2024 London Mayoral Election Thread

[and31]

Randy Winkman said:

I'd be amazed if my Vectra used much fuel at all at 20mph if I just used my common sense and put it in the gear that seemed be stressing the engine the least. I'd guess 3rd would be about 1500rpm. But that is a guess. I'm not sure I could use much less fuel than that and while the car is moving so I'm not sure I'd chose to go any faster. Happy to hear to the contrary from a technical expert though. And of course, it was a statement about trucks that I questioned in the first place.

I can assure you my lorry uses more fuel at 20mph than it does at 30.

[z4RRSchris]

could just ban lorry’s from central london and use last mile logistics, vans, bikes, scooters etc,

[and31]

z4RRSchris said:

could just ban lorry’s from central london and use last mile logistics, vans, bikes, scooters etc,

Suits me!

[President Merkin]

z4RRSchris said:

could just ban lorry’s from central london and use last mile logistics, vans, bikes, scooters etc,

Not in the real world you can't. Not everything will go in a van, never did, never will.

Fact is ULEZ hasn't been a kicker for Khan, in fact one admirable element of his campaign is standing by it in the face of opposition from his own party as well as the the Tories. If we're talking politics, then he's stood by his policy & enough of the eletorate went for it. That's conviction politics. And it worked,

[z4RRSchris]

again not really, the parties thought it was a big issue due to the uxbridge by-election. and then tried to apply that all over london.

half of london doesn’t have a car, etc etc etc,

labour don’t care about ulez, nor do the tories

[and31]

Sorry -buggered up a quote

[z4RRSchris]

how many big supermarkets are in z1?

[and31]

z4RRSchris said:

how many big supermarkets are in z1?

No building sites? You’re fking dreaming about vans and scooters
How many vans to supply a Sainsbury’s local every day? That won’t add much congestion will it!! fk me…
I thought you were joking

Edited by and31 on Sunday 5th May 22:31

[z4RRSchris]

my sainsbury’s local is supplied with a luton once a day at about 11.30 at night.

building sites yes. i know a bit about them.

[President Merkin]

z4RRSchris said:

again not really, the parties thought it was a big issue due to the uxbridge by-election. and then tried to apply that all over london.

half of london doesn’t have a car, etc etc etc,

labour don’t care about ulez, nor do the tories

Half of London might not drive but they still want their quinoa on demand. All I know is the transport business I've run for two decades has customers sending me into central London daily & we do it because they pay the bills. The politics is one thing, the reality quite another.

[z4RRSchris]

last mile and close to logistics hubs is one of the biggest growth sectors in property in z1

people want things quicker, which you can achieve with a last mile system.

yes it costs more, amazon don’t care

[and31]

z4RRSchris said:

my sainsbury’s local is supplied with a luton once a day at about 11.30 at night.

building sites yes. i know a bit about them.

Does your building site get supplied with a Luton van once a day too? Maybe some scooters aswell?

[President Merkin]

z4RRSchris said:

last mile and close to logistics hubs is one of the biggest growth sectors in property in z1

people want things quicker, which you can achieve with a last mile system.

yes it costs more, amazon don’t care

We're getting off topic here, save to say a couple of things. Logistics. transport, distribution doesn't start & end with Amazon & I wouldn't deign to lecture you on the property business because I don't know about it.

[Oliver Hardy]

Don't know much about anything, logistics I know a tiny little about.

Sending 30 vans instead of one large lorry is far more polluting and causes far more congestion than one large lorry especially when you send a large truck into an area anyway.

Although obviously if your Amazon and have 3000 separate deliveries on that truck, using smaller vehicles is sensible

[Venisonpie]

valiant said:

Every London bus operated on behalf of TfL is Euro6 compliant and have been since 2021. Buses built before Euro6 standards will have been retrofitted with kit to make them compliant. If you feel a bus is faulty then report it via the TfL website and raise a complaint. It will be looked into.

London runs one of the greenest fleets in Europe with plans to have a completely emissions free fleet by around 2034.

Agreed. I used to buy buses most of which were for the London operator in the group. These were all electric since its a mandatory requirement when bidding for TFL contracts. There is a residue of diesel vehicles but these will fairly quickly disappear when the contracts are up for renewal.

[trails]

and31 said:

funinhounslow said:

and31 said:

funinhounslow said:

and31 said:

I’d rather just look out of the windscreen for objects that might be infront of me.

I thought the reason for these cameras and scanners was because of HGV’s blind spots?

So how is it ok to not have them in other cities? As I said, I can see what I need to see in my correctly set up mirrors-the cameras are a massive distraction.dangerously so in my professional opinion.
Next we are going to be forced to have scanners for stuff in front of us ffs!! We already have a mirror for looking right down the front .

Dunno.

Probably not necessary in cities that provide properly segregated cycling infrastructure as opposed to painting a dotted line in the gutter and calling it a day.

Or maybe other cities put restrictions on HGVs in the centre?

The majority of cyclist deaths in London are due to contact with an HGV or tipper truck so something’s clearly going wrong…

Something to do with the cyclists going down the Nearside of a lorry despite it indicating left perhaps?
you’d be amazed at how often these clueless cyclists do this-headphones on as well.I absolutely hate central London
Cambridge is even worse.
It’s amazing the amount of people that insist on cycling in the road despite a cycle lane being available too .

