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 Post subject: Re: And thus it begins
PostPosted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 22:59 
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so £20,000,000 a Km has become £13,125,000 a Km and personally I think that's pretty rich. i do hope your degree course isn't heavily maths based.

How much throughput will this facilitate?


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 Post subject: Re: And thus it begins
PostPosted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 00:04 
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civil engineer wrote:
How much throughput will this facilitate?


Depends on whether we manage to stop the MLMs moving to L3 as a result of the new lane.


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 Post subject: Re: And thus it begins
PostPosted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 07:29 
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Also a well informed mate tells me that the railway, shipping and emergency services use red diesel and buses get 80% of tax back. The trucks are already subsidised enough by cars users who pay more than their fair share of road taxes while trucks don't pay enough to cover their damage.


Rebated fuel can be used for any off-road use (slight variations for mobile cranes). The emergency services use non-rebated fuels, unless the local tesco has a rebated fuel pump just for them.
Trucks, as vehicles used in a business, claim the fuel as an expense and can also claim the vat back.

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56 years after it was decided it was needed, the Bedford Bypass is nearing completion. The last single carriageway length of it.We have the most photogenic mayor though, always being photographed doing nothing


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 Post subject: Re: And thus it begins
PostPosted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 07:48 
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PeterE wrote:
nicycle wrote:
And hopefully this will lead to people who use fuel for non essential trips to cut back to allow people like you to have fuel for essential trips. I won't be driving once I go to university in October.

I sometimes wonder just what all these "non essential trips" are that people are supposed to be doing in their cars. People don't just drive around for the sheer hell of it - they have to go to work, have to get their shopping, have to visit relatives in hospital etc.

I'm sure for the average person the amount of car mileage that is genuinely discretionary is well under 10%. I can't say I've noticed any fall-off in rush-hour traffic levels as people simply don't have a practical alternative.

There is no such thing as a non-essential trip. It's essential to my mental health and well being to go out for a long drive in the country in my sports car. It's very stress relieving and better than taking prescription medicine. :twisted:

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 Post subject: Re: And thus it begins
PostPosted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 08:18 
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malcolmw wrote:
PeterE wrote:
nicycle wrote:
And hopefully this will lead to people who use fuel for non essential trips to cut back to allow people like you to have fuel for essential trips. I won't be driving once I go to university in October.

I sometimes wonder just what all these "non essential trips" are that people are supposed to be doing in their cars. People don't just drive around for the sheer hell of it - they have to go to work, have to get their shopping, have to visit relatives in hospital etc.

I'm sure for the average person the amount of car mileage that is genuinely discretionary is well under 10%. I can't say I've noticed any fall-off in rush-hour traffic levels as people simply don't have a practical alternative.

There is no such thing as a non-essential trip. It's essential to my mental health and well being to go out for a long drive in the country in my sports car. It's very stress relieving and better than taking prescription medicine. :twisted:


I must admit, when I'm sat in a jam somewhere, I sometimes feel like I'd like to stop everyone and question what they're doing and where they're going. But the moment passes because I know the vast majority of them have a reason for going somewhere in a car, "pleasure" drives like yours are a small minority and in any event, aren't in congested areas.

My non business van use in the last 6 months:

monthly shopping trip for all the heavy stuff- I walk once a week for fresh fruit & veg etc.
trip to chiswick to pick up a telly (you try getting a 50" plasma on the tube)
1 trip to drybrook, forest of dean, 2-3 hours by van, 2-3 days by public transport.
2 trips to cheltenham, could have taken the train from paddington I must admit, but ~£30 of fuel vs. $$$ridiculous$$$ last minute train fare kinda swings it.

thats about it. Everything else is work-wholesaler-work-home etc. Can anyone point out where I've made non-essentual trips?

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 Post subject: Re: And thus it begins
PostPosted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 11:10 
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nicycle wrote:

Perhaps it's time to price trucks out of business and take it by train again ;).

.


been argued before and reasons stated regarding why this idea is STUPID! i suggest you read a few facts on this subject and save me yet another pointless arguement because frankly, i have better things to do than go over the same rubbish over and over again :x

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 Post subject: Re: And thus it begins
PostPosted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 20:34 
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civil engineer wrote:
so £20,000,000 a Km has become £13,125,000 a Km and personally I think that's pretty rich. i do hope your degree course isn't heavily maths based.

How much throughput will this facilitate?


Well a) I had the correct order of cost and b) It may be that much taking into account the cost to the economy in delays.

I never said the cost wasn't justified.

PS: I intend do to Engineering at Cambridge or Durham ;).

Quote:
been argued before and reasons stated regarding why this idea is STUPID! i suggest you read a few facts on this subject and save me yet another pointless arguement because frankly, i have better things to do than go over the same rubbish over and over again

Or maybe it was stupid that after a century of rail freight movement followed by over a millennium of horse and cart, we decided to introduce trucks.

Quote:
You still need trucks for the last few miles, moreso if your delivering to a store that isn't in a major city

I can live with trucks for the last few miles :)

Quote:
IMO it's the levels of duty that are excessive and I'd like to see the government use the duty levels to help stabilise prices rather than escalate them.

Again, they'd need to raise some other tax or seriously become more efficient. As much as we'd love to see the latter, I don't think it'll happen.


