Services which don't exist but there could be demand for

[knutstransport]

RE: Services which don't exist but there could be demand for

(23/09/2015 19:28)Dentonian Wrote:  Driving Lessons 1986: £7 2015: £11 overall RPI: £22
Litre of Petrol 39.4p £1.08* £1.03
1.8 mile (e/w) return bus fare 52p £4.10 £1.38
Car parking ? FREE

Cost of petrol is just one of the costs involved in running a car. You also need insurance, tax, servicing, MOT and any routine repair work and probably Breakdown recovery. For younger/novice drivers insurance alone can cost more than buying a weekly bus ticket every week.

For driving lessons it's now recommended you take 2 hour lessons, whereas in the past it was recommended you take 1 hour lessons. A 2 hour lesson with the AA for my postcode area is £23.50. Then driving lessons isn't the full cost involved - there's the cost of the tests - both theory and practical and the cost of the licence, as well as the cost of obtaining photos for the licence. Most people don't pass the practical test the first time so have to pay the cost of the practical test at least twice and then if you don't own a car before passing your test you finish up having to pay the cost of a 1 hour driving lesson on top of the practical test cost so that you have the use of a car for it.

Car parking: FREE. Really? Some workplaces have a limited number of free parking spaces for employees but apparently there's some government regulations where newly built workplaces have to presume 50% of their employees will arrive by one of public transport, bike, walk or another employee's car. So if a developer applies to build an office block which could house 200 employees and they propose more than 100 parking spaces the application will get rejected. Some workplaces have no parking or if they do it's reserved for management and visitors only. While Greater Manchester has the luxury of free parking at most railway stations, that doesn't exist outside PTE areas except at very small stations with very limited parking.

I'm not sure why you've specifically quoted a 1.8 mile bus ride. Short bus rides are proportionally expensive and most people live more than 1.8 miles from their place of work. If there's a direct bus route with one operator you can easily pay £5 return for 10 or more miles each way. It's short journeys or where you have to change bus and operator that journeys are expensive, so more direct bus routes would make the bus more attractive.