Newsbot Posted March 25, 2007 Share Posted March 25, 2007 The Isle of Man tourist railway could be used to free up the island's roads during the TT festival. Source : http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/...man/6493535.stm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
localyokel Posted March 25, 2007 Share Posted March 25, 2007 The Isle of Man tourist railway could be used to free up the island's roads during the TT festival. Source : http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/...man/6493535.stm It takes 1 hour 25 minutes to get to Port Erin on the train, who is going to do that when the Southern road route is never that bad and at least if traffic is slow you can sit in your car and listen to your own CD's. The only people who would use this service are the people who already use the bus or express coaches to get to work, so you take two buses off the road maximum and make people sit on a train journey that takes longer than the bus to get home. Not really that inspired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Tatlock Posted March 25, 2007 Share Posted March 25, 2007 It takes 1 hour 25 minutes to get to Port Erin on the train, who is going to do that when the Southern road route is never that bad and at least if traffic is slow you can sit in your car and listen to your own CD's... Not really that inspired. I take it you're not chuffed with this idea? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not the Comfy Chair Posted March 25, 2007 Share Posted March 25, 2007 The Isle of Man tourist railway could be used to free up the island's roads during the TT festival. Source : http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/...man/6493535.stm It takes 1 hour 25 minutes to get to Port Erin on the train, who is going to do that when the Southern road route is never that bad and at least if traffic is slow you can sit in your car and listen to your own CD's. The only people who would use this service are the people who already use the bus or express coaches to get to work, so you take two buses off the road maximum and make people sit on a train journey that takes longer than the bus to get home. Not really that inspired. According to the timetable, it is 57 minutes in either direction. This may be a little longer than the road journey, but it will be a lot less stressful. Where did 1 hour 25 minutes come from? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buggane Posted May 2, 2007 Share Posted May 2, 2007 These are on which to me is good news, especially the fact they are using the steam trains, but have found out that its going to cost £6 return and you cannot use your season pass. I'm a bit dissapointed its costing this much to be honest, thats £30 a week which is double the price of the bus, while I'd like to support the trains I feel hard of paying double (especially as I'll have to leave work 1/2 hour early each day, which is an extra cost) I know that its unlikely car drivers will opt for the train rather than drive (according to the surveys I've heard about) but what do other public transport users think ?, is anybody going to use the train Agree, no idea where they got the idea the train takes 1 hour 25 minutes, it doesn't, it takes approximately the same time as the bus / coach Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah 01 Posted May 2, 2007 Share Posted May 2, 2007 The penny just hasn't dropped with government at national or local (IOM) level with regard to the promotion and use of public transport - there has to be an incentive to get 'the driver' out of his/her car. In this day and age the incentive has to be financial aallied to practicality. So, with this little train idea, for the 2 weeks over TT, you make it £1 each way, for example. Want to cut down traffic in Douglas (permanently)? - Park and Ride - but don't charge the same rate to park as the town centre car parks. Parking and return fare £1 - simple. Slash bus fares and up the frequencies. What use are 3 buses a day from Peel to the airport? There HAS to be an incentive and the size of the incentive will be proportional to the TRUE determination a government has to make such schemes succeeed rather than the meaningless and insincere rhetoric spouted by politicians. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartT Posted May 2, 2007 Share Posted May 2, 2007 The Isle of Man tourist railway could be used to free up the island's roads during the TT festival. Source : http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/...man/6493535.stm It takes 1 hour 25 minutes to get to Port Erin on the train, who is going to do that when the Southern road route is never that bad and at least if traffic is slow you can sit in your car and listen to your own CD's. The only people who would use this service are the people who already use the bus or express coaches to get to work, so you take two buses off the road maximum and make people sit on a train journey that takes longer than the bus to get home. Not really that inspired. According to the timetable, it is 57 minutes in either direction. This may be a little longer than the road journey, but it will be a lot less stressful. That's 57 minutes ran as a tourist toy as well. They have the capabilities of far greater speeds when ran properly. The cutting out of stops such as Santon + Port Soderick would make the journey's far faster. I seem to recall that the capability's of the engines was 50 MPH, which means they could do Douglas to Port Erin in well under 1/2hr. Also the improved trackwork's got to help. Got to agree about the fare thing though, it should be pitched at the same level as the bus, to make things more economical, and season ticket holders should at least qualify for a discount (indeed if there were a free journeys, it may well encourage more people to get on season tickets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manxman8180 Posted May 3, 2007 Share Posted May 3, 2007 Park and Ride - but don't charge the same rate to park as the town centre car parks. Parking and return fare £1 - simple. Slash bus fares and up the frequencies. They tried a very reasonable P&R scheme a few years back. People are just too lazy. Whilst there are spaces within yards of their office, they will continue to use them. For instance, the Car Park at the MEA Power station is still only £1 AFAIK(haven't checked for a while so don't flame me) and then it's only a good 5 minute walk into the Centre of Douglas, all fairy on the level as well, so no great hike. The car park is never full. The only way to get it to work, is to ban cars from the Centre. In Paris (IIRC) they alternate access between odd and even number plates, which cuts the congestion by half. