Things like free travel and medical cards should be means tested.
Extent it to everyone by all means but as long as poorer younger people have to pay for it then rich older people should have to as well.Ideologically, I would agree with you.
But in practice, the free travel is a real benefit to people and should be as widely available as possible.
In fact, for environmental reasons, I might extend it to everyone.
Brendan
Ironically free travel is the reason Brendan why rural roads around Cavan and presumably elsewhere are clogged with 30- & 40-seater buses that are 95% empty 95% of the time.In fact, for environmental reasons, I might extend it to everyone.
There is a local link bus network that caters mainly for free-travel customers. It's almost always empty and only survives by subsidy. There is never much of an upsurge in usage. It is grossly inefficient in environmental terms.Hi Tommy
Not sure I follow your train of thought here?
Is it that because there is free travel
The bus companies must cater for a possible upsurge in travel every day?
It's more of an observation than an argument, Brendan.Hi Tommy
I don't think that is an argument against free travel.
If free travel were abolished in the morning, the community would still demand a subsidised bus service.
Brendan
What is the contradiction? That public transport is less environmentally friendly than private cars?It's more of an observation than an argument, Brendan.
I don't buy the alarmism that the planet is burning and we all have to don sackcloth and ashes to save it, but many of the people including policymakers who do, also advocate for free or subsidised travel. There's a contradiction there.
No, that if the world is really burning, shouldn't we be having less transport rather than more?What is the contradiction? That public transport is less environmentally friendly than private cars?
Subsidize public transport. Get 30 people onto a bus. That's up to 30 cars car journeys being replaced by one bus trip. I don't see how that is a contradiction.No, that if the world is really burning, shouldn't we be having less transport rather than more?
By that logic, public transport should only be subsidised for car owners and drivers and should be discouraged for everyone else?Subsidize public transport. Get 30 people onto a bus. That's up to 30 cars car journeys being replaced by one bus trip. I don't see how that is a contradiction.
A small downside. Insignificant, I'd suggest, in the greater scheme of things and better than the status quo.By that logic, public transport should only be subsidised for car owners and drivers and should be discouraged for everyone else?
Otherwise, by the same logic, they're just being encouraged to burn the planet even more by taking unnecessary journeys.
That neither addresses nor rebuts the contradiction I spotted earlier.A small downside. Insignificant, I'd suggest, in the greater scheme of things and better than the status quo.
Well if you keep the little blighters away from the GAA pitches you won't be doing much to combat obesity. But you will save money, and maybe stop the planet burning.And judging by neighbours who drive their kids less than 1km to the local school / GAA pitches there are plenty of unnecessary journeys being undertaken now despite climate change / cost of living / obesity etc.
Maybe just let the planet burn, I didn't know that was happening, I though Climate Change was the issue, but either way in the longer term letting it happen will sort out many of the other problems as there'll be fewer people.That neither addresses nor rebuts the contradiction I spotted earlier.
Well if you keep the little blighters away from the GAA pitches you won't be doing much to combat obesity. But you will save money, and maybe stop the planet burning.
When was the last time you checked train fares in Ireland? Apart from Cork/Kerry most other journeys are very reasonable if you book online. What sort of price would be acceptable to you? Whilst 1m people may have access to free travel there certainly weren't hordes of them using it when I was going up and down from Galway to Dublin for a few months.Any time I'm abroad I use trains, it's the best way to travel. In Ireland they're too expensive and crowded, it's cheaper and more pleasant to drive and pay for parking. That's not great for the environment.
Why are they so expensive? At least in part because of free travel. Over 1m people have access to free travel, probably about 25%+ of the adult population.
Free travel means Irish Rail have had a free hand to demand price hikes. For Irish Rail they can charge what they like because a large section of their users simply don't care - the government is going to hand over the cash for them. (Many people don't understand how the system works - they genuinely think Irish Rail is letting them on for nothing).
Free travel is great for OAPs, but in a limited form - maybe off peak (like it used to be) and with a reasonable number of journeys per year before a reduced ticket price kicks in.
It should be subsidized for all. If you subsidize for car owners then that incentivizes car ownership which not all can afford or need.That neither addresses nor rebuts the contradiction I spotted earlier.
Never said anything about keeping them away from GAA pitches.Well if you keep the little blighters away from the GAA pitches you won't be doing much to combat obesity. But you will save money, and maybe stop the planet burning.
What sort of evidence would satisfy you, Derek?It would be great if Tommy could provide even a scintilla of evidence of the roads of Cavan being clogged up with empty buses, the timetables don't suggest a massive amount of bus journeys (empty or otherwise).
Timetable - TFI Local Link Cavan Monaghan
Our Regular Rural Services operate on a daily bases. They travel along a fixed route and run to a timetable with reduced stops on weekends. These local bus services are low cost accessible public transport services for anyone wishing to travel. Click on a service route number for more...www.locallinkcm.ie
Sadly, a family I know lost their teen daughter who was hit by a car while walking to/from our local GAA pitch some years ago, a few hundred yards from the pitch.I said unnecessary car journeys are being made to ferry kids ~600 meters to the pitches. It would be much better for all if such journeys were undertaken on foot (unless there's a need to drive e.g. disability, unsafe / no footpath etc.)
Then you're subsidising what the environmentalists call unnecessary journeys.It should be subsidized for all. If you subsidize for car owners then that incentivizes car ownership which not all can afford or need.
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