Defense Against Bombings

[jobo]

It wasn't that bad in the 50s, 60s and 70s, it's an urban myth now that BR was so bad, compared to the fares charges now, the lack of trains, trains cancelled, the over crowding, BR was never that bad. Plus until the then government had Beeching cut the railways up you could get a train to most towns and even villages.

br was quite literally a joke in the,1970s, they were either on strike or the train had broken or quite possibly both

 

[Runs With Fire]

This whole train thing is funny. Around here trains are dinosaurs. They pretty much ceased with paved roads and modern highways. The old train depot towns, alot of them are too small to list on a map now.

 

[Tez3]

br was quite literally a joke in the,1970s, they were either on strike or the train had broken or quite possibly both

and you think what we have now is better? Now that's funny!

 

[jobo]

and you think what we have now is better? Now that's funny!

i didn't say now was better, i suppose it depends on what you want, if its 2am on a freezing cold,station then better is if the train turns up, if you are on your way to London for an interview, then not breaking down is better,

but pn the other hand they are a bit pricey, if it's peak time to London, you can fly to new York for much the same price

 

[Runs With Fire]

I almost forgot, duck and cover.

 

[oftheherd1]

The only passenger train I know of is the amtrak. Which no one likes because they can't operate without government grants. They only have a couple depots in the state in downtown areas. there are a few freight trains, but they're mostly up across the bridge in the UP. As for busses, never seen one outside of the city or metropolitan areas. There are school busses, but I didn't go to school. My town has around 2500 people and that's average for the area. I think the other issue with public transit is no one around here would pay another penny in taxes. No private buss company would consider service here.

That must be regional. In the northern Virginia area there are quite a few bus routes, as part of the Metro system which also runs the subway trains. In many areas there are Connecter bus routes that connect other routes, or go where they don't. Also several companies run commuter buses to and from the suburbs to different areas, such as Washington, DC, or other job heave areas. Washington, DC, even had a short trolley system, with the possibility of expanding it. As I understand it, Woodbridge, VA, has a bus system that will take you wherever in its covered area you want to go. It will also pick you up. They have bus stops, but then take you other places. There is a Virginia Railway Express, from Richmond, VA to Washington, DC, with a spur to/from Manassas. It's mostly a commuter system, but as I understand, it does make runs throughout the day. AMTRAK is like all railway lines. Not meant to service the public reliably or inexpensively. I once wanted to take a trip to near Louisville, KY. By train it would have taken about 2 1/2 days, being routed through Chicago and down to Arkansas then back to Louisville. The bus was not as comfortable, but OK. It also took less than 24 hours.

EDIT: We also have an unusual system called slugging. People queue up at different places and wait for cars to stop by and pick them up. Many are set up by counties, and provide lots of free parking for slugs. So, from where I live, I can pick up two slugs and therefore have three people in my car. That allows me to travel in an HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) lane, which is a special lane reserved for vehicles of three or more people. In my case, I take them to the Pentagon and drop them off. Some may work there, the rest take the subway or a bus to downtown DC to wherever, or close to, their work location. The unwashed masses must travel in the 'mainline' lanes which are mostly pretty crowded and therefore slower, and more difficult to navigate/maneuver in. There are locations in DC where people queue up, and I pick them up there and take them to one of the county slug lots.

A recent innovation is a company in Australia that tracks vehicles by a module that mounts on the inside of the windshield. It is switched to say I have three people, or that I do not. If I have three, I travel for free. If I don't, I must pay into an account that accepts the fees for the company. Also, the fees are variable, depending on the amount of traffic in the mainline lanes. The company is supposed to maintain the billing towers, signage, and highway. I am sure they will do a fine job for the next 50 years. They have already been caught with some questionable billing practices, that I think they have been forced to discontinue. If you were caught traveling without the module, you would be fined. If you didn't pay it immediately, and especially if you ignored it, they would wait for a while and the suddenly send a bill for thousands of dollars in interest. I don't understand everything I know about all that. My taxes don't seem to have gone down either.

