Rising cost of living

Originally Posted by Taf

With 20mph speed limits being imposed all over the place, journey times have become longer, so fares will rise.

Nottingham [city] has those everywhere except main roads.

They are just pointless, and never enforced (just not practical).
I've yet to see anyone actually stick to them, including taxis and buses.
Oh, and if you live in one, they have increased your vehicle pollution by 50%.

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by Paul

Nottingham [city] has those everywhere except main roads.

They are just pointless, and never enforced (just not practical).
I've yet to see anyone actually stick to them, including taxis and buses.
Oh, and if you live in one, they have increased your vehicle pollution by 50%.

Exactly. Try driving at that speed in one of those areas and see how long before the driver behind starts flashing his headlights and overtakes you. Such a low speed limit is positively dangerous, in my opinion.

I think these 20mph limits should be used only in a small number of specific cases or as a temporary limit during school opening/closing times.

I hear people say that too many people disregard the 30mph limits and argue that they should therefore be reduced to 20. They really don’t see that if they are not obeying the 30 limit, there’s even less chance they’ll obey a 20 sign!

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Originally Posted by Hom3r

You've obviously never had to rely on a bus service

I use buses a lot. There are bus lanes as well, which help on busy routes.

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Originally Posted by Taf

I visited a local indoor market yesterday for the first time in almost a year. Meat prices were extortionate, some almost double what the supermarkets charge. One of the butchers told me that sales are "flatter than Twiggy" since they were all bought out by a sole vendor. "Mark-ups were always high, but now they are stupid, no-one wants to buy any of it".

Well, who would buy from a market if they are charging more than the supermarkets?

At least you know the supermarket stuff is unlikely to give you food poisoning.

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Originally Posted by Sephiroth

There's a run on baked beans.

Please don’t say that. Don’t even think it.

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Originally Posted by Pierre

Inflation actually dropped today, as the recent rise was not demand led, it was supply led. Inflation looks like it may yoyo around for several months whilst the global supply chain evens itself out.

There’s a lot more to come, though. Wait until those wage increases come through! The more people earn, the more they will spend, the more demand goes up, the more prices go up.

It’ll take a lot of management to keep prices down over the next year or so. I don’t expect to see much in the way of productivity gains in the short term.

[Jimmy-J]

Apparently, the local taxi firm has been charging for when they are held up in traffic for some years, but only at peak times, but this has been changed since the 18th of this month to 24/7.

[Sephiroth]

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

<SNIP>

Please don’t say that. Don’t even think it.

OB, please don't admit that you eat baked beans!

[Carth]

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

Well, who would buy from a market if they are charging more than the supermarkets?

At least you know the supermarket stuff is unlikely to give you food poisoning

Crikey, most product recalls are by supermarkets

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

OB, please don't admit that you eat baked beans!

I love them with Welsh Rarebit!

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Originally Posted by Carth

Crikey, most product recalls are by supermarkets

Problem is, the fact that there are no recalls from market sellers does not mean their products are safe. I mean, you just wouldn’t know!

[Carth]

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

I love them with Welsh Rarebit!

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Problem is, the fact that there are no recalls from market sellers does not mean their products are safe. I mean, you just wouldn’t know!

Having worked in food production for over 20 years, mainly producing for supermarkets, I know which one I'd trust

[Taf]

Originally Posted by Paul

Nottingham [city] has those everywhere except main roads.

Cardiff is the "experiment". If all goes well (all bad points will be swept under the carpet) the WHOLE of Wales will have a 20mph limit imposed in all urban areas.

And big chunks of motorways and "A" roads will have 50mph limits imposed too.

The M4 past the huge Port Talbot steelworks already has a 50mph limit to "reduce pollution".

[Sephiroth]

Originally Posted by Taf

Cardiff is the "experiment". If all goes well (all bad points will be swept under the carpet) the WHOLE of Wales will have a 20mph limit imposed in all urban areas.

And big chunks of motorways and "A" roads will have 50mph limits imposed too.

The M4 past the huge Port Talbot steelworks already has a 50mph limit to "reduce pollution".

Useful study at link: https://assets.highwaysengland.co.uk...7092019_v2.pdf

[Mad Max]

Originally Posted by Taf

Cardiff is the "experiment". If all goes well (all bad points will be swept under the carpet) the WHOLE of Wales will have a 20mph limit imposed in all urban areas.

And big chunks of motorways and "A" roads will have 50mph limits imposed too.

The M4 past the huge Port Talbot steelworks already has a 50mph limit to "reduce pollution".

I'm wondering how that reduces pollution, surely if people are on the road longer they're creating more pollution.

[Taf]

Originally Posted by Mad Max

I'm wondering how that reduces pollution, surely if people are on the road longer they're creating more pollution.

The whole thing is because of intense lobbying by a group saying "Twenty is Plenty", I first heard of them in a local village, where older people had complained about not having enough time to cross a road. They spread like a cancer throughout social media.

Many people have asked about pollution problems and journey times, but no answers have been forthcoming AFAIK.

https://www.20splenty.org/

It's already cost a fortune for street furniture (signposts, etc) and the attitude seems to be "We've spent this much, we might as well carry on".

Originally Posted by Mad Max

I'm wondering how that reduces pollution, surely if people are on the road longer they're creating more pollution.

That would only be the case if the vehicle’s fuel efficiency was the same at 50mph as at 70mph. But that’s not how it works.

If you have a turbo-diesel, for example, the turbo charger will kick in around 2,000rpm. Depending on exactly how the engine and gearbox is set up, at 50mph in top gear (6th, in my Berlingo automatic) the engine is revving around 1850rpm and the turbo isn’t operating. At 70mph the revs are in the region of 2,200rpm and the turbo is operating. At the lower speed the car will do about 60mpg, whereas at the higher it’s around 45mpg.

On that basis, a 60 mile journey at a steady 50mph will burn one gallon, or around 4.5 litres, of diesel. A 60 mile journey at 70mph will require about another third of a gallon on top of that - roughly 1.5 extra litres of diesel.

A car that gets from A to B using 4.5 litres of fuel is clearly causing less pollution than one that uses 6 litres for the same journey, regardless of how long that journey takes.

[Carth]

Maybe we should just make car manufacturers limit the top speed of their vehicles to 50mph . . emergency vehicles an exception of course.

[papa smurf]

I live in a 20mph zone -cars roar past at high speed all day and night, I think it just annoys people that the council is trying to slow them down, there are no schools near my house but it's for the safety of school kids

[spiderplant]

Originally Posted by Chris

If you have a turbo-diesel, for example, the turbo charger will kick in around 2,000rpm. Depending on exactly how the engine and gearbox is set up, at 50mph in top gear (6th, in my Berlingo automatic) the engine is revving around 1850rpm and the turbo isn’t operating. At 70mph the revs are in the region of 2,200rpm and the turbo is operating. At the lower speed the car will do about 60mpg, whereas at the higher it’s around 45mpg.

Plus the air resistance is proportional to the square of the velocity. So the drag at 70mph is roughly double that at 50mph.

In any car with a fuel consumption gauge it's easy to see the difference for yourself. Drive at 50 on the motorway and watch the mpg go up.