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Drop bus lane suspension plan, Baker urges Liverpool’s mayor POLICY | PLANNING | FINANCE | DEVELOPMENT
TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT by Andrew Forster
Suspending all bus lanes would send out a “worrying signal nationally”, Norman Baker (left) has told Joe Anderson (right).
such as you may wish to take, were taken without the fullest regard to the implications,” he said. Bus lanes boosted bus punctuality, encouraged modal shift and eased congestion, he added. In addition, “once bus passengers are lost as a result of falling punctuality and reliability, experience suggests they would be hard to win back”. Baker went on: “If the issue in Liverpool is actually about the effectiveness of specific bus lanes – and I understand that bus operators in Liverpool accept that some work less well than others – can I suggest that a more targeted approach might be appropriate rather than the blanket suspension proposed, including a prior analysis before any suspension is enacted.” He said that if the mayor
DfT rethinks cycling data CYCLING
Travel Survey, which studies trip patterns of a sample of households, shows growth over the period of 23%. “We intend to carry out more work to assess whether National Travel Survey mileages are more suitable for assessing casualty rates and distance travelled for pedal cyclists than the traffic estimates,” the DfT explains.
THE DFT is exploring whether the National Travel Survey offers a better way of estimating the distance travelled by cyclists than road traffic counts. The Department says its road traffic estimates have shown a gradual increase in the distance cycled in Britain, with a 1.2% rise recorded between 2011 and 2012, to 3.1 billion vehicle miles. This is 12% above the >> READ MORE? 2005-09 average. But it says the National Casualty data p11
chose to proceed with a trial then it should be conducted together with bus operators and Merseytravel. Phil Stone, regional managing director, Arriva North West and Wales said: “We are disappointed that the mayor is recommending that Liverpool’s bus lanes are to be removed without any meaningful consultation on the issue. “Any decision that has the potential to result in such a negative impact on city centre traffic, especially in the busy build-up to Christmas, should not be based on ‘gut feeling’, but instead should be as a result of serious, professional investigation and discussion regarding the possible outcomes.” A Stagecoach spokesman told LTT: “This is a backward step and will have a negative impact
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PROVIDING INDEPENDENT NEWS & ANALYSIS SINCE 1989
15-17 Luton jumps aboard BRT 7 Time’s up for CCTV parking enforcement
9 Nexus explores Metro extensions
19-20 Letters: HS2, and which drivers have the lowest collision rates?
TOP10 1.
DfT orders feasibility study into HGV platoon trial on UK roads
2. Councils and TfL draw up plans for a ‘rail M25’ 3. Access charge study for HA network 4.
Labour revises regional transport strategies and school travel plans
5. Cars should not be first choice for high street shoppers, says Baker
6. TfL banks on new form of procurement to capture best ideas from all bidders 7. ‘Smarter’ travel fails to cut traffic delays 8.
Luton-Dunstable busway gets ready to roll
9. HS2 the catalyst for Manchester Piccadilly revamp
A new public square in front of London King’s Cross railway station has been opened by transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin. The 75,000 sq ft plaza has been built partly on the former 1970s concourse. Designed by architects Stanton Williams, the square is the final part of a £550m redevelopment of the station. A new western concourse opened last March.
10. Police pressed on 20mph
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20 September - 03 October 2013
TRANSPORT MINISTER Norman Baker this week put pressure on Liverpool’s directly elected mayor, Joe Anderson, to drop a trial suspension of every bus lane in the city. In a letter to the Labour mayor, Baker says the plan is not “just a matter of local interest” and that suspending the bus lanes will “send out a worrying signal nationally about the importance of excellent public transport, especially in large city areas”. Liverpool’s cabinet approved plans last week for a nine-month trial suspension of all 24 of the city’s bus lanes, which have been implemented over the last 20 years. The trial is due to come into effect on 21 October. Bus lane signs will be covered up and bus lane enforcement cameras will be switched off or removed and used for other activities, such as monitoring anti-social behaviour. Council officers say the bus lanes have led to “no clear change in modal shift” towards buses but have worsened traffic congestion and, possibly, air pollution. Baker this week urged the mayor, who is the driving force behind the plans, to think again. “I would be concerned if decisions about changes to bus lanes,
on the mode of travel relied on by people on the lowest incomes in Liverpool. We believe the focus for Liverpool should be on more bus priority measures to help drive increased use of public transport – that is the most effective way to reduce pollution and congestion in the city.” Ron Abbey, Merseytravel’s lead member for buses and a Wirral Labour councillor, told LTT: “We have to respect the mayor and his wishes. [But] We have the right to try and convince him it’s the wrong decision.” In recent years Merseytravel has drawn up proposals for a series of Statutory Bus Quality Partnerships (SQBP) for particular bus routes in the conurbation. These would prevent councils from removing bus lanes during the life of the partnership. Liverpool, however, has refused to sign the SQBP agreements. The council says some of the city’s bus lanes force drivers to make a one-mile detour through some of the city’s busiest junctions and that many drivers stay out of the bus lanes even when they’re not operating, thereby worsening congestion. “Monitoring has identified that some of the bus lanes are underutilised,” the council adds. It says Merseytravel has identi-
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Welsh Government toughens up pioneering Active Travel Bill
ACTIVE TRAVEL by Andrew Forster
THE NATIONAL Assembly for Wales this week strengthened the nation’s Active Travel Bill as it passed its final legislative stage. Assembly members approved a series of amendments tabled by the Labour administration’s culture and sport minister John Griffiths. One places a duty on ministers and local authorities to “promote” walking and cycling. “We wanted to be explicit about it,” Griffiths told LTT. “I think it’s valuable to have it explicitly stated on the face of the Bill. “It gives me great satisfaction to think that we’re leading the way with the Active Travel Bill and that this piece of legislation is attracting envious glances from other parts of the UK,” said Griffiths. Maria Eagle, Labour ’s shadow transport secretary, has promised to introduce similar legislation in England if Labour wins the General Election in 2015 (LTT 06 Sep). Griffiths told LTT he had recently discussed the legislation with Scottish ministers too.
Griffiths: Bill is attracting “envious glances from other parts of UK”
The Bill requires local authorities to prepare maps identifying current and potential future routes for walking and cycling and to make continuous improvements to active travel facilities and routes. The Government proposes that the mapping requirement should apply to settlements with a population over 2,000. Other Government amendments to the Bill approved by the Assembly this week introduce requirements: • for local authorities to report
annually on their progress delivering an improved network, plus levels of usage and costs • for Welsh ministers to report annually on levels of active travel • on highway authorities to consider the needs of walkers and cyclists when carrying out road works and when meeting their duties under the Traffic Management Act 2004 Councils will have to complete the preparation of their initial maps one year from the date the Bill’s Statutory Instrument takes effect, which is likely to be early next year. The Government isn’t making any extra funding available for councils to prepare the maps. “If a case [for funding] was made by the Welsh Local Government Association then obviously we’d listen to that,” Griffiths told LTT. The impetus for the Bill came from Sustrans Cymru. Its national director Jane Lorimer said this week: “The big challenge for the Welsh Government going forward is to make sure the Bill is backed by a strong, long-term funding commitment to active travel.”
Drop bus lane suspension plan, Baker urges Liverpool’s mayor > FROM FRONT PAGE
fied four lanes in the city that are of little value to buses. “Many other local authorities have suspended of removed bus lanes from their highway networks,” Andy Barr, Liverpool’s divisional manager for highways and transportation told the cabinet. He cited Bristol, Ealing, Birmingham, Derby and Wigan.
The council will study the effect the suspension has on congestion and consider whether any or all of the lanes should be reinstated. It will also consider the conversion of lanes to High Occupancy Vehicle lanes or the implementation of Red Routes, though such measures could only be implemented in the “longer term”. Phil Stone said Arriva would be happy to work with the city
council to develop a city centre movement strategy and investigate how journeys would be affected by the removal of bus lanes. “We would welcome the opportunity to discuss these issues with the decision-makers within Liverpool City Council, we have written to the mayor’s office and made our views clear but have not, as yet, received a response.”
Labour sets out spending plans SPENDING
A LABOUR Government would stick to the resource spending plans of the current Government in its first year, shadow chancellor Ed Balls told his party conference in Brighton last week. “The Government’s day-to-day spending totals for 2015/16 will have to be our starting point,” said Balls. Any changes to the
current spending plans for that year will be fully-funded and set out in advance in our manifesto. There will be no more borrowing for day-to-day spending.” Balls said Labour had begun reviewing “every pound spent by government” to see how funding could be switched to Labour’s priorities. “[Shadow chief secretary to the Treasury] Rachel Reeves and my shadow cabinet
colleagues have begun the work of identifying savings so that we can switch resources to Labour’s priorities”. Balls confirmed Labour would set up an independent Infrastructure Commission, as recommended by the former chair of the Olympic Delivery Authority, Sir John Armitt, “to end dither and delay in infrastructure planning”.
Responsibilities for the legislation and for funding active travel are split between two different departments of the Welsh Government. Griffiths’ department for culture and sport will be responsible for monitoring how effectively the Bill is implemented, including reviewing the local authority maps and receiving the annual reports from local authorities. But decisions on funding active travel will be made by Edwina Hart, the minister for economy, science and transport. Griffiths said the Government was currently providing about £12m a year for active travel via the grants paid to the four regional transport consortia. He played down the prospect of more funding for active travel from the Welsh Government. “There’s a real challenge to ensure funding is used to best effect,” he said. “We know we’re in difficult times so it’s about using existing resource better.” The Bill is likely to receive Royal Assent by the end of November and become law early next year.
Councils transport spend down by a quarter
SPENDING
SPENDING ON capital transport schemes by local government in England has fallen by almost a quarter in the last two years, according to provisional figures released by the Department for Communities and Local Government. Spending fell from £7.9bn in 2010/11 to £6.57bn in 2011/12 and £6.05bn in 2012/13, representing a 23% reduction. London accounted for half of all expenditure in 2012/13 – £3.04bn, down 4% from the £3.14bn in 2011/12. Spending outside the capital fell 12% last year, from £3.44bn to £3.03bn. Local authority capital expenditure and receipts, England: 2012/13 2nd provisional outturn is available at http://tinyurl.com/ khx5563
News 3
Local Transport Today provides fortnightly coverage of the total urban and regional UK transport scene from the viewpoint of planners, policy makers, traffic engineers, analysts, investors and managers of resources involved. Editorial Office Apollo House 359 Kennington Lane London SE11 5QY. Tel: 0845 270 7875 Fax: 0845 270 7961 Email: ed.ltt@landor.co.uk Publisher/Editorial Director Peter Stonham Editor Andrew Forster Contributing Writers John Helm Design & Production production@landor.co.uk Managing Director Rod Fletcher Client Partnership Manager Daniel Simpson Tel: 0845 270 7861 Advertising Office Tel: 0845 270 7861 Fax: 0845 270 7960 E-mail: ads.ltt@landor.co.uk Subscriptions Tel: 0845 270 7900 Fax: 0845 270 7920 E-mail: subs@landor.co.uk Subscribe on line TransportXtra.com/ltt Address for subscriptions HPC Publishing Drury Lane, St Leonards-on-Sea East Sussex TN38 9BJ Accounts Irina Cocks Tel: 0845 270 7854 Fax: 0845 270 7960 359 Kennington Lane London SE11 5QY LTT is available on subscription only. The annual UK subscription rate is £120 including dispatch by first class post and supply of special supplements. The overseas rate is £160 for Europe and £200 for the rest of the world.
