Driven To Despair

Photo by Keng Susumpow

I'm disappointed with the news that two-thirds of Scots still forego public transport and drive to work.

I'm even more disappointed with the seeming lack of solutions to this that the government has come up with.

A couple of times a week I get to look out of the train window as we pass Rutherglen, and see the M74 extension being built through the area alongside the West Coast Main Line. I can't understand the disconnect in politicians' minds between building more roads and more cars on those roads - 24% more cars in 10 years.

I'm pleased, though that the survey out yesterday about how people travel around the country shows an increase in ScotRail's passenger numbers - in fact there's a whopping great increase of 20% in 5 years (if you build it, they will come...)

Pleased, too, that air passenger numbers have fallen by almost 2 million in a year. But not so pleased that a quarter of school pupils now arrive by car.

Although I had to laugh at Jackson Carlaw's quote in the BBC news article:

"Commuters are not daft..."

If sitting in the same traffic jam on the same road five nights a week isn't the definition of daft, I don't know what is.

You can read the numbers and weep here.