end up with both parents working to make the ends meat and the schedule ends up so tight between child care and work that you'd end up in taxis if you didn't have your car.
I guess the solution for the masses who live in the real world is the self driving car where you don't own it you just call and the nearest one comes - it's probably closer than the utopia of reliable (I'd take reliable over convienant tbh) public transport and car share schemes - we both know a chap who relys on car share schemes regularly and is regularly let down by damaged/unfit for use or even missing vehicles.
I used the bus twice daily for 2 weeks jury duty it cost me(well the court) 70 quid at the end of 2021
They pass the road end (20mins walk away) twice an hour. In my 10 days most days it was standing room only -and I was the second stop from the start of the line - two days on the way to town the bus didn't stop. On one day the bus didn't show up.
Bad, but more than half of car trips nationally are less than five miles.
Ok but what portion of miles are driven as part of journeys of five or less?
IMO all on street parking should be at least a tenner a day. thats the rough value of the public land used.
So basically a tax on people who can't afford a place with off street parking.
Because I’ll argue that my experiance Edinburgh is a poster child for the Scottish version and probably why you’ve succeeded for so long
there is certainly some truth in that
As for other countries I have used public transport all over europe and its cheaper, more convenient and more reliable than in the UK. Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy, Crete even
Yes locals complain about it because it can always be better but my experience in Europe is that public transport is much better than the Uk - like not just a bit better but a lot better
did you actually use the public transport? I have a fair amount.
So basically a tax on people who can’t afford a place with off street parking.
No - making those who use public land pay for that usage
When I work in London I'm always amazed at the breadth, depth and usefulness of public transport. Yet the streets are full of people grinding around in ICE cars. Does anyone know what the subsidy per user for public transport in London is compared to a typical market town?
I had similar years ago at manchester airport. We had an early flight so needed to stay overnight. Booked into a hotel on the airport estate. We asked at reception how we walked to the terminal. We were told a shuttle bus was laid on. We still wanted to walk. it turned out there was no way of walking the 500m to the terminal – it had to be a 3 mile bus trip
I was on a family holiday in Newport Beach California when I was 17 and got arrested for walking from the hotel to McDonald's! Apparently I should have got my parents to drive me there, all 250 metres of it. Didn't even cross a road but there was no footpath. I also learned that day that US police are completely different to UK ones, they do not take to you asking what you're doing wrong very well. Responding with "Why? What am I doing wrong?" when you're told to stop walking gets two very different responses!
On the plus side I've never been back to the US since, not even on a plane actually so that's helped cut my environmental impact down a bit.
Does anyone know what the subsidy per user for public transport in London is compared to a typical market town?
Depends on how you do the numbers and I have seen a few different analysis of this but London gets around 10X perperson of public transport subsidy compared to the rest of the UK. so compared to a market town probably a lot more
do yo count the cost of crossrail or not?
there have been times when I literally could not get from my front door to the road without walking along to a junction because of parked cars ;lining the road.
That's some pretty tight parking. How do they get in and out?
I thought you were a firm advocate of walking short distances?
In any case, you are (once again) assuming that you = everyone. It is not. Where I live parking can be a bunfight when the nearby chippy is open, but beyond that it's a non-issue here.
I do not park my bike on the street.
But you ride it on the street, taking up space. Why is it fine when it's moving and a problem when it's stationary? What do you do at traffic lights, roll back and forth so as not to deprive someone else of the space you're taking up?
Your VED pays for the time you are driving.
No it doesn't. If it did (which it doesn't) it'd be variable depending how much driving I did. Arguably fuel tax could, expect it also doesn't (like VED doesn't, did I mention that?) because it all goes into general taxation.
What about cars with zero VED? Freeloading bastards.
(Joking aside, I can't believe that on a cycling forum you of all people are using the "road tax" argument.)
I am only talking about the time your car spends parked taking up public land belonging to all
You're talking about something you've invented which suits your personal agenda, around which you've bent everything else (including "facts") to fit. Everything you like is Good and everything you don't like is Bad.