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 Post subject: Re: And thus it begins
PostPosted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 09:54 
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rail freight will remove trucks from the motorways. thats it! the fastest, least congested roads in the country. if you think thats worth it then you carry on. just remember who thought it was a good idea when the shops are empty due to all the goods being stuck in a siding because passenger trains take priority or because there is a leaf on the line.

and thats just the start!

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 Post subject: Re: And thus it begins
PostPosted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 14:55 
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Out of interest scanny I was wondering if you know what % of truck journeys are done overnight? Does it cost extra to send freight overnight? When I've driven down the M40 in the early hours I've often been impressed by the seemingly endless line of trucks getting goods to the shops and our post to the sorting office in time for morning... however I've also seen similarly sized queues of trucks in traffic jams in the middle of the day - do those companies choose to drive at the time, do the drivers get a choice? Do you prefer night driving to day driving?

I also wonder why those travelling away for holidays/trips by car don't opt to drive after 11pm as I do, it's a much more relaxing and faster experience.

Worth noting I did used to hold the same opinion as Nicycle on trucks being removed, but having had the discussion (possibly with you...) I no longer think it's feasible. Not least because of the quantity of freight being transported but also because of the inflexibility and lack of train lines coupled with the need to massively increase road capacity around all train depots should they ever actually try and building scheme.


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 Post subject: Re: And thus it begins
PostPosted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 15:14 
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I'm not Scanny but I frequently do night time trips in the course of my job, I usually aim to reach my hotel by midnight - 1PM.

I'm really not surprised that the HGVs are all out then. Sure they probably have to pay the drivers more, but they can get there faster and more reliably, they probably use less fuel due to not getting stuck in jams or having to apply the brakes after some idiot pulls in front of them.

The non-HGVs on the road are also people of a much higher standard of driving, usually they're repmobiles or white van man, often they're way above the speed limit, but if they're not and someone faster is approaching they will let them past as soon as it's safe to do so rather than try to block them. There are very few MLMs.

What I like most about night driving is the spirit of co-operation that seems to pervade, if you signal in good time people will help you get to where you want to be. It's like an air of everybody has a job to do, everybody wants to get home as quickly as possible, so everybody helps each other out.

Please don't encourage tourists to travel by night, they'll ruin it for everyone!


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 Post subject: Re: And thus it begins
PostPosted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 16:08 
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I drive the m/ways at night too. White van !
The standard of driving is amazingly high....I can get onto the m/way from the slip with no trouble, trucks let me out at night (!)
Compared with the brain-deads at 8 in the morning ....... all it takes is Mr R Head in his mondeo ghia and the effect can be felt all over the country !

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56 years after it was decided it was needed, the Bedford Bypass is nearing completion. The last single carriageway length of it.We have the most photogenic mayor though, always being photographed doing nothing


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 Post subject: Re: And thus it begins
PostPosted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 19:19 
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forget transaction

the team was supposedly undergoing a complete rethink and reallocation of jobs within the hierarchy. that has now been changed completely with mods banned for asking questions regarding the running of the group along with the supporters who were not happy. i have withdrawn my support due to the deliberately deceptive manner in which this has all been carried out. they are fighting for hauliers, not the general motorist!

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 Post subject: Re: And thus it begins
PostPosted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 19:22 
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i cant imagine a haulier will charge more to move freight by night. if you send a pallet somewhere else in the uk it goes overnight anyway. most hauliers will collect during the day, trunk it overnight and have it out for delivery the following day although there may be an express charge for that service. the day it is picked up is the same day that it is forwaded to another depot though regardless of the level of service you pay for. to my knowledge anyway

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 Post subject: Re: And thus it begins
PostPosted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 09:25 
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nicycle,

Just a word of warning....an engineering degree will involve having to do sums.


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 Post subject: Re: And thus it begins
PostPosted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 12:22 
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civil engineer wrote:
nicycle,

Just a word of warning....an engineering degree will involve having to do sums.


Shouldn't be a problem ;) though I'll be more careful mixing km up with miles in future.


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 Post subject: Re: And thus it begins
PostPosted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 12:59 
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Gotta watch those SI units. They'll getcha in your degree too...!

Just wait til you discover dimensional analysis! Woop woop! :roll:

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 Post subject: Re: And thus it begins
PostPosted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 13:24 
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You wouldnt be the first left leaner who can't add up...............you're not actually Gordon Brown are you?


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 Post subject: Re: And thus it begins
PostPosted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 15:28 
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Sixy_the_red wrote:
Gotta watch those SI units. They'll getcha in your degree too...!

Just wait til you discover dimensional analysis! Woop woop! :roll:


Thanks to the good old SI, there's nothing hard with dimensional analysis ;).

Unless, like my incompetent physics teacher, try to do the impossible and express the permittivity of free space in a unit without an "electrical" quantity.


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 Post subject: Re: And thus it begins
PostPosted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 16:22 
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nicycle wrote:
..I'll be more careful mixing km up with miles in future.

Doesn't matter so long as you get the distance right. Concorde was an Anglo-French venture. We used Imperial measurement while they used metric. Still went together well though :bighand:

Not quite relevant, it just sprang to mind reading your post. I'm full of useless information. :)

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