mrsam wrote:small point, why is the road bad? well it's because we have too many cars on it. Make it bigger and it just gets crowded and takes over more land. We ned to reduce the amount of travelling done by motorists. (And before you lot ask I travel by public transport)
The vast majority of motorists will never be persuaded to swap private car use for public transport.
If you live in the 'burbs, work in the city centre and simply need to get from one to the other with no intermediate stop-offs then, fair enough, you should be able to get from home to 'desk' reasonably easily and efficiently (in terms of both time and cost) - it would be sensible to use public transport rather than a car in this type of situation and people should therefore be encouraged to take this option whenever possible. I used to do that myself in my younger days when I worked in offices above Queen Street train station and could get from my front door to the ofice in under 25 mins if I timed it right.
Once you're used to the 'luxury' of being able to drive whenever and wherever takes your fancy though, returning to the use of public transport on a regular basis would not be something done through positive choice for most people I expect. I certainly can't see myself ever doing it no matter what may be done in terms of improvements to public transport facilities/infrastructure or real-time reductions in fares, etc.
The only thing that will make people desist from the use of cars is necessity and, by and large, that would be influenced by financial issues such as being unable to afford a car, fuel, insurance, road tax, etc, etc. As long as people can afford to drive their car then I expect the significant majority will continue to do so.
I don't think our public transport system is that bad in all honesty but, based on my infrequent use of them, factors such as the significantly longer (compared to car) bus journey times; inconvienence of cancelled trains; having to stand waiting in the wind/rain/snow; putting up with drunks/morons; etc all add up to an experience that I only choose when driving isn't an option (e.g. when I am going on a night out and won't be in any fit state to drive at the end of it). The occasional encountering of traffic congestion is a small price to pay for the many benefits that a car affords you.
Besides anything else, in the case of the A80/M80 and our other trunk roads I would say that most of the journeys involving them are probably of the type that couldn't be made by public transport except possibly at high cost and significant inconvienence (that's more of a view than an informed statement of fact so no need for anyone to demand '"evidence").
On a positive (for public transport) note though, I am looking forward to the completion of the Airdrie to Bathgate rail line reopening as being able to travel by train to Edinburgh city centre from my local station is one of the rare examples when I would choose to use public transport rather than my car.