York first in bid for cleaner air (From York Press)

I've got an idea why not make all motor vehicles drive around at 20 mph and sit waiting at traffic lights with nothing coming the other way !

they couldn't implement the LDF in eight years so nothing makes me believe that they have the brains to pull this one off

Ichabod76 wrote:
I've got an idea why not make all motor vehicles drive around at 20 mph and sit waiting at traffic lights with nothing coming the other way !

they couldn't implement the LDF in eight years so nothing makes me believe that they have the brains to pull this one off

I couldn't agree more with your comments. I just can't understand why whoever is responsible for traffic light phasing doesn't get of their backside and do something about this! surely it won't take much effort to set lights to remain on green at least until something comes the other way!

How about removing all the open top tour buses not only are they the most polluting vehicles on the streets of York they have tailback of several cars behind them not running efficiently due to their slow speed!

Backing up razor08: the tour buses spew out a lot of filth, and I would like to know how they keep their licenses considering they should not pass an MOT. As the tax-paying public, we should get an answer to this.

Steady folks you don;t want to raise the wrath of the peddling one!

And I thought it that it was the Council itself that created the most polluted hot air in York!

Agree with the comments about state of tour buses, but this would require a good length of notice to the companies to upgrade to more modern engines. However much of the pollution could be cut if people switched off when waiting the 2-3 minutes they sit in queues for junctions like Blossom St., especially in calm still conditions when the pollution is trapped between buildings and disperses slowly. Buses sat at stops like Rougier St with their engines running for 5 minutes while changing drivers should also be outlawed. 20mph however doesnt have that much impact - Im often passed by someone on Bishy Rd accelerating to get passed only to use more fuel sat waiting (for longer) in a queue for the lights at the next junction. Cutting out the acceleration braking and waiting with the lights at red would save fuel and pollution!

With fuel topping £6 a gallon (old money) I don't think there's a taxi driver in York that wouldn't prefer to be driving around in a Toyota Prius - the car with such a minuscule carbon footprint it has already circled the globe twice during the manufacturing process before it gets anywhere near a showroom. The only thing MANY cab drivers are lacking is the £21,845 purchase price for the base model of the vehicle. I'm sure there are a great many cab drivers that would seriously resent the condescension of the councils interference in how to drive green when at every conceivable stroke the council have tripped over themselves in order to impede the flow of traffic through York.
There are 2 associations for taxi drivers in York - York's 'taxi association' and the 'private hire association'. My advice would be, before spending hundreds of thousands of pounds of OUR money on hare brained and unpopular traffic schemes why doesn't the council speak to the people who spend 10, 12 and 14 hours a day EVERY DAY on the city's roads, perhaps they may possibly just have a better idea to help the city breathe than some air head fresh out of university who's only ever seen York on a map,!.. just a thought.

yawn.. wrote:
With fuel topping £6 a gallon (old money) I don't think there's a taxi driver in York that wouldn't prefer to be driving around in a Toyota Prius - the car with such a minuscule carbon footprint it has already circled the globe twice during the manufacturing process before it gets anywhere near a showroom. The only thing MANY cab drivers are lacking is the £21,845 purchase price for the base model of the vehicle. I'm sure there are a great many cab drivers that would seriously resent the condescension of the councils interference in how to drive green when at every conceivable stroke the council have tripped over themselves in order to impede the flow of traffic through York.
There are 2 associations for taxi drivers in York - York's 'taxi association' and the 'private hire association'. My advice would be, before spending hundreds of thousands of pounds of OUR money on hare brained and unpopular traffic schemes why doesn't the council speak to the people who spend 10, 12 and 14 hours a day EVERY DAY on the city's roads, perhaps they may possibly just have a better idea to help the city breathe than some air head fresh out of university who's only ever seen York on a map,!.. just a thought.

Sounds like a very sensible thought to me....but, I doubt Mr Merrett will take you up on your suggestion, as you haven't mentioned 'cycle', that key word that makes him sit up and beg!