 

[Runs With Fire]

That must be regional. In the northern Virginia area there are quite a few bus routes, as part of the Metro system which also runs the subway trains. In many areas there are Connecter bus routes that connect other routes, or go where they don't. Also several companies run commuter buses to and from the suburbs to different areas, such as Washington, DC, or other job heave areas. Washington, DC, even had a short trolley system, with the possibility of expanding it. As I understand it, Woodbridge, VA, has a bus system that will take you wherever in its covered area you want to go. It will also pick you up. They have bus stops, but then take you other places. There is a Virginia Railway Express, from Richmond, VA to Washington, DC, with a spur to/from Manassas. It's mostly a commuter system, but as I understand, it does make runs throughout the day. AMTRAK is like all railway lines. Not meant to service the public reliably or inexpensively. I once wanted to take a trip to near Louisville, KY. By train it would have taken about 2 1/2 days, being routed through Chicago and down to Arkansas then back to Louisville. The bus was not as comfortable, but OK. It also took less than 24 hours.

EDIT: We also have an unusual system called slugging. People queue up at different places and wait for cars to stop by and pick them up. Many are set up by counties, and provide lots of free parking for slugs. So, from where I live, I can pick up two slugs and therefore have three people in my car. That allows me to travel in an HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) lane, which is a special lane reserved for vehicles of three or more people. In my case, I take them to the Pentagon and drop them off. Some may work there, the rest take the subway or a bus to downtown DC to wherever, or close to, their work location. The unwashed masses must travel in the 'mainline' lanes which are mostly pretty crowded and therefore slower, and more difficult to navigate/maneuver in. There are locations in DC where people queue up, and I pick them up there and take them to one of the county slug lots.

A recent innovation is a company in Australia that tracks vehicles by a module that mounts on the inside of the windshield. It is switched to say I have three people, or that I do not. If I have three, I travel for free. If I don't, I must pay into an account that accepts the fees for the company. Also, the fees are variable, depending on the amount of traffic in the mainline lanes. The company is supposed to maintain the billing towers, signage, and highway. I am sure they will do a fine job for the next 50 years. They have already been caught with some questionable billing practices, that I think they have been forced to discontinue. If you were caught traveling without the module, you would be fined. If you didn't pay it immediately, and especially if you ignored it, they would wait for a while and the suddenly send a bill for thousands of dollars in interest. I don't understand everything I know about all that. My taxes don't seem to have gone down either.

Never saw a carpool or hov lane. It sounds a little silly. There's busses around most bigger cities, but I stay out of those areas. I much prefer the open road.

 

[oftheherd1]

Never saw a carpool or hov lane. It sounds a little silly. There's busses around most bigger cities, but I stay out of those areas. I much prefer the open road.

If you have that option, lucky for you. In this area, you would be competing with several thousands other people trying to get to their work on time, certain they need to do so more than you. And several hundred busses also use the highway, full of people trying to get to work. I guess you would have to live here and compete for space and time to get to work, to understand. It actually works surprisingly well. Unless you have a major wreck on a highway.

 

[Runs With Fire]

If you have that option, lucky for you. In this area, you would be competing with several thousands other people trying to get to their work on time, certain they need to do so more than you. And several hundred busses also use the highway, full of people trying to get to work. I guess you would have to live here and compete for space and time to get to work, to understand. It actually works surprisingly well. Unless you have a major wreck on a highway.

I honestly don't think I could handle that crowd every day. I have ten neighbors within a mile of my house and I feel crowded.

 

[JR 137]

I'm waiting for the day when I can get into my car, tell it where to go, optionally tell it which way I'd like to go, and it takes me there while I take a nap or do something else.

That would be great for family vacations where we leave late at night. I'd tell it where to go, and it would wake us up when we get there.

I thought we were supposed to have that by the year 2000, along with flying cars, jet packs, and holographic TVs. I guess they were off by several decades.

 

[PhotonGuy]

I thought we were supposed to have that by the year 2000, along with flying cars, jet packs, and holographic TVs. I guess they were off by several decades.

We have all of those thing right now, although flying cars and holographic TVs are still in the prototype stages and generally not yet available to the standard consumer. As for jet packs, I believe they were first invented in the 60s or maybe a little later.

 

[oftheherd1]

I honestly don't think I could handle that crowd every day. I have ten neighbors within a mile of my house and I feel crowded.

It was severe culture shock for me when I first got here.