Get a load of this...??!!!
Discussion
Just trawling through the BBC Top Gear web site and found this 'person'. Errmm, just read it....
www.topgear.com/content/my_topgear/write_turns/2003_02/09/
Cheers,
Paul
www.topgear.com/content/my_topgear/write_turns/2003_02/09/
Cheers,
Paul
I thought that only about 25% of what motorists pay in tax (road fund, double petrol tax, tax on insurance etc) gets spent on *any* form of transportation, including public. So where the hell does she get the idea that motorists are subsidized? 
I would love there to be better public transport. I am in Switzerland at the moment, and PT is brilliant. I would be happy to pay more tax, if the PT was as good as here.
Sparks
I would love there to be better public transport. I am in Switzerland at the moment, and PT is brilliant. I would be happy to pay more tax, if the PT was as good as here.
Sparks
Bizarre cycling accident, with any luck.We need CarZee or nonegreen on this one. I am certain that the figures of motorists being "subsidised" must be total bollocks given the huge volume of tax being paid by them. Go on chaps. Write to TopGear with something eloquent, vitriolic and irrefutable. Then ask if she's a lesbian. 
(Definitely only joking!)
Her point about poorer families not owning cars sounds like cak too. Whilst there are automotivly challenged families I'll bet a proportion of them have a car...its just that the DVLA don't know about it!
And finally...its clearly the view point of someone whose journeys can all be completed by bike and public transport. Whilst I concede her argument is about Central London where (perhaps) such journeys can be made this only applies to a TINY area of the country. Elsewhere a car is the ONLY VIABLE means.
So she can **** off AFAIC.
(Definitely only joking!) Her point about poorer families not owning cars sounds like cak too. Whilst there are automotivly challenged families I'll bet a proportion of them have a car...its just that the DVLA don't know about it!
And finally...its clearly the view point of someone whose journeys can all be completed by bike and public transport. Whilst I concede her argument is about Central London where (perhaps) such journeys can be made this only applies to a TINY area of the country. Elsewhere a car is the ONLY VIABLE means.
So she can **** off AFAIC.
Anyone managed to find "The True Cost of Motoring" by University College. What is University College? Does this is exist or is it a nice important sounding non-entity that is close-ish to UCL or the collegiate system of Oxbridge to sound legitimate without any further enquiry?
All shite.
All shite.
Stupid bitch. She should bring her bike to Edinburgh and cycle up Dundas Street every morning. Or try and catch a bus from my neck of the woods.
Of course, if she has her way, and congestion charging works, traffic speeds will increase, and she won't be sailing past anyone. Then she'll moan that there's not enough traffic, and it's really hard to be holier than thou when cars are protesting that cyclists are holding them up, costing the country billions in lost revenue.......................
I'm going to email her, and see what she has to say for herself. I'll report back.
Of course, if she has her way, and congestion charging works, traffic speeds will increase, and she won't be sailing past anyone. Then she'll moan that there's not enough traffic, and it's really hard to be holier than thou when cars are protesting that cyclists are holding them up, costing the country billions in lost revenue.......................
I'm going to email her, and see what she has to say for herself. I'll report back.
Is she writing this from prison or something? Has she no idea what the real world is?
Where do I sign up for this subsidised car travel, £3000 would do nicely... Car drivers pay however many tens of billions of pounds a year in tax and £3-4b gets spent on the roads. £23b deficit my arse.
Why should it bother her anyway? Haven't cyclists got their own lane on the roads now, I think it was where pedestrains used to walk...
The real problem is, there are a lot of ignorant prople like her who have a place to live, travel 1-2 miles to work each day, then go home again. They don't even see the problems they are arguing for.
Some people just need some sense
into them.
Where do I sign up for this subsidised car travel, £3000 would do nicely... Car drivers pay however many tens of billions of pounds a year in tax and £3-4b gets spent on the roads. £23b deficit my arse.
Why should it bother her anyway? Haven't cyclists got their own lane on the roads now, I think it was where pedestrains used to walk...
The real problem is, there are a lot of ignorant prople like her who have a place to live, travel 1-2 miles to work each day, then go home again. They don't even see the problems they are arguing for.