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News 5
In Brief
LEPs prompt new debate over transport spending objectives and control new burst of views about the future direction of local transport spending priorities in England with the arrival of Local Enterprise Partnerships and local transport bodies has this week coincided with the announcement of a major LTT-sponsored event to examine the changing framework for local transport decision-making and priority-setting. It will take place in London on the 5 November with representatives of local authorities, the DfT and LEPs. The debate has been prompted by the impending transfer of the majority of local transport capital funding to the 39 LEPs in April 2015. The partnerships are beginning to define their transport thinking as part of broader economic plans, the quality of which will influence how much share of the annual £2bn Single Local Growth Fund pot they receive. Meanwhile, local transport bodies have already identified their priorities for using a slice of the funding to
A
deliver major transport improvements. The changes are raising fundamental questions about the structure and resourcing of local transport decision-making and implementation, and the responsibility for setting policy frameworks and objectives. The emphasis on the economic side of transport is being welcomed by various business and public policy bodies but concerns are being raised too about the marginalisation of other issues such as sustainability and inclusivity. The obvious concern for the impact on established local transport decision-making is being raised by professionals and it is understood that local government officer association ADEPT is looking at ways of retaining expert input in terms of strategy setting and scheme evaluation. Issues include the relationship between individual schemes and the totality of transport activity and its
relationship with planning and development policy. ADEPT’s transport chair Tony Ciaburro, the DfT’s director of local transport Graham Pendlebury, David Frost, chair of the LEP Network, and Stephen Joseph of the Campaign for Better Transport, will all be involved in the LTT event, LEPs and the new transport agenda – see the advert opposite. LTT editor Andrew Forster will chair the discussion. “We are at another significant point in the evolution of local transport policy,” said LTT editorial director Peter Stonham. “Issues of national economic development are clearly becoming a major influence on what happens in local transport – and potentially reshaping both strategic decision-making and resource allocation in a big way. Those pushing for infrastructure development are increasingly raising their voices about what local transport policy should be focusing on.”
W Yorks reviews delivery Views sought on M4 of £1bn transport fund relief road round Newport
FUNDING
POLITICAL LEADERS in West Yorkshire and York are prioritising a subset of projects within the £1bn ten-year West Yorkshire Plus Transport Fund (WY+TF) because of the ongoing uncertainty about local government funding. West Yorkshire Integrated Transport Authority’s executive board meeting last week was presented with a list of ‘early win’ projects valued at £145m that can be taken forward in the next three years. The £1bn WY+TF was part of the City Deal struck with ministers last summer but its delivery has been complicated by subsequent announcements of changes to local government funding. Metro director general Kieran Preston reminded councillors that the DfT has confirmed a £183m allocation of devolved major scheme funding to West Yorkshire and York over ten years, which will be paid as unringenced funding to the Local Enterprise Partnership. The Government’s decision to top-slice 44% of the DfT’s integrated transport block funding into the new Local Growth Fund to be managed by LEPs also had
implications for the WY+TF, he said. “This national top-slice effectively removes our ability to make our own local top-slice of up to 40% that was proposed to start to fund the West Yorkshire Transport Fund.” Preston said the Local Growth Fund raised the possibility of additional money for transport: “The Local Growth Fund offers a chance to secure, via a competitive bidding process, a much greater level of funding for the Fund than had previously been allocated via the LTP top-slice.” Another change affecting the WY+TF is the Government’s Local Audit and Accountability Bill. This will bring levies charged by Integrated Transport Authorities and Combined Authorities to metropolitan district councils into the calculations that determine whether a council tax rise must be put to a public referendum (LTT 31 May). A levy is one of the key funding mechanisms proposed for delivering the WY+TF. Preston said discussions with the Government had also so far failed to deliver a commitment to a reward-style funding stream for boosting economic growth, like Greater Manchester’s earnback model.
ROADS
THE WELSH Government is consulting on plans to build a new motorway round the south of Newport and downgrade the existing M4 through the north of the town. A new three-lane motorway would connect junction 23 at Magor (where traffic from the two Severn crossings converge) and junction 29 at Castleton to the west of Newport. The alignment, known as the ‘Black Route’, has been protected for a new road since 2006. The Government says the existing M4 through north Newport does not meet modern motorway standards, with many lane drops and lane gains resulting in some two-lane sections, an intermittent hard shoulder and frequent junctions. The road suffers heavy congestion and four of Newport’s seven Air Quality Management Areas are associated with the road. Widening the existing motorway is complicated by the Brynglas tunnels, which have two lanes in each direction. Building a new road to the south of Newport will bring air quality benefits, says the Government, reducing traffic volumes in the heavily populated
north of the town and transferring traffic to the south where only a “low number” of properties will be affected. But the Government says the new road will have a “large adverse” impact on the landscape of the Gwent Levels and a “large adverse” effect on biodiversity, crossing about 5.3 miles of the Gwent Levels Site of Special Scientific Interest and consuming about 60 hectares (1.5%) of the SSSI, which is an important breeding ground for birds. The consultation puts forward two ‘reasonable alternatives’ to the ‘Black Route’: • a dual carriageway south of Newport but north of the Black Route (the ‘Red Route’); and • a ‘Purple Route’ three-lane motorway, in a similar alignment to the Red Route Public transport improvements are not included in the proposals – these are the subject of the separate South East Wales Metro study. Consultation closes on 16 December. M4 corridor around Newport is available at http://tinyurl.com/mhengk8
More funds for pinch point schemes The DfT has announced a further £80m of ‘pinch point’ funding to tackle congestion on local roads in England. Transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin this week awarded £25m of the funding to 15 schemes and announced that councils could bid for the remaining £55m by the end of October. Councils can submit new schemes or resubmit unsuccessful bids from previous rounds that have been strengthened following feedback from the DfT. Schemes need not necessarily be road-related and can include public transport and projects to promote walking and cycling. Funding must be spent in 2013/14 and 2014/15. Local pinch point fund – supplementary guidance on Tranche 4 is available at http://tinyurl.com/lru4oyd
Upgrade for Welsh border railway Rail journey times between Wrexham and Chester should be cut by 16 minutes as a result of a £44m scheme authorised this week by Welsh transport minister Edwina Hart. The Welsh Government will fund work to double much of the existing single line and deliver higher line speeds.
We’ll keep fuel duty frozen – Osborne The Chancellor, George Osborne, has pledged to freeze fuel duty for the rest of the Parliament (to May 2015) “provided we can find the savings to pay for it”. The Petrol Retailers Association said this would mean duty had been frozen for four years and four months, “the longest period in over 40 years”.
Hammersmith ‘flyunder’ debated The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham is hosting a summit to discuss its plan to put the Hammersmith Flyover in a tunnel. The event on 9 October starts at 7pm in the town hall.
Road maintenance guides published Two new guides to improving the delivery of highways maintenance have been published by the DfT-funded Highways Maintenance Efficiency Programme. The guides cover how to maximise client/provider collaboration and create a culture to improve delivery. The latter draws on the experiences of the London Highway Alliance Contract. Maximising client/provider collaboration in highways maintenance services and Creating the culture to deliver toolkit are available at http://tinyurl.com/ngctnhx
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Ban on CCTV enforcement tops Pickles’ list of parking reforms PARKING
by Andrew Forster
THE GOVERNMENT is to ban the use of mobile and static CCTV cameras for enforcing parking rules in England, claiming councils are using the technology to raise revenues. Communities and local government secretary Eric Pickles announced that the ban would come in early next year, once secondary legislation has been passed. The Local Government Association has criticised the plans. Tony Ball, vice chairman of the LGA’s economy and transport board, said: “Camera cars have been instrumental in keeping children from being hurt or killed on the way to school and CCTV plays an important role elsewhere in monitoring traffic flow and keeping cars moving.” Explaining his proposals to the BBC, Pickles disputed the suggestion that the cameras were primarily being used for road
safety purposes. “It’s okay for local authorities to say: ‘Oh, it’s all to save the children’,” he said. “No it isn’t. What this is about is raking in pretty large sums of money to fill the council’s coffers. The law is pretty clear, it says you’re not allowed to do that.” Pickles said councils could continue to enforce parking restrictions in other ways. “How about a traffic warden with a camera? That might work.” Transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin and Pickles teamed up last week to announce a package of parking reforms would be published in due course including: • stopping CCTV being used for on-street parking enforcement • new open data on parking to allow the public to ‘go compare’ There will also be proposals for consultation on: • updating parking enforcement guidance to support local shops • tackling wrongly-issued fines • stopping unacceptable parking fine collection practices
Pickles: cameras ‘used to raise cash’
• reviewing unnecessary yellow lines and the scope for residents’ reviews • reviewing the grace period for parking offences • clamping down on anti-social driving and encouraging social responsibility • spreading best practice on supporting town centres and tackling illegal parking • analysis of the impact of different transport policies on town centre vitality “Previously ill thought-out
policies have led to an increase in congestion and parking problems on our streets,” said McLoughlin. “By making sensible changes such as providing more parking spaces for local shoppers we can help ease traffic flow whilst supporting our vibrant high streets. Arbitrary parking rules force shoppers online or to out-of-town stores, causing lasting damage to local firms and small shops.” Campaign for Better Transport chief executive Stephen Joseph this week criticised the plans. In a letter to LTT he says Pickles’ belief that relaxations to parking policies will help struggling high streets is flawed. “It is a plan based on populist anecdote and an imagined past rather than evidence or planning for the high streets that people really want. “Trying to give cars further dominion over our high streets will not change this, nor will it create the kind of environment which will attract shoppers back.” ● Letters, page 19
Better roads the priority Preston’s roads set for for local transport bodies multi-£m upgrade
FUNDING
NEW ROAD schemes are dominating the transport priorities of England’s local transport bodies, according to an in-depth analysis by environmental pressure groups the Campaign for Better Transport and the Campaign to Protect Rural England. The groups have analysed the priorities of 37 of the 38 LTBs for the DfT’s major transport scheme funding when it is devolved from April 2015. The analysis excludes Lancashire because its priorities were delayed by the finalisation of the city deal (see story right). Of the 210 transport projects included in the prioritised lists, 123 are new roads, widened roads or junction capacity improvements. A further 29 are classified as ‘mixed’ and include new capacity for road traffic but also features to benefit other modes, such as bus lanes, transport interchanges or cycleways. There are 21 rail schemes among the priorities. But none of the projects are exclusively cycling schemes although 27 of the ‘mixed’ schemes include cycling provision. The findings have dismayed
Sian Berry
the environmental groups who commissioned the report. Sian Berry, the CBT’s roads & sustainable transport campaigner, said: “LTBs need to think beyond road building, do more to find out what local people need and consider wider objectives, such as public health or the vitality of town centres when making their decisions.” The groups have also criticised LTBs for failing to consult on their priorities – contrary to the DfT’s guidelines. Only 12 appear to have carried out any consultation, say the groups. Where the money’s going – are the new local transport bodies heading in the right direction? is available at http://tinyurl.com/ktofjdw
FUNDING
A MAJOR upgrade to road connections in and around Preston has been given the green light by the Government in a ten-year city deal for the area. The Preston, South Ribble and Lancashire city deal is the first of the second wave of city deals to be struck between councils and the Government. As part of the deal, the DfT has agreed to provide a ten-year funding allocation to the local transport body, Transport for Lancashire (TfL). TfL, a committee of the Lancashire Local Enterprise Partnership, covers a wider area than the city deal, encompassing the three local transport authority areas of Lancashire, Blackburn, and Blackpool. The DfT has pledged a six-year committed allocation plus a four-year indicative allocation. Lancashire was this week unable to provide LTT with detailed figures. One of the deal’s key features is a £334m ten-year infrastructure delivery programme funded from the DfT’s local major schemes budget, the Homes and Communities Agency, and £211m of local contributions from sources such as the New Homes Bonus, business rates, land receipts,
mainstream capital programmes and the Community Infrastructure Levy. The programme includes four major local authority road schemes, a new junction on the M55 near Bartle, and preparatory work on a new road crossing of the River Ribble. The four road schemes are: a £109.5m Preston western distributor road; a £52.5m South Ribble western distributor; a £23.9m Broughton bypass; and a £17.5m Penwortham bypass – this scheme will “define” the route of the proposed new bridge across of the River Ribble, linking with the proposed Preston western distributor road. Blackpool Council is drawing up plans to extend the Blackpool and Fleetwood tramway from the promenade at North Pier to Blackpool North railway station. The scheme has an estimated cost of £18.2m, of which £16.4m is proposed to be met from the DfT’s devolved major transport scheme funding. A further £12.4m of the Lancashire LEP’s ten-year major transport funding is earmarked for Blackburn and Darwen Council’s £13.8m project to double parts of the Bolton-Blackburn railway.
