Tuesday - July 26, 2011

UK to unveil travel police?

Where do we begin to try and explain this bit of planet saving pc lunacy?
I guess we don’t try and explain it except to say it all part of what I term, ‘Libthink.’
Which says all that needs saying.
Take a look.

Doorstep lectures on travelling without your car as army of advisers teach families about ‘sustainable travel’
By STEVE DOUGHTY

Hundreds of thousands of families are to be visited by travel advisers who will tell them to stop driving their cars.

Armed with bus timetables and cycle route maps, they will knock on doors and lecture on the need for ‘sustainable travel’.
The doorstep campaign by the army of taxpayer-funded ‘personal travel advisers’ is part of a £156million effort by ministers to persuade people to leave their cars at home when they go to work or the shops, or take children to school.

Of 39 councils who will share the ‘sustainable transport’ money, 32 have said they will use some of it for advising individuals on how they can get around without their car.  About 300,000 families are liable to get a visit.

Darlington has already run trials using paid advisers to go door to door. It will now get £375,000 for a scheme to visit all 45,900 homes in the area.
In Hereford, the 74,282 homes in the city will be visited twice, once for advisers to give information on public transport and cycling, and three months later to check whether the advice is being followed.

Blackpool has offered its residents a questionnaire on the way they travel, which asks for personal details, information about journeys made, and asks questions such as ‘what prevents you from cycling?’ and ‘do you know where your nearest bus stop is?’
Ministers have told MPs that the spending is good value for taxpayers.

Liberal Democrat Transport Minister Norman Baker said in a statement to MPs that the money will ‘support authorities in delivering local economic growth while cutting carbon emissions from transport.’
He added: ‘The Department is confident that the overall package of proposals included in this first round represents high value for money.’
John O’Connell of the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: ‘Schemes like these represent poor value for money for taxpayers. They don’t address the real issues facing commuters on congested roads or packed trains.

‘With tighter budgets, silly schemes should be consigned to the scrapyard.’

On the streets of Darlington last week travel advisers said they were meeting mixed success. With trolleys full of pamphlets in tow, Alex Clarke, 21, and Chris Chance, 28, who were on contract for the council, said some members of the public were more receptive than others.
Mr Chance said: ‘Some people we’ve spoken to have never considered using any other form of transport than a car.

source

“Some people we’ve spoken to have never considered using any other form of transport than a car.”
Gee ... I can’t imagine why not.  Can you?  Maybe convenience and privacy has something to do with this odd habit. Or not having to share a ride somewhere with noisy,unruly teens and screaming babies.  Maybe?

Posted by peiper     on 07/26/2011 at 11:21 AM   
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