Ironically we're starting to lose a perfect tax as you go system, fuel duty. Drive more pay more, drive in congested places pay more, drive like a tit (inefficiently) pay more, drive a big engine car, pay more. Its perfect and extremely difficult to avoid paying, plus the fuel industry pays to collect it. Electric vehicles are going to blow it out of the water.
Anyway, pay to park on the road, great idea, I hate people parking on the road, I don't, utterly impractical and hits the low income households the most. In the north west terraced housing is the norm, councils have been ignoring the ever growingnissues of on street parking for years. Anyway nowt is going to change with our current political system, unless a fair proportion on the population is disenfranchised there's no hope.
You’re talking about something you’ve invented
I first read of the concept a decade ago. Its certainly not my invention. But then these issues interest me and thus I look into them in depth
so cougar - as i do not own a car do you think it reasonable I put a car sized storage box in the street so I get my share of this public space?
As an aside, if we're considering free / paid on-street parking away from residential areas,
Accrington town centre is free parking. Always has been. Hyndburn BC flirted once with a parking scheme. It killed the already ailing town centre stone dead overnight because everyone went to Blackburn / Burnley instead. Free parking was about the only thing it still had going for it.
One size does not fit all.
did you actually use the public transport? I have a fair amount.
Yes ..... I've also used it in the Eastern bloc Africa , Australia USA and Canada.
They all suffer the same fault. If your not in the major cities it just doesn't exist in at a usable level - much like here.
But if you took Edinburgh, Copenhagen Amsterdam, Paris, stravanger London , San Francisco, Perth (aus) and Calgary and called it a country you'd have utopia.
as i do not own a car do you think it reasonable I put a car sized storage box in the street so I get my share of this public space?
It's a public road, it's nowt to do with me. You've paid for a permit from the council I assume?
This is where your argument falls down. You posit that VED covers "driving" but it's demonstrably bollocks because VED - even a £0 VED - is required for a car to be on the road at all. Without VED (and valid insurance) it has to be taken off-road and a SORN declaration applied for. Non-vehicles such as skips require authorisation also, you can't legally just dump shit on the road.
Ironically we’re starting to lose a perfect tax as you go system, fuel duty.
I'm not convinced by this. Fuel duty doesn't stop the person who only drives 500 yards to drop their kids off at school, but is a huge contributor to local pollution and congestion.
Far better, IMHO, is a sliding scale based on GPS that starts off at a relatively high price (with multipliers for inner city / rush hour etc) which then reduces exponentially as journey length increases. Ultra-short journeys get a 10x cost multiplier. If someone has to pay £10 for their journey to the newsagent then they might think about walking next time.
do you think it reasonable I put a car sized storage box in the street so I get my share of this public space?
You don't personslly have a right to an on street parking space, they are for everyone to use for parking only. I think you're pushing the wrong argument here it's not making a lot of sense. Same for everyone leading it down this path tbh not just TJ.
Ironically we’re starting to lose a perfect tax as you go system, fuel duty
It's not perfect cos it's regressive. Rich people can easily afford to pay it to get 10 miles to work whereas for poor people who need a job and the only one is in the next town it's far more of a burden.
VED is based on your cars emissions, so yes, as TJ states it applies to when you’re driving. If you’re not driving you’re not emitting
Well I'd half hoped the price rise might have calmed the traffic down a touch.
I've been working in EC3 (London) today.
Getting out has proven a challenge. Not worked in London on a Sat for a while and had forgotten the pain and sheer quantity of the private cars.
In the week it's definitely more trade/HGV.
Id love to use the train but the kit required to do the job is very bulky and would not be possible.
Currently having a break from the traffic and a sandwich at the BP on the A4.
VED is based on your cars emissions,
And yet I - and many others have cars than do emit .....yet pay no tax ?
It is a teeny tiny little buzz box with barely room for the kids toilet bag in the boot.... But it's zero tax and has emissions
No – making those who use public land pay for that usage
Right.... So you should pay to walk on pavements then?!!
Sheesh 🤷🏻♂️
I think folk are not understanding the concept of paying for parking on public land
Its not the same as walking on pavements or any of the other comparators used because those things do not prevent others using the road space nor do they restrict others lives in the same way
when you cannot safely cross a road because of parked vehicles, when you cannot get to the road from your house. When large amounts of public land are monopolised 24/7 365 by a minority then its only right they should pay for that usage
If you can park your car for free outside my house why can I not park a storage box there?