News 7
DCLG cuts threaten buses, says Nexus FUNDING
THE DEPARTMENT for Community and Local Government’s plans to cut revenue grant to local authorities by 25% over the next two years could have a disastrous impact on public transport spending, Nexus, the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive, is warning. The DCLG is currently consulting on the local government finance settlement for 2014/15 and 2015/16 in England. This covers revenue support grant and the local share of business rates revenues allocated to local government. The funds help pay for tendered bus services and concessionary travel reimbursement. The consultation explains that funding will be cut from £26bn in 2013/14 to £23.6bn in 2014/15 and £20.5bn in 2015/16. Nexus treasurer Paul Woods said funding for upper tier authorities was being cut 25% from £13.3bn in 2013/14 to £11.9bn in 2014/15 and £10bn in 2015/16. “While the specific amount of funding for concessionary travel is not separately identifiable within the current funding arrangements, DCLG has cut the national formula needs assessment for concessionary travel by 13% between 2010/1 and 2013/14,” said Woods. “The latest proposal for a 25% cash reduction by 2015/16 potentially means that the funding for statutory concessionary travel will have fallen by 35% in cash terms over that period.” Woods also criticised the DCLG for proposing to give “varying degrees of protection to the funding streams that are arbitrarily more visible within the revenue settlement”. For instance, the Greater London Authority transport grant will actually rise from £758m in 2013/14 to £783m in 2014/15 and £805m in 2015/16. “There is not a sufficiently strong case for giving some items a cash protection [such as the GLA transport grant],” said Woods. “There is possibly more merit in providing protection for other areas of funding, which cannot be given protection because the funding has not been kept visible, such as concessionary fares.”
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8 News
We’ll beef-up Network Rail – Labour
RAIL
NETWORK RAIL will play an even bigger role in the rail industry if Labour wins the General Election in 2015. Shadow transport secretary Maria Eagle told her party’s conference in Brighton last week she wanted to reduce the industry’s fragmentation. “Let’s reduce costs in our railway… with responsibilities currently spread across the transport department and multiple separate bodies, brought within a reformed and more accountable Network Rail.” Eagle called for a unified InterCity rail brand, “regardless of public or private operator”. She also promised to go further than the coalition Government on reforming rail fares policy, poking fun at last week’s announcement from the Government of a cap on maximum standard class rail fares of £500 return and £250 single. “What planet is David Cameron on?” she asked. Labour would ban train operators from flexing rail fare increases and ensure that single tickets were much cheaper than returns across the rail network rather than just in one pilot area as the Government is planning (LTT 20 Sep). Eagle criticised the Government’s plan to refranchise the Intercity East Coast, which is currently operated by state-owned Directly Operated Railways (DOR). “It’s on course to have returned £800m to taxpayers and reinvests all of its profits to benefit passengers. Profits that, from 2015, will be shared with shareholders.”
East Coast: state-run
If the Government insisted on refranchising, she said DOR should be able to bid. “We need to end the nonsense that means the only rail company in the world barred from bidding is the one that is running it – and doing so well. Even the French, German and Dutch state railways can bid. How completely bizarre that Tory ministers have no problem with a Government-run rail service so long as it isn’t British.”
LTT632 04 October - 17 October 2013
New HS2 chief seeks political buy-in but Balls pledges review
discuss HS2. “I said there’s only one thing I really need on this project and it’s that this has to be partisan, you can’t have this as a political football, it’s too crucial for the nation,” he told the BBC. “In the Olympics I had the right to brief both Government and opposition, both at a local and national level, and I’ve asked for the same right on this project.” He said he wanted to see if the line could be built more quickly. The London to West Midlands route is not due to open until
2026. “One thing I don’t understand, admittedly I haven’t been through it in detail, is why it needs to take so long. Time is money: we have some of the world’s best designers and contractors and we should challenge them to do it quicker.” Higgins told The Guardian he didn’t expect to be in his new role for more than two years, but added that this period of time would cover the “most critical part of the project” as the Hybrid Bill for the London-West Midlands line passes through Parliament. Higgins will have the opportunity to press shadow chancellor Ed Balls on HS2 in a prearranged meeting in a few weeks time. Balls told last week’s Labour party conference in Brighton: “We continue to back the idea of a new North-South rail link but under this Government the High Speed 2 project has been totally mismanaged and the costs have shot up to £50bn.
But Overman says there are flaws in the statistical analysis used by the consultants to identify how productivity is influenced by four factors: rail connectivity to workers and jobs and road connectivity to workers and jobs. “The problems start because these four measures of connectivity are very highly correlated (i.e. they tend to move together) so that places with good road connectivity also tend to have good rail connectivity. In fact, they are sufficiently highly correlated that it’s very difficult to figure out which of them matters. “To ‘solve’ this problem the report looks at each of the correlations in turn – asking how does productivity change with rail connectivity to workers, then with rail connectivity to jobs etc. Unfortunately, as we teach our undergraduate students, this doesn’t actually solve the problem. It just attributes the effects of all the different types of connectivity to the particular type of connectivity you are looking at.” Richard Threlfall, KPMG’s head of infrastructure, building and construction, this week defended the report’s methods. In a letter to LTT Threlfall points out that the report presents the results of two methods to measure the effects of connectiv-
ity. “Both approaches substantially reduce the modelled impact of rail connectivity on productivity, with the first approach reducing the impact by more than half and the second approach reducing the impact by twothirds.” Overman believes KPMG underplays the importance of other impacts on productivity such as the quality of labour. He cites a project that he was involved in for the now defunct Northern Way alliance of regional development agencies, looking at the impact of faster rail journey times between Leeds and Manchester. In this, the calculated coefficient for train connectivity “reduces by a factor of six to eight once we properly account for other things that might be both driving productivity and accessibility”. “In the HS2 report, the one thing they do to address this problem is a (somewhat opaque) correction for skills which, worryingly, hardly changes the estimates,” says Overman. But Threlfall told LTT it was hard to compare the KPMG and Overman approaches. “Our work for HS2 considers network-wide changes in connectivity rather than simply selective improvements to journey times between a few specific stations.” ● Letters, pp19-20
HIGH-SPEED RAIL
by Andrew Forster
THE INCOMING chairman of Government company HS2 Ltd has urged Britain’s political parties to form a consensus behind plans for a high-speed rail network and says he wants to see if the project can be delivered more quickly. Sir David Higgins made the comments as the shadow chancellor Ed Balls gave the strongest indication yet that Labour may scrap the plans if the party wins the General Election in 2015. Higgins, the current chief executive of Network Rail and former chief executive of the Olympic Delivery Authority, will replace Doug Oakervee as chairman in January. Oakervee has had a low profile since being appointed last April and Higgins’ appointment is being seen as an attempt by the Government to re-energise the troubled project. Higgins recently met with Chancellor George Osborne to
Higgins: speed up delivery
Consultant’s HS2 findings challenged
HIGH-SPEED RAIL
A FORECAST that HS2 will deliver £15bn of GDP benefits a year has been criticised by an academic specialist in spatial economics. The prediction that the HS2 network from London to the West Midlands, Leeds and Manchester will deliver £15bn of productivity benefits was made by consultant KPMG in a report commissioned by Government company HS2 Ltd (LTT 20 Sep). But Professor Henry Overman of the Spatial Economics Research Centre at the London School of Economics, says the method used to calculate the figure is “technically wrong” and the size of the benefit is “possibly out by orders of magnitude”. On his blog, Overman accepts the basic premise of KPMG’s report, that better connected places have higher productivity. He goes on to explain how KPMG calculated the figures: “The report takes data on wages in 235 local areas and data on the connectivity of those places and looks at how closely those things move together,” he explains. “Once we know the relationship between productivity and connectivity, we can model how HS2 changes connectivity and hence work out the effect on productivity.”
“David Cameron and George Osborne have made clear they will go full steam ahead with this project – no matter how much the costs spiral up and up. They seem willing to put their own pride and vanity above best value for money for the taxpayer. Labour would “not take this irresponsible approach”, said Balls. “In tough times – when there is less money around and a big deficit to get down – there will be no blank cheque from me as a Labour chancellor for this project or for any project. “The question is not just whether a new high-speed line is a good idea or a bad idea, but whether it is the best way to spend £50bn for the future of our country.” Former transport secretary and deputy prime minister Lord Prescott has become the latest senior Labour party figure to call for the project to be scrapped. “It isn’t going to do anything for the North,” said the former MP for East Hull.
West Coast capacity claims ‘bogus’
HIGH-SPEED RAIL
THE TAXPAYERS’ Alliance has challenged the Government’s claims that HS2 is essential to solve a capacity crunch on the West Coast Main Line. The lobby group says Network Rail’s 2011 route utilisation strategy for London and the South East showed that longdistance services into Euston were running at 60% of their capacity in the three-hour morning peak, compared with 99% for Paddington; 91% for Waterloo; 80% for St Pancras; 78% for Liverpool Street; 72% for Victoria; and 65% for Kings Cross. It adds that the annual reports of Stagecoach, which has a 50% stake in West Coast intercity operator Virgin Trains, show that growth on the West Coast route has almost ceased since the completion of the line’s upgrade in 2008. Passenger miles grew 20.4% in 2009/10; 9.3% in 2010/11; 4.6% in 2011/12; and 0.9% in 2012/13. HS2 will not solve the capacity issues on Britain’s railways is available at http://tinyurl.com/qbqjbvs
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Nexus identifies corridors for extending Tyne and Wear Metro
TransportXtra.com/ltt
METRO
by Andrew Forster
NEXUS IS drawing up plans for a major expansion of the Tyne and Wear Metro network. Seven corridors have been identified based on technical feasibility and demand forecasts. The PTE is currently into year four of an 11-year £389m renewal programme of the existing Metro network, the majority of which opened in the 1970s. The Metrocars are undergoing a three-quarter life refurbishment but Nexus believes they will need replacement in the next decade and is reviewing what the rolling stock requirements will be in the context of extending network coverage. “A dual-voltage fleet specification is being considered which would allow Metro to operate on the existing network, on-street and on Network Rail electrified routes,” Nexus director general Bernard Garner told the Integrated Transport Authority. The seven priority corridors and the preferred method of operation for each are: • Sunderland to Seaham – extend-
Metro: rolling stock replacement likely in the next decade
ing the existing joint running between Newcastle and Sunderland of Metro and heavy rail on Network Rail’s Durham Coast line • South Shields to Doxford Park – on-street operation • Newcastle city centre to West Newcastle – on-street operation • Pelaw-Washington-South Hylton – part-use of the redundant Leamside railway alignment with a new alignment through Washington town centre • Gateshead town centre-Team Valley – on-street operation • Gateshead town centre-Metrocentre – on-street operation • Howdon-Cobalt-Northumberland Park – using a former
railway alignment connecting the two sides of the Metro Coast loop in North Tyneside. This route could then be extended north towards Blyth and Ashington in Northumberland. Garner raised the possibility of buses feeding into the Metro network rather than competing head-to-head. The Tyne and Wear ITA is currently consulting on a bus Quality Contract Scheme that, if implemented, would see Nexus, rather than operators, specifying the bus network (LTT 09 Aug). “In the early years of Metro almost all inter-urban bus services fed passengers onto Metro at interchanges,” said Garner. “Fol-
independent consultant Alan Wann, formerly head of highways and transport at Northumberland County Council. Transport minister Norman Baker has told TWITA that the choice between a bus QC and partnership working is for local politicians to make. Responding to a letter informing him of developments from TWITA chairman Dave Wood, Baker says: “Clearly, any changes to the way buses are provided in the North East are a matter for the authority ... but I hope that your officials will continue to keep the Department
informed.” Shadow transport secretary Maria Eagle applauded TWITA’s plans at Labour’s party conference in Brighton last week: “I pay tribute to Labour councils and councillors that are determined to fight for a better deal for [bus] passengers; like David Wood, the chair of Tyne and Wear Integrated Transport Authority, now – with his colleagues – pursuing the first ever Quality Bus Contracts. Leading the way and others will follow. Reversing the failure of bus deregulation. Tackling the cost of living crisis.”