A question for Mr Merrett ; in view of your obsession with pollution and the often mentioned pollution levels on Fulford road ; are you going to make Fulford a smoke control area ( smokeless zone in old money ) as at the moment the householders there can burn old car tyres in their fire grates at the moment if they so wish, or is your vendetta solely against the private motorist ?

Can't we just put councillor Merrett in charge of a nice little allotment with a cycle track around it, ideally inside a sealed, ethically sourced glass dome somewhere in Fishergate/Fulford Rd? At least then the council could get on with funding and sorting out schemes that really matter to the majority of citizens, without being side-tracked into spending millions on eco this and enviro that, which at the end of the day no-one actually needs.

york_chap wrote:
Can't we just put councillor Merrett in charge of a nice little allotment with a cycle track around it, ideally inside a sealed, ethically sourced glass dome somewhere in Fishergate/Fulford Rd? At least then the council could get on with funding and sorting out schemes that really matter to the majority of citizens, without being side-tracked into spending millions on eco this and enviro that, which at the end of the day no-one actually needs.

The press should have a 'like' button..

Dave Merrett.. the answer to a question no-one asked.

Bad magic wrote:
Backing up razor08: the tour buses spew out a lot of filth, and I would like to know how they keep their licenses considering they should not pass an MOT. As the tax-paying public, we should get an answer to this.

Oh shut up you "tax-paying" bore!

Yes, we believe that you like others pay tax. It doesnt make you special you know. Change the bloody record.

Bad magic wrote:
Backing up razor08: the tour buses spew out a lot of filth, and I would like to know how they keep their licenses considering they should not pass an MOT. As the tax-paying public, we should get an answer to this.

If you have the courage of your convictions, visit the VOSA website to download and submit a complaint form.

http://www.dft.gov.u
k/vosa/contactus/sha
ringintelligence/sha
ringintelligence.htm

yawn.. wrote:
With fuel topping £6 a gallon (old money) I don't think there's a taxi driver in York that wouldn't prefer to be driving around in a Toyota Prius - the car with such a minuscule carbon footprint it has already circled the globe twice during the manufacturing process before it gets anywhere near a showroom. The only thing MANY cab drivers are lacking is the £21,845 purchase price for the base model of the vehicle. I'm sure there are a great many cab drivers that would seriously resent the condescension of the councils interference in how to drive green when at every conceivable stroke the council have tripped over themselves in order to impede the flow of traffic through York. There are 2 associations for taxi drivers in York - York's 'taxi association' and the 'private hire association'. My advice would be, before spending hundreds of thousands of pounds of OUR money on hare brained and unpopular traffic schemes why doesn't the council speak to the people who spend 10, 12 and 14 hours a day EVERY DAY on the city's roads, perhaps they may possibly just have a better idea to help the city breathe than some air head fresh out of university who's only ever seen York on a map,!.. just a thought.

Brilliant post. You must either be a taxi driver or have been one, but as we are aware, taxi licenseing, in thier ivory towers do anything to be against the taxi driver, they should be fighting for us but constantly seem to be against us !!! We will have no say in this what-so-ever, and at the end of it WILL be told what to do !!! Agree with the lights too. Absolutely appaulling, and dont get me started on the buses that park up on james street !!!!!

pedalling paul wrote:

Bad magic wrote:
Backing up razor08: the tour buses spew out a lot of filth, and I would like to know how they keep their licenses considering they should not pass an MOT. As the tax-paying public, we should get an answer to this.

If you have the courage of your convictions, visit the VOSA website to download and submit a complaint form.

http://www.dft.gov.u

k/vosa/contactus/sha

ringintelligence/sha

ringintelligence.htm

Hows about comparing the emissions from one of the Leyland Olympians used on the open top tours with one of the much newer Volvo B7 double deckers that First use on the number 1 (the YJ51 plated 'deckers)... because some of those emit just as much pollution when accelerating as the Olympians do, and because they're accelerating harder to get to more than 15mph, more fumes are emitted.

You can have a bus to Euro6 emission regulations, but if it's poorly maintained it'll spew out more toxins than an old Leyland Atlantean being maintained by a group of preservationists who maticulously examine the engine regularly.