VED is based on your cars emissions, so yes, as TJ states it applies to when you’re driving. If you’re not driving you’re not emitting
When my car is parked it's not putting out any emissions. Yet I still need VED if it's parked in public.
Electric vehicles won't be on cheap electricity for long. I've been told by a charge point manufacturer that there is hard coded in a meter so that you can be charged more per kw/h for charging your ev than general household usage.
Also all these 2.4-3 ton vehicles are going to have an impact on the condition of the roads surely?
I'm not seeing many small ev's. Surely lighter and smaller is the way to go?
Cycling in Shrewsbury is fine, but only on a bike I pulled out of a skip, would I chain a bike worth over £250 in the town centre, no chance. Secure free bike lockers in a manned area would be great.
I'm always amazed working in London how many large cards and suv there are, so obviously the taxation isn't enough! I'm not looking forward to the increase in fuel and tax, it'll make driving to the coast to go windsurfing an even more expensive hobby, maybe I'll have to go for a good few days at a time!
I’m not seeing many small ev’s. Surely lighter and smaller is the way to go?
This isn't an EV thread but the batteries take up a lot of space so you need a bigger vehicle. There are small EVs but they have tiny range.
I think folk are not understanding the concept of paying for parking on public land
Don't confuse a lack of agreement with a lack of comprehension.
If you can park your car for free outside my house why can I not park a storage box there?
I can park there because I'm licensed via the VED that you yourself brought up (and mandatory insurance).
You can put your storage box there via a licence from the local council.
Again, neither of us can just dump shit on a public street with gay abandon, be that my car or your hypothetical car-shaped box.
More lanes = more cars = more congestion = the idea that you can build another lane to “relieve congestion” = more lanes = more cars…
Well it worked for the A9. Partly Dualled in the 1970s. Still not over capacity. Still slowed down on the single sections.
A82 Balloch bypass. Took much traffic away from Renton and Alexandia. Still not over capacity decades later.
A82 Great Western Rd Glasgow west of Anniesland. Built as a 6 lane road in the 1920s it is still not over capacity. Because it was built with enough capacity it today can have a parking lane or bus lane and still have 2 lanes each direction for cars.
More lanes doesn't mean more cars (because who thinks "ooh, they've put an extra lane on the A1234, time to buy a car!), but it's not necessarily better for congestion because you could build a 30-lane highway and everyone would sit nose-to-tail in lane 29.
If you can park your car for free outside my house why can I not park a storage box there?
Nothing stopping you parking a trailer there (outside of local bylaws and HOA contracts)
How long you'll have it for before someone removes it on your behalf is another thing
More lanes doesn’t mean more cars
Yes it does.
[ I’ll post evidence after you have ]
I've saved £26 in petrol this week by driving to work on Tuesday and riding the rest of the week before driving home this evening. I am quite tired though.
Would paying to park on the road in Edinburgh/Glasgow be generally "fair" across income brackets?
I've lived quite some time in Headingley/Burley (Leeds), Wythenshawe (Manchester) and other "characterful" places, and the people in these deprived areas would be hit as it seems fewer house have off road parking. Conversely, the few "nice" bits I've lived in - or driven through 🙂 - the houses often have drives.
I am quite tired though.
Ebike, ebike, ebike!
Paying for street parking is definitely a thing where there is an issue. Both my brother and sister have to have residents permits where they live (Outer London and Edinburgh). I think it's paid with the council tax. The visitor rates for Edinburgh are about your £10 a day rate and that's with the residents visitor subsidy (if you use the parking meter it's more).
Outside my brothers old house in London there was indeed a large storage box, for bikes, that you could rent a key from the council for. Most of the residents liked it but some complained about the reduced car spaces (terraced street so no off street parking).
In the world of towns, as opposed to cities, the public transport is woeful and cars are much more of a need to have. Parking on residential streets is rarely an issue if away from the town centre so no need for parking permits (except for the slef entitled who park badly everywhere but that's a sort of different issue).
