In reply to a post by RobertoS:

In reply to a post by roughbeast:

I suggest that any money spent on rail should be to reverse many of the Beeching cuts thus enabling rural areas and small towns to have access to the rail network without having to depend on cars, non-existent bus services and road freight.

Why, in the absence of rail services, are the bus services non-existent?

Shouldn't we just build another 5 very large cities like London , then nobody would need to live ''Out in the countryside'' and car and trains and buses and planes would become ''almost redundant'' , well except for flyinb to Gib or Spain or hot places on your Hols ??

WE could even reveive the plain old telephone and speak to people , not Text !!

In reply to a post by burakkucat:

And also scrap Europe.

tow it to Bangladesh for dismantling ?

I agree. HS2 (or as some wit said H2S because it stinks) will just soak ever increasing amounts of public money and should it ever be completed will cost a fortune to use by a decreasing number willing to pay the full fair.

Its an absolute disgrace,,the rail network in this country is horrendous & getting worse maybe the money would be better spent updating existing network instead of closing more & more stations etc etc, this proposed rail link would obviously only benefit the affluent few, why not try video conferencing & spend the money for the benefit of the average person.

In reply to a post by yarwell:

In reply to a post by burakkucat:

And also scrap Europe.

tow it to Bangladesh for dismantling ?

Of course!

Has anyone actually reduced their overall travel with improved broadband (rather than just incidentally displacing it)? It actually looks to me like a lot of broadband use is dedicated to increasing the amount of travel.

The trouble is that you can come up with figures to justify anything you want. Doesn't make it right, though.

Edited by deleted (Thu 22-Aug-13 14:30:07)

Well out here in the west of Wales, the old long distance bus network was withdrawn, it served too many places to be useful - making a trip to Cardiff or even Bristol too long to allow useful time before returning.

Not a case of convenience - more of necessity. Over an hour to get to a nearby town that is only 12 miles by road because the bus takes the scenic route. 2 hours travel for a 24 mile round trip is ludicrous, add waiting time and walking time to the bus stop and suddenly you are close to 12 hours for work and associated travel even though it is relatively local.

In reply to a post by smurf46:

Has anyone actually reduced their overall travel with improved broadband (rather than just incidentally displacing it)? It actually looks to me like a lot of broadband use is dedicated to increasing the amount of travel.

The trouble is that you can come up with figures to justify anything you want. Doesn't make it right, though.

I think thats a clear yes with internet shopping and research/education uses.