replaced by two zones – an inner zone extending six miles from the city centre and an outer zone covering areas six to 12 miles from the centre. Four single fares will be offered within the inner zone: £1 for up to three stops; £1.50 for up to three miles; £2.50 for up to six miles; and £3.50 for journeys beyond six miles within the inner zone. First is also introducing a 30% discount on inner zone single tickets and all period tickets across both zones for young people aged
16-21. Children (5-15) will pay half fare within the inner zone and on all period tickets across both zones. Bristol’s elected mayor George Ferguson said: “This is the welcome result of long and hard negotiations reinforced by a relentless campaign by citizen Daniel Farr. I particularly welcome the young people’s concessions.” MVA Consultancy helped FirstGroup design the new fares structure.
lowing bus deregulation this practice swiftly reversed. Returning to pre-deregulation levels of bus/Metro integration would not necessarily meet future passenger requirements, but there is potential for more co-ordination than currently exists.” Nexus is exploring possible funding sources to extend the Metro. Garner said this could include central government grant, European funds, prudential borrowing, private finance, contributions from major development, congestion charging, and a workplace parking levy. “It is evident that central government funding alone cannot be relied upon in the way that prevailed when the system was built,” he emphasised. The ITA is likely to be scrapped next year and replaced by a Combined Authority. Garner said one of Nexus’s immediate priorities was to prepare the business case for the Metro extension project and position it “as a central element of future transport planning in the context of the Combined Authority and the North East Local Enterprise Partnership frameworks”.
Ex-CPT man on Nexus bus QC panel FirstGroup cuts fares in York BUSES
THE SENIOR Traffic Commissioner has appointed a Quality Contract Scheme board that will scrutinise Tyne and Wear Integrated Transport Authority’s proposals for a bus Quality Contract scheme (LTT 09 Aug). The three-man board will be chaired by North East traffic commissioner Kevin Rooney. The other two members are: David Humphrey, a former president of bus and coach industry body the Confederation of Passenger Transport, and
People power secures Bristol fare cuts BUSES
FIRSTGROUP IS to cut bus fares in Bristol following a major review commissioned in response to pressure from local politicians and the public. The company said the changes, to be introduced on 3 November, would mean that 90% of passengers would pay an average 27% less for single fares than they currently do. The current three zone fares structure in the city will be
BUSES
FIRSTGROUP HAS reduced the price of its weekly, monthly and annual bus season tickets in York. The price of a weekly ticket falls from £16 to £12; a monthly from £53 to £44 (and now valid for a month rather than four weeks); and an annual from £583 to £440. The day ticket price remains at £3.70 and a new £1 short hop ticket has been introduced. Welcoming the announcement Dave Merrett, the City of York Council’s cabinet member for transport, planning and sustainability, said: “It demonstrates the benefits of a bus company working in partnership with the council and the communities they serve.” The council’s Labour administration was elected in 2011 with a manifesto pledge to implement a bus Quality Contract but has subsequently modified its position, keeping the idea of a QC in reserve (LTT 11 Jan).
News 9
In Brief
Metrolink’s Ashton extension opens The coverage of Greater Manchester’s Metrolink light rail network will expand further next week with the opening of the 2.1-mile extension to Ashtonunder-Lyne in Tameside. The extension has four stations at Audenshaw, Ashton Moss, Ashton West and Ashton-underLyne. The journey from Ashton to Piccadilly will take just over 30 minutes. A peak single will cost £3.40, a peak day return £5.40, and an off-peak return £3.80. The Metrolink network is now 47.7 miles long and features 73 stops.
Green light for Pennine bus plan The DfT has granted final approval to a £40m programme to improve bus links in East Lancashire. The Pennine Reach package is being promoted by Lancashire County Council and Blackburn with Darwen Council and is focused on improving connections between major urban areas in the sub-region that includes Blackburn, Accrington and Darwen. The funding will deliver new bus stations at Blackburn and Accrington, bus lanes, parking restrictions to improve traffic flow, traffic light priority for buses, and better facilities for pedestrians and cyclists. The DfT is contributing £31.9m to the project. The works should be completed by March 2016.
Parking charges for Cambs P&R Cambridgeshire County Council plans to introduce a £1 parking charge at its park-and-ride sites serving Cambridge. Users currently park for free and only pay for the bus service.
More cash for low emission buses The DfT has awarded a further £3.4m of grant to fund 55 new low carbon buses and reduce emissions from dozens more existing vehicles. The £2.4m of additional Green Bus Fund grant will deliver 23 low carbon buses in Manchester, 23 in Sunderland, seven in York and two in Oxfordshire. The funding for York will also pay for a pilot scheme to convert a diesel bus to electric propulsion. The £1m of additional Clean Bus Technology Fund grant will pay for five buses in Sheffield to be converted to natural gas and exhaust gas treatment to 29 buses in the West Midlands, five in the Buckinghamshire district of Chiltern, and five in the borough of Swale in Kent.
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TransportXtra.com/ltt
News 11
In Brief
Bus firm fits sensors to cut cycle accidents
DfT probes weather-road accident link
York bus operator Transdev Unibus is installing cycle detectors to the sides of its vehicles in an effort to prevent accidents with cyclists. The ‘Cycle Alert’ system has three components: a tag fitted to a bicycle or worn by a cyclist, sensors fitted to the sides of a vehicle, and a cabmounted device, which alerts the driver when a cyclist is
within two metres of the vehicle, and shows the bicycle’s approximate location. The tags communicate with the sensors via RFID (radio frequency identification). The system will be active on York’s Unibuses from the 10 October and cyclists can purchase the cyclist tags from the University’s Students Union store or online.
The DfT is stepping up its analysis into how weather conditions influence road safety. It has begun using commentary from the Met Office in its Reported road casualties in Great Britain reports and is exploring whether a student’s research could aid understanding. “Work has been undertaken by a Masters degree student to study the relationship between unusual
ROAD SAFETY
National Travel Survey the Department suggests that about 80,000 cyclists suffer injuries each year. The Freight Transport Association this week called on cyclists to improve their behaviour on roads. Writing in the October issue of the FTA’s Freight magazine, the organisation’s chief executive, Theo de Pencier, said: “Lorries are now branded as the major cause of accidents to cyclists and we are now living with that legacy. What I do not hear is any call for cyclists to improve their own behaviour. “Sadly, it has to be said, many of us have witnessed unacceptable behaviour by cyclists – jumping red lights, riding at inappropriate speeds, poor or non-existent lane discipline, weaving in and out of busy traffic, and other misdemeanours which are not tolerated in any other class of road user.” De Pencier promised that the logistics industry would “work as hard as it can to minimise risks to all cyclists” but added: “Cyclists really must take responsibility for their own actions and recognise both their own potential vulnerability and the legitimate and essential reasons why lorries are operating in a congested urban environment.” The rise in cyclist casualties has deflected attention away from the
news that the number of people killed on Britain’s roads last year fell to 1,754, a drop of 147 (8%) on 2011. Serious injuries totalled 23,039, down 0.4% and the total number of casualties fell 4% to 195,723. Pedestrian fatalities fell 7%, and car occupant fatalities fell 9%. Motorcyclist fatalities also fell 9% to 328. Motorcycle traffic fell 2% last year and is now 13% below the 2005-09 average. The DfT believes there is a relationship between recessions and road deaths. “As the number of fatalities has been falling even during periods when both GDP and traffic were growing, the relationship between the economy and road accident fatalities is neither simple nor linear,” it says. “What can be concluded, though, is that although there are other reasons for the large drop in fatalities over the last 40 years, economic recessions have seemingly accelerated decreases in road accident deaths.” The figures represent the number of casualties recorded by the police through the STATS19 accident system. The DfT accepts that this is only a subset of the total number of road accident casualties. Using NTS data the DfT’s new best estimate of the total number of road casualties in
periods of weather and road casualty figures,” the DfT explains. “We intend to publish something more detailed using the analysis and any resulting model in late 2013 or early 2014. If the model proves to be useful we intend to share it with external bodies and other countries so it can help with others’ understanding of weather relationships.”
Night-time deliveries urged to cut HGV-cycle accident risk
by Andrew Forster
CYCLE CAMPAIGNERS are calling on councils to promote night-time deliveries in urban areas. This follows the news that the number of cyclists killed or seriously injured on Britain’s roads increased in 2012 for the ninth successive year. “With HGVs responsible for nearly half of all cyclists’ deaths, if there was just one thing governments and businesses could do to save cyclists’ lives, it would be to introduce night-time deliveries to limit the number of HGVs in our city centres during peak times,” said cycling charity Sustrans. The number of cyclists killed on Britain’s roads rose from 107 in 2011 to 118 last year and the number recorded by the police as seriously injured rose 4% to 3,222. Pedal cyclist KSIs are now 32% higher than the 2005-09 average. The KSI rate has also increased, standing at 1,074 casualties per billion vehicle miles, 18% above the 2005-09 average. The DfT believes that the 12,000 cyclist casualties recorded by the police each year represents just a small proportion of total cycle casualties because many cyclists do not report their accidents. Based on results from the
The DfT has set out the relative risk of vulnerable road users: • Motorcycle users, per mile ridden, are roughly 35 times more likely to be killed in a road traffic accident than car occupants • Pedestrians and pedal cyclists, per mile walked and cycled respectively, are roughly 11 times more likely to be killed in a road accident than car occupants • Motorcyclists are over 50 times and pedal cyclists 30 times more likely to be seriously injured in a reported road accident than a car occupant.
