Thursday, 08 August 2013

Puzzle corner

Crossing puzzle

So here we have a pedestrian crossing, marked with white painted lines over a rectangular inspection casing which comprises nine panels. The panels have been taken up at some point and replaced with a commendable degree of randomness. It’s complicated by the possibility that there is more than one layer of paint to be taken into account.

Whether you’re trying to work it out, or trying to cross the road safely - good luck.

 

8 Aug 2013 07:57:55

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Social benefits of buses Margaret Thatcher infamously announced that anyone over 30 who travelled by bus was a failure. Curiously, the government that believes in her eternal reverence has just released three documents constituting a study of the social benefits of bus travel (the reports are dated March but published today). ‘Social benefit’ is defined in narrow terms as follows - ‘...the value bus users enjoy from accessing particular services that they would not otherwise have had easy access to’. Further, the value arrived at only applies to travellers ‘who would choose to not make the trip if bus was not available,’ so again it’s rather limited. But it’s a start, and the significance of the study is clearly that it acknowledges that society has a place for a service that is ‘public’. It doesn't have to be about measuring the value of a chummy chat about the weather with a complete stranger as you're bumping along. But it might be handy to work out a way of assessing the value of being among fellow citizens in the public realm - and the costs that might be associated with the absence of that experience in certain lifestyles - because that seems to be dangerously under-valued at present. Previously: On the buses

Kevin Harris

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