The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Public transport can not do what a private car can: we may have to go
back to it, but not without a struggle.

I think this is the most intelligent comment in this whole thread! It
does have its compensations, though.

I remember using public transport exlusively,. It took all day to get
from Surrey to Devon, and involved a lot of strenuous lugging of luggage
between various platforms. In a car, its about 4 hours door to door,
that public transport never achieved.

I think that private transport has also increased the number of such
journeys that we make. Certainly public transport increased the spread
of people, and the distances they moved when it was the only option, so
I think it's reasonable to think that private transport probably did
similarly.

Public transport constrains where you can operate from as a normal
working person. I remember when my car broke, missing the only bus there
was, and being 3 hours late for work.

This is a pain. Three hours is a bit extreme, though. If I'm late for
a meeting (usually via the railway station) because of Stagecoach
messing up, I order a taxi. Makes some of the villages less useful,
but that might actually revitalise our cities beyond a few people
rattling around in lofts.

I think that as soon as more stroppy people start using the buses they
will improve. At the moment there's a placid passivity to bus users
because anyone who can't manage to sustain a "thank you, dear
Stagecoach, for the buses you deign to run" approach arranges
alternative transport. With a few acts of bottom-line hitting civil
disobedience, alternative services, reported "fact" checking, etc,
when the militants come on board, they'll get their act sorted.

[...]
The extra time it takes might be the death of you when you need to get
to A & E. Strangely the early adopters of small cars in the 50's were
(amongst others) doctors midwives and district nurses...

Judgeing by the speed of the ambulance response around here, YCBW. I
think Panther may well operate the best ambulance service within the
city. This is almost certainly not the fault of the service, of
course, it's probably caused by all the private transport they have to
battle through in those big vehicles (which are obviously ncessary for
someone who's badly hurt), and which they're increasingly getting
around by having a wider fleet.

Dan.