bryndos

Write a bot, to generate lines of plausible but bullshit code. Even if they pay 1p per 1000 lines . . . it’d be worth it just for the shits. Maybe even just random character strings, see if they’ll pay for it.

“bet”, “trailblazer”?

I think there has been effective congestion charging in place in places like Singapore for 40 odd years, evolving and expanding over time. Plenty of others too for decades.

I guess the “bet” maybe that drivers in NYC might have started going postal or something in a way that’s less likely in Singapore.

Whoa, I just looked up road traffic and ‘intentional’ homicide rates in the two countries, I know these stats are likely different definitions, but Singapore seems to be so much safer place than the USA on both counts. I’d hope NYC is more civilised than the USA average, but it seems unlikely to be as safe as Singapore.

So yeah, maybe it was a more of a gamble than i give it credit due to USA specific risks - I guess there’s a reason the Talking Heads came from USA not Singapore.

‘forever’ until torys get Mayor or farage decides to get into locals.

Oxford street, when i lived there ( well. . . lived 35min north, worked 20 min south - so i walked there a lot), 10-20 ya, was ‘at capacity’ for everything from 10am-8pm most of the year and especially at decemberween.

Tube stations often closed / exit only for overcrowding ,busses rammed and congested, pavements chock-a , shops overflowing. To walk along more than 2 blocks, you went north one block, and december you crossed either down past TCR, or up at hydepark / Edgware road (until cunt-boris filled in the marble arch underpasses because he was scared of the people his buddies refused to house having somewhere out of the rain).

So ok. get rid of taxis 100% yes, fuck taxis. But the buses ( a lot of em) still have to get E-W, have them weave up and down to side streets seems like insanity. maybe they need to create a proper bus corridor (or tram ) but we’d probably have to have the guts to do CPO without compensating land cost and scarcity rent (i.e building construction cost only). Or better, to guillotine the top landowners (by market value) regularly.

if they can get more peds in there, they’ll create pinch points wherever buses and tubes are. Since then they’ve improved TCR and Bond st with crossrail - great - but that probably just dumps even more people in at peak. Ive not ben there to prove this, fortunately i don’t need to. Maybe oxford circus is 100% exit only now.

A (slightly faster than walking) tram shuttle in between the tubes might be good, ideally hop on hop off like the good old routemaster bus. Or maybe a few travellators.

The main thing that i think they need to do is make, or just promote, some other destinations. Ideally ones that aren’t fucking soulless westfield shopping centres, but at least they handle the capacity better. How many tourists go to like , i dunno wood st market. . . Meh , second thoughts, do we want that? maybe subsidise them to go to westfield(s). Ramp up the tourist tax too - i assume they have one by now, city should get a better share of that congestion rent than fucking landlords.