Electric cars.

If they really wanted to get cars off the road they'd do something about public transport and get people using buses, trams, metros and trains. As it is, some train lines are running at capacity and/or on very old stock so no room for improvements in capacity or speed.

I can't speak for the rest of France but in my region - Pays de la Loire - buses and trams are free on Saturdays on the ground that that encourages people to go shopping or get out and socialise in shops, cafés, bars and restaurants, go the cinema or theatre etc thus keeping the economic and social wheels turning.

Our village has a very limited bus service and the nearest stop is a good 4 to 5km walk from here but services in towns and cities are very good.

In Belgium, OH's season ticket for the 60 mile round trip to the office was paid for by his employer.

 

When you look at Norway and how they are rethinking the EV revolution, then reducing ownership does seem to be on the agenda.

The current EV market share in Norway is in the 80% mark, backed by numerous subsidies, but that's changing.

By offering subsidies on the car cost, they offered free parking, free tolls, free ferry crossings, all to speed up the uptake in EV's. Now they are saying it is causing more traffic congestion, especially in cities and larger towns, why use public transport if you can park for free. They even made it law that EV owners must be charged for parking, whether it is the same as ICE vehicles, I'm not sure.

So they have started to reduce subsidies across all areas, to reduce ownership of cars. They say it is, to reduce traffic congestion and energy expenditure. Maybe the push for all these EV's and heat pumps has put a bigger strain on renewables than they expected.

So Norway can brag about having the biggest EV market share market in Europe, well probably anywhere, yet they have one of lowest usages of public transport in Europe. I know its a mainly rural country but they invested and built bridges and tunnels for automobiles, instead of public transport, so they now have the highest percentage of car ownership in Europe.

 

Well, they do also have a lot of North Sea gas and oil @gks, so they had fuel on ap for private car ownership. All along, they've invested the income from that to benefit the nation as a whole - infrastructure, social support, schools etc - rather than selling drilling rights to the highest bidder and lining private share-holder pockets as the UK govts have.

Now they just need to be as inventive and socially responsible with developing public transport systems to wean people off private cars, at least in towns and cities.

 

When I was getting physio for sciatica late last year, I was told I should walk at least a mile a day. It's just over half a mile to the bus stop in the little town where we live, so I can get in my mile (and more) by walking to the bus and back, and walking round Limerick. The bus service around here has improved, with 5 buses each way per day, though it's no use planning to go to anything in the evening - the last bus back is at 8.25pm... sometimes using the car is inevitable.

 

For me, the cost of public transport in Ireland is zero. Any Irish resident over the age of 66 can travel free on buses, trams & trains, in northern Ireland as well as the Republic.

 

In the past, our local towns were connected by the railway lines, mainly for the mining and getting workers to and from the mines, we had an abundance of buses. Now when the council demolished the old council buildings they gave permission for it to become a carpark. They granted permission to the nuclear industry to build offices in the town, which resulted in more cars needing more parking. Local buildings have been knocked down in the past and we were told the area's would be used for redevelopment, what do we get, carparks.
Our local authorities now complain about traffic congestion, just like the locals, yet they granted permission to allow more parking sites to open in the first place.

Then and now of Whitehaven

 

There's a bit of worn out white paint (a cycle lane) near me. It has been closed for a week's as there's roadworks there. For a while, there was a sign saying 'cyclists dismount'. This annoyed me on principle. I go past in my car so it didn't directly affect me, but it annoyed me because of the sloppy lack of attention to detail in the planning, and the inadvertent divisive message it sent out. You see, anyone who knows the highway code, which ought to be every road user, would know that just because the worm out white paint (cycle lane) is closed, doesn't mean the route is closed to cyclists, who may perfectly legally simply ride along the road with all the other traffic.

I thought about complaining, but never got round to it. But I think somebody must have because after about 2 weeks the 'cyclists dismount' sign has been swapped with a new sign saying cycle lane closed.