Some people just need some sense
into them.
funkihamsta said: Anyone managed to find "The True Cost of Motoring" by University College. What is University College? Does this is exist or is it a nice important sounding non-entity that is close-ish to UCL or the collegiate system of Oxbridge to sound legitimate without any further enquiry?
All shite.
There is a University college in oxford how good it is i do not know,But do not confuse it with university college oxford as this is not the same.
The study into the true cost of motoring is mentioned here www.transformscotland.org.uk/info/docs/WPbriefing.html
if you want to follow it up further
It looks like a simple cost versus taxation study without considering the actual economic benefits that private transport enables. ie direct jobs created by the use of cars. Will find the study if time permits.
It doesen't seem to consider the economic benefit of people actually being able to conduct their affairs at their own discretion.
It's not as if any money spent on provision of roads etc just disappears. It all contributes to the economy.
Remember......
Ask 7 economists for an opinion and you will get 8 answers.
if you want to follow it up further
It looks like a simple cost versus taxation study without considering the actual economic benefits that private transport enables. ie direct jobs created by the use of cars. Will find the study if time permits.
It doesen't seem to consider the economic benefit of people actually being able to conduct their affairs at their own discretion.
It's not as if any money spent on provision of roads etc just disappears. It all contributes to the economy.
Remember......
Ask 7 economists for an opinion and you will get 8 answers.
mad jock said: Stupid bitch. She should bring her bike to Edinburgh
Anyone riding a bike in Edinburgh has to be mad! Not just because they are simply riding a bike....but because ALL LRT bus drivers are mad and enjoy partaking in erratic manouvers. They seem to view cyclists as a nuisance and frequently intimidate the cyclist. As someone who is forced to use public transport in Edinburgh, I can honestly see why people don't use it: it's cramped, not very clean (no scruffy student jokes please) and simply not as convinient as your own car although it may be cheaper at $1.80 a day. Those figures seem to hark back to early Earthscan books. Sort of dogmatic drivel l used to read when l didn't understand the attraction of high capacity combustion engines. These in turn refer to even earlier David Pearce stuff....so where's the holy grail of original numbers.
What happened to VAT on purchase from new, MOT, parts and service each year?
If the average mileage for a car is 12,000 per year and about 30mpg then the amount spent is about £1300 pounds/yr on fuel. Of this 80% or about £1000 is tax.
If there are 23,000,000 cars then this translates to £23bn straight away of fuel taxes!
Is the figure not nearer £50 plus billion. After all why is it that ONLY two very obvious sources of financial pros (fuel and road tax) are included but in the con side, even noise costs (in billions!) are costed!
>> Edited by funkihamsta on Monday 24th February 13:54
What happened to VAT on purchase from new, MOT, parts and service each year?
If the average mileage for a car is 12,000 per year and about 30mpg then the amount spent is about £1300 pounds/yr on fuel. Of this 80% or about £1000 is tax.
If there are 23,000,000 cars then this translates to £23bn straight away of fuel taxes!
Is the figure not nearer £50 plus billion. After all why is it that ONLY two very obvious sources of financial pros (fuel and road tax) are included but in the con side, even noise costs (in billions!) are costed!
>> Edited by funkihamsta on Monday 24th February 13:54
She's taken her "facts" from T2000's randomly generated hysteria machine. I hate this sort of crap, where people link unrelated facts to validate their spurious beliefs e.g. "Alongside the increase in traffic in recent years has been a dramatic rise in the incidence of asthma." Two true pieces of research, but NOT causally related. Easy to sound clever, and righteous, isn't it?
I was going to reply, but it takes too long to collate a letter with proper research back-up, and she wouldn't listen anyway, becasue the thinking in her letter isn't original. I have saved the start of the letter, so I might finish it tomorrow....
I was going to reply, but it takes too long to collate a letter with proper research back-up, and she wouldn't listen anyway, becasue the thinking in her letter isn't original. I have saved the start of the letter, so I might finish it tomorrow....
this chap puts it in perspective, same site
www.topgear.com/content/my_topgear/write_turns/2003_02/12/
www.topgear.com/content/my_topgear/write_turns/2003_02/12/
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