The Lemon Fool

CliffEdge wrote:When I am subjected to the torture that is the M25 it is obvious to me that most of the cars on there are making pointless journeys.

Just one aspect of the fact that most jobs nowadays are pointless.

You mean everyone except yours, I presume?

I use it to get me from A to B in the shortest possible time. I have used the alternatives at times, but for the usual journey it is about 105 minutes via the M25 and about twice that not using the motorway. Public transport takes about three times that, possibly more if I include walking and waiting time. I haven't tried it since Reading Station was changed, but what used to be a cross platform change now involves a longer trek and a quick connection is no longer possible.

30 years ago I used to drive home from the West Midlands after work on Thursdays. The obvious route was via M5, M40, M25 and M23. Such was the traffic that I found it quicker to use the A449 to pick up the M5 near Worcester, over the Cotswold to Swindon, M4 to Chieveley, A38 to north of Winchester, country lanes to the A272 east of Winchester and then from Petworth to Steyning and on home. No difference in time, sometimes quicker, and better opportunities for a bite on the way.

TJH

tjh290633 wrote:

CliffEdge wrote:When I am subjected to the torture that is the M25 it is obvious to me that most of the cars on there are making pointless journeys.

Just one aspect of the fact that most jobs nowadays are pointless.

You mean everyone except yours, I presume?

I use it to get me from A to B in the shortest possible time. I have used the alternatives at times, but for the usual journey it is about 105 minutes via the M25 and about twice that not using the motorway. Public transport takes about three times that, possibly more if I include walking and waiting time. I haven't tried it since Reading Station was changed, but what used to be a cross platform change now involves a longer trek and a quick connection is no longer possible.

30 years ago I used to drive home from the West Midlands after work on Thursdays. The obvious route was via M5, M40, M25 and M23. Such was the traffic that I found it quicker to use the A449 to pick up the M5 near Worcester, over the Cotswold to Swindon, M4 to Chieveley, A38 to north of Winchester, country lanes to the A272 east of Winchester and then from Petworth to Steyning and on home. No difference in time, sometimes quicker, and better opportunities for a bite on the way.

TJH

Crazy

tjh290633 wrote:

CliffEdge wrote:When I am subjected to the torture that is the M25 it is obvious to me that most of the cars on there are making pointless journeys.

Just one aspect of the fact that most jobs nowadays are pointless.

You mean everyone except yours, I presume?

I use it to get me from A to B in the shortest possible time. I have used the alternatives at times, but for the usual journey it is about 105 minutes via the M25 and about twice that not using the motorway. Public transport takes about three times that, possibly more if I include walking and waiting time. I haven't tried it since Reading Station was changed, but what used to be a cross platform change now involves a longer trek and a quick connection is no longer possible.

30 years ago I used to drive home from the West Midlands after work on Thursdays. The obvious route was via M5, M40, M25 and M23. Such was the traffic that I found it quicker to use the A449 to pick up the M5 near Worcester, over the Cotswold to Swindon, M4 to Chieveley, A38 to north of Winchester, country lanes to the A272 east of Winchester and then from Petworth to Steyning and on home. No difference in time, sometimes quicker, and better opportunities for a bite on the way.

TJH

There is certainly a major issue with the M25. Living in Kent, I find any long car journey from going SW round to going NE requires travel along the M25, and it is pot lock as to whether one can go around in a reasonable time, or being held up by slow moving or stationary traffic. I always carry supplies of food and water when venturing out onto the M25 just in case I'm stuck for a 2 or perhaps even 5 hours.
There is a real need for an outer ring road about 10 miles outside the M25. Or failing that, at least finishing the discontinuous southern coast road, the A27, which is just a bad joke.

There is an issue with most of the M25 in my area (J23)
I haven't used it since lockdown but before that on weekdays it was pretty much a crawl from 5.30am and till well past 9am
I just console myself by wondering how bad would the North Circular (A406) be without it

AF62 wrote:
No, the carbon saving of that plan would be easily calculable.

Agreed

Instead of all these people living in their large poorly insulated houses in the countryside they would be living in modern energy efficient compact homes in tower blocks heated by communal waste energy heating systems.

Agreed

All their gas guzzling SUVs that everyone in the countryside seems to have would no longer be contributing to climate change, and they would be walking or getting the bus to the shops.

Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahaha!

See Chelsea for proof.

Paul