As for retiring out of the city, as mentioned above, you need retired people to live in cities or towns where they can easily get to amenities (walk, hobble or mobility scooter). Being out in the sticks is a nightmare for carers, doctors, etc. and can add to the loneliness problem a lot of older people have.
Ebike, ebike, ebike!
That was with an ebike 🤣
Would paying to park on the road in Edinburgh/Glasgow be generally “fair” across income brackets?
depending on your definition of "fairness" Its not fair to the car drivers but is fair for the non car drivers but any change like this will have losers which is why it needs a 10 - 20 year lead to allow folk time to adapt
A lot of edinburgh is "residents only parking" for which you pay a small fee to get a residents parking permits. This is to prevent commuters parking on these residential streets
What i am suggesting is merely extending this and making it more expensive over a period of many years until the cost of parking is equivalent to the value of the land.
Maybe it shoulkd not be a fixed amount but vary according to the place - so a central london or central Edinburgh parking pass costs a lot whereas in say Hull its a lot less
My only quibble would be ” for some cars are essential” to me its only “essential” because of choices made ie to live away from your work for many folk. Some folk it is essential – district nurses to tradesmen but for most – its a result of choices made
This comment is pretty clueless tbf. Most people don’t have a choice to live close to their place of work due to house prices
Which I may add are hugely driven up by people owning second properties…. Speaking of which tj don’t you own several Edinburgh properties? (Maybe not you, but definitely one regular poster on here)
10 – 20 year lead to allow folk time to adapt
For me, there's merit in the idea - carrots and sticks to enable change.
But I won't be standing near to the politician that says "Listen! I've got a great idea about car parking..." 🙂
do you think it reasonable I put a car sized storage box in the street so I get my share of this public space?
As slowol also noted in London, in Bristol a few streets have chosen to sacrifice a car space for a communal bike locker. Sadly most of the 8 or so bikes in the one near me are never used.
More lanes doesn’t mean more cars (because who thinks “ooh, they’ve put an extra lane on the A1234, time to buy a car!)
Better roads in general do mean more cars, this is very well known. It's because better roads make journey times quicker, that means more distant commutes become viable. When people are choosing jobs or houses they evaluate their commuting options, but they don't do it by distance they do it by time and hassle. Building new roads makes journeys quicker, say from an hour to half an hour, so more people do the journey until congestion makes it an hour again.
In many ways this is a justification for building the new roads. They want more people to be able to get to more jobs because this boosts the economy. Of course there are environmental consequences. The Welsh Government opted not to build the M4 extension which we all want on an immediate level because the M4 around Newport is awful. But they said no, because they don't want to increase car traffic - they are developing a huge integrated PT network instead.
That was with an ebike
🤣
Oh, someone made the point about not being keen on riding to work because it was a busy A road. Another example of … because “we” all drive, the best option is for “me” to drive. Escaping this will be so damn hard, but step one is that everybody needs to see that car dependancy is a trap that we need to help people escape. And never forget the people worst off… those that can not drive in a society where it is assumed that everyone can.
I’m not seeing many small ev’s. Surely lighter and smaller is the way to go?
E-assist velomobiles and ebikes are surely the way to go for individual short journeys where public transport (mass-transit systems) and/or walking/cycling cannot suffice. But … no dedicated infra exists, also confusing class for licensing, and we have been slow with tech because demand has been virtually non-existent since the Sinclair C5 made everyone laugh*
*Not really. Its just been cars, cars, cars. Edit @kelvin, cross-post/edit 🙂
Also, cars answer a lot of questions that no one originally asked. They offer physical security, lockable storage, difficult(ish) to steal and soothe the owner’s brain-bumps by offering a warm/roomy, often air-conditioned home/bubble-from-home. You could even live/sleep in one at a push. Some do by choice. You don’t get those luxuries so much with a velomobile + shared transport. So what? Indeed. Other answers will arrive to actual questions. But these things will also be considerable barriers to switching from old ICE/new EV/big old family car mindsets.
Still a C5 fan (the idea not the execution), but, again, it is the dominance of car use that makes that kind of light transport so unappealing for most people.
Which I may add are hugely driven up by people owning second properties…. Speaking of which tj don’t you own several Edinburgh properties?
