Why is there not much greater use made of the canals and waterways around London and the South East.?

Question

There are numerous miles of these waterways around London which could quite easily be linked to the Thames, and with some effort to other waterways also. With some imagination on the part of those who are supposed to be responsible (i.e Central and Local Government, substantial amounts of traffic could be removed from the roads around our towns and cities.

This would help to both reduce polution and make the roads less crowded and noisy, and therefore much safer for all.

Answer 1

lol they need to sort the tube out first

Answer 2

An excellent idea, I think that two drawbacks would be the lack of capacity of canal delivered produce compared to road transport and the time taken to deliver it. Would make a travesty of the "just in time" storage policy of todays industry.

Certainly rail transport should be utilised more often.

Answer 3

Alot are now clogged with Shopping Trolleys and Matressess.

The River Quaggy is a prime example around Lewisham

Answer 4

a very goo d question .. and a good proposal .. unfortunately the waterway here.. midlands .. are more a tourist attraction that to be used constructively ...

and .. the get now ... superfast world we live in .. would consider travel by barge cumbersome .. i think its ideal ... less pollution as less traffic on the road ....

lovelly relax on the way to somewhere ..oh no !! nowhere for the techy geaks to plug in their laptops .. ohno .. no telephones .. OH NO !!!!! what would the materialistic world do ...??

Answer 5

I agree.  I've been using Google World 2007 Edition to 'fly'

over canal routes from seaward to trace lesser byways.  All

I've seen would be a treasure in most nations for transport.

Answer 6

Just because you think you have an idea that is better for the environment, doesn't mean it is practical. It is slower. Unless you mean motorized? Then there would be pollution again. Why don't you try it and see if it works?

Answer 7

Because everyone wants to travel at 100 mph and not at 4 mph on a canal.