This is relevant to the topic of alternatives to driving because to me it highlights a big part of the problem. Presumably multiple people must have approved the signage for those roadworks. Whoever is doing the works must have had a say, and I presume the council probably wanted to have their say on the plans and the appropriate signage. They all got it wrong, and sent out a message effectively saying cyclists are unwelcome. Basically, get off your bike because this road is not for you. With that sort of message, whether intentional or not, how can we ever expect harmony between all road users, and for people to feel like they have genuine choices about how they get about.

 

Sorry, but I think you are living in an idealised world. It takes longer for me to walk to the bus stop than it takes to drive into town. Even once at the bus stop it's a lottery whether or not the bus arrives, and I'm only a few miles from town and what is supposedly a major bus route. We actually did use the bus today and, surprise surprise, the bus was late. I actually checked times before we left home and the previous bus arrived early. How are people supposed to plan anything with that kind of service?
We have family members who live just over 3 miles away as the crow flied, but it would take them about 1 1/2 hours by bus (each way). If you had to choose between a 10 minute journey by car and 1 1/2 hours (assuming the bus actually arrived) which would you take.
This takes me back to my original point that until there is an effective and regular public transport system, people will continue to use their cars.

 

Nope. I live in the real world. Hence why I noted that sometimes the car is the only viable option, but that we should try not to use the car where practical alternatives exist.

Most people see only the now. It is currently easier to just drive. So they just drive. I tend to see trends. I see problems getting worse, and authorities putting steps in to tackle it. Those steps are not what most people want, but whats the alternative? Ignore the problem until it gets so bad that none of us can drive anywhere because the roads are just chock full gridlocked.

 

Because they're mostly incompetent. Even if there are any that actually have logical brains, they're kind of stuck because they can't do anything without the committee. I'm not suggesting that the measures put in to control the volume of traffic are the best measures, just that there will be measures. We all collectively get to play a part in what happens. You only have to address a problem if there is a problem. So if we choose to contribute to the problem, we can't really pretend to be surprised when our freedoms are impinged upon in a half arsed effort to address the problem we're contributing to.

 

Some local authorities clearly haven't a clue and don't do joined-up-thinking but I get the feeling there's a greater emphasis on community and socialism with a small S here and a decent public transport system at an affordable price is seen as adding value to local life in towns and cities. There is a bus that serves our village but only for morning and evening coommuter runs to La Roche-s-Yon.

Clearly, as I have chosen to live in the sticks, I have to go everywhere by car but several ladies in my patchwork club in les Sables d'Olonne use their local bus services more than their cars. Others pick up friends to come to patch and go to other activities. Saves on petrol and parking. Ithas to be said that Les Sables is a richer council than mine, has a huge tourist population from Easter to Halloween and provides buses and navettes to keep car journeys down as well as limiting access to the main beaches to public transport, foot or bike.

 

I see using the bus as going back in time 50 yrs.
I remember walking to the bus stop when I started work and you have to fit in with their timetable, miss the bus or the bus is full and you are late for work.

I remember going into town when I was young and it just took ages, the bus route went all round the houses and they still do. They have to, but its never going to be best way of getting from A to B.

 

As the UK registered growth in new car registrations for March, the same can not be said across the EU, with the big EU markets seeing a drop off in new car registrations. The VW group has reported a 24% decline in sales of electric cars to the European market, with BMW posting a 27% increase.

The Market share of BEV's in France for March was 18.9% in contrast to Italy where it was 3.3% and not much better in Spain at 4.4%. If it wasn't for the fleet sector in the UK, the market share of BEV's would not be much better than Spain.

March sees new-car deliveries drop in big EU markets (autovistagroup.com)

Everyone has been saying that China will play a big part in increasing the sales of BEV, yet BYD who took the number one spot last year for selling more BEV's than any other manufacturer have seen their first quarter sales decline by 42%.

The big worry for carmakers: what if the EV slowdown is not a blip?

Lawrence Stroll has come out and said they will continue to manufacturer ICE vehicles until they are legally not allowed. The ICE version of the Fiat panda was due to end in 2027, that has now been knocked back to 2030. Many manufacturers over the last few weeks have come out and said they were delaying bringing new BEV models to market.

If the BEV market was the next best thing, why are mandates and subsidies in place to compel sales.