Tweetalike - On subsidies...

This from Logisitical...

Stephen Gastlier, Road Lobbyist, in the Guardian Comment Is Free section on Monday: "Even if rail travel was to double – which it won't, not least because rail users are heavily subsidised – it would still be a minority activity."

Christian 'World's Greatest Living Transport Correspondent' Wolmar yesterday on twitter: "Extra coaches for overcrowding on FGW will cost govt extra £29m.Shows how railway economics is entirely dependent on subsidy from taxpayer."

Are they perhaps related?

UPDATE: This from Banker76...

The good Prof. appears to have forgotten that without those subsidies, tens of thousands of extra commuters would make the road network unuseable.

And The World’s greatest Living etc etc has also clearly forgotten that it is the madhouse economics of the fragmented, privatised railway that make many of them necessary in the first place.

UPDATE: This from Ithuriel...

And the World's Greatest etc overlooks the £3.5 billion in direct grant propping up Network Rail

Pro-rata that onto variable track access charges and any additional train is completely unaffordable.