Location Transport

Is the government car scrappage scheme going to leave poor folk without transport if cheaper cars don't exist?

Not everyone lives within a stones throw of work and they are poorly paid OK its ended now so where's my cheap run around? Hang on! The already skint working classes haven't been hung upside down for ALL the loose change yet. Lots of decent points made here and wonders why America wasn't more energy efficient ages ago as they were one of the richest. Then surely the car making industry can't fail on bailouts? Just keep churning out non-selling gas guzzlers... OH! They did.

Public Comments

1. I think it's ended now.
2. that's correct
3. You got it. The cash for clunkers took away a lot of affordable cars for people with low paying jobs. Another example of how our congress is way out of touch with the American people. They think if you don't make much money you should simply go out and buy a brand new hybrid so you don't spend as much money on gas.
4. The other way to look at it is the poor folks that bought the bangers now wont so much and so won't get ripped off for cars that needed expensive repairs that they cannot afford.
5. It ended last Month.
6. No, due to the criteria for the scheme, the vast majority of older cars didn't qualify. The government claim 60,000 cars have been ordered under the scheme, but the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders say it's just over 29,000. One area where it may impact are the 'back street' small independent garages and motor factors who will now have fewer cars to work on.
7. The problem is not the scrappage scheme, nor is it the fact that the vast majority of people cannot now get the loans they used to be able to get to buy these cars. As the irresponsible, greedy bankers that pushed predatory loans onto anyone who was willing to take them have now realised, the thin air from where they generated the money to lend, does not exist in the world of the borrower, (they have to work at doing something useful to get paid,) and now, suddenly, they don't want to play the game. No loans, no car sales, simple. The scrappage scheme is a lame attempt at propping up an American car industry that makes cars nobody wants. Or even if they did want them, that nobody, in these days of expensive oil and gas, that nobody on a modest income can afford to run. General Motors shot itself in the foot when it resisted fuel efficiency targets; it immediately excluded itself from the European market, and poorer countries with poor road systems preferred more fuel efficient four wheel drive models from Japanese and European manufacturers rather than the fuel hungry Hummer. The American car industry relied on Americans to buy the cars, and they can't do that anymore. No, what the American government and the American people need to do now is to totally rethink the way they live their lives. Oil WILL run out one day, and the time to prepare for that is now. More localised communities, (so that people DO live a stone's throw away from work,) and more local systems of food production and distribution are essential for a sustainable way of living. Employers should consider providing bus services for their employees, (they can't expect people on low wages to run a car,) and better public transport systems would be a good start. The American railroad system is in need of massive amounts of investment that should be made now, as pretty soon, more people will be using it as they get forced to give up their cars due to the ever increasing price of gas, and the internal air transport industry falls flat on its face, with more and more airlines going bankrupt. People only think they need cars because the whole system is geared to expecting people to own cars, and now they are slaves to it. As fewer and fewer people can afford to participate in the car owning system, there will be more demand for affordable transport services and the market should respond with those services. In Britain, out of town supermarket stores are providing their customers with a free half hourly bus service from town. Some are even providing the service from housing estates to the stores at least twice a week. Now that's what I call progress. Edit: Britian had its own scrappage scheme, which was supposed to 'stimulate' the car sales market as here, too, car loans dried up and people were hanging on to their old models. It was only limited by the amount of finance the potential customers could get. The people of Britian and Europe in general are better placed than the Americans, because they have a living arrangement and use of land that existed before the rise of the car. Unless Tescos and Asda have destroyed their high street, most people have local shops within walking distance if they need a pint of milk. Thank God for the hard working Indian corner shop owner. If you didn't have an understanding bank manager or a lot of savings just begging to be spent on the tax revenue generating machine otherwise known as a car, then I'm afraid its too late. Anybody got a bus timetable?
8. I think that is the hidden agenda,that the end result will be less cars on the road, and only the well off will be able to afford their own transport. Of copurse, the flip side of this is that there will be older cars on the road, but many of them will be in a dangerous condition.
9. It seems that way. Maybe the government expects those who are forced to commute to live out of a cardboard box so that they can afford to pay for cars. This move reminds me of the enforced digitization of television signals, which means many folks using those good old reliable CRT televisions will now have to chuck them for the fancy, pricey, disposable new flat screens. So much for environmental concerns.