Cambon

12 hours ago, Non-Believer said:

The Steamie have only just found out that the vessel that will primarily using the facility requires modification to allow it to do so, with further trials then to follow.

That's not the Steamie's fault, it's indicative of a lack of consultation and collaboration with the SPCo during the Dock project.

Manxman or Ben could use it tomorrow. Several years ago at design stage, Steam Packet didn’t expect to still have Manannan, hence the issue. 

16 hours ago, doc.fixit said:

Just read that they are still trying to sort out what rent we will pay. Rent? I thought we had paid enough.

Yep! Penny starting to drop.

5 hours ago, Happier diner said:

I guess the manannan will be the first to use it (me bravely assuming it will be ready before November). So makes sense to get that running first. 

The dock is ready now. Steam packet isn’t . 

1 hour ago, Fred the shred said:

I disagree people are not going to abandon driving cars with the freedom it give them because the bus is free so many of my friends are eligible for a free bus pass but haven’t been on a bus for years, the people who will benefit are the ones who use the busses now especially those with children.   

Getting the bus to work, for me, takes an hour each way and costs £30 a week. Driving and parking takes 45 minutes and costs £50 a week. Free buses would save me over £200 a month as I choose to drive. An awful lot of people could really do with that kind of saving at the moment. 

4 minutes ago, Happier diner said:

I know what you re saying but  not 100% with you. I think it's the battery technology that has improved more so than the chargers. The charger just applies an electrical current. Sure its tuned to the battery and there is some decent technology there. But batteries. Wow. They have changed immeasurably. I mean you can start a car with a battery the size of a phone. Its charges from 5v USB socket.  You can get them for £20 off Ebay. Now that's technology and technology that does not rewrite the laws of physics.

Much more to it than that. Lithium chargers are much more complex than nicad style ones. 

15 hours ago, Steve_Christian said:

But if you make bus travel free, perhaps a lot of people would sell their cars - less car tax. They’d certainly buy less petrol, less vat and tax on that - so it would put a bigger hole in the finances. 

And this is why they wont do it. There would be a lot more losses than this. 

15 hours ago, Mercenary said:

£8m with capital so call it £16.5m by your figures. Not sure free tickets would save that much . Call it another 2p on the income tax

No. £8 M is the total, including the £2.2 M for capital expenditure. So for in the region of an extra £4-5 M the bus service could be free. 

So the subvention is £5.8 M, which is 52% of the running costs. This means takings from customers is £5.3 M. So with the additional £2.2 M for bus costs, for £13.3 M we could have a completely free bus service. Actually, quite a bit less, as a large part of the administration would not be required. 
That would get people out of cars and help towards the net zero dream. 

4 minutes ago, Happier diner said:

You are deluded. Without enough power you are goosed. GCSE or not. I can't believe you can't see it. Yes if course chargers and batteries will get better and better. I am not disagreeing with you in that. But they will never be able to make power. Power and it's limited availability will be an issue for some considerable time.

Actually, the main problem for EVs is the batteries. There is simply not enough lithium in the world. Many car manufacturers are looking towards hydrogen power now because they know EVs are dead in the water. 

12 hours ago, Happier diner said:

The charging points seem to be reasonably well used to me. We don't have a driveway though and I wouldn't want to have to rely on public charging points. So I will not be considering a full electric car. There are some cracking hybrids around though ( proper hybrids and not the silly mild hybrids). They seem to be almost the same price as normal ICE cars (.which are getting harder to find). Renault especially has made a big leap into this market whereas VW seems to be persevering with full ICE as their mainstream. 

EVs have peaked. Volkswagen have stopped expanding the EV division because they see this. EVs have only ever been a niche market. 

13 hours ago, Two-lane said:

Who uses the EV charging points? A resident with a driveway will have no need - the island is too small for that to be a factor. So, either a visitor or a local who has no home charging facility. Most likely a local.

If the island becomes totally EV, an awful lot of EV charging points will need to be installed. Rather more than there are petrol stations.

There will be quite some cost involved with that - and the maintenance, as noted above.

 

The island will never be totally ev. It is not the government or tax payers responsibility to provide charging points, just as it is not their responsibility to provide petrol stations. 

7 hours ago, mad_manx said:

Don't think there is any exploitation of tarrifs. Dual rate tarrifs are very common in the UK and even in many other countries .

As I mentioned before the comfy heating  tarrif ( you don't need an EV for that) is cheaper than the EV tarrif ..Many new builds are on this one ..

They actually want people to use the electricity during  off peak hours..

I recently enquired about Comfy Tariff, and it worked out to cost in the area of £500 asan initial cost. I declined. If i am going to spend that amount, it will be on some form of renewable. 

