£5K/year commuting bill

[dandydan]

Gotta cover those unionised drivers pay rises somehow ¯\_(ツ)_/ ¯

 

[Woolly Blue]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40936050

Where does GOT stand on this? Sympathy with their plight, or lifestyles of the rich and not so famous?

Think I'm in both camps, if that's possible. It's a lifestyle choice that they've made, but I do also sympathize when so much of your income goes on just getting to and from work. It may take a backseat to when you are first moving to a bigger house, starting a family etc, but over time the costs catch up with you and it becomes increasingly relentless.

Also reminds me how good we have it, as I generally have a 15 min cycle commute and my wife has a 40min door to door trip against the flow of tube traffic (again, this was a lifestyle choice, so I give us some credit for it, but at the same time we are lucky we have been able to stay in the same jobs for so long).

Also I appreciate this is a scouse based forum on a (mainly) London-based problem, so views might not be wholly representative...

On the whole, if you're ( not you personally ) paying 5k a year to commute then I'm not that arsed really.
The formula used to set prices rises on the network isn't exactly a state secret, so either find a job with a shorter, and therefore cheaper commute, or stiff your employer for an above inflation pay rise

The only issue I have with it is that it means it's just another nail in the coffin for recruiting and retaining public sector workers in the South-East.

 

[evilwebby]

Seems like higher rates of new home construction could solve your housing price and economic/jobs problems. So the issue is green belts then?

I'm afraid the dirty subject of political rears it ugly head. In the UK, perhaps more so than any other country, Housing is a very political topic. Rightly or wrongly, politicians want to encourage higher rates of home ownership (ie increase demand), and they also want the value of their homes to increase in value (ie make housing less affordable), which makes the homeowner feel wealthier. So, in short, they firmly want to have their cake and eat it. Any half-arsed economist will tell you that these two goals should not be mutually compatible, however the world of politics is blind, and I would argue that it is this simple refusal of the world of politics to acknowled economic reality that lies at the heart of our stuttering, stagnating economy. If you refute that 2+2 = 4, and say that what is black is white and that down is up and repeat it often enough 1984-style so that it becomes unquestioned policy, then you have a recipe for mass disillusionment and disenchantment 1984-style.