Britain annually is within the range 630,000 to 790,000 with a central estimate of 710,000. This compares with an annual average of 206,000 recorded in the STATS19 estimates over the period 20082012. The DfT believes 450,000 car occupants are injured each year (STATS19 record only 146,000), plus 50,000 pedestrians (STATS19: 19,000); and 30,000 motorcyclists (STATS19: 21,000). Reported road casualties in Great Britain: 2012 annual report is available at http://tinyurl.com/lxyzqbb
Area-wide 20mph limits are not for us – Norfolk
SPEED LIMITS
NORFOLK COUNTY Council has ruled out introducing areawide 20mph speed limits in its urban areas, saying they deliver little benefit in terms of accident reduction. The DfT published a new speed limit circular in January, which supports the implementation of area-wide 20mph speed limits, something the previous 2006 circular advised against (LTT 25 Jan). But Norfolk’s director of environment, transport and development, Mike Jackson, told
Norfolk: no to area-wide 20
councillors last week: “Within Norfolk at present, the commitment of funds to the implementation of ‘blanket’
20mph schemes would not offer good value for money compared to other measures to reduce casualties.” He added: “The council should continue to prioritise schemes that target reductions in killed and serious injuries and should not divert resources to area-wide 20mph speed restrictions, which offer little benefit in this regard.” Norfolk is interested in the DfT’s invitation for councils to come forward with applications for 40mph zonal rural speed limits. “There is scope within Norfolk to identify a rural zonal speed limit trial area,” said
Jackson. He said the most suitable area would be within the North Norfolk coastal area and that a study would be needed to determine the “extent, costs and benefits”. Norfolk has just updated its speed management strategy in association with Norfolk Constabulary. References to Home Zones and Quiet Lanes have been deleted in line with their removal from the DfT’s own circular. Norfolk says Home Zones are “principally an issue for new development and are covered in the council’s guidance to developers”.
Traffic chiefs call time on early buses
BUSES
LOCAL AUTHORITIES and bus operators are scrutinising proposals from the Senior Traffic Commissioner to revise rules for assessing bus service punctuality across Britain. Historically Traffic Commissioners have stated that they expect 95% of registered services to depart from timing points ‘on time’, which is taken to be up to one minute early and up to five minutes late. But the new draft guidance says that the “pernicious problem of early running still prevails” and that it is “widely regarded by bus operators as “the ‘cardinal sin’ within the industry”. The Senior Traffic Commissioner Beverley Bell now proposes that the one minute early window should be abolished. The new draft guidance recognises that some services are likely to fall outside the five minute late window for reasons such as road works, traffic volumes and poor enforcement of parking. But it says the standard at intermediate timing points should be for 100% of services should depart within the bracket “up to five minutes late”. The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency’s bus operator account managers undertake service monitoring. Where this reveals that more than 80% of services are achieving the punctuality target, the guidance says Traffic Commissioners are likely to give operators and local authorities time to resolve punctuality issues before using their regulatory powers. The guidance presents a table of recommended penalties that Traffic Commissioners can impose on operators for poor service punctuality, with a penalty of £550 per vehicle for performance below 80%. Progressively smaller penalties are then suggested for performance within bands all the way up to 100%. Consultation closes on the 13 November.
Statutory document no. 14 – local bus services draft guidance is available at http://tinyurl.com/psboj49
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12 News
In Brief
Multi-modal Lower Thames Crossing? The South East Local Transport Board (SELTB) is investigating the potential for building a highspeed rail link across the Lower Thames Estuary. The DfT has recently consulted on plans for a new road crossing of the estuary at one of three locations (LTT 31 May). But David Bull of the SELTB’s officer support team, reminded board members this week that the chairman of the South East Local Enterprise Partnership, Peter Jones, “has already made public his support for a high-speed crossing of the Lower Thames”. “It may be (for example) that the Partnership wishes to look at the potential for a multi-modal crossing as opposed to a single mode crossing,” said Bull. “The South East LEP now has an opportunity to develop its own ideas on how to improve accessibility in the area to support growth.”
Pickles attacks EU transport projects Communities secretary Eric Pickles has criticised the EU’s INTERREG programme, which funds interregional European projects, including some in transport. Speaking at this week’s Conservative party conference, Pickles cited a TransManche programme of co-operation between the southern counties of England and the north of France. “Over £100m pounds of taxpayers’ money has been wasted on vanity projects,” he said, with the worst example of waste being “the CrossChannel Cycle Lane”. “In quangos and town halls across the land, public sector bureaucrats think ‘Euro funding’ is somehow ‘free money’. It’s not. Every cent of EU grant we get back was British taxpayers’ money in the first place.”
Airport Commission member steps down Geoff Muirhead has stepped down from the Government’s Airports Commission. Campaign group Stop Stansted Expansion threatened to bring legal action against the Government over Muirhead’s membership of the Commission, pointing out that he was a former chief executive of Manchester Airport Group (MAG), which now owns Stansted (LTT 06 Sep). Announcing his departure, the DfT said there was “no evidence whatsoever of bias towards the MAG submission concerning Stansted [but] we have agreed that the prudent course is for him not to continue as a commissioner to avoid any perception of a potential conflict of interest”.
Johnson’s hub airport vision is impractical, Commission told
LTT632 04 October - 17 October 2013
AIRPORTS
by Andrew Forster
THE AIRPORTS Commission should reject Boris Johnson’s proposal to build a new hub airport and close Heathrow because the plan is too costly, too disruptive, and will take too long to deliver, business leaders and a local authority are warning. The message is conveyed in two separate reports submitted to the Government’s Commission by Essex County Council and business leaders from West London and the west of London. Johnson this summer submitted proposals to the Commission for a new hub airport at one of three locations: on the Isle of Grain in Kent; in the Thames Estuary; and at Stansted in Essex. The Isle of Grain and Thames Estuary plans envisage a four-runway airport whereas at Stansted the mayor suggests five runways – four new runways plus the existing one. In each case the mayor proposes closing Heathrow Airport in 2029, when the new hub airport is opened, and turning the land into a new London borough.
Essex council leader David Finch said the London mayor’s proposals were “extreme and fanciful ideas”. The council says a third runway at Heathrow is the “most viable, affordable and practical option to improve UK aviation capacity”. “While Heathrow Airport estimate that the cost of building an additional runway and expanding Heathrow would be £14bn-£18bn, the mayor of London has said a Thames Estuary airport could cost up to £80bn,” says Essex. “The mayor of London’s estimates for the cost of a new five-runway hub airport at Stansted are £50bn£68bn… and £47bn-£68bn for the Isle of Grain.” Closing Heathrow would cause huge disruption for employees and businesses, says the council. “Why would businesses that serve international markets automatically relocate to a new UK hub during the years of uncertainty rather than relocate to a nearby hub such as Schipol?” That view is also conveyed in the report from the leaders of four Local Enterprise Partner-
ships bordering London and a West London business alliance. Their report, commissioned from consultant Regeneris, estimates that Heathrow’s closure would lead to the loss of 100,000 jobs that are directly dependent on activity at the airport. Some businesses located in the area because of its good airport connections may also relocate abroad. “In practice if Heathrow were to shut down the loss of jobs and economic output might well be replaced by other activity,” Regeneris acknowledges. “However, this would be harder to achieve given that the area would have lost one of its unique selling points – immediate access to a global air transport hub.” The study was commissioned by lobby group West London Business and the Local Enterprise Partnerships covering Buckinghamshire Thames Valley; Enterprise M3; Oxfordshire; and Thames Valley Berkshire. Essex says it supports the “sensible growth” of Stansted, suggesting that passenger numbers could increase from the current 17.5 million a year to 45
million with a single runway (the airport currently has planning permission for 35 million passengers). The council does not rule out further expansion of Stansted but says an additional runway is probably not needed before the 2030s. A second runway would probably be needed before that at Gatwick, in the 2020s, it says. If the Airports Commission recommends an additional runway at Stansted in the shortterm, Essex says it would expect to see a “robust business case” and a commitment to “massive increases in road and rail infrastructure” to serve the airport, including improvements to the M25, M11 and A120. Irrespective of future aviation policy, Essex wants the Government to invest to cut the rail journey time between Stansted and London from 50 to 30 minutes.
ROADS
already heavily congested older crossing.” TfL says its plan to construct a Silvertown Tunnel to relieve the Blackwall Tunnel will mean far less traffic would divert to a new crossing at Gallions Reach. “Any new fixed link at Gallions Reach would [therefore] be of a much smaller scale than the previously proposed Thames Gateway bridge.” TfL wants to reach a conclusion on the best option for replacing the Woolwich ferry by next summer. This will inform the plans for the Silvertown Tunnel, which TfL wants to build by 2021. A statutory consultation on the £700m Silvertown Tunnel is proposed for next October. Tolls would be imposed on both the Silvertown and the Blackwall tunnels to raise funds for the Silvertown Tunnel’s construction and to manage demand.
Flights of fancy: getting real on aviation is available at http://tinyurl.com/nxaze7g and London Heathrow economic impact study is available at http://tinyurl.com/qj2q3vd
New Towns and Garden TfL to consult on 2nd Cities pledged by Labour new Thames crossing
DEVELOPMENT
LABOUR LEADER Ed Miliband has pledged a programme of New Towns and Garden Cities if his party wins the General Election in 2015. Sir Michael Lyons will lead a Rebuilding Britain Commission that Labour says will develop ways to: • Deliver New Towns and Garden Cities in specific locations across the country • Give councils compulsory purchase powers to tackle land hoarding and powers to charge developers escalating fees where they bank land with planning permission • Give communities a greater share of development benefits • Give local authorities that want to expand a ‘right to grow’ with access to a fast-track planning process that will resolve disputes with neighbouring authorities who are blocking development. The party cites Stevenage where the building of 9,600 homes to the north of the town was abandoned when North Hertfordshire
Benn: New Towns pledge
Council withdrew co-operation. Commenting on the New Town and Garden City plans, shadow communities and local government secretary Hilary Benn told Labour’s party conference in Brighton last week: “We will invite local authorities to come forward, and in return, we will make sure that they get the powers and the incentives they need to acquire land, put in the infrastructure and build.” Lyons is a former Birmingham City Council chief executive. He reviewed local government finance for the last Labour Government.
TRANSPORT FOR London is to consult later this year on a new road or tunnel at Gallions Reach as a possible replacement for the Woolwich ferry. The consultation will seek views on replacing the existing ferry with a new ferry at the same location (£100m); introducing a new ferry at Gallions Reach (£150m); or building a new bridge or tunnel at Gallions Reach (£400m-£550m). TfL says last autumn’s consultation on options found a majority (71%) of respondents favoured a new bridge or tunnel. London mayor Boris Johnson scrapped plans for the Thames Gateway bridge at Gallions Reach soon after he won power in 2008 but TfL says the crossing it is now considering would be “of a very different scale” from the previous proposal. “That scheme was intended to act as an alternative to the Blackwall Tunnel so that longer-distance traffic could divert to it, taking pressure off the
TfL river crossings programme – responses to the issues raised is available at http://tinyurl.com/ak3xw64
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Will UN’s warnings give fresh impetus to the stalled transport-climate agenda?
