Roland Perry wrote:
Most of the commuter rail in and out of London is at bursting point, and
has nowhere to scale *to*. It is at maximum capacity.

Well yes, but as it is supporting 90% of the load, it has clearly scaled
thus far... Which is why more rail should be built before other
transportation modes, but anyway...

The issue is that some individuals still appear to consider the
private motor vehicle (read: car), which is not scalable or anywhere
near it, a good way to get around London. A feel your statistic proves
my point.


Only 10%, which means they are the real persistent people who must have
a *very* good reason.

I think you have more faith than I. I walk my dog from Tooting Common
back to home each night and I often count the number of cars with two or
less passengers (yes I know, sad, but it's something that annoys me).
I'd estimate a figure of around 80% have two or less people in the car,
around 50% having one. These are in cars of all shapes and sizes, and do
not count commercial vehicles. With the quantities we are talking about,
I cannot for a second believe _all_ these people have a "very good
reason", but then I guess the discussion boils down to what a good
reason is, because ultimately that's subjective.

As an aside, where did you get that figure from? I've been looking for
a good stats site for a while.

From a LUL (or similar) survey done 5-8 years ago. I've no immediate
reference.

Wasn't there also a LUL one which stated some crazy stat about journeys
under one mile being performed by a car?

M4, Westway, then Marble Arch via Paddington aren't particularly
congested most of the day.

I don't think the congestion on a single given route at a specific time
of day is pertinent, we're discussing scalability of transportation.

Dan