Islanders not ‘mad on cars’, just practical

I am no more besotted with my car than I am with our washing machine. Living in rural St Saviour’s it would be hard to manage without a car. The bus stop is half a mile away. The last service on route 71 leaves Town at 20:05, so if I have an evening meeting in Town and had gone in by bus the return would involve a taxi, hardly a saving. The nearest shop is a mile away and to get there by bus would mean going into Town and then out again.

I have lived in London, both near the centre and further out. In the centre I would have a short walk to an underground station where I would not expect to wait more than 10 minutes for a train. In the suburbs there would be a train into London every 20 minutes. The services would start very early and continue until after midnight.

It would be extraordinarily expensive to have that kind of frequency here. Even doubling the frequency and extending the hours of operation would be prohibitively expensive. As it is, buses on route 71 rarely carry many passengers. Indeed one rotation of the route must generate more carbon than a few cars going in and out.

I should add that one of our sons is director of research at the Climate Council in Australia. He is currently in Glasgow as part of the Australia delegation to COP26. We are very supportive of his work. We understand the frustration of young people seeing the reluctance of many countries to deal with the threat of climate change. But the steps that we can take in Guernsey have to be practical. It is hard to see how car use can be reduced significantly, particularly for those living in the country. If anyone has a solution to this I should be glad to hear it. But meanwhile use of words like ‘madness’ and ‘besotted’ do not take us nearer to a solution.

CHRIS BRADSHAW

Old Barn

Rue des Caches

St Saviour’s

GY7 9TJ