TransportXtra.com/ltt
NewsExtra 13
Climate change has slipped down the transport policy agenda in recent years but renewed warnings about man-made carbon dioxide emissions from the United Nations’ climate change body may help propel it back up again. Andrew Forster reports
Osborne: Britain shouldn’t be out in front cutting emissions
THE UNITED NATIONS’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change last week published its new assessment of man’s influence on the earth’s climate. The text of the Summary for policymakers document was agreed at a meeting of scientists, Government and UN officials in Stockholm and draws on the findings contained in the IPCC’s fifth assessment report, which has not yet been released. “Warming of the climate system is unequivocal and since the 1950s many of the observed changes are unprecedented over decades to millennia,” says the report. “Each of the last three decades have been successively warmer at the Earth’s surface than any preceding decade since 1850.” The IPCC reports that, over the last two decades, the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have been losing mass, glaciers have continued to shrink almost worldwide, and Arctic sea ice and Northern Hemisphere spring snow cover have continued to decrease in extent. Furthermore, “it is likely that the frequency of heat waves has increased in large parts of Europe, Asia and Australia”. Sea levels have been rising at a faster rate since the mid19th century than the previous two millennia, the IPCC believes. The report estimates that between 1901 and 2010 the global mean sea level rose by 19cm. The ocean is also becoming more acidic, with the pH of the ocean surface water falling 0.1 since the beginning of the industrial era. The IPCC’s scientists believe that man is responsible for much of the observed changes. “Human influence on the climate system is clear,” it says, pointing to increased atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases – methane and nitrous oxides. CO2 concentrations now stand at 391 parts per million – up from 379ppm in 2005 and exceeding pre-industrial levels by about 40%. “It is extremely likely that more than half of the observed increase in global average surface temperature from 1951 to 2010 was caused by the anthropogenic increase in greenhouse gas concentrations and other anthropogenic forcings together.” In IPCC-speak the phrase “extremely likely” means with 95%-100% confidence. The IPCC’s report presents computer modelling predictions for how the climate will change in different scenarios of carbon dioxide concentrations. The increase in global mean temperatures for 2081-2100 relative to 1986-2005 is projected to be: • 0.3–1.7ºC with 421ppm of CO2 by 2100 (and sea level rise of 26-55cm) • 1.1–2.6ºC with 538ppm of CO2 by 2100 (and sea level
Lawson: IPCC is a “politically motivated pressure group”
rise of 32-63cm) • 1.4–3.1ºC with 670ppm of CO2 by 2100 (and sea level rise of 33-63cm) • 2.6–4.8ºC with 936ppm of CO2 by 2100 (and sea level rise of 45-82cm) The IPCC expresses confidence in the computer models. “The long-term climate model simulations show a trend in global mean surface temperature from 1951 to 2012 that agrees with the observed trend.” But it acknowledges: “There are, however, differences between simulated and observed trends over periods as short as ten to 15 years, such as 1998 to 2012.” This statement alludes to one of the big puzzles in climate science: the stabilisation of the global surface temperature. The IPCC says the rate of warming over the last 15 years (1998-2012) has been just 0.05ºC per decade, well below what models predict. But the IPCC’s scientists claim to know what’s going on. “The observed reduction in surface warming trend over the period 1998-2012 as compared to the period 1951-2012 is due in roughly equal measure to a reduced trend in radiative forcing primarily due to volcanic eruptions and the timing of the downward phase of the 11-year solar cycle, and a cooling contribution from internal variability, which includes a possible redistribution of heat within the ocean.”
But how good are the models?
Critics of the IPCC have long argued that the body is too confident in its predictions and its understanding of climate science. They believe the temperature pause indicates that the computer models are flawed. “This unpredicted hiatus just reflects the fact that we don’t understand things as well as we thought,” says Roger Pielke Jr, a professor of environmental studies at the University of Colorado. “Now the IPCC finds itself in a position that a science group never wants to be in: it’s in spin management mode.” Judith Curry, head of climate science at the Georgia Institute of Technology, says: “The IPCC has thrown down the gauntlet. Should the pause continue they are toast.” Curry also questions the basis of the IPCC’s claim to be 95% confident that man has been responsible for more than half the observed rise in temperature since 1951. “I wasn’t in the room but the last report said 90% and perhaps they felt it was appropriate or politic that they show progress and up it to 95%.” According to Lord Lawson, chairman of the Global Warming Policy Foundation, the IPCC is “a politically motivated pressure group that brings the good name of
Miliband: decarbonise energy supply by 2030
science into disrepute”. Foundation director Benny Peiser says: “The IPCC is deliberately diverting attention away from the biggest elephant in the room, and that is its flawed predictions that temperatures were going to rise 0.2ºC a decade after 1990. The predictions of future catastrophe are based on computer models that have failed to match the real and observed climate and temperature.”
A consensus breaks down
The Summary for policymakers is, as its name suggests, supposed to influence the policy agenda of governments around the world. But in the week the report was released, statements by Labour leader Ed Miliband and Chancellor George Osborne showed that the consensus between the parties on cutting emissions has broken down. Miliband announced to his party’s conference a new pledge to completely decarbonize the energy sector in England by 2030. The former energy and climate change secretary said his children, currently two and four, would ask in 20 years’ time, “Were you the last generation not to get climate change or the first generation to get it? “You see some people, including George Osborne, say that we can’t afford to have an environmental commitment at a time like this. He is dead wrong. We can’t afford not to have an environmental commitment at a time like this.” Osborne signalled that the Conservatives wanted to slow the pace of policies to cut carbon dioxide emissions. Describing Miliband’s pledge as “too fast and too dogmatic”, he told The Times: “I don’t want us to be the only people out there in front of the rest of the world [in cutting CO2 emissions]. I certainly think we shouldn’t be further ahead of our partners in Europe.” Concerns about global warming were notable by their absence from the speeches at the Conservative party conference this week. But the Prime Minister said it was important to stick with the emissions reduction agenda. “I’m certainly not more Lawsonian,” said David Cameron, reflecting on where he now stands on the matter of global warming. “It’s worth looking at what this report this week says – that [there is a] 95% certainty that human activity is altering the climate. I think I said this almost ten years ago: if someone came to you and said there is a 95% chance that your house might burn down, even if you are in the 5% that doesn’t agree with it, you still take out the insurance, just in case.” Summary for policymakers is available at http://tinyurl.com/qadtvud
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Feature 15
All aboard the Luton BRT Transport minister Norman Baker cuts the ribbon, watched (from left) by Cllr James Jamieson, leader of Central Bedfordshire Council, Cllr Dave Taylor, portfolio holder for environment at Luton Borough Council, Cllr Nigel Young, executive member for sustainable communities at Central Bedfordshire Council, and Cllr Hazel Simmons, leader of Luton Borough Council
Last week’s Bus Rapid Transit UK (BRTuk) annual conference in Luton coincided with the opening of the Luton-Dunstable guided busway. John W E Helm outlines operations on the busway and, overleaf, reports on the progress being made to deliver BRT schemes elsewhere in the country
A
fter 20 years of planning and three under construction, the Luton Dunstable Busway was officially opened by local transport minister Norman Baker last week. The 8.3-mile link connects Luton with Dunstable and Houghton Regis and cost £91m to build; it is the second longest of its type in the world behind Cambridgeshire’s busway, which opened in August 2011. Just over six miles of the Luton route is segregated running, including 4.6 miles of guided sections between Luton and Dunstable, much of it on the trackbed of an old railway. The remainder of the route is on road. Most BRT systems are non-guided: however, this option was never considered by project promoter Luton Borough Council as the old trackbed was deemed to be too narrow in places. The access service route (which runs alongside the busway) also doubles as a cycle path and it would have been unable to incorporate this feature had an unguided system been chosen. The lion’s share of the busway funding – £80.3m – came from the DfT with the remainder from Luton Borough Council, Central Bedfordshire Council, and developer contributions under Section 106 agreements. The main contractor was BAM Nuttall, which also built the Cambridgeshire busway. Consultants Parsons Brinckerhoff and Arup jointly undertook the design work and VIX has been responsible for the communi-
cations technology. Three bus operators – Arriva, Centrebus and Grant Palmer – are providing four services on the busway under a voluntary Quality Partnership negotiated with the local councils. A maximum speed of 50mph on the segregated sections will nearly halve journey times on some routes. The new busway also comes with a new 13-bay interchange facility at Luton (next to the railway station), along with 200 upgraded local bus stops (on this and other routes), all of which are now equipped with real-time passenger information.
Compare and contrast
UK BRT schemes to date have tended to be single routes often using previous railway alignments in whole or in part. Internationally, BRT is increasingly being seen as a complementary mode within urban transit networks – perhaps covering routes not yet ready for tram or light rapid transit but being delivered very much as part of the overall mass transit network – as in Nantes and Rouen (see panel, page 17). Perhaps inevitably, comparisons will be drawn between the Luton and Cambridgeshire schemes. There are some important differences between the two: one of the most visible is that in Cambridgeshire the two operators (Stagecoach and Whippet) use the same livery on their vehicles, whereas the three Luton operators retain
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16 Feature The Busway service plan (right) and a map showing the complete network of routes below
Bus rapid transit gaining ground in the UK
Luton has now joined an exclusive but growing band of BRT schemes under development in the UK. BRT UK’s conference gave delegates the chance to catch up with progress on a number of other schemes around the country.
Leeds Leeds is the only UK city planning to operate trolleybuses. The New Generation Transport (NGT) team recently applied for a TWAO (Transport & Works Act Order) to wire up a 9.2-mile north-south route, scheduled for opening in 2020. It will run through the city centre and serve two park-and-ride sites. The £250m scheme is billed as one of the largest transport infrastructure projects outside London, and is projected to carry 11 million passengers in the first year of operation. The last British trolleybuses ran in 1972, but Mark Philpott, NGT highways manager, flatly rejects any notion that the technology is outdated: “The trolleybus has a proven track record and thousands of them are in operation around the world,” he says. A number of cities around the world are now trialling electric buses that can be charged from inductive charging stations, but Philpott doesn’t believe these undermine the trolleybus concept. “Our team has kept abreast of technological developments in the electric bus sector, but alter-
native sources of power – like batteries and induction charging – still require too much layover time for recharging, which is unsuitable for NGT as we are planning to run an intensive service with quick turnaround times.”
Greater Manchester Construction work has begun on the £68m, 13-mile Leigh-Salford-Manchester (LSM) busway, which is expected to be operational by 2015. The route includes a 4.5-mile guided bus section on a disused railway track bed between Ellenbrook and Leigh. Other parts of the route will utilise new bus lanes laid alongside (or created from) existing carriageways. Park-and-ride facilities will be provided at three locations. LSM will use the latest slipform technology with concrete made on site and poured into a continuous mould. Unlike Cambridge and Luton, it will not use pre-cast concrete slabs, so absence of joints should result in greater strength.
West Midlands Centro, the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive, has identified 15 BRT and 3 high volume bus corridors for its projected ‘Sprint’ network. Details are still a bit sketchy, but high-quality tramlike articulated and bi-articulated buses running on dedicated rights of way are envisaged. The plan will be implemented piecemeal, and three most promising corridors are seeking local transport body
funding, namely: Birmingham-Quinton (Hagley Rd); Wolverhampton-Stafford Road-i54-Brinsford; and Coventry-Birmingham International Airport/HS2 terminal. Bristol The West of England Metro Bus Network comprises 31 route miles, and the DfT supported scheme will cost around £200m. The three projected BRT routes are currently in different planning stages, but it is hoped that the first operation will commence in 2016, leading to a full service in the following year. Twin-doors on buses will speed up loading times, and the scheme includes three parkand-ride sites.
Glasgow The Scottish Government has confirmed £40m of funding for the core section of the ‘Fastlink’ BRT system, which will connect the main city centre area (on the north bank of the Clyde) with the new South Hospital to the east of the city centre and on the south bank of the Clyde. Strathclyde Partnership for Transport is the project sponsor and Glasgow City Council is the project manager. ‘Fastlink’ will involve a mix of segregated and shared running and will operate under a Statutory Quality Partnership (SQP). The scheme is expected to be operational in 2015, and extensions are planned to Braehead in Renfrew.
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An Arriva service on the guideway
their individual identities. Another important difference is that access charges have been waived for the first three years on the Luton scheme, unlike in Cambridgeshire where charges have been levied from the start. “Access charges would have affected the commercial viability of the service, and the introduction of them will require negotiation,” a spokeswoman for Arriva told LTT. This view is echoed by Centrebus’ commercial director, Dave Shelley: “Absence of access charges was an important issue in determining the level of service at the launch stage,” he says. Luton Borough Council does not appear to be unduly concerned about this, however. “There was a logic to this three year waiver,” explains a council spokeswoman. “Significant development is planned to start at various sites in the area over the next three years, which should increase the service customer base. Hopefully, access charges will be of less concern after this initial three-year period.”
