| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Proposals for new cycleway in Brentford | |
| Posted by: | Raymond Havelock | |
| Date/Time: | 10/01/22 11:54:00 |
| I cycle locally but have never been any good at longer distances. Yet I was a good cross country runner in my youth could run long distances but never replicated on my bike. But for a living I have to drive. It is simple. No vehicle, No work. It cannot be done any other way. A great many occupations of a great range only exist because of personal transport. It is the same for a great many and will remains so. Only so much can be done from a laptop from a room. At the end of the day someone has to go and make things happen, whatever that may be. Then there are those who scrape a living and just get by. They often have to rely on a car as their lifelong to a living. Horrible unsocial hours, longer distances and with the demise of so many local businesses, travelling further afield is all to often the only option to put food on the table and pay the bills. Seriously overlooked is the way in which previous regeneration directors have ridden roughshod over small business locations and wiped out viability and expansion hopes of so many local companies. It's still happening. It seems that unless it's a big employer, Businesses of 15 or less are of no significance. All those pennies add up. But nothing affordable or versatile has been factored into a single development anywhere locally. With huge increases on the cards for the local population and no sign of any tangible improvements to the infrastructure to cope, it is invariable that a great many will only be here for a short time before finding making a living without access to a vehicle will become a serious impediment to paying the bills. Opportunities for proper local quality employment are diminishing at a far greater rate than the population of working age is increasing. With such a limited ratio, how is walking or cycling going to work for all but a tiny amount? Public transport only serves fixed locations and it was being reduced before covid and journey times increased well in advance of the Cycle route to diminish the impact. Take a look at published timetables from 2016 to 2020. Several local routes show the differences in journey times and frequency. Those who use the 237 will know how often the bus stopped for 'frequency spacing' at Gunnersbury and Kew Bridge and similarly at Syon Corner during 2018/19. As ever it will be the most limited groups who will feel it first and then those who find they are trapped. |