The Piccadilly line’s new air conditioned trains

Re:The Piccadilly line’s new air conditioned trains by dangus on Tuesday November 21, 2023 @11:00AM (#38365441)

The average American spends $5,000 a year on the total cost car ownership, completely separate from public spending on roads and infrastructure, so I think that signaling cost is reasonable enough, especially since signaling will last far longer than the typical lifespan of a personal vehicle.

£5200 for your annual ridership but then divide that by the lifespan of the signaling. Let’s say it lasts 30 years, so that’s €173, (but of course, at the end of the 30 years £173 is worth a lot less).

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Re:The Piccadilly line’s new air conditioned trains by robertlagrant on Tuesday November 21, 2023 @11:29AM (#38365840)

How much an American spends on a car every year seems not that relevant to how much a British tube line signal upgrade costs. Why not compare it to house prices in London, and it'll seem even cheaper?

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Re:The Piccadilly line’s new air conditioned trains by dangus on Wednesday November 22, 2023 @03:20PM (#38384583)

I compare it to automobile infrastructure because public transit infrastructure projects sems to be the only time anyone complains about high infrastructure costs.

The only reason I compare it to America is because I don't actually know the figures for the UK, but I expect that car owners would spend more there due to higher cost of petrol, higher vehicle taxes, etc.

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Re:The Piccadilly line’s new air conditioned trains by robertlagrant on Thursday November 23, 2023 @05:07PM (#38398143)

Cars are unreasonably useful, though. If you're going anywhere to work / school / moving house / going on holiday / dropping kids at a friend's house, they work for a million uses.

That's why I don't think they compare well: many people who use public transport, even the Tube or similar, still need a car, at least sometimes. So it's not an alternative, and it's not equivalent value.

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Re:The Piccadilly line’s new air conditioned trains by yardstick on Tuesday November 21, 2023 @11:18AM (#38365672)

So probably better to pitch it not as £10 per rider (~200m annual riders) but £0.33/trip levy for the next 30 years.

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