Minister of State for being an unpalatable shade of orange, Peter Vain, was in town yesterday making one of his stupid, posh foghorn-voiced announcements.
And what tremendous news he brings! Yet another Labour government subsidy, no less, for Bristol’s most hated firm, First Bus. Basically what will be happening is that we, the tax payer, will now pay for and provide the initial training to First’s drivers and in return they promise to give the trainees an interview.
It’s another nice little earner for the city’s most reviled and incompetent firm courtesy of their New Labour friends. First, as usual, pocket enhanced profits by dumping more costs on to the tax payer while continuing to provide their same old pisspoor failed service.
Of course the tax payer is already paying out multi-million subsidies to fund the firm’s staffing costs anyway through the tax credit system. First effectively pay rock bottom wages to their drivers knowing full well that New Labour will pick up the tab and provide the workers with a living wage.
In another piece of transport news, that no doubt will be an EXCLUSIVE in next week’s Evening Cancer, car drivers and commuters will be ecstatic to learn that Bristol City Council is raising long-stay parking charges by 25%. It’ll now cost £5 instead of four pounds to park in a city council car park in town for up to four hours and £10 instead of £8 to stay all day.
Naturally not all of Bristol City Council’s parking spaces will be subject to these charges that are allegedly designed to reduce congestion. Parking spaces for senior managers and councillors at the Council House, for instance, will continue to be free and now represent a £50 a week – or £2,600pa – tax free perk. (Which is actually worth £75 a week or £4.5k a year before tax – the amount we would have to earn to afford the council’s new charges to park our cars five days a week)
What an excellent example of leadership from the Council House. Presumably the city council’s managers’ and councillors’ cars aren’t the ones causing any of this congestion they’re so desperate to reduce then?
Public transport systems should not be privately owned and run. At a time when the price of bus and train use should be going down, to encourage people out of their cars, we get the opposite and its not run with public service in mind to say the least!!
I see no real justification for free parking for councillors and council employees. It would do us all no harm at all for councillors to experience daily what public transport in Bristol is like! Perhaps then they would be more determined to get improvements. Either that or they walk/cycle – as they often urge the rest of us to do!!
Indeed, it’s local Green Party policy that councillors’ parking rights should be revoked:
http://www.bristolgreenparty.org.uk/nr/070424minimanifesto.htm
You just don’t get it do you. Bristol is a car drivers city, we have cars, we want to use cars, We don’t to stand around waiting in the pissing rain for a bus for over an hour.
We need more multi storey car parks NOW, so we can all drive into the City an knowe we can aleays park there,
Charge for out of town parking. People will think twice then for taking to the roads to save 2p on a pint of milk the other end of the ring road.
Yellowbelly – Whatever it is that car drivers may or may not want, current transport habits cannot be sustained and therefore change has to happen! In wanting to change car use habits Greens are focussing on the reality of problems caused by wasteful and excessive car use, beyond environmental limits. With proper levels of investment in public transport along with a public service ethos there is no reason why people should not get into, out from and around Bristol quickly, cleanly and efficiently without a car – the problem is lack of political will and action on this front.
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