a load of stuff I can't be bothered to quote
What a surprise to that you live in London.
I grew up in and around the Midlands, moved around the NE & NW of the country for a few years, went down to Devon and Cornwall for a while and have now settled (for now) on the outskirts of London.
I'd be willing to bet I've lived in more geographic locations than you in the UK and let me tell you that although the little rosy idea of getting rid of cars is good for you, with frequent bus and rail/tube links leaving from outside your front door every 10 mins, believe it or not the rest of the country isn't like that.
Living where I do I have no need for a car. I do still have my sub £1,000 knackered Ford but it now does about 1,500 miles/year. I also have another car and a motorbike either of which I use on the weekends, that car does about 2,000 miles a year and the bike about 5,000 on the sunny days (cos I love it). If you want to shoot me for having 3 vehicles, crack on sunshine.
To allow me to have these three vehicles thoughs, I pay a substantial amount of tax on my income (as do others), then I go to the DVLA and (personally, admittedly not everyone does this), pay around £600 in tax, which is due to increase in the next year, to keep these 3 on the road.
One of the cars and the bike I bought new (I know, I know its a stupid thing to do with depreciation), but guess what, I paid another 17.5% VAT on my already taxed income to get these things, back in the govt's pocket again.
And then we reach the holy grail, the petrol station... lets just have a look, how much tax have I paid already, quite a lot I reckon, but that ain't the point, I am lucky enough not to have to worry that much with the limited milage I do. But anyway, I'm filling up the tanks, one has a 60 litres capacity, the other 45 litre and the bike about 15 so about 120 litres total, say about £130 from my already taxed and beleagured income. A substantial amount of this is a tax, nomens fuel duty but then guess what, theres another tax (on a tax mind) in the form of VAT on fuel.
All in all, and including income tax, I reckon I put about £20,000 minimum back in the government's pocket a year to spend on public transport improvements, where this goes I don't know but I'm curious, how much do you put in the pot for these improvements you reckon we should all have?
Anyway, am side-tracking now, back to the OP
The truth is that public transport in the majority if the UK is not only expensive but also infrequent and generally utter shit. Yes, wouldn't it be a wonderful world if we could just increase car tax / petrol duty and pay for all these miraculous improvements to public transport. Let me spell it out to you, it will never happen... in case you haven't noticed there is a recession approaching and the UK is on its uppers.
Just wake up and listen to yourself, just because you are fortunate enough to live in a place which means you have no need to have a car doesn't mean that applies to everyone else.
Fucking clueless idiot.