Service details
Over the core Luton and Dunstable route, weekday service frequencies run (about) every seven or eight minutes, with a journey time between the two town centres of 15 minutes. Three operators are providing four services: • Arriva service A connects Luton Airport with Houghton Regis • Centrebus provides service B between Luton Interchange and Downside; and service E between Luton Galaxy and Toddington • Grant Palmer operates service C between Luton Interchange and Beecroft Arriva has a peak vehicle requirement of seven buses plus one spare to run its service, and Centrebus needs four vehicles. Grant Palmer uses three vehicles. Grant Palmer, managing director of the company that bears his name, told LTT that operators faced additional capital costs for using the busway. “The additional cost for equipping each vehicle [to operate on the guideway] amounts to around the £4,000 mark,” he said. “And that’s not taking into account that due to the nature of the guided section only heavyweight vehicles can be used so there is a large increase in cost due to operating Scania’s or Volvo’s as opposed to Dennis-type vehicles.” The new busway has prompted service revisions to other routes on the A5065/A505 which was the main bus corridor between Luton and Dunstable. Arriva has decreased frequencies on services 31 (Luton-Dunstable) and 38 (Luton-Houghton Regis-Dunstable) from 12 to 15 minute intervals, while Centrebus has withdrawn a
Feature 17
service and introduced a revised timetable for the X31 (Luton-Hemel Hempstead/Milton Keynes), which its service E now partly covers. Centrebus and Grant Palmer have no plans for diverting other bus services onto the busway, but Arriva is examining the feasibility of rerouting services 70 (from Leighton Buzzard and Milton Keynes to Luton) and 61 (from Aylesbury to Luton) onto the busway when things have settled down. A multi-operator ‘Hip-Hop’ ticket is available for use within Luton and Dunstable and costs £4.60 (per day) and £18.50 (per week). The three bus companies have also agreed to accept the return portion of eachothers’ return tickets on the core route.
Capacity
Only single deck vehicles use the busway at the moment, though it can take double-deck and articulated vehicles. A spokeswoman for Luton Borough Council told LTT that the maximum capacity is 30 buses per hour, in each direction. “The figure for maximum passenger capacity, however, depends on a number of variable factors – hours of operation, service frequencies, types of bus used, etc – but would give around a theoretical 115,000 passengers per day on an average
A Grant Palmer bus entering a station
weekday,” says the spokeswoman. “That is based on 27 articulated buses per hour, running both ways, and carrying 148 passengers per vehicle. The minimum headway between buses on the guided busway is now seven-and-a-half minutes but it’s possible to reduce that to two minutes. So there’s a lot of capacity built into the system.”
Future extensions
There’s still some work to be done on part of the short segregated unguided section between Luton Interchange and Luton Airport. This falls under improvements currently being implemented as part of the Luton’s wider town centre transport scheme, which is also benefiting from DfT funding. Completion is expected shortly. The Luton-Dunstable railway once formed part of a wider link connecting Leighton Buzzard (on the West Coast main line) with Hatfield (on the East Coast main line). Part of the disused track bed has been converted for road or cycle use, though there are no current plans to extend the busway along in either direction. However, short busway extensions could be built to serve new housing developments planned to the north and west of Houghton Regis (and connect up around 7,000 homes).
Nantes and Rouen show modal switch potential
THE BRT schemes in the French cities of Nantes and Rouen are arguably two of the most impressive and clearly focused uses of the concept to provide rapid transit services rivalling a tramway, and in fact complementing one in both cases. Both have extensive dedicated BRT alignments that speed their high quality vehicles from outlying areas into the centre and mirror the image and status of the two cities’ light rail systems. Both have achieved significant modal share on their corridors and have had to be expanded to cope. The Rouen TEOR scheme has three routes with a common city centre section where they have unchallenged priority in the street and high quality bus station infrastructure providing passenger protection, real-time information and comprehensive ticketing. Before the routes split just outside the centre there is a bus station interchange that also defines the system as a significant part of the transport network. Elsewhere on the routes there is good interchange with the railway and even a level crossing to give the BRT vehicles priority at a road junction.
The new vehicles are high capacity articulated IrisBus Crealis with the same optical guidance technology above the windscreen to allow smooth docking at the stops (pictured). In Nantes the single 6.6km route is now claimed to be achieving 26% modal split on its corridor in line with the tramway routes it complements. Peter Stonham
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18 Comment
VIEWPOINT
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What can the rise and fall of road-building teach us about the politics of HS2? Geoff Dudley University of the West of England
Superficially, it might have appeared that the plans to build the High Speed 2 rail network could be carried forward on the strength of a powerful cross-party political consensus. Introduced with a high degree of enthusiasm by a Labour Government, but then taken up with equal commitment by its coalition successor, for several years this consensus appeared to be holding well. Yes, there might have been some nervousness about the total cost, with the budget now set at £50bn, and the long timescale, with phase one, from London to Birmingham, only due to open in 2026, and phase two, from Birmingham to Leeds and Manchester, not due until 2033. And there has also always been a recognition that there would be inevitable protests from local communities affected by the line. But these concerns were outweighed by the prospect of bringing much-needed new capacity to an overstretched rail network, significantly speeding up journey times, encouraging economic investment and regeneration in the regions, and aiding environmental policy by taking traffic off congested roads. Nevertheless, in 2013 the consensus has shown serious signs of fracturing, with critics of HS2 emerging from across the political and economic spectrums. On one level, the National Audit Office and the House of Commons public accounts committee have produced damaging reports that claim the Government has yet to present a convincing case for HS2. At the same time, others have come out in opposition to the whole concept
HS2 needs to be more successful than the road lobby in adjusting itself to the political climate of the times.
In Passing
Power trip, the new book by Damian McBride, Gordon Brown’s former controversial spin doctor, has been all over the media in recent weeks. McBride actually started work at the Treasury in its transport and road tax team and his book offers an interesting insight on the origins of the fuel tax protests that crippled Britain in 2000. During meetings of a forum with the Road Haulage Association and the Freight Transport Association ministers and civil servants continually resisted calls for a comparative study of motoring taxes across Europe, arguing that any comparison would also have to look at other taxes such as corporation tax. But then one day a new civil servant, who didn’t know the script, said the Government could agree to the associations’ request “provided that we agree the next stage is to consider the wider comparative context”. “If the room has been hit by an earthquake, more people couldn’t have fallen off their chairs,” says McBride. “The RHA and the FTA practically rushed for the door to release the news that we had finally conceded the study they wanted. Back at the Treasury, the firm view from ministers was that this was a catastrophe and the
of HS2. These include not only the right of centre thinktank the Institute of Economic Affairs, but also former senior Labour ministers Alistair Darling and Lord Mandelson. Even major business groups, which may have been expected to be amongst the prime supporters of HS2, have become vocal critics, with the Institute of Directors outright opponents, and the Confederation of British Industry calling on the Government to review the case for the project. This break-up of the consensus has culminated in shadow chancellor Ed Balls now insisting that a future Labour Government would have to question whether HS2 represented the best way to spend £50bn. Given the size and cost of the project, it was always likely to attract critics, but perhaps more profound political factors are at work here? Intriguingly, for answers to these questions we can examine three important parallels with the rise and fall of road-building in the second half of the twentieth century. During this period, roadbuilding declined from being the principal transport policy ‘solution’ of the 1960s and 70s, to a position of being the principal transport policy ‘problem’ of the 1990s. The first parallel is the conundrum of how to deal with ‘the politics of success’. In the 1950s and 60s, the road lobby was able to skilfully exploit the rapid growth in vehicle ownership in order to persuade the Government that the equally rapid construction of the motorway network was a national imperative. This meant that the principle of ‘predict and provide’ became the chief plank of transport policy, and roadbuilding experienced a long period of exponential growth. However, the very size of this programme meant that, when economic crises hit in the 1970s, roads became one of the prime candidates for cuts. In the case of rail, for much of the 20th century it was generally perceived as an industry in decline, and so a major policy ‘problem’. Ironically, it is only in the past decade, with the rapid rise in the numbers of passengers, that it has emerged as the modern policy ‘solution’. The £50bn cost of HS2 therefore represents the rail version of ‘the politics of success’ but, as in the case of roads, its
very size makes it highly vulnerable to Government cuts. This brings us to the second parallel with roads, that of the difficulties in maintaining the ‘politics of success’ by defining the terms of the policy debate. In the 1950s and 60s, the road lobby was able to retain momentum by defining the programme not only in terms of its transport benefits, but as a powerful symbol of general economic prosperity. By the 1990s, however, the road lobby was completely out-manoeuvred by a highly organised environmental lobby campaign that successfully overturned ‘predict and provide’ by stressing the findings of expert reports that ‘new roads create traffic’. There is perhaps some irony in the fact that many of the benefits claimed for HS2, including increasing capacity and promoting economic growth, are the same as those used for the motorways 50 years ago. This irony becomes even more striking in the light of how technological developments have caused the transport debate to move on in the 21st century, including a reassessment of the value of speed, and even mobility itself. HS2 therefore needs to be more successful than the road lobby in adjusting itself to the political climate of the times. Extending this theme, the third parallel with roads is that of winning and holding public support. By the 1990s, personal experience of continuing road congestion had caused many motorists to become disillusioned with the idea of building more roads as the ultimate policy ‘solution.’ Today, there appears to be public scepticism generally about large infrastructure projects that habitually seem to run over budget and fail to deliver the results promised. In this climate, HS2 faces huge challenges if it is to retain its position as the principal infrastructure ‘solution’ of the first half of the 21st century.
least bad option was to stick to our original position and accept the fallout that would result.” He says there was a “sickening inevitability” about what happened next. “When [the minister] Stephen Timms returned to the forum, and reverted to the normal script, the RHA walked out, said that there was no point continuing in discussions and that they would not blame any member associations if they now took direct action against the Government.”
between a third runway at Heathrow and HS2... and opted for the runway.
McBride also recounts an interesting snippet that has relevance to the Airports Commission’s ongoing work on whether and where new runway capacity should be built. “The first time I ever heard Ed Balls say anything remotely negative about Ed Miliband was at the end of 2008 when the latter had effectively threatened to resign from the Cabinet if a decision was made to build a third runway at Heathrow,” he says. “Balls was genuinely outraged that Miliband could ignore the need to expand airport capacity just for the sake of his reputation with the green lobby and his own political posturing.” It’s clearly still a divisive issue: Balls was last week asked by The Times to choose
Geoff Dudley is a visiting research fellow in the Centre for Transport and Society at the University of the West of England, and co-author of the book Why does policy change? Lessons from British transport policy 19451999 published in 2000.
Local authorities in the Sheffield City Region are perplexed about the Government’s decision to rename their proposed Combined Authority the South Yorkshire Combined Authority rather than the Sheffield City Region Combined Authority. Responding to the Department for Communities and Local Government’s consultation on the proposal, the Sheffield City Region leaders group and the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership say: “We have a real concern that, what could be interpreted as a ‘cosmetic’ name change is indicative of something more significant.” Exactly what that may be they do not say. But South Yorkshire Integrated Transport Authority chairman Mick Jameson told LTT that his sources suggest the reason for the name change is indeed cosmetic and a little odd too: communities and local government secretary Eric Pickles apparently believes the word “region” should be banished to the outer reaches of the universe!