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buggane Posted May 3, 2007 Share Posted May 3, 2007 Interesting replies, while I'm all in favour of using the trains and love to travel by train over here, I cannot understand why the government is not pushing 'Lift Share' heavily as this is the simplest and most effective way of cutting traffic, I know most people want to drive their own car, on their own, from their door at home to their door at work (recent FOE survey over here showed that 85% !!!! of the traffic coming into Douglas in the morning had one person per car), but surely people would be prepared to share lifts during TT week, could easily half the traffic, surely thats an effective solution as the train will only ever solve a small part of the problem and get a couple of hundred cars off the road at the very most. Or maybe they could discourage people who live in Douglas from driving to work as that would prevent a lot of the bottlenecking too, seeing what the traffic is like most nights trying to get out of Douglas I can only imagine its going to be ridiculous in TT week, maybe it'll be OK, guess we'll have to wait and see Could possibly start a forum topic on here for people to find other people to share lifts with ??? - would people consider it just for 2 weeks ??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lonan3 Posted May 4, 2007 Share Posted May 4, 2007 Interesting replies, while I'm all in favour of using the trains and love to travel by train over here, I cannot understand why the government is not pushing 'Lift Share' heavily as this is the simplest and most effective way of cutting traffic, I know most people want to drive their own car, on their own, from their door at home to their door at work (recent FOE survey over here showed that 85% !!!! of the traffic coming into Douglas in the morning had one person per car), but surely people would be prepared to share lifts during TT week, could easily half the traffic, surely thats an effective solution as the train will only ever solve a small part of the problem and get a couple of hundred cars off the road at the very most. From experience driving a taxi: when picking up two or three people - even from the same address - it can be virtually guaranteed that at least one won't be 'quite' ready but 'won't be a moment.'* This is only a mild irritation when you're going to be paid for the journey, but I'd imagine the thought of having to wait like that - especially if you're already concerned about finding a way through the traffic to get to work on time - could be quite stress-inducing. Car-sharing, I'd suggest, is wonderful in theory but not always so great in practice. *This phrase appears to mean 'at least five minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buggane Posted May 4, 2007 Share Posted May 4, 2007 Interesting replies, while I'm all in favour of using the trains and love to travel by train over here, I cannot understand why the government is not pushing 'Lift Share' heavily as this is the simplest and most effective way of cutting traffic, I know most people want to drive their own car, on their own, from their door at home to their door at work (recent FOE survey over here showed that 85% !!!! of the traffic coming into Douglas in the morning had one person per car), but surely people would be prepared to share lifts during TT week, could easily half the traffic, surely thats an effective solution as the train will only ever solve a small part of the problem and get a couple of hundred cars off the road at the very most. From experience driving a taxi: when picking up two or three people - even from the same address - it can be virtually guaranteed that at least one won't be 'quite' ready but 'won't be a moment.'* This is only a mild irritation when you're going to be paid for the journey, but I'd imagine the thought of having to wait like that - especially if you're already concerned about finding a way through the traffic to get to work on time - could be quite stress-inducing. Car-sharing, I'd suggest, is wonderful in theory but not always so great in practice. *This phrase appears to mean 'at least five minutes. Thats a very fair comment, and definately true, but the thing is like you say Car Sharing is great in theory but no so great in practice, but any alternative to people havin their own car, driving on their own door to door is going to involve some inconvenience or the problem is simply going to get worse and worse, its pretty inconvenient having to sit in traffic for ages due to the fact that there is so much traffic, its a difficult problem that nobody seems to have a real solution to, charging doesn't work as people just pay the charges (or can't afford to resulting in an unfair 'wealth' based system), public transport doesn't seem to work that well as there are a huge number of people who just won't do it (I get the half empty bus every day), I don't know what the answer is to be honest, but its interesting hearing peoples views Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebees Posted May 4, 2007 Share Posted May 4, 2007 I almost wish I lived in Port Erin so I could get the train to and from work, its so romantic (in an old fashioned way) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buggane Posted May 4, 2007 Share Posted May 4, 2007 I almost wish I lived in Port Erin so I could get the train to and from work, its so romantic (in an old fashioned way) Totally agree, if they had made the incentive strong enough to use the train (rather than charging twice as much as the bus) I think people may have tried it (they might still do) and found it to be a really enjoyable way to travel, no traffic, can sit and stare out the window, listen to your walkman or iPod or read, total hassle free way to travel and a great way to unwind after a day at work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lonan3 Posted May 4, 2007 Share Posted May 4, 2007 Totally agree, if they had made the incentive strong enough to use the train (rather than charging twice as much as the bus) I think people may have tried it (they might still do) and found it to be a really enjoyable way to travel, no traffic, can sit and stare out the window, listen to your walkman or iPod or read, total hassle free way to travel and a great way to unwind after a day at work You could even make a call on your mobile phone and say, very loudly: "I'm on the train!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebees Posted May 4, 2007 Share Posted May 4, 2007 I often think it was foolish of the government to get rid of the rail network here, it could have been sooo good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.