If only people would just stay where they are...

How long before there is an irretrievable breakdown in transport? The Herald reports:

"SCOTLAND has one car for every two residents, according to statistics released yesterday which showed almost every aspect of travel is growing, some of it dramatically. Increased prosperity has been cited for the transport boom.
The car continues to be king – for the first time, last year saw the vehicles registered on Scotland's roads topping 2.5 million."

But where are all these cars to go?

"The evidence is clearer from the numbers crossing the Forth Bridge. With congestion now severe almost daily during peak times, it seems drivers have been put off joining the queue, so vehicle crossings have increased only slowly over the past decade, and barely at all in the past four years."

In other words, the bridge is full up. And the motorways are also choc a bloc (here):

"COMMUTERS on one of the main motorway routes in Scotland face major disruption with vital maintenance works beginning soon.The £2.5m eight-week scheme to replace both carriageways of the M80 between the M876 and the overbridge at Denny begins on August 25. The section of motorway links Glasgow and the west of Scotland with Stirling and the north, carrying around 17,000 vehicles daily."

Nor is air travel any better (here):

"British Airways announced it was cancelling 46 of its flights out of UK airports today – five more than yesterday – and said it was still trying to reunite 5000 pieces of luggage with their owners. A further 5000 bags remain missing. A large proportion are from Scotland, and two lorryloads of baggage were on their way to Glasgow yesterday to be sorted and sent on to passengers. The airline, which will axe three long-haul and 32 short-haul flights from Heathrow, and 11 domestic flights from Gatwick Airport, said BAA's advice about yesterday's arrangements had come too late to prevent it having to cancel 41 flights at Heathrow."

End result: misery. I don't know what we do about this but the current transport position is surely unsustainable.

Meanwhile, the Secretary of State for Transport is worried about lobsters (here):

"WHEN Douglas Alexander lifted his lobster pots off the Ross of Mull near Fionnphort last Wednesday morning, little did he think he would be back in Whitehall only five hours later embroiled in one of the biggest security threats ever faced in the UK. Rather, he was wondering what he had to do to catch a lobster, instead of the solitary crab that was the only result of his labours."