I own two small flats. I am an accidental landlord. I rent one out for £150 a month below market rent and I provide a high quality home for someone who wants to rent
tpbiker - its still a choice even if the alternatives are unpalatable. No one is forcing you
TJ non of what your telling me is persuading me to move to the city like im being told i must, sounds truly awful...you need to move my friend
What is an accidental landlord
Surley it is a choice to be one
Accidental land lord.
Someone who ends up with a property they cannot sell (not one that they choose not to sell).
Ie negative equity
Spin it how you like tj, but don’t complain when people use their car to commute because they can’t afford to live local, when you are part of the problem
How am i part of the problem. Someone is living in it at below market rent. Sure its one flat less to buy but its one more to rent and its let cheaply. Its not a holiday let tho i could make 3 times as much if i did.
Accidental landlord in that it was my partners flat bought to live in not a buy to let
I do find it funny when folk have no answer to points raised so make irrelevant personal attacks in stead
Don’t rise to it TJ, they are baiting you into an irrelevant discussion. You having one tenant is irrelevant. Poor bus services, choosing to site offices away from train stations, food shops moving to busy ring roads, new road systems making it slow and awkward to cycle anywhere, building many huge residential areas without linking them to the train network… there are so many important issues… your one flat isn’t one of them.
Aye
The rental btw is less than a mortgage would be on it so its actually making it easier and cheaper for someone to live there
Its not a personal attack , i asked a question,
Maybe i should saylike u do...that im going to takw issue with some of your posts....
Like u have on here....
But anyway....im going to save some electricity and stop reading this
Not aimed at you EhWhoMe aimed at tpbiker. Your question was fine so I answered it.
VED is based on your cars emissions
Strictly using the word "car" it may be, but if you replace that word with "vehicle" it isn't.
My van emits 46g/km CO2 less than my wife's car. They have the same revenue weight (2000kg), the same number of wheels and she pays £120 less than I do because most vans have the same VED (£275). Some Euro 4 and 5 vans pay less (£140) than my cleaner Euro 6 van because of Gov campaigns to encourage their use 10 or 15 years ago, TBF most of these will have been pensioned off now.
Large goods vehicles can reduce their VED by having either more axles or road-friendly suspension for a given weight because they hammer the roads less.
£1.65 to £1.80 range for ordinary diesel around here
TBH, petrol/diesel is still pretty amazing for what you get from it. Cheaper than beer, not that much more expensive than milk or pepsi or bloody stupid bottled water. It does make me wish I still had a 70mpg diesel rather than a 25mpg petrol but, oh well.
It's kind of doubly annoying though about the collapse of the LPG network though, we're still talking about viable alternative fuels while basically abandoning one we already had.
VED is based on your cars emissions
Not really, I currently drive a Caddy maxi and have mates who drive a VW Jetta and a Seat Leon. All 3 have the same 1.6 TDI engine and although my van will be heavier and not quite as fuel efficient they should have roughly similar emissions. I pay £210 a year, one of the lads pays £30 and the other pays zero despite having basically the same engine
hard coded in a meter so that you can be charged more per kw/h for charging your ev than general household usage.
For commercial charge points it's not hard coded, the costing element is handled by the back end systems and is completely variable so a casual user can be charged more than say someone who has an account or a staff member can get a preferable rate over a member of the public. Public charging is always going to cost more than charging at home, it's commercial not a service and the charging provider has to cover the cost of the charging unit (which is high at the moment as everyone is putting huge great things in with LED screens although that will change), the installation (including getting a cable to the charger which even if there is already a sufficient power supply in the car park is expensive, if a new feed is required it's even more). Then there's the running costs of the charger, maintenance, costs for running the back end system, costs for the payment provider and the cost of attrition as idiots reverse into the units. On top of all that the commercial provider would actually like a small margin as well please, so yes public charging is always going to cost a lot more than home charging, especially if it's an expensive rapid charger or in a good location where demand drives the cost above the base cost / margin of the above.
As for it being hard coded into a domestic charger, how's that going to work then, does the charging unit talk to the meter (they could even get SMART meters to talk to the energy providers and that was the whole point of them), I highly doubt it, what about people charging from a 3 pin plug?