http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8603009.stm

Sounds like a complete non-starter to me

Longer term it is a good idea, but with private rail companies I doubt that it will be even legal. It would amount to a state subsidy. Though nationalise them and then do the improvements it would help commuters and the occasional traveller. It would be better to reduce road spending to maintenance only and put the extra money into state owned public transport such as buses. Make the cost of travelling by bus cheaper than cars. With more buses and cheaper tickets they can clear the roads.

If I wished to travel by rail to a certain local town (30 minutes in the car, door to door), I'd have to change once and wait half an hour for the connecting train. So, all in all, it'll take about an hour. The bus is the same, except that'll cost over £5.

Down here, the car is still king because everything else is over priced and inconvenient.

Lets not get me started on my hobby horse regarding rail prices etc

But that is why public transport needs to be cheaper and not a profit centre for local government.

To be honest we need expansion of public transport anyway - as many people should be able to use public transport as is humanly possible and if the government truly cared about the climate they would effect policy to this end.

But no, as things stand assuming you could even take public transport into work many jobs require you to drive around anyway.

+1
Road bottlenecks need to be sorted out.

i cant get a bus to work they start running 30 minutes after i have started work and they are expensive compared to using the car to get two people to work and home

i would go back to cycling but the roads are in such a dismal state that would near impossible in the early hours

also its not new roads we need just a national plan to repair the existing roads and bring them to a standard so that they can be used …

I agree that a road maintenance program is urgent. It would create loads of jobs when needed. This could mean cycling being more popular. Plus make it mandatory for cycle storage to be provide by businesses.