London is officially 'filthy'

[paulrockliffe]

Nigel Havers was on R4 this evening telling us how he's been telling chauffeurs off for sitting with their engines. What a dick.

Anyway, based on nothing more than everyone I know tells me they can't afford to park or drive a car in London, so don't own them, why not make half the roads into very narrow laned dual carriageways, ban cars entirely and allow people to use electric single seaters instead. Think Mario Kart on your commute.

The fundamental problem is that cars take up too much room for the one person driving them, a major rethink is necessary if traffic in London is ever going to change.

[V8 Fettler]

paulrockliffe said:

Nigel Havers was on R4 this evening telling us how he's been telling chauffeurs off for sitting with their engines. What a dick.

Anyway, based on nothing more than everyone I know tells me they can't afford to park or drive a car in London, so don't own them, why not make half the roads into very narrow laned dual carriageways, ban cars entirely and allow people to use electric single seaters instead. Think Mario Kart on your commute.

The fundamental problem is that cars take up too much room for the one person driving them, a major rethink is necessary if traffic in London is ever going to change.

The answer has been obvious for several decades: encourage motorcycling.

[SidewaysSi]

boxxob said:

BigLion said:

London is a st hole to live in - but good for nights out.

londoners say: it's a great place to live in but spoilt by all the idiots who arrive for a night out...

I think London is great - plenty of opportunity to do what you want which you rarely get elsewhere.

I couldn't do my job in any other part of the UK-lots of pressure but there is the buzz as well. If you can survive in London, you can survive anywhere.

Unfortunately too many filthy buses and taxis. Hate black cabs with a passion - get rid of the lot of them.

[numtumfutunch]

V8 Fettler said:

The answer has been obvious for several decades: encourage motorcycling.

As the OP here - sorry for that - Ive been monitoring the responses and have kept off grid up until this one
Its actually a pretty good idea

Now I lived there for a large part of my life and was a committed cycle and motorcycle commuter depending on how I felt when I woke up in the morning
Both were a bit lairy however when you're in your 20's and 30's you feel immortal so it doesnt matter

Having been away for 15y the difference in cycling is immense
I was down a few weeks ago and Boris'd, or rather Santander'd, my way around a lovely network of safe and protected cycle routes seeing far more cycle commuters than I ever did back in the day

Clearly there are people who would rather not ride a push bike for a variety of reasons but similarly wouldnt ever consider getting a motorcycle either

So genius time - why not ban all cars completely, and lets face it the car has to be the slowest form of transport in the capital - and put everyone on 2 wheels

Obvs the couriers would have their own superhighway on which to kill each other and mutilate pedestrians, cyclists another, born again Vespa-ists another, etc, etc, etc..............

[FiF]

Just a question, if you ban everything except motorcycles and cycles, how are the Rice Krispies going to be delivered to the hipster tts and their breakfast cereal cafes? (Obviously not a particularly serious framing of the question)

And is Khan going to rip out all the log burners that have been installed.

And that's before one even considers buses and taxis.

And presumably all the backup diesel power generators that businesses and hospitals have to ensure power supply and STOR backup, they'll have to go.

And before anyone gets on their high horse, this isn't a question of denying Londoners the right to breathe clean air, don't be so sodding silly, just pointing out it's a much wider issue than ban diesel cars.

[heebeegeetee]

FiF said:

Just a question, if you ban everything except motorcycles and cycles, how are the Rice Krispies going to be delivered to the hipster tts and their breakfast cereal cafes? (Obviously not a particularly serious framing of the question)

I would suggest that if cars of all sorts were banned or greatly restricted, as other London capitals have been doing for some time, deliveries of all sorts would be a darn sight easier.

[Hugo a Gogo]

if the log burners aren't approved smokeless ones, then they're already illegal

https://www.certainlywood.co.uk/blog/burning-wood-...

also, surely we had electric delivery vehicles in the 50s (milk floats), why aren't they around nowadays, and a hundred times better?

Edited by Hugo a Gogo on Thursday 26th January 08:08

[Countdown]

Mr GrimNasty said:

Fortunately Einstein had a brain and looked for the truth and didn't jump on political bandwagons.

The source air (continental pollution) is nearly always the root of the problem, topped up by stoves and Gas Central Heating Boilers.

http://www.thegwpf.com/green-energy-madness-peak-w...

You might like to read 'Scare Pollution' by Steve Milloy, it's about the EPA (USA) but the fraudulent use of science to promote scares about PMs NOX etc. and impose a political agenda/control is common.

