And if we look over the border, we see increasingly large parts of the country going back into lockdown (large chunks of the NW going back into lockdown, and talk now of putting everything inside the M25 back into lockdown), pubs and restaurants likely having to shut again in order to reopen schools, etc etc. Not sure I want us to follow that model.
If people don't understand a simple "essential travel only" message, I really don't see how you can expect them to understand a more nuanced message that it is OK to travel on some trains but not others.
I totally agree, we cannot control the virus, so we need some effective way of controlling the selfish idiots.
I fully agree. And up to now, the message has been plain and simple "public transport is for essential travel only". Unfortunately, while you might consider that it doesn't matter what the legal position is, there have been far too many on here who have been recklessly encouraging everyone to ignore that guideline because it wasn't legally mandated.
So leisure travellers are on trains because they are so stupid they can't understand the message? It think that's as ridiculous as saying people speed on motorways because they are too stupid to understand there's a speed limit.
The simple message is "Don't have a car? No days out over the summer holidays for you". It may be simple but it's not very nice - it's saying that we're going to open up the economy and start moving back towards normal - unless you don't have a car in which case forget it.
If there
was a more nuanced message, I think it's quite likely that many people would follow it. By issuing a complete ban you're not giving information on the trains it
would be 'safe' to travel on so anything goes. Give people rules they can follow with some inconvenience and many will. Give them rules that make life very difficult and it's less likely that they will. (If we made the speed limit in the UK 20 mph but voluntary, then took away all the signs indicating current speed limits, I think it's quite likely that speeds would increase overall - very few people are going to stick to 20 mph everywhere and you're not telling them now what a reasonable speed is anywhere).
I also think it's unfair to accuse someone of being a selfish idiot for wanting a day out with the kids in the summer holidays just like people with cars get to do.
And that message would be particularly unreasonable if coming from someone who isn't stuck at home indefinitely themselves.
And if virus numbers increase, then inevitably the number of people dying will increase. And you are happy to accept that?
As a representative from the WHO said on the radio yesterday, people may be getting fed up with the restrictions, but the virus is not getting fed up with infecting and killing us. As you say, this virus is here to stay, and we need to learn to live with it. And to the majority of the population, learning to live with it means changing our behaviours so that we can keep the virus under control. It does NOT mean just going back to normal and accepting that hundreds of thousands of people will die as a result.
Right. But you seem to think it's fine that "changing your behaviour" means that if you rely on public transport you shouldn't be able to travel any more.
Now I know there's a good reason for restrictions on public transport.
But at the moment there are plenty of trains running around with excess capacity even by the rail social distancing restrictions and no effort apparently being made to get people in those seats - which would also bring in some money and mean that the taxpayer isn't spending a fortune on trains that almost nobody gets to use.
I was being a bit flippant when I suggested shutting it down. With holidays abroad being thin on the ground, is it any wonder that people travel to UK beaches or holiday resorts? Now the pubs are open, people might want to have a drink so that rules out driving. I'm not sure that reservations would help. It's only an hourly service in North Wales (there are a few extras) so 150 people is five "train loads."
No what I meant was that so far as leisure travellers go, if they follow what they're being told the system
is shut down to them.
In other news, when out and about today I didn't see any "Essential travel only" warnings on departure boards (or "Don't get the train to the beach").
I've also had a rather disappointing answer on behalf of the Transport Minister, saying essentially that while they appreciate that not everyone has access to a car, managing social distancing has to be a top priority. But they are considering a pre-booking system, with trials to be carried out on TrawsCumru in the autumn.
I'm sure it's not trivial....but I wonder if decision makers themselves were impacted by this they might have found a slightly faster way of setting up a system than starting out with some trials in the autumn?
From the tone of the letter, the essential travel only message is here to stay.
I think the conclusion is that anyone who can learn to drive and get a car should do so as soon as possible. And I would not expect them to move back to public transport if and when things go back to normal - why on earth should they?