Are you really railing against the DVS scheme...?

For thos unfamilar with it; https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/deliveries-in-london/d...

[and31]

trails said:

Are you really railing against the DVS scheme...?

For thos unfamilar with it; https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/deliveries-in-london/d...

Yes as I’ve said in a previous post -personally I find that it’s very very distracting,and the side scanner always gives off false alarms .never had a problem using my mirrors correctly in the past
Our other cities manage quite fine without DVS I think…
Thankfully I don’t have to drive very often in our st hole capital.
How do you get on with the direct vision equipment in your lorry?

[trails]

and31 said:

trails said:

Are you really railing against the DVS scheme...?

For thos unfamilar with it; https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/deliveries-in-london/d...

Yes as I’ve said in a previous post -personally I find that it’s very very distracting,and the side scanner always gives off false alarms .never had a problem using my mirrors correctly in the past
Our other cities manage quite fine without DVS I think…
Thankfully I don’t have to drive very often in our st hole capital.
How do you get on with the direct vision equipment in your lorry?

Have you fed back to your employer, TfL have been seeking feedback from existing users of the system for some time for the DVS phase2 roll out. Manchester are also looking at implementing, so unlikely to remain just in London.

I don't drive a lorry

[Otispunkmeyer]

funinhounslow said:

oyster said:

You do realise that most people in big cities don't drive right?

So 20mph zones and low emissions zones will be vote winners not losers.

Even among drivers these issues aren’t major concerns.

The number of non ULEZ compliant vehicles in London is tiny - the most vocal opposition to ULEZ expansion came from Home counties residents who want to continue to drive their stinking vehicles into London.

I don’t think many people are bothered about 20 mph zones either - why the rush to get to the next red light or queue at a junction? A big chunk of the A4 near me has recently gone from 40 to 30 mph. Literally nobody cares.

Also - especially in London- drivers will also be regular public transport users, cyclists and pedestrians so will be well aware of the.advantages of ULEZ, 20mph zones and bus and bike lanes…

Very very few people in London get around exclusively by car.

I have only a few anecdotal observations on the 20MPH zone in London, but 1) I found it quite pleasant, particularly in an EV to just glide about with the speed limiter set to 23 mph. 2) As you say, there are cars everywhere anyway so if you're able to get to 20, you're doing well 3) The tool bags like the guy who desperately over took me and several others, on the wrong side of the road, before blowing through a red and nearly hitting a woman with a push chair don't care what the speed limit is anyway, he'd have done that had it been 30 or 40. So it didn't really seem that 20 limits made much difference to the London driving experience

[Otispunkmeyer]

NiceCupOfTea said:

Gecko1978 said:

Khan got 40 some % of the vote. So combined the rest of the votes which a posed him was greater. Where it's 1 role perhaps a run off would be better but is what it is. People who use tube etc likely don't care about ULEZ and that's many in London.

Yes, I appreciate that. Unfortunately non drivers don’t care, drivers in central London won’t care as it won’t going to change for them anyway, outer London drivers with a petrol car less than 20 years old won’t care.

Those remaining will mostly buy newer cars or moan vociferously.

It’s ostensibly about getting people into less polluting cars if you believe Khan (although I suspect it’s more about looking like you’re doing the right thing but raking in more money). Within 5-10 years most of those cars would be off the road anyway so it all seems rather pointless

It’s a vanishingly small percentage that’s like me that actively wants to drive a car from this era (occasionally), and I’m kind of stuck with it if I want to continue with my hobby rather than admit defeat. I suspect most of the people in the ULEZ groups would shut up if they were offered a newer compliant car.

I still don’t understand how all the 11 and 12 plate buses I see aroun Bromley and Croydon are compliant. My throat and eyes tell me they shouldn’t be. And yet they drive around 24-7 without any sanctions.

I know the answer is “suck it up, if you don’t drive it much what’s the problem?”. I thought that was going to be the route I would take, but it upsets me so much and I find it so unjust it completely ruins any enjoyment I might get of taking it out. Plus of course we all know how well cars respond to not being run very often, so chances are I’d pay £12.50 for the privilege of waiting at the side of the road for the RAC…

People say the ULEZ affects a small number of people, yet has a blanket roll out. Presumably, ULEZ is just the Trojan horse under which to get all these cameras out. If it affects so little people and in the future will affect even less as cars are replaced with newer less polluting or even electric ones, then what was the justification for the expenditure? seems like ROI wouldn't ever be seen. Now you could just assume that its pure altruism, a lot of money spent for a disproportionally small improvement the air quality, all out of the goodness of their hearts. But we know government doesn't work like that. It'll be Pay Per Mile or Pay Per Zone or something next. Whatever "until the pips squeak" anti-car idea they can think up next.

I actually just wish that sometimes one of them had the real gumption to just say "right, we hate cars and we hate drivers and so we're banning the lot of you starting on such and such a date. Its a bicycle, walking or the tube for you if you want to come here. Deal with it" I'd actually have more respect for them if they did that. They'd have a fk-ton of problems to solve overnight sure (many of their own making) but, you know, we did get to the moon before the 1970s when everything was slide rules and pocket protectors. So we can solve hard problems when we want to and it can be done by governments!