Better Transport

Commenting on today's Department for Transport discussion document on transport and climate change [1], Stephen Joseph, the executive director of Campaign for Better Transport [2], said:

Campaign for Better Transport [1] today called on the Government to drop expensive motorway widening schemes, in response to Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly’s announcement on the success of the M42 hard shoulder running trial, and a feasibility study into rolling out the scheme to other parts of the network [2]. 

The Campaign for Better Transport [1] welcomed the new aviation taxes announced in the pre-Budget report today but wants to see real investment in transport as well as environmental improvements. Executive Director Stephen Joseph said: "The aviation industry pays no fuel tax or VAT so it is right they contribute something to the economy, and we have argued that taxing flights rather than passengers is a better way of doing this. But we need to see investment in transport improvements, including rail upgrades as an alternative to short-distance air travel."

Competition law should be applied so that bus companies can work together to give passengers good service and the Office of Fair Trading should clarify its advice to bus operators, a top competition lawyer said [1] in a legal opinion published today by the Campaign for Better Transport [2].

Stephen Joseph, the group’s executive director, welcomed the opinion from former rail regulator John Swift QC and his colleague Gerry Facenna of Monckton Chambers:

With the Spending Review and Pre-Budget Report due next week in advance of a possible election, this briefing sets out what this might mean for transport spending and taxation.

The rural bus will become an endangered species unless action is taken now by central and local governments, Campaign for Better Transport [1] revealed today with the publication of a report and case studies on rural buses [2].

The case studies reveal the hidden problem of rural bus cuts and the devastating impact the cuts have on people and communities: elderly villagers left isolated, schoolchildren left without a school bus, hospital visitors and workers left without a public transport option and tourists inconvenienced by rerouted buses.