Recommended Posts

  • Replies 86
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Posts

As you probably know or don't, I am a keen cyclist although I generally ride a recumbent trike these day but seeing how some of these "Lycra Louts" perform on the narrow lanes out here in the land tha

Buy your bleddy own Michael ! Seriously, I would happily buy you a pint Michael ! Going back to cyclists, most & I mean most cyclists are very safe & responsible on the road. Two types of c

#54 I would name one CoCo the clown as the whole thing is a joke

Landing in Boston, Mass, and needing to get into the city to our hotel, we caught the Silver Line. It was an articulated bus, on wheels. [didn't need to rip up the streets to put in rails!] We didn't need a ticket and the driver takes no money, it is free to get you from the airport to the city centre. As it approaches the city, it stops, and two poles automatically rise from its roof and connects to the overhead wires. The diesel engine then cuts out and it goes on it's journey to town, through concrete tunnels, with stations along the way. You can either go up to the outside or down to the subway system. It stops at every terminal around the airport. Going back to the airport, you need a $2.50 ticket [or use your 24hr ticket]. The tunnels are just underneath the roadway system and the subways are below that. A great system, we couldn't believe it was free out of the airport.

  • Upvote 4
Link to post
Share on other sites

That's how 'rapid transit' should be.

Not some hare-brained scheme to earn millions of pounds, but a means of transporting people into the city for a reasonable price.

Brussels has a similar system in that the trams go underground and become part of the underground network - a well-thought 'integrated' transport scheme.

In Amsterdam you are only 2 minutes from the station platform in the airport to connect with a train every 15 minutes to get you into the city for about 5 Euros.

All fantastic systems that have one thing in common. They are reasonably priced, and they all seem to work efficiently.

That's the way to welcome people into the city, not with some overpriced, inefficient system that can't run when there are leaves on the line.

Katyjay. Just as a matter of interest I've just checked the price of Heathrow Express - the equivalent service to what you described at Boston.

£21.50 !!

Crap airport, 10 minute walk with your luggage to get to the train and then an overpriced journey to Paddington which isn't even the centre of town. Welcome to London !

  • Upvote 3
Link to post
Share on other sites

To say that we invented the railway system, and were at the forefront of engineering during the Industrial Revolution, we seem to have come off the rails so to speak. Lack of investment, lack of knowledge, lack of forethought or just plain lackadaisical.

The latter I fear.

  • Upvote 1
Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 1 month later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...