The UK's CRAP Transport system

Ah yes. Public transport…
The railways in Britain were built and designed in C19 and haven’t had much done to the basic layouts since – most of the track follows the same routes that it did then. I have had it explained to me that many long distance routes in Europe were able to be redesigned due to dictator-lead urban renewal in the 1940s and this did allow for the installation of easier bends and straighter lines between towns. This is not the case in Britain.
Previously the rail service was one entity – now it is god-knows how many, with the actual rails and stations operated by yet another company; the whole business was once an excellent example of a working monopoly – especially if you compare it to now… There are now too many chiefs paring down the Indians – and we all know that it is never the chiefs that are sacrificed in economy drives. Public service routes are left to fester because they do not make money, just so that the boss-man can say that no-one uses that service and it can therefore be closed down. Hub stations are improved, turned into palaces of gleaming chrome (because that is where most passengers will be waiting for their delayed trains) and suburb stations are allowed to fall victim to vandals because there are no longer any staff on site to watch over them. The trains are maintained on an I.R.A.N. basis – Inspect and Repair As Necessary – and the older ones have to cover for the newer ones because the suppliers are now having to cover for several different customers with several different requirements to as low a unit cost as possible, all demanded by a committee of suits living safe in the knowledge that they will never need to travel by train (you only have to look at the train designed with the on-board toilets flushed not by a handle but by a button, and to the same design and same height as the emergency stop button – no longer a chain – which caused havoc not too long ago…).
And the companies don’t want to spend more than necessary – who does – so redundant duplication and over design are now terms from the past; from the previous generation of trains in fact, when there would be two or three cables – not one – for important power lines so that the service could still be run until the train reached its terminus, for example.
And the company which owns the track and the stations wants to save money too, so the gangs which did repairs and maintenance found themselves out of a job but with a recommendation that they might try and join the company that had been awarded the contract to…repair and maintain the track – but under contract themselves and usually for a lower wage. Stations were sold off too, to people who suddenly found themselves now regarded as rail staff by potential rail-users who expected railway stations to be staffed by rail-workers and not other members of the public living in a now reclassified domestic dwelling with a railway alongside…

Buses? Name a bus company that will train its drivers. You want to be a bus driver you will have to get your P.S.V. license yourself – there are too many looking for work for the companies to worry about training their drivers. But there is a problem with this routine: local knowledge by staff declines. Drivers become prepared to move to where the work is – which is good news for the companies! I travelled on a bus last summer in Cornwall driven by a Scouse driver living in Exeter (so he had to travel to get to his working area every day) who had been working for the company in Wales a couple of weeks before. Good news for him maybe, but the old couple whose stop he missed because he didn’t know the area didn’t seem too happy… Had the delay been a traffic jam a driver with local knowledge would have known how to get to his nest stop by using other roads; not the case anymore.
But in other areas the buses will be late because the gas people decided to dig up the high street to fix a gas leak caused by cheap piping, or because an HGV had to double park to off load as lazy drivers parked on the double yellow lines, inconvenient traffic accidents, or (as happened in my old area a few years ago) part of the route has suddenly – over night and without consultation with the bus company or its users – become a one-way street but not in the same direction as the bus was going!

Just a few pointers – and this is before anyone starts on the antisocial aspects of public transport (travelling with the public, essentially)…

Flood.

Originally posted by MINIDOH
The bus system that I use to travel to college and home again is a disgrace:
By car it takes half an hour one way, by bus it takes an hour and a half.
The bus is at least 20 minutes late picking me up in the morning.
The bus arrives at colleges at 20 past 9, when it is meant to be there at twenty to nine. And thats if it even turns up. In the past three weeks the bus has not arrived 6 times and been more than an hour late 4 times.

So this epitomises every British Bus company does it? sounds like a minimal underfunded country service to me!

The public transport system in UK is down to several things, not just PRIVATISATION (although that is to blame for most of the problems).
It seems that the railways problem is down to gross mismanagement.
The buses problem, especially in metropolitan areas, is down to overpopulation and just to many cars. TFL has introduced dozens of new routes over the years and rescheduled many existing ones in the London area, but the increase in other road vehicles is gradually bringing some areas to a grinding halt making quite a few bus routes appear unreliable when they shouldnt be

Mayor Livingstone and his henchmen are responsible for most inner London congestion (where does the traffic that bypasses the Congestion charge go to?), narrowing roads, installing speed ramps, more traffic lights and pedestrian crossings, relocating bus stops so when buses stop they cause a traffic hold up! why? so the motorist thinks to himself, “Bugger! to many hold ups better use public transport!”….Come down to earth Mr. L, if someone pays 20k for his car he wants to use it,and he will.

All the TFL will do is succeed in bringing London to a halt…BIG TIME!!

The same for the Tube, there’s just to many people using it and not enough money being spent to modernise it.

It sounds definitely weird.
Railway system do need huge investments to install and maintain the network. I don’t think that the UK invested a lot in new rail miles since 19th century. The main part of the infrastructure costs is located in maintenance.

Concerning the buses , if your bus is not on time (let’s say +/- 5mn) and is late every day , it sounds just like poor management.
Even traffic jams can be integrated in the schedule.

I agree, I dont think this is Tony’s fault for once. I’ll spare him on this thread. But its British management in general. It stinks to be honest. People dont work hard enough, they want to relax and take it easy… things get into a mess. The bus system that I use to travel to college and home again is a disgrace:
By car it takes half an hour one way, by bus it takes an hour and a half.
The bus is at least 20 minutes late picking me up in the morning.
The bus arrives at colleges at 20 past 9, when it is meant to be there at twenty to nine. And thats if it even turns up. In the past three weeks the bus has not arrived 6 times and been more than an hour late 4 times. This is the FIRST Travel bus service for you. Well done FIRST, but may I suggest a name change as it doesnt suit your reliability at all.

There is a fair transport system, but their assets are of a not too good quality and not very well maintained. I rided on a British train, and I was wondering if the British found it too hard to make a rail in a straight line so you don’t feel your riding on a train. Now ride on a belgian train, you don’t feel your riding:D. Don’t really know much about the transport system tough, didn’t use it a lot.

I think thats it true to say that the current lamentable state of the UK transport system is not all the fault of the present regime
in London. Although its done very little it seems to reverse the ravages of privatisation presented to us by the fun loving free market Stalinists of the Thatcher era. On a recent visit to Hungary it was amazing to see the benefits of a truly integrated transport system, buses arriving at plentiful rail stations to connect with the arriving and departing trains…no waiting around, thought I’d died and gone to public transport heaven. The busses, trams and trains all spotlessly clean, cheap fares..result? All well used and popular with the public and STATE OWNED!!! Ooops dirty words!

C’mon guys… The most part of the transportation system (at least the railway system) is owned by private companies since Thatcher’s era.
Why would it be the gov business to take care of it?

If we attach leads and dynamoes to your avatar, we could produce enough power for 7 trams.

actaully, for once its not all tony’s fault. (yes its shocking, but its true). the UK transport system have been underinvested for 50 years now, no government can hope to correct half a century of nieglect overnight.

that said, tony is doing frustratingly little to try to correct the problem.