Does the continental pollution come in via Eurostar and therefore miss out the rest of the South East?

[paulrockliffe]

Hugo a Gogo said:

if the log burners aren't approved smokeless ones, then they're already illegal

https://www.certainlywood.co.uk/blog/burning-wood-...

Mine is approved smokeless, but you can still tell when it's on, so I don't think that's really a cure for the problem.

On deliveries, my suggestion wasn't a total ban on full-width vehicles, but to split the network so that there's trucks and buses and vans on some roads, then small stuff on the rest. No cars anywhere though.

But for it to be workable it has to work for people, other wise people will buy vans and register fake businesses if they have to to use the other network. So 4 wheels and comfortable has to be an option. Think a Renault Twizzy that doesn't have to be suitable to mix with cars. Doesn't have to be electric particularly, though the idiots I charge would find a way of only allowing electric I think.

Main issue is probably that the roads would turn into go-kart tracks and it would be carnage. Great fun though!

[Hugo a Gogo]

Countdown said:

Mr GrimNasty said:

Fortunately Einstein had a brain and looked for the truth and didn't jump on political bandwagons.

The source air (continental pollution) is nearly always the root of the problem, topped up by stoves and Gas Central Heating Boilers.

http://www.thegwpf.com/green-energy-madness-peak-w...

You might like to read 'Scare Pollution' by Steve Milloy, it's about the EPA (USA) but the fraudulent use of science to promote scares about PMs NOX etc. and impose a political agenda/control is common.

Does the continental pollution come in via Eurostar and therefore miss out the rest of the South East?

yes, and much more comes to London when there is no wind

alternative science facts

[Evanivitch]

How far does most of London's Good Vehicle traffic travel before entering the city? Are all the major depots with a 100 miles of the city?

LPG would be a half decent short-term solution, surely?

[Zigster]

V8 Fettler said:

The answer has been obvious for several decades: encourage cycling.

FTFY

[vonuber]

You can't ban cars. How would people be able to show their net worth off to others in such a conspicuous way if you did?

[dandarez]

vonuber said:

You can't ban cars. How would people be able to show their net worth off to others in such a conspicuous way if you did?

Easy (like Sunday morning) - sleeves rolled up, showing off my A. Lange & Söhne.

Simples!

[Pan Pan Pan]

London has always been filthy, centuries before the ICE vehicle arrived, and certainly before diesel cars arrived. It appears as a bubble of filth on the horizon on a day which is Gin clear for everyone else. If people want to live and work there for any number of reasons, then fine, but to complain that it is filthy, is like jumping into a swimming pool, and then complaining about getting wet

[oyster]

dandarez said:

FourWheelDrift said:

Did they do a black snot survey?

They daren't!

Warning. More nose content!

We used to go up to the 'Smoke' regularly in the 70s (from Oxfordshire). Park up in White City, jump on the tube, have a good day out. And you knew you could only have been to London when back home ...by the colour contents of your nose!

Strange. We rarely go to London these days but did so on New Year's Eve for the celebrations. Tube didn't seem any different to the 70s, still noisy, crowded and grubby. And my nose content when back home? You can guess. I actually thought it wouldn't be so bad, but hey, nope it's till black nose day. More litter and rubbish everywhere too. In fact, leaving the heaving area from the 'Eye' back to the tube reminded me of Spain in the 90s, crap and litter strewn everywhere.
There were hundreds queuing to have a pee or worse in the masses of mobile toilets. 

Edited by dandarez on Monday 23 January 19:57

If it wasn't anecdotal already by admitting you rarely visit, you then made your evidence even more of an outlier by basing your visit on New Years Eve.

[pim]

Maybe London has always been filthy still a exiting city to visit do.I live in Yorkshire but my best fish and chips and mushy peas was in a London chip shop.

When you have so many people living in a confined area it isn't going to smell of roses is it?

[Vaud]

pim said:

Maybe London has always been filthy still a exiting city to visit do.I live in Yorkshire but my best fish and chips and mushy peas was in a London chip shop.

Really? Where about in Yorkshire... can give you some recommendations...

[pim]

Recommendations about fish shops?

Whetherby excellent fish and chips.Is that what you wanted to know

[hyphen]

It can't be that bad, if people who don't need to live there choose to live there?

Take the Royals who have left their Norfolk country manor to move back to Central London for the kids school- sure if it was that filthy they would have stayed away?