Smoking bans and human behaviour

[Dia Liom]

3 hours ago, kila said:

 

Size of cars too.

 

No problem with folk driving, but they do not need a massive car when they are the sole occupant with no luggage. Just a status thing, like when smoking was cool.

 

Agree! I mean, I used to have a big car (in the country) and smoke on occasion, but still!

 

 

[Dia Liom]

2 hours ago, Taffin said:

 

I thought the insanity of commuting would end post-covid but it's back. 

 

Hopefully one day people work where they live and walk, cycle or use public transport to get there.

We really shouldn't be far off it. Or maybe there just needs to be radical action, like with the smoking ban. I've not lived in the city for years, so unsure of what public transport is like. When I grew up in Edinburgh I believed that I'd never need to own a car.

 

1 hour ago, Ulysses said:

 

The idea of your own transport has become ingrained, that's for sure. 

 

I can just about imagine a future world where people think it was remarkable that we all owned and drove cars.  On the other hand, it's easier to imagine a world where we drive around as much, but we don't own cars.  Instead, we use our app to call a self-driving car for short trips, and rent cars for longer trips.

 

And I can definitely see people in a couple of hundred years looking back at us, reading about the internal combustion engine, and saying "they used to do ****ing WHAT?!?"

 

You're spot on with the last point. But I also meant in a safety sense. People will look back and wonder how everyone just accepted the number of deaths and injuries. Maybe the robot taxis will cut down on that. I was in San Francisco a while back and saw quite a few driverless cabs going about. EVs. 

 

 

[Ulysses]

5 minutes ago, Dia Liom said:

We really shouldn't be far off it. Or maybe there just needs to be radical action, like with the smoking ban. I've not lived in the city for years, so unsure of what public transport is like. When I grew up in Edinburgh I believed that I'd never need to own a car.

 

 

You're spot on with the last point. But I also meant in a safety sense. People will look back and wonder how everyone just accepted the number of deaths and injuries. Maybe the robot taxis will cut down on that. I was in San Francisco a while back and saw quite a few driverless cabs going about. EVs. 

 

 

 

The theory behind not owning your car is that cars spend most of their time doing nothing.  So if you only call a car when you need it, the asset gets a lot more use and the cost per mile or per trip becomes a lot cheaper.  But that only works if cars have driverless capability.

[the posh bit]

Vapes next please. 

 

 

[superjack]

6 hours ago, Ulysses said:

 

The idea of your own transport has become ingrained, that's for sure. 

 

I can just about imagine a future world where people think it was remarkable that we all owned and drove cars.  On the other hand, it's easier to imagine a world where we drive around as much, but we don't own cars.  Instead, we use our app to call a self-driving car for short trips, and rent cars for longer trips.

 

And I can definitely see people in a couple of hundred years looking back at us, reading about the internal combustion engine, and saying "they used to do ****ing WHAT?!?"

A lot depends on where you live as well. For instance, when I still lived in Edinburgh I never bothered buying a car as it wasn't a necessity. Now I'm on lewis, it is a necessity. More chance seeing me need a hair cut than seeing a decent bus service up here. 

For example, it takes me 10 to 15 minutes to drive to stornoway. If I want to go out for a few pints at tea time on a Saturday, I need tonget on the bus at 1605, and I arrive in stornoway at 1715.

Also, as I don't work in stornoway but in Callanish, if I got the first bus leaving my village at 0700, then I'd have to jump on another bus in town, about 45 minutes after my 1 arrives. Then another 50 minutes on the bus. I usually drive it in 35 minutes. 

[Dawnrazor]

9 minutes ago, superjack said:

A lot depends on where you live as well. For instance, when I still lived in Edinburgh I never bothered buying a car as it wasn't a necessity. Now I'm on lewis, it is a necessity. More chance seeing me need a hair cut than seeing a decent bus service up here. 

For example, it takes me 10 to 15 minutes to drive to stornoway. If I want to go out for a few pints at tea time on a Saturday, I need tonget on the bus at 1605, and I arrive in stornoway at 1715.

Also, as I don't work in stornoway but in Callanish, if I got the first bus leaving my village at 0700, then I'd have to jump on another bus in town, about 45 minutes after my 1 arrives. Then another 50 minutes on the bus. I usually drive it in 35 minutes. 

That's the thing about public transport, if you live in a city it seems to be ok, passable, but if you live in a rural location it's just about obsolete, we live four miles from the nearest bus stop and five from a train station, I can drive to Lancaster in thirty minutes, if I didn't have a car, it'd be about an hour and a half walk, wait at a bus stop, fifty minutes in the bus, then the same back, or another twenty minutes walk to the train station, it's only twenty minutes into Lancaster but it's eight quid either way.

[superjack]

9 minutes ago, Dawnrazor said:

That's the thing about public transport, if you live in a city it seems to be ok, passable, but if you live in a rural location it's just about obsolete, we live four miles from the nearest bus stop and five from a train station, I can drive to Lancaster in thirty minutes, if I didn't have a car, it'd be about an hour and a half walk, wait at a bus stop, fifty minutes in the bus, then the same back, or another twenty minutes walk to the train station, it's only twenty minutes into Lancaster but it's eight quid either way.

