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Gigging in London?


Happy Jack

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1 minute ago, steantval said:

You pays your £12.50 but the crap is still going in the air.

My question is where is that £12.50 going to?

The idea I guess is that it encourages people not to travel into the congestion charge zone in cars that pollute the most, so the crap isn't going into the air. If there are three of you in a band, do you have to use three cars to get to the gig? Car share and if you have to pay, then split the charges.

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10 minutes ago, ambient said:

The idea I guess is that it encourages people not to travel into the congestion charge zone in cars that pollute the most, so the crap isn't going into the air. If there are three of you in a band, do you have to use three cars to get to the gig? Car share and if you have to pay, then split the charges.

Depends where you're coming from - my two London gigs next year involve the band travelling from Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Oxfordshire and parts of London. I agree we could meet up and car share, but it wouldn't be easy, and we're all bringing guitars/amps, keyboards/drumkits. Probably PA, not sure if the venues have that in house or not. So I expect we'll all be attempting to drive into London, unload, and park near the venue. Our drive to Germany for gigs in May will probably be easier than that!

 

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3 hours ago, ambient said:

I’m personally of the opinion that we're too reliant on cars. What London is doing is ultimately good, Birmingham are introducing charging in the near future too. I’d rather not breath air that’s polluted by car and lorry exhaust fumes. If you play in a band and absolutely need to drive to a gig to carry your equipment then car share, organise amongst yourselves so you’re travelling in the minimum number of vehicles. I’m no doubt going to get a lot of dislikes for this, but we simply can’t carry on as we are, gridlocked roads and pollution, it’s unsustainable.

100% this. No dislikes from me, I’d rather drag an Ampeg fridge tied to my nutsack across London than have to deal with the hell that is London traffic and pollution. London is gridlocked and it stinks.

They should of course be doing much more than this, because it only punishes the people that are forced to drive due to the ridiculous cost of living which has forced them into the suburbs and beyond. Public transport in London is awful, and trains are beyond a joke. I spent 25 minutes waiting in a queue just to get to a tube door this morning. There was literally a queue of people by each tube door, 1 in 1 out. It took 5 trains till I managed to get on. 

So it’s a much bigger problem than something that an extra charge will fix, but it’s still a step in the right direction.

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This may come as a shock to some people, but not everyone lives in a large city. Some of us live in small villages with next to no public transport. My obese chelsea tractor might be out of place in a London street, but is quite handy when the rivers round here flood, which they do with some regularity - I live where the Windrush meets the Thames, and when we get heavy rain there is often a foot or two of water to drive through just to get to the end of the road. I have played gigs in marquees on fields thick with mud - 4 wheel drive can come in handy sometimes!

Edited by FinnDave
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I had a 4x4 but never really needed the 4WD, even for work - and I worked on a farm!!! If it needs anything towing, use a tractor; if you're just going out to feed or check on the cattle, take the quad. The roads are generally gritted where I live, and if it gets bad on the roads, its normally so marginal to have conditions where a normal car can't cope but a 4x4 is okay, to even a 4wd getting into trouble (all cars have 4 wheel braking.....etc) I'm sure others like the apparent security it brings though.

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7 minutes ago, paul_c2 said:

I had a 4x4 but never really needed the 4WD, even for work - and I worked on a farm!!! If it needs anything towing, use a tractor; if you're just going out to feed or check on the cattle, take the quad.

Perhaps it was because you worked on a farm with access to a quad and a tractor that you did not need the 4WD capability of your 4x4 :)

Edited by skankdelvar
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54 minutes ago, project_c said:

100% this. No dislikes from me, I’d rather drag an Ampeg fridge tied to my nutsack across London than have to deal with the hell that is London traffic and pollution. London is gridlocked and it stinks.

They should of course be doing much more than this, because it only punishes the people that are forced to drive due to the ridiculous cost of living which has forced them into the suburbs and beyond. Public transport in London is awful, and trains are beyond a joke. I spent 25 minutes waiting in a queue just to get to a tube door this morning. There was literally a queue of people by each tube door, 1 in 1 out. It took 5 trains till I managed to get on. 

So it’s a much bigger problem than something that an extra charge will fix, but it’s still a step in the right direction.

