<Kind of strange when it costs $60 to fill up your gas tank. That's why they ride trains over in England so much. >
No it's not. The main reason people use trains is that the roads are still largely in their medieval form. So congestion is horrendous. The London population has gone from 1 million to 12 million and from horse and cart and foot traffic to hordes of cars. But the roads haven't been improved sufficiently.
For me to drive from Woking to Moorgate would take me 2.5 hours at rush hour, if I actually made it at all. Then, parking would be horrendously expensive. By train, I could walk 15 minutes through the forest [an enjoyable experience], stand on a train [the express was full by the time it got to my stop] costing I forget how much, but not much, read the newspaper for 20 minutes while we zoomed at high speed non-stop to Waterloo Station. There, I'd go 'down The Drain' which was the underground to City, for about 50p and 5 minutes of travel, then walk 8 minutes along Moorgate to Britannic House or hop a bus if one was going by [another 20p perhaps].
I had a free car with free fuel [an experimental car] if I wanted it, but I didn't want it. Paying for myself by train was better.
Closer to London, the underground whizzes along much quicker than a car can move.
In 1974 I had a job delivering film around inner London. I used to run in preference to taking taxis because it was quicker and it wasn't much fun sitting stuck in a taxi [even though I wasn't paying for the taxi and didn't get the money whether I ran or rode]. I was fitter then. Now I'd sit comfy in the taxi!
London brought in a congestion charge recently to try to reduce traffic jams and wasted time. Now, people who don't value their time don't get to block other people who do.
The difference in price is, as you say, tax. Actually, North Sea oil isn't cheaper than USA oil. Oil is sold at auction and prices are uniform. If BP owns oil in the North Sea, they don't sell it any cheaper because it's Made in England. They sell it for what the market will bear.
Canada used to have this debate. People [Canadians] thought oil in Canada should be cheap because it's low cost oil in Alberta. Producers didn't agree and charge what the market will bear, which means exporting to the USA. Canadians whined like a fleet of Koreans and wanted cheap oil in Canada.
Mqurice
PS: People in Hong Kong and Japan take trains too. Same reason. Hong Kongese can afford cars, but driving them is not so much fun. There's no freeway to Las Vegas, no Highway 15 to San Diego running at 70 mph off-peak.
Rush hour is bad news in Los Angeles but they don't have trains, so cars it is! |
