Railway Cuts

[The Bastard]

It's not a bad idea to downscale the railways. Maintaining all that trackway and Victorian engineering costs a fortune.

Keep the Snaefell mountain railway, convert the other tracks into cycling/e-bike trails to Ramsey and the south and fill them full of tourists/cycle racers/commuters/rented e-scooters. Stick the trains in a museum/theme attraction up at Jurby and let the spotters pay to see/ride/drive them. 

Over years to come, move all moveable MNH collections to Jurby and spin off MNH as a trust to run the whole heritage collection up there.  

Edited November 21, 2022 by The Bastard

[Dirty Buggane]

If the cyclists want all these trails why not pay a tax on bicycles that could be put use building and maintaining them.

Why should other people pay for your hobby, you seem happy to shell out thousands on a bike but not pay for some where to ride it.

Crash helmet on leathers checked, let's do this.

[The Bastard]

11 minutes ago, Dirty Buggane said:

If the cyclists want all these trails why not pay a tax on bicycles that could be put use building and maintaining them.

Why should other people pay for your hobby, you seem happy to shell out thousands on a bike but not pay for some where to ride it.

Crash helmet on leathers checked, let's do this.

Why don't you tax people to walk on the pavements too ? Make them wear safety gear, luminous jackets and hard hats and get insurance ?

All infrastructure is paid for out of taxes. If cyclists are paying any form of tax, they're funding the roads, alongside all the other things that taxes pay for. Vehicle Excise duty isn't ring-fenced for tarmac.

[0bserver]

2 hours ago, Nellie said:

Except he didn’t really say that. What he did infer was that if things got really desperate with Government finances the partial closure of the railways is the sort of thing they’d have to look at. Probably alongside lots of other none critical expenditure (and there’s a lot of that).

Some of you appear to be living in an alternative financial reality.

 

Things are going to be very desperate next spring when Big Al Allinson steps up for the budget. Pushing pensions up 10%, CS pay agreements, increased benefits, future energy support payments. 

 

Where do people think all this money is going to come from? 

[The Voice of Reason]

12 minutes ago, The Bastard said:

Why don't you tax people to walk on the pavements too ? Make them wear safety gear, luminous jackets and hard hats and get insurance ?

All infrastructure is paid for out of taxes. If cyclists are paying any form of tax, they're funding the roads, alongside all the other things that taxes pay for. Vehicle Excise duty isn't ring-fenced for tarmac.

No it’s not ring-fenced true.

But it’s a tax  ( call it what you will) that I have to pay as a motorist if I wish to use the roads. Not payable by cyclists 

And don’t give me any of this it’s an emissions tax malarkey. Plans are underway to tax emissionless electric cars in the UK. No doubt the IOM will follow.

And certainly none of this, well I have a car as well as my push bike for which I already pay this tax so shouldn’t have to pay for my bike. If you have two cars you’re not excused the tax on car B because you’ve already paid it on car A

[Passing Time]

5 minutes ago, The Voice of Reason said:

No it’s not ring-fenced true.

But it’s a tax  ( call it what you will) that I have to pay as a motorist if I wish to use the roads. Not payable by cyclists 

And don’t give me any of this it’s an emissions tax malarkey. Plans are underway to tax emissionless electric cars in the UK. No doubt the IOM will follow.

And certainly none of this, well I have a car as well as my push bike for which I already pay this tax so shouldn’t have to pay for my bike. If you have two cars you’re not excused the tax on car B because you’ve already paid it on car A

Do you never tire of your nonsense?

[The Bastard]

2 minutes ago, The Voice of Reason said:

No it’s not ring-fenced true.

But it’s a tax  ( call it what you will) that I have to pay as a motorist if I wish to use the roads. Not payable by cyclists 

And don’t give me any of this it’s an emissions tax malarkey. Plans are underway to tax emissionless electric cars in the UK. No doubt the IOM will follow.

And certainly none of this, well I have a car as well as my push bike for which I already pay this tax so shouldn’t have to pay for my bike. If you have two cars you’re not excused the tax on car B because you’ve already paid it on car A

The Voice of Gammon.

