I was jumping for joy yesterday lunchtime as the result for the Greater Manchester congestion charge referendum came through loud and clear. I'd accessed SKY News Live on my computer at work to see the results unfold!
The first announced was Bolton:
Electorate = 199,819 - Turnout = 48.8% - Yes = 20,529 - No = 76,910
Then Bury:
Electorate = 140,441 - Turnout = 57.4% - Yes =16,563 - No = 64,001
Then Manchester:
Electorate = 340,730 - Turnout = 46.1% - Yes = 43,593 - No = 113,064
For the congestion charge to go through, the remaining seven council's will all have to be YES! Here goes!
Oldham:
Electorate = 159,328 - Turnout = 54.4% - Yes = 17,571 - No = 68,884
So, the YES bid is doomed, and the results continued to be NO, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside and Trafford! Only Wigan left, and I was pleading that Wiganers and Leythers alike would continue this trend! Mainly due to the fact that our very own Lord (Ha Ha)Peter Smith, Leader of The Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA) was at the forefront of this proposal and is on record of saying previously, that we didn't need a referendum and that the charging scheme should go-ahead regardless, just going to show the contempt he holds and lack of democracy he spews, not just for those in Wigan Metro, but the whole of Greater Manchester itself. So it was imperative, we poked him right in the eye on this one!
Wigan:
Electorate = 235,043 - Turnout = 45.3% - Yes = 27,810 - No = 78,565
TEN OUT OF TEN SAY NO!! Get in there!! Superb result!! A brilliant Two-Fingered gesture to you Lord (Ha Ha) Smith, you smug bastard!! And another Two-Fingered Salute to all the other Labour Party suckers that wasted £34million of the taxpayers money in this doomed to fail venture!
Heads should roll, so lets start with that buffoon Lord (Ha Ha) Smith!
Anyway, why should someone, like myself vote NO (as well as despising everything Labour say or do,that is!) when the promise to improve public transport was a paramount proposal of the TIF and of which I have relied upon public transport for nearly 30 years or so to get me to and from my employment?
Well, it's because the transport system is an absolute disgrace, the buses in particular stink and are filled with rubbish and beer cans strewn over the floors! Many of the kids who use the buses are unruly, abusive and very, very rude. The young men and women play their music loud and have no respect whatsoever for the rest of the bus passengers, and often have their shit filled shoes resting on the seats. So it's not a very nice experience I'm afraid. And on quite a few occasions I will admit that my patience has worn very thin indeed and I've found myself lifting a couple of unruly chav's by the scruff of the neck and threatened to rip their head off and shit down their neck if they ever throw another coke bottle at my head again!! Only the other week, I'd collared another young man probably about seventeen years of age, who I would constantly have to tell him to turn the hideous thumping music (sic) down, that he would play every bleeding morning on his mobile phone!
Anyway, a young girl that this fellow knows has been getting on the bus and so instead of the crap noise coming from his phone, I now had to listen to his vile mouth as he would tell her about his night before exploits! Even the young girl told the lad that his language was awful (fair play to her) but, on this one occasion he was feffing and jeffing about how many spliffs he'd smoked the night before and that he'd two ready to smoke at work that day! I got up and told the lad that me and the rest of the bus was sick to death of his tone and attitude and that he should have some respect and told him no wonder the country is like what it is, with people like him! He shut up for the remaining stretch of the bus journey!
The following day he was on the bus and was quiet as a mouse, that was until a work colleague of his got on the bus just a stop before I was to get off at mine, and as I was waiting for the doors to open I could hear him at the back, saying that I was the feffing "dick" who had a go at him yesterday! I began to walk back up the bus aisle to him and asked if he'd anything he'd like to say to me? He curled up under his hood!
I didn't see the young chap for about a week? But when he did eventually get back on the bus he came over to me and apologised. I shook his hand and thanked him for having the dignity to do so.
So, I wouldn't wish other people to have to go through this daily grind like I have to do!
If they want to get more people on the buses and abandon their cars, then the infrastructure should have been there in the first place to entice them on. It should not be up to the general public to dip into their own pockets when these "giants" of the bus monopolies have annual turnovers worth billions! In all, the bus is a product that we pay to use and the owners should invest their own money in order to sell their product to us, not the other way round.
That said, do we really have "genuine" congestion on our roads so much so that we need to take such drastic action? Are our roads orchestrated in such a way that congestion is inevitable at certain times? What about the way our traffic lights are "controlled?" I don't want to sound like some conspiracy theorist, but, would you not put it past our corrupt and bent government officials to put such tactics in to practice?
If indeed we do have a "genuine" problem then what can we do to eleviate the congestion?
How about bringing back work sponsored coaches or buses for their employee's with multiple pick up and drop off points?
How about banning heavy goods vehicles, wide loads and such like from the roads between say 6 am to 9am and 4:30 pm to 6 pm?
How about bringing back the "clippers" or conductors on our buses? Instead of having to wait for people to get on the bus and then fumble around in their "purses" for their fare (by jove that doesn't half wind me up, they can be waiting for the bus ages and only decide to get the money out when they step onto the bloody bus!) to pay the driver. And obviously, by this time no doubt a jam has occurred behind by the time all the passengers have got on and paid.
*Additionally, by having the clipper and hopefully those who will have some clout about them to restore that element of safety and discipline required to entice new users onto the bus service!
Do you have any suggestions on the congestion issue that the "Powers That Be" can ignore?
