Commuting Survey

uberwolf

This is for my brothers masters thesis, so if you wouldn't mind taking the 5 minutes to answer this survey I'd be much obliged

I will be posting this in Motors, Commuting/Transport and Cycling forums, but it is mainly aimed at car users because of the congestion charge slant.


http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=PGVqIyzyQtMzcNroHl_2bz2Q_3d_3d


Thanks
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mikemac

direct link?

rob1891

link in the motors forum works:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=PGVqIyzyQtMzcNroHl_2bz2Q_3d_3d

uberwolf

is it not the same link, it was a straight cut and paste

rob1891

vbulletin trucates the text of the url displayed in the forum (but in the html it is the full link). When you copy and paste you get the truncated link not the actual url, so it only worked in the first forum you posted it to.

Mouse over the two links and look in the status bar to see

Bicyclegadabout

I didn't like section 6!


I said "yes" to a congestion charge, though really I believe such a charge would only prevent poor people from accessing the City Centre. Merc and Bentley drivers wouldn't give a ****e about a charge.

blorg

Bicyclegadabout wrote: »

I didn't like section 6!

I said "yes" to a congestion charge, though really I believe such a charge would only prevent poor people from accessing the City Centre. Merc and Bentley drivers wouldn't give a ****e about a charge.

This still has the desired effect of reducing *congestion* in the city centre.

Merc and Bentley drivers may have all sorts of other benefits too but a congestion charge is about reducing congestion and making a city centre a more pleasant place, not about social justice.

I'm a cyclist myself, don't know how to drive and rarely use public transport, but I still ticked Improve Luas, Improve Bus, Improve Park and Ride as my top three; I think encouragement of these alternatives and reduction of traffic volumes is more likely to benefit cyclists than improving "cyclist facilities" which frankly we don't need.

Bicyclegadabout

blorg wrote: »

This still has the desired effect of reducing *congestion* in the city centre.

Merc and Bentley drivers may have all sorts of other benefits too but a congestion charge is about reducing congestion and making a city centre a more pleasant place, not about social justice.

Ya wha? C'mon man, that's a bit daft.
For whom should the city centre be a more pleasant place? Obviously something like a congestion charge is going to have an effect on the nature of the city, you can't go ignoring the social impact of something that effects an entire population.
sayin'



EDIT: I don't mean to say that Merc and Bentley drivers are bad people or to single them out or anything like that!

fenris

I think the survey is quite naieve and skewed towards congestion charging in that it

1. Assumes utopian working public transport rather than our current situation
2. does not address job losses or business migration as a result of congestion charging
3. seems to assume that driving is a choice rather than a necessity (job, kids, distance etc.)
4. is presented as a "do you support CC" survey but actually is a "what colour do you want your CC" justification.

My point is that you get the answers to the question you ask. I would not make a reply like this if it was an undergrad, but for a masters student project that will probably be fed into a policy document at a future date it lacks the balance that will give the results credibility.

blorg

Bicyclegadabout wrote: »

Ya wha? C'mon man, that's a bit daft.
For whom should the city centre be a more pleasant place? Obviously something like a congestion charge is going to have an effect on the nature of the city, you can't go ignoring the social impact of something that effects an entire population.
sayin'

Sure, but I think reduced traffic volume improves the city centre for everyone, rich and poor alike. I'm not sure how many "poor" people drive within the canals and park all day in the city centre in any case (quick way to become poor that ;-)

This is again why I would support good public transport options or park and ride on the margins for people who are out of the reach of public transport (as there are plenty in this situation the way the Dublin commuter belt has developed.)

I don't believe that the vast majority of people _need_ to drive within the canals even with today's infrastructure.

Bicyclegadabout

blorg wrote: »

Sure, but I think reduced traffic volume improves the city centre for everyone, rich and poor alike. I'm not sure how many "poor" people drive within the canals and park all day in the city centre in any case (quick way to become poor that ;-)

This is again why I would support good public transport options or park and ride on the margins for people who are out of the reach of public transport (as there are plenty in this situation the way the Dublin commuter belt has developed.)

I don't believe that the vast majority of people _need_ to drive within the canals even with today's infrastructure.

There's plenty of people for whom a congestion charge would be tough to deal with, but need to drive into the city. They're not necessarily poor though. I dunno...self employed plumbers, for example. Or bands with vans full of gear. Though they are quite poor.

What I was getting at was that there are lots of people for whom paying a congestion charge would mean nothing, seeing as they spend tonnes of money on their car anyway. And then there's people in company cars. A congestion charge would have the effect of discouraging those with less money from entering the city by car. Which I don't think is right or fair or very smart.

Fenris' point #2 is also worth noting.

Of course, I think the smart solution would be banning all cars from the canal cordon. People might think that's mad, but why not? Dublin got by alright for nearly 1000 years without cars.

Bicyclegadabout wrote: »

you can't go ignoring the social impact of something that effects an entire population.

I of course meant to say "affects an entire population"

TinyExplosions

I don't have a huge opinion on it either way, but I would be wary that people who live within the Canal area, but who work outside it would have to pay every day to get home... that can't be right

(maybe though it would be thought about and residents get in free or something)

DirkVoodoo

How have congestion charges helped london? This isnt rhetorical, i actually dont know. Charging people to drive without providing feasible alternatives will just lead to people paying more money to travel by car and spend more time giving out about it.

The bus is the first one that needs to be improved as its the easiest to. I got a bus from UCD to Cycleogical (O'Connell street stop) last week.

Total travel into town was a staggering 40 mins, 15 mins waiting for a single bus to arrive (I wasn't being picky, there were just NO buses). This was at around 11:30 a.m. 25 mins to get through town. What irked me was the 15 minute wait along THE major artery into dublin city. There should have been buses coming at me from all directions.

I remember when I used to get the 46A into town at rush hour from foxrock church, a few would pass by full and then when you got one it was half full. This is not even at half way along the route.

Anyway, glad to help in the survey, hope your brother manages to get some positive results from this.

Diarmuid

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

How have congestion charges helped london? This isnt rhetorical, i actually dont know.

It worked well at reducing congestion, which was the goal.

unionman

Just did the survey. Maybe it's my friday afternoon brain and the wine I drank last night, but those scenario tables were a bit of a head melter.

Then I realised even if I drive to work, I pay no charge, as I live and work inside the cordon - or is my friday brain getting it wrong?

RobAMerc

Congestion charge is a stupid idea in a city without any alternatives.

Charging people to drive into the city without a credible alternative is a revenue generating TAX and nothing else.

It will also only prove to move the shocking traffic issues out to the edge of the city, as people will drive to there and park (Phoenix car park).

I live in Castleknock and I see the issues caused by motorists trying to avoid the M50 toll, this will cause the same issue.

typical half baked idiotic copy the UK politics.

blorg

I disagree, there are alternatives, even if they are not perfect- plenty of people use cars for relatively short commutes that don't have to.

Park and ride on the margins allows people who genuinely need to drive to continue to do so.

I don't buy the argument about pushing traffic issues to the edges- by definition there is more room on the edges than in the centre!

The London scheme discounts by 90% for residents, a permit system similar to parking permits with a nominal annual fee (€150 or whatever) would also work.

Many cities are looking at copying the London model- because it worked.

Hey, I was chatting to the guy in charge of the survey and while he said the response has been great so far, he really needs to hear more from people who work in town and drive in to be able to use the data properly.

Thanks!

dub_skav

I'm doing the survey now, but I'll be of no use to the data as I live and work outside the congestion zone