As a rabid, foaming-at-the-mouth car driver, I'd have thought you'd be in favour of removing cycle/e-scooter traffic from the roads onto its own infrastructure that keeps bikes away from cars, drops the fatality rate and helps the flow of traffic.  

Nobody's stopping you using the roads on an untaxed/exempt vehicle class. You're not taxed for using the roads, you're taxed for using a certain type of vehicle on the roads. The roads are largely paid for out of the same pot that funds the health service, the coastguard, the fire service, the police. 

ICE cars damage the roads and pollute the environment, costing society money for road repairs, clearing up the spills, disposing of dead vehicles and parts, treating the patients who've crashed, been knocked down or got diseases like cancer from the pollutants. It should be difficult and expensive to own cars, or we'd all have hundreds of them and every road would be triple-parked. Can't really say the same for bikes, so if someone chooses to ride instead of drive, that can only be a good thing. It's the same reason we tax cigarettes and not people breathing air.

I think you'd be on a sticky wicket trying to tax and insure six-year-olds riding their push-bikes around the estate. Would you have them all locked up and gassed when they couldn't pay ?

[The Voice of Reason]

12 minutes ago, The Bastard said:

The Voice of Gammon.

As a rabid, foaming-at-the-mouth car driver, I'd have thought you'd be in favour of removing cycle/e-scooter traffic from the roads onto its own infrastructure that keeps bikes away from cars, drops the fatality rate and helps the flow of traffic.  

Nobody's stopping you using the roads on an untaxed/exempt vehicle class. You're not taxed for using the roads, you're taxed for using a certain type of vehicle on the roads. The roads are largely paid for out of the same pot that funds the health service, the coastguard, the fire service, the police. 

ICE cars damage the roads and pollute the environment, costing society money for road repairs, clearing up the spills, disposing of dead vehicles and parts, treating the patients who've crashed, been knocked down or got diseases like cancer from the pollutants. It should be difficult and expensive to own cars, or we'd all have hundreds of them and every road would be triple-parked. Can't really say the same for bikes, so if someone chooses to ride instead of drive, that can only be a good thing. It's the same reason we tax cigarettes and not people breathing air.

I think you'd be on a sticky wicket trying to tax and insure six-year-olds riding their push-bikes around the estate. Would you have them all locked up and gassed when they couldn't pay ?

After ploughing through the above I’m not sure I am the rabid foaming at the mouth one here.

[monasqueen]

2 hours ago, offshoremanxman said:

There is certainly no need for the MER to operate further than Laxey. It makes total sense to end it there and turn the rest into a cycle and walkway to Ramsey. Most people must be bored s***less by the time they get to Laxey anyway. 

The best of the scenery is north of Laxey. What's to be bored with?

And some of the habitations that the MER passes through, such as Maughold, have no other public transport.

[The Voice of Reason]

32 minutes ago, Passing Time said:

Do you never tire of your nonsense?

I never tire of presenting reasonable arguments if that’s what you mean.

[monasqueen]

1 hour ago, The Bastard said:

Why don't you tax people to walk on the pavements too ? Make them wear safety gear, luminous jackets and hard hats and get insurance ?

They need to, with the sort of Lycra clad lunatics that are about, peddling furiously on walkways.

[The Bastard]

14 minutes ago, The Voice of Reason said:

I never tire of presenting reasonable arguments if that’s what you mean.

Let us know when you're going to start.

[Banker]

3 hours ago, offshoremanxman said:

There is certainly no need for the MER to operate further than Laxey. It makes total sense to end it there and turn the rest into a cycle and walkway to Ramsey. Most people must be bored s***less by the time they get to Laxey anyway. 

Have you actually been on the train or MER? The trip from Laxey to Ramsey is great with fabulous views & popular in summer months 

[HiVibes]

1 hour ago, monasqueen said:

peddling furiously on walkways.

Shared spaces you mean?

[offshoremanxman]

1 hour ago, monasqueen said:

The best of the scenery is north of Laxey. What's to be bored with?

And some of the habitations that the MER passes through, such as Maughold, have no other public transport.

You can’t reply play the public transport card for a service that’s only seasonal.