Dire Predictions in Industry’s Favour?

‘UK motorists may be priced off the roads within the next year, according to new research’. This from the motor trade trade press itself.

I greeted this headline statement as the best news I’d heard in weeks. OK, it’s a bitter pill, of course, as it will lead to inflationary pressures. And for those bus drivers needing their cars for the first and last shifts, it will be a burden (after all, the once ubiquitous staff buses are long gone, as have the long daily walks staff used to make up to the 1950s).

Overall, though, this is good news for the industry and is another sign that the market is working well in stemming car use.

Apparently, it’s predicted that by next year the average six-year-old Ford Focus will cost more to fuel than the value of the car, if predictions of the 2009 £10 gallon come true (£2.20 a litre). Then add sharply increasing insurance premiums.

This will undoubtedly force motorists to think carefully about when, where or even if they use their cars. If there follows a renaissance in bus travel, is this not economically, socially and environmentally welcome? Little wonder confidence is higher among the bus as opposed to the coach side of the business.

The Ford Focus market is precisely the one that may be attracted to using buses. Those who can afford to own brand new BMWs are less likely to be tempted, as private motoring looks set to become a rich person’s past time.