Seeker_UK
Feelin' nearly faded as my jeans
That's EMR for you.
Got any petrol or diesel?
- Thread starter Jamie
- Start date
That's EMR for you.
Sue Pertwee-Tyr
Accuphase all the way down
My 13 mile commute, by car, takes me around 20-25 minutes in rush hour, perhaps 30 if traffic is bad. It costs me around £3 for the round trip. By train, the journey would be around 80 minutes, each way, necessitating 2 changes each time, and would be 2-3x the cost. And one of those trains would have been those awful bus-on-rails jobbies, if it arrived at all let alone to anything approaching a timetable. Public transport, outside London, isn’t really viable. Fix that before you force me out of my car, please.
Seeker_UK
Feelin' nearly faded as my jeans
Monitor Gold 10
pfm Member
I'm a bus enthusiast so I can give you a summary of what the Pacer Family is. Both types are based on a four wheel underframe which I have heard was based on a Goods Wagon.
One of these variants was bodied by Walter Alexander in Falkirk.
The other one was indeed fitted with a cleverly adapted Bus Bodyshell.
The Leyland National was a collaborative effort by Leyland Motors and the National Bus Company. It has an incredibly strong shell; it is an Integral design; no separate chassis.
When BR was searching for replacement vehicles on it's lightly used lines, the idea of a Railbus with LN Bodyshell was born.
There are various related vehicles using the same riveted pressed steel ringframe structure; it was widened and lost the Goods Wagon underframe and became the Class 153 and 155 which rarely attract negative coverage.
Anyway, I'm hoping the fuel situation is easing. Otherwise it's back to frequently delayed or cancelled trains... I've got near enough a full tank; essential mileage only!
davidsrsb
pfm Member
To limit at 1.5% or even close a major forced shift in lifestyle is inevitable. The alternative is going to be horrible
Monitor Gold 10
pfm Member
One wonders what has changed; improved since this was filmed...
Obviously Rolling Stock is better...
SteveG
pfm Member
I'm not as badly off as some when it comes to the availability of public transport for my commute, however I do live on the south western edge of Edinburgh and my office is towards the north eastern edge - which means 2 buses. In the morning that'd turn a 30 minute commute into a something like 1 hour and 15 minutes, with the return being closer but still going from typically 45-60 minutes to around 1 hour 15 to 1 hour 30 minutes. That's still quite a lot of extra time commuting though - something in the region of 75 to 90 minutes each day. When I lived in London I never, ever commuted by car and wouldn't have ever considered it as an option.
Just arrived back in Edinburgh having driven down from Tomintoul and there were no signs of shortages or queues in any of the petrol stations we passed.
Just arrived back in Edinburgh having driven down from Tomintoul and there were no signs of shortages or queues in any of the petrol stations we passed.
Thorn
pfm Member
Twelve years ago I used to commute into Leeds from Horsforth. There was inadequate parking at Horsforth station so cars were scattered all around the neighbouring residential streets. The trains had only three carriages and these were frequently full. An employee at the station told me that as soon as the carriages were upgraded in the south east we'd get their old ones to replace the Pacers.
Seeker_UK
Feelin' nearly faded as my jeans
I am particularly ****ed off with EMR because they axed the Intercity service from my home station (Wellingborough) and replaced the Meridian and 125 services with 20 year old cast-offs 360s from Heathrow Express. Although they've now effectively downgraded to a commuter-level service (no buffet, one toilet per 4 coaches, narrower, less comfortable seats) but I am still expected to pay Intercity fares.
ETA - I also have to drive ten miles to get there and pay North of £1000 a year to park at the station.
notaclue
pfm Member
At least there is no shortage in the UK of people driving about aimlessly on a Sunday looking for petrol. Loads of them out today.
In fact, I would not be surprised to find out that the UK is a world leader in people driving about aimlessly on a Sunday looking for petrol.
Were it an Olympic sport, I reckon the UK would likely take gold, silver and bronze medals.
In fact, I would not be surprised to find out that the UK is a world leader in people driving about aimlessly on a Sunday looking for petrol.
Were it an Olympic sport, I reckon the UK would likely take gold, silver and bronze medals.
martin dawson
pfm Member
Still pretty bad in my area of South East London Erith, Bexleyheath & Welling I was lucky enough to get diesel at a BP garage in Abbey Wood they only allowed £35. That’ll do me for a few weeks the problem I think is people topping up their tanks and putting £10’s in.
Regards,
Martin
Regards,
Martin
Passed and Esso today with petrol and diesel, no queue and no limit so stuck £50 in the van to top it off which will do me a few days into the week, I should see some on my travels so I'm not worried.
Back to the more interesting topic of public transport- as previously mentioned, outside of cities our housing is so sporadic and out of the way that public transport is virtually useless. I'm lucky that my town has a tram stop so if I ever want to venture into the city centre then I use that, I rarely pay either because the ticket machines are more often than not out of order and there aren't any conductors to check but I only use it a handful of times a year. Aside from the tram I wouldn't dream of using a bus or train unless absolutely last resort.
Back to the more interesting topic of public transport- as previously mentioned, outside of cities our housing is so sporadic and out of the way that public transport is virtually useless. I'm lucky that my town has a tram stop so if I ever want to venture into the city centre then I use that, I rarely pay either because the ticket machines are more often than not out of order and there aren't any conductors to check but I only use it a handful of times a year. Aside from the tram I wouldn't dream of using a bus or train unless absolutely last resort.
Tony Lockhart
Avoiding Stress, at Every Opportunity
I feel sooooo bloody lucky with my commute
Cycling takes inter fifteen minutes, with maybe one or two cars passing me, driving can take as little as 7mins 30s.
I’ve even walked it in under an hour!
Cycling takes inter fifteen minutes, with maybe one or two cars passing me, driving can take as little as 7mins 30s.
I’ve even walked it in under an hour!
Tony Lockhart
Avoiding Stress, at Every Opportunity
Funnily enough, I needed some fuel for our car after returning from our hols yesterday in a hire car. Thankfully the hire car had enough in the tank so I went on the hunt. The Shell station at the bottom of the A140 (Ipswich to Norwich) had plenty of expensive, £1.56, V-Power, so ten litres went into the gerry can. That’ll do me for at least two weeks.
miktec
retired
To be fair, I think there are enormous variations - our local bus network (in a small city) is actually very good and extends beyond the centre to outlying villages. Buses on our route are frequent, usually on time, clean and very much up to date in terms of fit and finish. AFAIK they have also moved at least part of the fleet onto bio-diesel.
I very rarely go in to the city centre and in Summer actually prefer to walk (about an hour each way) but when weather is bad have no problem using the bus service.
The car is quite frankly pointless unless I'm picking up timber etc. for DIY. The BH uses it for work because of her unsocial hours (nightshifts) - ditto dropping off or picking up our daughter (also frequent night shifts).
Otherwise we would probably turn it in and hire a car for holidays.
