Starting a new thread to continue on from here:

https://forum.fellrunner.org.uk/show...l=1#post653782

That post and replies until we get to:

Quote Originally Posted by Witton Park View Post
If local public transport here in Blackburn was free, which is bus based, I still wouldn't use it. It isn't much cop whatever the price as the busses tend to go places I don't want to go.

I might use the local train service. I have regular trips to Burnley and I have Cheery Tree station 2-3 minutes walk away.
But even then, my wife has gone to Burnley to watch the football on a weeknight on the train, returned to Burnley Central after the match to find no trains - they've been cancelled, and I had to go and pick her up.

The quality of the service, frequency, reliability and the destination options are more important than free, as long as the price is affordable.

Anyway, this is a Brexit thread, so if this is up for further discussion, perhaps open a public transport thread.
I agree completely, the point being that the privatisation of public transport has rendered the less popular routes unprofitable and subsequently abandoned.

Completely unacceptable in my book.

The reality should be a public transport system that works, not one that is fundamentally broken on practically every level. In fact I would go as far to say that the only way our current public transport system works is to take money from public taxation by way of subsidies and to take money from our pockets directly by way of extortion.

Also, the recent introduction of peak times int he afternoon has effectively established a third class of transport:

1st class empty carriages for rich people who have more money than sense (£444 return from Leeds to London at peak time - I am not joking the is the actual cost - look it up - who does that?)

2nd class for working folk who just about manage to afford the extortion

3d class for peasants like me who can't afford to travel at peak times

Whenever I buy a ticket I always ask for scumbag class, the ticket sellers at the train station are cool, they agree and laugh along with me