Franglais:
Carryfast:
Fuel tax in this case actually just encourages customers to use the least taxed option ( rail ) thereby leaving the NHS etc short of cash and more haulage company closures.
In addition to it being a regressive tax in which high earners are having a laugh at the expense of the low paid.While also creating the situation of those minimising their tax exposure by using the least fuel possible while their demand for services goes up.So who then pays for the shortfall in tax revenues ?.Oh wait they increase fuel tax more.Which means less trucks on the road and more drivers on the dole and people using even less fuel and having less to spend which means less economic growth.Great idea.
If youre saying that more regressive taxation is a short term fix for the wealthy, and will ■■■■■■■ the country whilst the rich move offshore? You
re also saying the NHS is under funded? Then I reckon youre probably right. I would expect that others would agree too. It
s up to Govs to gather tax equitably, and allocate tax revenues sensibly.
So, we`ll all be voting for J.C. soon then?
And on a more serious note, users will choose (often, but not exclusively) that which benefits them in the short term.
Travelers choose the cheapest (money and time) option. They wont look at how much ticket price is going in tax, surely? They look at price. Govs subsidising rail and bus fares means less cars on the road and easier cheaper journeys for the rest of us. Road fuel tax going to rail isn
t such a bad idea really. Get single occupancy commuter cars off the road to free the highway for traffic that has little choice but to be there.
If Corbyn was all about equitable taxation then he’d put road fuel tax all on income tax and corporation tax.
While what you’ve described is just more of the same.In the form of rail operators and customers not only evading taxation thereby reducing tax revenues but also taking revenues out in the form of state rail infrastructure subsidies.While as has been stated road transport taxation exceeds what is actually spent on the roads.
While If you remove road traffic to any significant degree by transferring it to rail exactly where does all the supposed fuel tax/road transport taxation revenue then come from in that case ?.Nor does the idea of road transport taxation being used to subsidise rail transport fit the script of road supposedly not paying its way when the truth is it’s being ripped off to help to pay for rail industry subsidies.
So there we have it the best solution would be to allow LHV’s together with reductions in permissable axle weights,removal of road fuel duty together with a level playing field regarding what road and rail pay for their respective infrastructure requirements etc.As opposed to the situation now in which road transport pays in more than gets spent on the roads while rail receives more from the state than it contributes.While trucks are needlessly limited by gvw and length limits to a less than optimum tonne/mpg figure together with less than optimum axle configurations which apply needless pressure to road surfaces.
I know Philippa Edmunds she used to be with the Rail Freight Group.
She is correct I expect, but if we are not careful we get into the stupid trucks v rail argument which is tbh testicular claptrap. More needs to be done to get some of the freight onto rail. It is nonsense at night seeing almost nose to tail queue of trucks pounding up and down the M74 to/from England. Bloody ridiculous. But…
As some have said we don’t have the intermodal capacity to handle a mammoth change and we should have it. The rail network is unlikely to grow much in its size. And no one wants an inter modal terminal near them. It’ll be fairly static but trucks have their place too and frankly almost all the congestion is caused by cars…
Government has done too little to force through, yes force through park & ride. It’s no big deal so long as you have a high frequency of buses into the appropriate town.
When I worked in Glasgow I went by train and the 20 minute walk did me good apart from inhaling all the muck largely from cars but a fair amount from buses. There was little from trucks which kept to the M8/M74.
Trucks and rail need to co-exist. They should compliment not compete with one another.
Sand Fisher:
Trucks and rail need to co-exist. They should compliment not compete with one another.
You mean like the 1930’s.When road transport was effectively forced into the position of being a local delivery service,for the convenience of rail transport which then as now thinks it has a god given right to a monopoly of the long haul traffic sector.That would have worked well for people like Bewick and all those drivers who he employed running North/South traffic for just one example.
Meanwhile this is the reality regarding the employment opportunities provided by rail v road.3 successful job placements out of more than 1,200 applications. 
virgin.com/careers/virgin-tr … enticeship
As I said turkeys voting for Christmas.
This is how some of the public perceive us. Check the comments section 
The sooner we get everything transported via train and then picked up by drones to be dropped off to the shops or your home the better. I have no respect for wagon drivers they think they own the road they cause so many crashes because the people (I say people I mean morons) driving these vehicles have no clue as to how to tie their shoelaces never mind operate a vehicle of this size and power. I know it’s not all of them there is probably 1 out there with a brain. Wagon drivers are low ebbs of life with no brain and no respect for our roads the sooner we get rid of these people the better, safer and less congested the roads will be.
Terry T:
This is how some of the public perceive us. Check the comments section 
The sooner we get everything transported via train and then picked up by drones to be dropped off to the shops or your home the better. I have no respect for wagon drivers they think they own the road they cause so many crashes because the people (I say people I mean morons) driving these vehicles have no clue as to how to tie their shoelaces never mind operate a vehicle of this size and power. I know it’s not all of them there is probably 1 out there with a brain. Wagon drivers are low ebbs of life with no brain and no respect for our roads the sooner we get rid of these people the better, safer and less congested the roads will be.
He’s only sore 'cos I ■■■■ ed his wife!