by smlp
The new advertising campaign from Nexus to promote greater use of the Tyne and Wear Metro system
I’m all for greater use of public transport [insert generic comment about environment]; for my morning commute I cycle to work; [insert comment about own self worth directed to making me sound environmentally friendly].
I have an issue with this advert. Anything that involves not using petrol saves money on petrol.
- I save £££’s on petrol for my own car every time I get a taxi.
- I switch off the engine every time I’ve finish using the car! It saves me a fortune in petrol
My issue is it make out like it would be cheaper to get the Metro over paying for petrol to drive to your destination. The advert is located in Gateshead so my presumption is that the advertising campaign is focused on people living outside of Newcastle City Centre, something I feel is confirm by one of their online images. Petrol in not cheap, I get that. People want to save money… great!
My beef; it is in fact cheaper to drive and park in Newcastle City Centre than it is the get the Metro!
A off peak return for an adult from Gateshead to Newcastle is £3.10 (£3.70 at peak times). Cost of driving that same distance for a car running on about 40MPG basised on May 2011 petrol prices…. 7p
Take an average; two adults taking a 4 hour shopping trip into Newcastle.
Metro £6.20
Drive + Parking £5.07
When you drive you can stick as many people in the car as you like and the cost stays the same or an extra £3.10 per adult when you get the Metro.
NEXUS – Sort it out.
Maybe if you hadn’t spent all that money on the advertising campaigns you could reduce your ticket prices and actually give more people a reason to use the Metro more often. Try it. One week; £1 per person; per journey (including major connecting bus routes). It’s almost like you think we live in an area where the road system is completely clogged up and that a integrated transport system is peoples only option to minimize commuting havoc. Tyne and Wear is not London. We have space to park our cars in Newcastle city centre and we are able to get there without it taking hours navigating traffic hell.
If Nexus reduced the price to use the Tyne and Wear Metro would you (when possible) use it? Discuss.
