Out of Pod Experience

This is why I got a diesel. I am forever driving about but only need to refill once or twice a month

considering how stuff is taxed here in Europe, probably about 50-70%

well, I was right, sorta

What is this "line injection diesel" I hear about getting heinous mileage?

direct injection probably?

also known as "common rail" and "multijet"

here in Portugal, diesel is about 1.50€.



....I won't even talk about gasoline

Since oil is finite, and people are greedy under the current monetary system, it seems only the inevitable results.

in my country we had a system of toll-free highways. It was all fine n' dandy until the crisis came up and all of the sudden more tax revenue needed to be created.

so they put tolls on the previously toll-free highways thinking that "hey, people need this so they will pay!".

the result? yeah people are paying to go thru them (and thru a very sketchy system at that), but the traffic volume on these roads decreased on the order of the 20-50%.
which means that their predictions on money gained here was also waaaaaay below expectations.

all that this managed to do is to put extra pressure on the regular roads with now nearly 80% of the cargo going thru them, and increasing general traffic by 100% in some cases.

Justified? No idea.

I gave up driving cars nearly 10 years ago so it doesn't affect me, other than having drivers on the road trying to beat the lights and save 10p on fuel, and nearly colliding into me.

Then there are the mother fuckin' cyclists who somehow believe the pavement is their domain and cycle along at top speed. I purposefully get in there way and elbow/shoulder them at every opportunity.

So, I guess it will affect me if everyone gives up cars as the pavements will be chocked full of idiots getting in my way.

If, like me, you live in a city centre then you really have no excuses.

I could not justify owning a car; I live 10 min walk from the central bus station, 15 min walk from a major train station and 20 minute coach to an International Airport - but am not on the flightpath...

So, my travel expenditure is a paltry £16 per 7 days, for unlimited travel - less than a round of drinks.

No insurance
No road Tax
No cleaning needed
No garages ripping me off
No 30% annual depreciation
No threat of someone stealing it, setting fire to it, smashing the windows, keying it.
No maintenance costs
No insecurity complex bought on by seeing the exact same car as mine, but 6 months newer, or a better colour/wheels/stereo/bumper sticker/private plate.

And of course: No fuel to buy.

Last time I bought fuel it was nearing the 90 pence mark, and that was horrific.

I'd recommend opening up a Excel and crunching the numbers - the amount of money you will have at the end of the month will shock you by not having a car.

If you absolutely positively need a car, and I mean need a car, then this news sucks - all I can suggest is work harder, longer hours, or get a second job, or ask for a pay rise to off-set the increased expenditure.

AK

In England there was a section of a main motorway that was crippled with traffic as it approached and passed through a large city and one of the most infamous junctions in the country (spaghetti junction), it costs business millions and adds hours to the journey when the traffic is particularly bad. It was decided that a bypass was needed so through traffic could completely avoid all of it.

Then some bright spark decided it should be the only toll motorway in the country, the much needed relief road sees a trickle of the traffic it would normally see and they make it worse each year by increasing the toll. The traffic on the main section is worse than ever and the toll is so expensive it still makes more sense for business to just put up with the traffic than pay.