It’s a good move, but we can’t start thinking that this will solve the fare cost problem entirely. The UK has a network problem: everyone and everything goes to London at the same time. That means for every full train going into London, there’s an empty one leaving the city not long after.
That empty train needs the same resources as the full one, so essentially every fare you pay must cover the cost of two trips. The process of spreading destinations around the country is a lot of work and very expensive: new lines, tax incentives, etc.
Don’t people return home eventually? I mean if they didn’t, London would just fill up and eventually burst, and I don’t mean over decades but over weeks. Commuters obviously go there in the morning and return at night, where the empty train problem exists in both cases (just reversed direction). But any other visitor I’d assume comes and goes at less precisely scheduled times?
That won’t help, you’ll just have empty trains leaving Leeds as well as London. Unless people live and work in the same place this is just a cost of a train network.
Not exactly. A functioning train network means that you get people living in London and working in Brighton, or living in Cambridge and working in Oxford.
Many European cities have healthy patterns like this. For example, there’s a lot of shared labour between Amsterdam, Utrecht, Den Haag, and even Rotterdam.
Their art studio / gym / dance classes / choral group is in London
Their friends and family are all in London
There are lots of reasons. Additionally, as you diversify the transport network and spread work locations around, housing costs even out across the region.
It’s a good move, but we can’t start thinking that this will solve the fare cost problem entirely. The UK has a network problem: everyone and everything goes to London at the same time. That means for every full train going into London, there’s an empty one leaving the city not long after.
That empty train needs the same resources as the full one, so essentially every fare you pay must cover the cost of two trips. The process of spreading destinations around the country is a lot of work and very expensive: new lines, tax incentives, etc.
Don’t people return home eventually? I mean if they didn’t, London would just fill up and eventually burst, and I don’t mean over decades but over weeks. Commuters obviously go there in the morning and return at night, where the empty train problem exists in both cases (just reversed direction). But any other visitor I’d assume comes and goes at less precisely scheduled times?
That won’t help, you’ll just have empty trains leaving Leeds as well as London. Unless people live and work in the same place this is just a cost of a train network.
Not exactly. A functioning train network means that you get people living in London and working in Brighton, or living in Cambridge and working in Oxford.
Many European cities have healthy patterns like this. For example, there’s a lot of shared labour between Amsterdam, Utrecht, Den Haag, and even Rotterdam.
Why on earth would anyone pay London prices for a house and pay commuting costs when they could just live in Brighton?
There are lots of reasons. Additionally, as you diversify the transport network and spread work locations around, housing costs even out across the region.