Quote:
Originally Posted by MGDavid
I thought they already did, isn't that why they're in such a parlous state? They certainly appear to resist most forms of progress and change.
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Isn't their current complaint about the idea of only having a driver on the train, apart from driving the train he will become responsible for all the other activities that guards, ticket collectors etc. perform.
If I was a passenger I'd be worried about that as well for many reasons.
Given the prices they charge and the other costs involved it seems ludicrous that the rail companies feel the need to save one wage per train, but they need to keep their huge profit margins.
As Andy97 said there is an alternative to road and rail and other countries still make use of their inland waterways (and are upgrading them), but they do have the advantage of being a bit wider than the average UK canal!
The problem is that building roads is the cheapest upfront option (and cheapest is always the preferred UK option) looking at the long rather than short term future/costs would make a difference.
The cost of all such infrastructure is high but other countries manage to pay for it - however they tend to have higher tax rates.
As with all the other services that have been decimated the choice would seem to be you either pay more tax or you get what you aren't paying for.