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Recent content by Harpers Tate

  1. Harpers Tate

    Introduction of VED on zero-emission cars

    I wonder if it will make much difference. Sure, it's an anti-"green" action by the government, but in the overall scheme of things, an extra £180pa is fairly trivial sum. If there is an effect, it's as much psychological as anything, I think; in the same way as "saving" 1p on an item priced...
  2. Harpers Tate

    Paying for Fast Track Security

    The US TSA has a scheme called "Trusted Traveler" and if you have this (as I do) then your boarding card is printed with the letters TSA PRECHK. Applicable only to you entering "airside" at US airports, it allows you to join a dedicated security line where (importantly) the actual screening...
  3. Harpers Tate

    Aviation trip reports thread.

    (1) Landed at East Midlands from somewhere Spanish (forget where - may have been Tenerife?) on a TUI flight. Several "bright" pax had decided that they would take it out of the crew that their preceding cruise (same TourOp) had given them food poisoning or something. (Like the aircrew have...
  4. Harpers Tate

    South Yorkshire Franchise Proposals

    In June 2004 an annual TravelMaster cost £555. Using the BofE inflation calculator that equates to £953.41 in January 2024. And the present price represents a 30% real terms increase. Let's remember - these were commercial prices. If the present rate is the least they can accept and remain...
  5. Harpers Tate

    South Yorkshire Franchise Proposals

    It all depends on which part of it you focus on. Citybus is useless if you happen to need to cross over an invisible line on a map - even if you are making a relatively short journey. Countywide weekly £29 online; £32.20 in person. Used for 5 days (more realistic) = £6.44/day. For use on a...
  6. Harpers Tate

    South Yorkshire Franchise Proposals

    Sadly, I don't hold out much hope here. Not whether it will happen, but whether, if/when it does, it will deliver any significant change. The last time the (then) SYPTE put together a plan for local buses - as part of a bid to secure government funding - they designed what I'd describe as a...
  7. Harpers Tate

    What Would Be The Impact Of Making Bus Fares Free?

    I tend to agree with much of what has been said above. Free vs nominal cost does, I think, affect the degree of "respect" shown by users. Slow, meandering indirect routes are a far bigger discouragement, I think, than operators comprehend. And so on. However, I would suggest that the £2 fare...
  8. Harpers Tate

    Staff Vaping

    Fiction. It's neither smoke, nor proven to be carcinogenic. And the air is filled with other noxious substances - some probably far more so - that you don't see. Like diesel fumes, car exhaust to name just a couple.
  9. Harpers Tate

    Staff Vaping

    I totally fail to understand why anyone at all cares about this. The air is full of far more noxious things than Glycerine/Propylene Glycol vapour.
  10. Harpers Tate

    Printer Ink

    Inkjet printers, when used little, do use ink to head clean as they start up. Inkjet ink dries out and clogs and they are programmed to "know" this and act accordingly (whether actually necessary or not). To answer your question - I get mine from Prink. And to support the other thing...
  11. Harpers Tate

    Sheffield Supertram & Tram Train news

    I agree. The fact is - as passengers, I doubt many of us care a jot what colour the thing is. And it shouldn't matter. But - as you say - the uninformed passenger buys a day/week/etc pass from a similarly uninformed driver and then "randomly" finds that, if s/he's later from work and turns up...
  12. Harpers Tate

    Sheffield Supertram & Tram Train news

    I might be mistaken, but I seem to recall that the network itself was never Stagecoach's to manage. Their responsibility ended with the operation of the service, possibly including the vehicles, but never the infrastructure.
  13. Harpers Tate

    technology, phone batteries and e-tickets discussion.

    This is all a classic case of several factors, each on its own understandable, predictable, appropriate. But when they combine together exactly the opposite is true. 1: Expectation and encouragement for passengers to pay their fares by self-service, to reduce the costs of ticket vending 2...
  14. Harpers Tate

    Northerneers Survey Group

    Got bored with it and quit partway through. I wonder if they are measuring that as well?
  15. Harpers Tate

    Moving to the USA

    I can't speak for either immigration nor recruitment practices, but one thing you might look at is whether any of the short local operators are recruiting - such as SunRail in Florida and similar schemes elsewhere. At the very least, SunRail only operates Mon-Fri and is entirely contained in an...

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