16 hours ago, Happier diner said:

Do think there would be any complaints if there were no EV chargers on the island?

I doubt it. If there were no government charging points, If you are local and own an EV, you need to make provisions for it. If you are a tourist, you need to educate yourself, and not bring an EV, or stay in a hotel that provides charging points.
I resent my tax money being wasted on EV charging points. When there are such problems with the health service, why should we be wasting money and subsidizing idiocy like this? 

4 hours ago, Dave Hedgehog said:

Great to see all the Facebook comments on that story totally misunderstand how investments work and ignore the fact that that these charging points will generate a growing income for years to come.

600K out. 43K in. How much out to MU in electricity cost? Lets say 30K, so 13 K a year profit. Lets round it up to 20K. That means it will take 30 years to cover the installation costs of charging points that have a 15 year lifespan. 
 

The increased income over the past couple of years is due to the doubling of the price of electricity. Complete waste of taxpayers money. 

Complete waste of Tynwald time. It is a police matter, not a government issue. 
 

ETA : V6 sounds best to me! 

So, a message came up on my Facebook account saying that I need to decide between going add free for #£11.99 a month, or give hhem access to my Facebook content so they can streamline my adds. I am nit 100% comfortable with this. 
 

Anybody else come across this? 

Normally on a Saturday night I listen to music. Last night I watched eurovision.
Bloody awful!  Awful. 

18 minutes ago, Roger Mexico said:

It was, December 2022.  The most recent reporting I've seen is from last month.  Three men had been arrested but still no one charged.

From what I have heard, there was no mains gas in the building. 

45 minutes ago, The Phantom said:

Shrinkflation has been going on forever.  I'm sure the chocolate bars of my youth are about half the size now.  Have you seen a modern wagon wheel?  It's a skateboard wheel.

The cost of living crisis has accelerated it recently though.  But no one wants smaller sausages. 

Definitely. The large Dairy Milk bar was 8oz (227g). When it went metric, it reduced to 200g. A good few years ago it dropped to 150g. Now it’s 100g. Price remains roughly static, though, 

On 5/8/2024 at 7:59 AM, WTF said:

i wonder if any of the loading limits are down to keeping the boats draft as shallow as required to use the docks with the tides.

I’m not so sure if this is a red herring. Some of the Seatrucks are bigger and draw more water than Ben or Manxman. Not sure if they are having similar “difficulties”. 

1 hour ago, Roger Mexico said:

I looked at the numbers on this earlier in the year:

That's what always puzzled me about increasing the number of passengers.  For most of the time the passenger capacity on the Ben (275 cars, 636 pax) was never reached because car spaces filled up first and after the associated passengers were taken in account there were never enough foot passengers to make up to the maximum.   But most of the capacity increase on the Manxman (237 cars, 948 pax) has been in extra pax.  There's also space for 75 trailers, some of which could be used for busy periods for extra car space, but it seems an odd priority, unless they're hoping to do much more from Liverpool.  And if that's the case it would mean running a separate freight operation.

I can only assume that's it's another part of the Liverpool fantasy, where they assume that their wonderful new offerings will magically mean many more people will want to travel to/from there, all year round (even if the boat isn't up to it).

Yes, but as I said earlier, when I was on the Mamxman a week ago, five coach loads of tourists were put on before any other passengers. Taking up about the size of five or six containers, it also accounted for about one third the capacity of passengers. 

10 hours ago, Non-Believer said:

But let's be honest, it attracts a different economic demographic than the TT ever did and ever will, no matter what the DfE's nebulous delusion.

Motorcycling, even at GP level is a very poor relation of F1.

Oulton Park BSB last weekend was £22 per adult entry for Saturday practice, £39 for Monday races. Food not cheap. Similar prices to TT. 

On 5/1/2024 at 7:19 PM, La Colombe said:

 

The article/ news was sensationalist rubbish. The extra paperwork was expected, planned for and priced in. Expect the prices to rise anyway. 

7 hours ago, trench12 said:

Sailed on the 19.45 Douglas to heysham 24/4, Saturday  total numbers.. 8 cars 1 motorcycle , 9 foot passengers must put a dent in the averages

Sailed Heysham - Douglas on Sunday, 28/4, 14:15 sailing. Five full coaches and around 100 cars. Even given the size of the Manxman, it was very busy on board.

Just as a point. I was in the Falcons Nest at the weekend. A pint of ale was £3.60. Same ale in the Station Hotel, 50 meters away, £4.90. Station is a brewery pub. Bacon cheese burger, chips and salad, Falcon, 12.95, Station, 17.95. 
These are big differences. However, this picture is common throughout the island. Falcon gets my vote, and my business!