Hi Lee and Cllr Waseem
I am really sorry to hear, Lee about your dreadful experiences and of what things are like on public transport. Absolutely terrible!
The ultimate indignity, for skinny people like me who are more skeleton than fat and muscle, are the disgraceful hard plastic seats on Metro. This, when the appearance is of a cushion to sink into, is a shock to my posterior. £4 m for each "bus on rails" tram, too. Compared with £350,000 for an electric bus!
In compensation, it should be entirely free for everyone and not just my age group. No money is a lie when £106 billion is going into HS2 to only travel quicker between the Four Big Cities and two of their airports. And, £15 billion into replacing some trains and buses with trams by 2040 is a scandal.
We have to stop destroying railway lines by turning them into tramways, housing/trading estates and roads - and, at the most enormous expense, too!
We have to stop turning roads into tramways at the most enormous expense.
We have to abandon yet more tram extensions, immediately.
Put passenger trains on the 106 Kms of mothballed or freight-only railway lines in the W Midlands that includes the wasted, partly unused Worcester to Derby railway.
We have to encourage working from home to free up transport corridors for essential office-based and other workers who must use roads and public transport.
We must have every encouragement for short-distance commuting.
You must work in an office as near as possible to your home, if you really cannot work from home.
Able-bodied, healthy workers need to use their bikes, as I did for the last 15 to 20 years of my social work career - for both commuting and on official council business. I got 20p per mile by the time I retired at 65 in 2013 (but not for commuting by bike. But why not, as your reward for using your own energy instead of deepening the climate emergency?) I kept off busy main roads and took quieter, residential roads and cycle-walkways. And I kept fitter.
I now have 6 miles out of 8 miles on traffic-free cycle-walkways and towpaths into Brum city centre from Halesowen. The other two miles are on residential roads.
IN SUMMARY
If you use the car you pay CAZ or ULEZ charge.
If you use bus, train, tram you pay nothing.
If you use e-bike or self-powered bike for work commuting you get paid and, paid more if the bike is 100% self powered, fossil free.
What do you think, Lee?! AND WASEEM - please Sir?!
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