A glimpse of the future
It was a pleasure to be at the CPT’s 50th anniversary conference, and not only hear a range of excellent speakers (reported in this issue) but to see the launch of the CPT’s Bus and Coach Manifestos.
During the lunch break, I’d normally scout the delegates for old friends but I was lucky enough to spend 45 minutes talking to three young people on the graduate scheme at Go-Ahead’s Plymouth Bus; all very impressive and engaged. We chatted about modal shift, and it was clear they were invested not just in their careers but the future of the industry. As a result, I started the afternoon session in a far more positive frame of mind.
Modal shift is simply not happening in the UK. Every indicator shows that cars are being allowed to subsume every aspect of road passenger transport, and we have a Prime Minister weaponising any push-back against unfettered growth in car use. This is not just bad for the environment, it is bad for social mobility, bad for health and extremely bad for the public purse. Nobody will convince me that the staggering £300m earmarked to upgrade just five miles of the A47 is money well spent. It will shave just a few minutes off journey time, and then only until car drivers have cottoned on.
I challenge any local government official to debate this with me; they will lose the debate in minutes. It is immoral, illogical and indefensible.
We don’t need to build more roads, we need to make more efficient use of those we have, and the CPT’s Bus Manifesto is absolutely right that the £350m spent on the fare cap could be more wisely invested in bus priority, which would create the modal shift the industry desperately needs so that it can lower fares organically, without subsidy. The industry needs long-term fixes and long-term funding stability, as the Manifesto ably points out.
The CPT Coach Manifesto is also correct in calling for statutory guidance for councils to include coaches in Local Transport Plans, and to end the ridiculous charges levied on coaches in Clean Air Zones. I challenge any local government official to debate this with me; they will lose the debate in minutes. It is immoral, illogical and indefensible.
Regular readers will know, too, of my opinion of the way PSVAR is being applied, and I support fully the Manifesto’s simplification of PSVAR; that it should apply only to ‘open door’ coach services where the passengers are not pre-booked and accounted for, or where wheelchair access is requested and used.
I heartily commend the two manifestos to you. Please download them HERE for coach, and HERE for bus.