Makes my village (30 houses) seem like a bustling metropoli. The bus service used to be reasonably good. if I was home during the week, there would be a bus hourly up to town, cut backs over the last few years. At least the bus stop is a minutes walk from me, its at the top end of my croft!

When in Edinburgh, I would quite often cycle everywhere, quickest method of transport I found. 

[Jim_Duncan]

9 hours ago, kila said:

 

Size of cars too.

 

No problem with folk driving, but they do not need a massive car when they are the sole occupant with no luggage. Just a status thing, like when smoking was cool.

 

There’s a direct correlation between folk in cities with large cars and the same people’s high level of stupidity in relation to the national average (which is high enough as it is). 

[Ulysses]

1 hour ago, superjack said:

A lot depends on where you live as well. For instance, when I still lived in Edinburgh I never bothered buying a car as it wasn't a necessity. Now I'm on lewis, it is a necessity. More chance seeing me need a hair cut than seeing a decent bus service up here. 

For example, it takes me 10 to 15 minutes to drive to stornoway. If I want to go out for a few pints at tea time on a Saturday, I need tonget on the bus at 1605, and I arrive in stornoway at 1715.

Also, as I don't work in stornoway but in Callanish, if I got the first bus leaving my village at 0700, then I'd have to jump on another bus in town, about 45 minutes after my 1 arrives. Then another 50 minutes on the bus. I usually drive it in 35 minutes. 

 

 

I hear what you're saying. While bus services are old news, a "pay as you go" model of car usage is a new idea that's still waiting for the technology to catch up.  Like bus services, I'd have my doubts about how much use that model of car usage would be in rural areas or on islands.  But you can see how it might reduce car ownership in cities, and how it might prove to be cheaper and more efficient than bus services in small and medium-sized towns.

 

By the way, having a driverless car could be very useful for getting home from the boozer in Stornoway after a feed of pints.  I wonder how drink-driving rules would work?  

 

[superjack]

1 hour ago, Ulysses said:

 

 

I hear what you're saying. While bus services are old news, a "pay as you go" model of car usage is a new idea that's still waiting for the technology to catch up.  Like bus services, I'd have my doubts about how much use that model of car usage would be in rural areas or on islands.  But you can see how it might reduce car ownership in cities, and how it might prove to be cheaper and more efficient than bus services in small and medium-sized towns.

 

By the way, having a driverless car could be very useful for getting home from the boozer in Stornoway after a feed of pints.  I wonder how drink-driving rules would work?  

 

That would be some defence, "the computer done it, not me".

In a city it would be a good idea, id definitely use it myself, even if just visiting. But as I drive 35 miles each way, I like having MY car. Nothing snobbish, it's just my space. 

 

[Jim_Duncan]

2 hours ago, Ulysses said:

 

 

I hear what you're saying. While bus services are old news, a "pay as you go" model of car usage is a new idea that's still waiting for the technology to catch up.  Like bus services, I'd have my doubts about how much use that model of car usage would be in rural areas or on islands.  But you can see how it might reduce car ownership in cities, and how it might prove to be cheaper and more efficient than bus services in small and medium-sized towns.

 

By the way, having a driverless car could be very useful for getting home from the boozer in Stornoway after a feed of pints.  I wonder how drink-driving rules would work?  

 

The one family I know that jacked in car ownership to get by with car rentals/car club (and live with four rental cars within a five minute walk)  has gone back to owning a car. 

[manaliveits105]

Will there be outdoor ear eating areas ?

[Ulysses]

4 hours ago, Jim_Duncan said:

The one family I know that jacked in car ownership to get by with car rentals/car club (and live with four rental cars within a five minute walk)  has gone back to owning a car. 

 

Impossible to imagine now, but could be commonplace in a few years, rather like smoking bans.

[Bindy Badgy]

8 hours ago, superjack said:

That would be some defence, "the computer done it, not me".

In a city it would be a good idea, id definitely use it myself, even if just visiting. But as I drive 35 miles each way, I like having MY car. Nothing snobbish, it's just my space. 

 

 

The horse did it, not me.

[KG1874]

A carless society is something I hope happens after I’m long gone. My livelihood depends on motors been on the road though so it’s a bias opinion. Once technology is in place as long as society will still be able to function it’ll probs happen eventually 

[Ulysses]

3 minutes ago, KG1874 said:

A carless society is something I hope happens after I’m long gone. My livelihood depends on motors been on the road though so it’s a bias opinion. Once technology is in place as long as society will still be able to function it’ll probs happen eventually 

 

I dont think we'll ever see a carless society.  What we might see is a different model of car ownership and use, where people would probably drive as much as they do now, but not own their cars.  Having said that, it probably would mean fewer cars being sold, but more work being done to maintain them, so how it would affect someone's business would depend on what that business was.

