The "Campaign Against Rail Travel"

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From The Independent by Simon Calder

AS THE GHOST TRAINS RUMBLE ON, IT’S TIME TO BRING THE RAILWAYS BACK TO LIFE

The ‘modal shift’ from rail to road has been an outstanding success for its proponents – and a disaster for those of us who believe that rail must be at the heart of travel

[snip]

The Campaign Against Rail Travel (or Cart, as I shall call it) begins even as you contemplate a journey. Before you can begin booking an online journey, Greater Anglia’s website insists that you “read these statements in relation to your planned journey and tick to confirm”.

You must affirm that you have considered “all other means of transport before using public transport,” and assert: “My travel is necessary and I need to use the train”.

Walk-up passengers face equally strident opposition.

“Can you travel another way,” barks a massive billboard at what is normally Europe’s busiest rail station, London Waterloo. It includes a picture of a car, to remind travellers there is a better way to go.

The “modal shift” from rail to road has been an outstanding success for its proponents – and a disaster for those of us who believe that rail must be at the heart of travel as something like normal life resumes.

Months of urging passengers to stay away from trains has created the impression that the rail network is an option of last resort, to be considered only in extremis by the 12 million of us with no access to a car.

Nicky Gardner, co-author of Europe by Rail, says: “This is surely the wrong message.  ... [continues]

[TaplowGreen]

I think the "campaign" (if you want to call it that) was initiated with the best and soundest of motives - it's very hard to maintain social distancing on a busy train, and as people are being encouraged to keep their exposure (so to speak) to a minimum, it's best to consider whether you need to take up space in the viral petri dishes which trains can become, or leave that space for an essential worker.

If you're in a car, social distancing isn't an issue.

What we have to consider first and foremost is safety and risk, rather than a perceived slight towards one form of transport in favour of another.

I don't recognise the impression suggested in the last line of the article, I think most people in this respect/context are using common sense.

Empty or at least much quieter roads, trains, and offices would tend to support this - the most significant "modal shift", is that from office to home based working.

[bobm]

From the Sunday Telegraph - shame about the two attempts to name the Department for Transport

[IndustryInsider]

It really is incredible that journalistic standards have sunk so low that a national newspaper of such standing twice gets the name of a government department wrong.

[Red Squirrel]

I think this graph may go some way towards explaining it. It's not just the Telegraph; most newspapers (though not all!) have been declining for decades. Good journalism doesn't come cheap.


Image: Loweredtone / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)

[Bmblbzzz]

Presumably that's print copies? I'd expect the total number of people reading newspapers now is higher than before, the problem is converting that readership into income; hence the growth recently in paywalls.

[Surrey 455]

I'm not sure I understand the graphics. Using the same colour for different papers is confusing.

There's also no key to explain why either Metro or the Daily Express figures start between 2010-2015 or why the Evening Standard or The Guardian start from about 2000.
All of those papers were launched much earlier than those dates.

[eightonedee]

I think I can decode the colours- the long orange line is the Guardian, the short one the Standard (after they started giving it away free?), and the long mauve line is the Express, the short one the Metro.

The Express and the Mirror coming together under one ownership certainly have one thing in common- a huge historic decline in sales!

[TaplowGreen]

...........never realised just how few people buy The Guardian.......what on Earth do Teachers and Local Government managers read these days? 

[Red Squirrel]

...........never realised just how few people buy The Guardian.......what on Earth do Teachers and Local Government managers read these days? 

I'm sure they're happy to know that they can always rely on you, TG!

[ellendune]

...........never realised just how few people buy The Guardian.......what on Earth do Teachers and Local Government managers read these days? 

They probably still read the Guardian - its just they no longer buy the paper copy. I tend to read newspapers on-line these days and pay for 3 different newspapers (2 nationals and a local), but I only buy one newspaper, and many do not even do that. 

[Surrey 455]

I think I can decode the colours- the long orange line is the Guardian, the short one the Standard (after they started giving it away free?), and the long mauve line is the Express, the short one the Metro.

The Express and the Mirror coming together under one ownership certainly have one thing in common- a huge historic decline in sales!

I agree the short mauve one would be Metro but it began (in London) in 1999, at least 10 years earlier than shown on the graph.
and the short orange one is possibly the Standard which began in 1827 and became free in 2009, 9 years after the graph shows.

[stuving]

I think I can decode the colours- the long orange line is the Guardian, the short one the Standard (after they started giving it away free?), and the long mauve line is the Express, the short one the Metro.

The Express and the Mirror coming together under one ownership certainly have one thing in common- a huge historic decline in sales!

I agree the short mauve one would be Metro but it began (in London) in 1999, at least 10 years earlier than shown on the graph.
and the short orange one is possibly the Standard which began in 1827 and became free in 2009, 9 years after the graph shows.

The figures all come from ABC, which started doing only national dailies; others joined in later. The Evening Standard joined on 3/1/2000, delayed not because it's an evening paper but because it's a regional one. Free papers came in later still.

[bobm]

Taking us further off topic.  I was once criticised by a “consultant” who had been parachuted in to a radio station where I worked for referring to the then wife of Prince Charles as Diana, Princess of Wales rather than Princess Di. 

He then had kittens when I refused to refer to no fly zones but instead called them air exclusion zones. 

[TaplowGreen]

...........never realised just how few people buy The Guardian.......what on Earth do Teachers and Local Government managers read these days? 

They probably still read the Guardian - its just they no longer buy the paper copy. I tend to read newspapers on-line these days and pay for 3 different newspapers (2 nationals and a local), but I only buy one newspaper, and many do not even do that. 

Thanks (it wasn't an entirely serious question by the way!) 🙂