Fuel prices

[Kevin1964]

I don't really see what is being achieved by constant price hikes on fuel other than revenue making...I know people have to travel to work which costs those workers more in fuel but can you imagine those people who do drive but then decide to say..is this really worth the cost and say no and then give up driving...less fuel sold then means the goverment are not making as much in revenue because of the fuel not sold to those that have given up on the extorsion racket.....In my opinion no its not worth it and no matter what joe public do nothing is going to prevent these fuel prices

[Drift]

The government should help subsidise public transport but in reality they dont. I spent 23 years in the public transport industry on the road and in the head office, the government will not subsidise public transport outside London, the only concession they give is less VAT on fuel and they are starting to remove that concession from early next year.

Local authorities tender contracts out for unprofitable rural routes and evening and Sunday services in cities but these are now being cut back drastically, the company I worked for is estimating a 30 to 40% drop in tenders in the next few months ( lost me my job in pre emptive cut backs) but the government is not helping the travelling public one iota by investing in the infrastructure for bus use or helping companies reduce fares, in fact its quite the opposite.
Since deregulation in 1986 the bus companies have been privately owned and now have to pay dividends to share holders which squeezes things even tighter much the same as the rail companies.
When deregulation was implemented it was politicians who got in first and started up companies to buy out smaller companies, one was Margaret Thatcher through her husband Dennis Thatcher, he chaired an investment company called Endless Holdings that became British Bus and made millions buying small companies and selling them on.

The adverts you see telling you to take public transport are mostly from local authorities or the government and are hypocritical as it feeds their tax bin.

[Kevin1964]

I'm glad i don't use buses then if thats the case....My next door neighbour works for Ariva and he told me the buses are subsadised but then again he is a total pratt and i don't take any notice of what he tels me I should be a lot fitter in the new year then coz i'll do much more walking...Can't beat em so i'm walking more to save me money mind you saying that i've only covered 1300 miles in my fronty since june which means i do quite a lot of walking now

[Drift]

I worked for Arriva

Buses and companies themselves are not generally subsidised but non profitable routes are subsidised by the local travel authorities who are made up of local councils and these routes are operated by a tender process so companies bid to operate the routes that the wouldn't normally do due to costs and the local travel authorities pay for these like a contract, but with the cut backs the councils loath paying so services are reduced as the bus companies are privately owned and can not operate or be forced to operate on routes that are not commercially viable.
London has different rules and is overseen by Transport for London which is heavily subsidised by central government........

[Kevin1964]

What this country and its population needs is a huge kick up the so they do something to help themselves just like the french do...They get there way every time when crap hits the fan and good on them for not taking the crap like we brits accept..Blockades..Strikes what ever it needs but something needs to be done to stop us being trodd down even further

[Drift]

One word, MONEY and the people who make do not matter, its the people who get the money that matter as they run the country we just feed them the fuel that is money.

[jamez2]

[jimmybhoy]

I noticed it the other day, mine is running LPG that went up 5p/litre how can they justify that?

[bigdazz]

[dave1966]

The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. The politicians should have their expenses stopped.

[Drift]

Politicians should not be allowed any external business interests what so ever.

[N1ova]

Time for blockades at the refineries again

[James Bass]

[simon65]

how do you think central London would cope with some "planned" fronteras breaking down in "prime position" like parliment square,trafalger square ,hyde park corner,marble arch ....... yeah you get the idea lol

[gregster]

[simon65]

ok how about borrowing some nice slow tractors

[Big Dav]

Council in London would overjoyed at all the Frontys arriving in London and paying the congestion charge.

[dave1966]

I have a feeling that the blockades at the refineries will happen again. Whats happened to our freedom of speech
Us motorists are always hit bad,fuel/road tax/insurance/m.o.t's go up,its about time we got a f***ing break.

[BoxCleva]

[fudge]