[frankblack]

8 hours ago, Ulysses said:

 

Impossible to imagine now, but could be commonplace in a few years, rather like smoking bans.

 

I don't see it TBH.  I guess to be clear there are two categories- full rental and car share.

 

Full rental could work if costs balance out the servicing costs of owning outright where the older the car, the more things go wrong.  After the bill I got with my MOT this could be cheaper 😭

 

Car share for me is for people who only need a car very infrequently for special journeys.  The convenience of having your own car there 24x7 would otherwise put people off.

[Ulysses]

13 hours ago, superjack said:

That would be some defence, "the computer done it, not me".

In a city it would be a good idea, id definitely use it myself, even if just visiting. But as I drive 35 miles each way, I like having MY car. Nothing snobbish, it's just my space. 

 

 

I like having my own car, but if someone said I could give it up, still do all the driving I like, and save lots of money because I'd only be paying for the time and miles I'm driving I'd give it serious consideration.

 

If 20 years ago someone had suggested to me that I'd stop buying music and videos/DVDs, I'd have said not.  But technology moved on, and now I do.  Only one of my mates still buys physical music, and even he has a Deezer subscription. 

 

But if I lived on an island or somewhere rural, or if I did very high mileage, I'd be much more likely to want my own car.

[Ulysses]

5 minutes ago, frankblack said:

 

I don't see it TBH.  I guess to be clear there are two categories- full rental and car share.

 

Full rental could work if costs balance out the servicing costs of owning outright where the older the car, the more things go wrong.  After the bill I got with my MOT this could be cheaper 😭

 

Car share for me is for people who only need a car very infrequently for special journeys.  The convenience of having your own car there 24x7 would otherwise put people off.

 

I think it depends on cost.  If you create services where people can call cars easily and where the cost per hour or mile is cheap enough, people will use them.  If they're saving lots and there's ease of access, people will see a benefit in not paying big capital money for something that spends most of its time idle. The key, so to speak, is driverless technology.  That has to catch up, but it inevitably will.

[Auld Reekin']

On 26/03/2024 at 16:33, GlasgoJambo said:

I’ve just had note that Bellfield Brewery have finished kegging their 0.5% Fire Island IPA. 

Sure it’ll be available in Edinburgh pubs soon. 
 

 

Now, where's that "Bit gay mate" smiley got to...???     

 

On 26/03/2024 at 23:08, Jim_Duncan said:

I’ll have you know my wife doesn’t find anything remotely attractive about me.  So there. 

 

[Taffin]

29 minutes ago, Ulysses said:

 

I think it depends on cost.  If you create services where people can call cars easily and where the cost per hour or mile is cheap enough, people will use them.  If they're saving lots and there's ease of access, people will see a benefit in not paying big capital money for something that spends most of its time idle. The key, so to speak, is driverless technology.  That has to catch up, but it inevitably will.

 

I think the key is a mentality shift, similar to the smoking ban. 

 

Hiring cars is just a sticking plaster.

 

A return to local services and employment, and the addition of deliveries and digital employment will see folk driving 20+ miles for work etc a thing of the past...I hope. 

 

[Howdy Doody Jambo]

50 minutes ago, Ulysses said:

 

I think it depends on cost.  If you create services where people can call cars easily and where the cost per hour or mile is cheap enough, people will use them.  If they're saving lots and there's ease of access, people will see a benefit in not paying big capital money for something that spends most of its time idle. The key, so to speak, is driverless technology.  That has to catch up, but it inevitably will.

That's called a taxi 🚖 these days is it not 

[superjack]

1 hour ago, Ulysses said:

 

I like having my own car, but if someone said I could give it up, still do all the driving I like, and save lots of money because I'd only be paying for the time and miles I'm driving I'd give it serious consideration.

 

If 20 years ago someone had suggested to me that I'd stop buying music and videos/DVDs, I'd have said not.  But technology moved on, and now I do.  Only one of my mates still buys physical music, and even he has a Deezer subscription. 

 

But if I lived on an island or somewhere rural, or if I did very high mileage, I'd be much more likely to want my own car.

As I said, if I lived in Edinburgh still, the things I would need a car for would be a small fraction of now. If living and working in the city, no need for a car there.

Things like doing my shopping, yes.

[Ulysses]

1 hour ago, Howdy Doody Jambo said:

That's called a taxi 🚖 these days is it not 

 

 

Or perhaps, like I said already...

 

2 hours ago, Ulysses said:

 

The key, so to speak, is driverless technology. 

 

[Ulysses]

1 hour ago, Taffin said:

 

I think the key is a mentality shift, similar to the smoking ban. 

 

Hiring cars is just a sticking plaster.

 

A return to local services and employment, and the addition of deliveries and digital employment will see folk driving 20+ miles for work etc a thing of the past...I hope. 

 

 

I think that would apply in cities, but less so in small towns and rural areas.  I thought the development of remote working in the pandemic would lead to a shift in mindset about commuting to work, but judging from Dublin city things are more or less the same as they were before WFH happened.