Sounds like a living hell.

Worked in London for three years, but never lived there, detested the place.

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Our roads are stinky poo and freeze / flood etc, but for the amount of times in a year that the roads are actually that bad, I will just work from home. Doesn't work out too many!

But yes, I am not sure how people put up with the atmosphere in London - I am happy to do an occasional visit, but god is it nice showering london off when you get back, so anything like this is a good thing

Edited by Woodinblack
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2 hours ago, project_c said:

100% this. No dislikes from me, I’d rather drag an Ampeg fridge tied to my nutsack across London than have to deal with the hell that is London traffic and pollution. London is gridlocked and it stinks.

They should of course be doing much more than this, because it only punishes the people that are forced to drive due to the ridiculous cost of living which has forced them into the suburbs and beyond. Public transport in London is awful, and trains are beyond a joke. I spent 25 minutes waiting in a queue just to get to a tube door this morning. There was literally a queue of people by each tube door, 1 in 1 out. It took 5 trains till I managed to get on. 

So it’s a much bigger problem than something that an extra charge will fix, but it’s still a step in the right direction.

If you think that public transport in London is awful, imagine what it's like in most other cities throughout the country. 

1 hour ago, Happy Jack said:

Just for balance, I moved to London in July 1974. I cannot imagine living anywhere else. :)

I lived in London for the best part of five years in the 80s - often regret leaving... 

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3 minutes ago, peteb said:

If you think that public transport in London is awful, imagine what it's like in most other cities throughout the country. 

Oh yes, one thing you notice going to london. Public transport is a dream there, as it should be as it gets many times more investment per capita then anywhere else. Nowhere else in the UK has public transport is as good as London.

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2 minutes ago, peteb said:

If you think that public transport in London is awful, imagine what it's like in most other cities throughout the country. 

I lived in London for the best part of five years in the 80s - often regret leaving... 

I live in Birmingham, my university is about 8 miles away, I have to allow an hour and a half to get there by train because the service is unreliable. Yet they’re spending how many billion on HS2? Money that would be much better spent improving what’s already there.

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7 minutes ago, peteb said:

If you think that public transport in London is awful, imagine what it's like in most other cities throughout the country. 

I lived in London for the best part of five years in the 80s - often regret leaving... 

I know. We nearly left last year so we looked at other options and the lack of transport / NHS / police / infrastructure and massive amounts of poverty in the places we looked at was crazy. I got lucky and got offered a job which allowed me to stay, otherwise I would have gone by now like many of my friends. London is screwed but nowhere near as screwed as many other cities. 

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Exempt here.  Five year old Honda CRV.

The congestion charge is only up to 6.00pm weekdays and there's no fee at weekends.  Any time I've had to gig up in the centre it's always been the case that we've timed things to drop into the zone after that.

Concerning the ULEZ thing, it does seem a shame that the time periods don't match.  It always appears that we're always trying to avoid being caught out one way or another.

Give it a few years, when everyone is in EVs and exempt from petrol/diesel penalties, and they'll just conjour up another charge for the motorist to stump up.

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London needs most of the 2 million-plus people who have swelled its ranks and overburdened infrastructure and transport in the last 5-10 years to clear off. It’s not likely to happen, and telling people to get out of their car and replace it with cramped, sweaty, smelly, expensive, unreliable and sometimes downright dangerous public transport is a bit short sighted. The ultra low emission zone is about cleaner air, but the most polluting traffic is lorries, buses and taxis, which are at least getting cleaned up (gradually). If you want to see what pollution is really about, stand by a taxi rank next to a London terminus and look at the atmosphere with all the dirty old diesel engines running - because that’s what they do all day whilst waiting for fares!

The wider transport issue needs to be solved as, notwithstanding pollution, oil will run out, and 20 million electric cars/taxis/whatever will need to be powered by something. Public transport is pretty much woeful outside of London so is no replacement.

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Who the hell would want to live in London? 😂

However, even up here in Scotland playing city centres is a massive PITA. I really can't be bothered with the stress of playing somewhere in Glasgow on a Saturday night. It's impossible to park the damn van...

...much rather play out in the 'burbs.

 

Edited by thepurpleblob
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