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Mr Pickles’ parking plans are populist nonsense
Communities Secretary, Eric Pickles, has doubtless many excellent qualities but on the issue of town centres, parking and car access he is simply wrong. If he really wants to help resuscitate our town centres, he must learn from high streets that are already thriving. Over the last decade, Britain’s high streets have suffered serious decline. Footfall and spending collapsed during the recession and in many places have struggled to recover. According to the British Retail Consortium, the result is over 11% of shops lying empty. In announcements before and at the Conservative Party conference, Eric Pickles has set out a series of initiatives intended to revive the high street. Chief among these is a war on parking restrictions. In something approaching hyperbolic overdrive, he plans to force councils to remove or give “grace periods” on double yellow lines, end camera enforcement of parking controls and create league tables of car parking fees. Such measures, he claims, will stop councils ripping-off motorists and mean people start popping along to their high street for a pint of milk and a newspaper. It is a plan based on populist anecdote and an imagined past rather than evidence or planning for the high streets that people really want. First, it assumes it is possible to turn the clock back on shopping habits. But Britons are now a nation of internet shoppers. We spend more on-line than anyone else in the developed world, with annual sales around £70bn. Trying to give cars further dominion over our high streets will not change this, nor will it create the kind of environment which will attract shoppers back. The second major problem that town centres face is out-of-town developments. Successive governments have been culpable in allowing big out-of-town and edge-of-town developments to spring up across the country, sucking the life out of our high streets. Rather than attempting to tackle this trend, reforms of planning under the current Government have deliberately made it easier to build the kind of big box retail parks that have killed off many high street outlets. This is not to say our high streets are beyond help – far from it. They do, however, need to focus afresh on what people want from them. Evidence from the consultancy Springboard found that although high street footfall is still falling, the leisure market is growing with a rise in the numbers of people visiting high streets outside the traditional nine to five opening hours. There are also lessons to learn from places that are bucking the trend and have thriving town centres. Cities such as Cambridge, York and Norwich have among the lowest number of empty shops in the country. Crucially, their architecture, setting and general ambience attract people in ways out-of-town complexes and on-line shopping cannot compete with. They have supported this with investment in the public realm. They give people choice about how to get around through good public transport, park-and-ride, and decent facilities for those on foot and bike. To make it work, they also have strict parking regimes of the type the Communities Secretary presumably wishes to do away with. Not every town centre can have the old buildings that characterise a place like Cambridge. What they can work towards, however, is an attractive public realm that attracts people who want something more than the faceless retail park. The antithesis of this high quality public space would surely be streets rammed with cars, weakly regulated parking and poor public transport. This creates an unwelcoming space with problems such as poor air quality and risk to those on foot or bike. Yet, this is exactly the direction Pickles’ proposed reforms would send us in. He needs to think again, starting with those places that already have successful town centres. Stephen Joseph Chief executive officer Campaign for Better Transport, London N1
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR We need HS2, but consultant’s predictions are implausible
Your editorial (‘Objectivity or advocacy?’ LTT 20 Sep) raises the question of the reliability of the claim that HS2 will enable the UK economy to increase by £15bn of GDP a year. I would, for now, forget the “substantive intellectual discussion about the robustness of the study’s methods and findings” and look at the bigger picture. A return of £15bn per annum on a project that will cost £32.7bn is a staggering 46% return on investment every year. Even if the cost rises to the latest projection of £42.6bn, the return on investment is 35%. These figures could well be higher as there will be many benefits from HS2 that have not been captured by this analysis, including the additional benefits to business if HS2 were better connected to the existing rail network and from the export of rail-building skills following from a successful completion of HS2. There can be very few business models that can create such a high ongoing annual return on investment. But it is just not credible to even imagine that a highspeed rail network, with many flaws of poor connectivity in its present plans, could achieve this. If there were any truth in these figures, we would need to completely change the way that the country is governed financially. Good rail connections are vital to a healthy economy. Many of our main lines are running close to capacity. There is no room to introduce new services to meet the growing market for rail travel. We therefore need new capacity. HS2 will add new capacity to the UK rail network far better than any other alternative solution. Any attempt to try to get the rail capacity we need for the future from the existing network will only make it necessary to complete HS2 earlier. But the idea that HS2 will generate economic benefits of £15bn, or even half that figure, just simply is impossible to believe without a wealth of new evidence, not theory, to confirm it. We need HS2 to give us the transport capacity to meet rising congestion, but without devaluing the strong arguments in favour of building it by implausible claims. Graham Nalty Derby DE24
The challenge of forecasting HS2’s impact on UK plc
We are aware of the statistical issues raised by Professor Henry Overman about our report on the regional economic impacts of high-speed rail (‘Consultants excite city-regions with promises of HS2 riches’ LTT 20 Sep). We provide a clear description of the treatment of these issues in paragraphs 6.3.28 to 6.3.47 of our report. We are also careful to present the results of a sensitivity analysis based on an alternative set of assumptions to reflect the type of statistical uncertainty described by Professor Overman. Our analysis shows a clear relationship between economic productivity and transport connectivity, with better connected places showing higher historical levels of economic output for similar inputs of labour and capital. This relationship has been identified and quantified many times before in both commercial and academic literature. The challenge we faced, and the issue described in the majority of Professor Overman’s blog of the 12 September, relates to the fact that correlations in the data make it difficult to unpick the relative importance of different SEND letters to be considered for publication to: Local Transport Today, Apollo House, 359 Kennington Lane, London SE11 5QY Fax: 0845 270 7961 Email: ed.ltt@landor.co.uk (Letters may be edited)
Comment 19
A bust-up on Merseyside
The politics of transport on Merseyside would make a fascinating topic for a doctoral thesis. Tensions between Liverpool City Council and Merseytravel became evident ten years ago during the PTE’s ill-fated promotion of the Merseytram scheme. Last year the Integrated Transport Authority’s long-standing chairman from Sefton Council was forced out and replaced by a councillor from Liverpool. Now comes news that Liverpool’s directly elected mayor, Joe Anderson, is to order the suspension of every bus lane in the city, a decision that has dismayed not only Merseytravel and the city’s bus operators but transport minister Norman Baker too. An opinion poll suggests that the citizens of Liverpool are evenly split on the mayor’s decision. Whatever its rights and wrongs, there is an argument for saying that this is exactly the sort of bold decision that advocates of the elected mayor model expected mayors to make. But critics of the mayoral governance model will feel vindicated too, pointing out that the mayor appears to have ignored the views of important stakeholders in coming to his decision. The transport minister’s intervention is interesting because it rather goes against the Government’s localism agenda. Ministers have championed localism in the full knowledge that this will lead to a patchwork of decisions being taken across the country, including decisions that ministers may not like. Looking forward, the mayor’s decision appears distinctly odd in the context of the Liverpool city region’s application to Government for powers to set up a Combined Authority. The CA model is intended to strengthen governance across the area covered by the five Metropolitan districts and neighbouring Halton Council. So far there is no indication that the other councils plan to follow the mayor’s lead by suspending their own bus lanes. And so the likelihood is that drivers and bus users will find themselves experiencing quite different traffic management arrangements on crossing an invisible council boundary. It is hard to believe such a decision would be taken by council leaders sitting on a Combined Authority, but equally hard to believe that it has been taken just months before the Combined Authority gets up and running.
LTT632_p18-20_Viewpoint and letters2_LTT632_p18-20 03/10/2013 19:26 Page 20
LTT632 04 October - 17 October 2013
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (continued)
20 Comment
Richard Threlfall Partner UK Head, Infrastructure, Building and Construction KPMG LLP Leeds LS1
‘Moderate’ speeders are safer drivers than slow drivers
Professor Stephen Stradling claims that drivers with penalty points for speeding are twice as likely to be involved in an accident than those without points (Letters LTT 20 Sep). Even if this is factually correct, it does not mean, as Prof Stradling clearly implies, that all drivers who speed are twice as likely to crash. The reality is that all drivers exceed speed limits from time-to-time, to a greater or lesser degree. Those who claim otherwise are either lying or deluding themselves. An absence of speeding points does not mean a driver
think they are unlikely to be caught. Instead of enhancing road safety, therefore, speed limits and their enforcement become just extra hazards that drivers have to deal with. The benefits they could provide to road safety are lost. Since the Government now recommends that speed limits should be set at the mean speed rather than the scientifically-correct 85th percentile, this means that drivers at the lowest point of the Solomon curve are criminalised. Contrary to Prof Stradling’s belief, therefore, moderate speeders are the safest drivers!
100,000 COLLISION INVOLVEMENT RATE (PER 100 MILLION VEHICLE MILES)
types of road and rail connectivity to businesses and labour markets in driving economic performance. Better connected places by road also tend to be, but are not always, better connected by rail. To meet this challenge we developed two alternative approaches. In the first, we distributed the total impact of transport connectivity across modes and markets based on the relative strength of each measure of connectivity when estimated separately. In the second, we distributed the total impact of transport connectivity based on mode shares. Both approaches substantially reduce the modelled impact of rail connectivity on productivity, with the first approach reducing the impact by more than a half and the second approach reducing the impact by two-thirds. In contrast, the multivariate analysis undertaken for the Northern Way and reported by Professor Overman suggests an equivalent reduction by a quarter. In this regard, our approach appears to be more cautious than that suggested by the work undertaken for the Northern Way. A second issue noted by Professor Overman concerns the impact of the quality of the workforce on productivity. Drawing on his work for the Northern Way, he notes that after accounting for differences in the quality of labour, the impact of rail connectivity on productivity reduces by a factor of six to eight. We explicitly tested this hypothesis in our analysis (see paragraphs 6.3.19 to 6.3.25) and found that the inclusion of a quality adjusted measure of labour only had a small impact on the elasticities of productivity with respect to connectivity. In his blog of the 13 September, Henry draws a comparison between the scale of the estimated change in productivity reported for HS2 and the scale of the estimated change in productivity reported for the Northern Way. He notes that “a 20 minute reduction in travel time between Manchester and Leeds is likely to have a much bigger impact on connectivity than HS2” noting that “the connectivity impact of 20 minutes off ManchesterLeeds was three times that of a 40 minute reduction for Leeds-London”. In response, we note that it is difficult to make a comparison between the two sets of analysis as our work for HS2 considers network-wide changes in connectivity rather than simply selective improvements to journey times between a few specific stations. Leeds not only benefits from quicker and more frequent services to London and the south of England but also quicker and more frequent services to South Yorkshire, the East Midlands and the West Midlands in addition to improved connectivity to other destinations as a result of the released capacity on the classic network. We note that it is difficult to make a reasonable comparison of empirical findings across different studies unless you can be certain that you’re comparing like with like. Although there are some similarities between the approach adopted for HS2 and the approach adopted for the Northern Way, there are big differences in the method and even bigger differences in the scale of the transport improvements tested. This makes the comparison difficult, if not impossible.
10,000
Malcolm Heymer Traffic management adviser Alliance of British Drivers Dereham, Norfolk NR20
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Charging to use HA roads – here’s how drivers will react
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VARIATION FROM MEAN SPEED, MPH
DEVIATION FROM AVERAGE SPEED VERSUS COLLISION RATE
The ‘Solomon curve’ shows that drivers who travel slightly above the mean speed have the lowest collision risk whereas those who drive well below it have the highest risk, says Malcolm Heymer
never speeds. There are two reasons why a driver who has been caught speeding (especially those who have been caught repeatedly) are more likely to have accidents. First, drivers with speeding points will often be less observant – they fail to spot the roadside camera, the police car following them, or the police officer at the side of the road with a speed meter. Their lack of observation also means they are less likely to spot a potentially dangerous situation in time to take action and avoid an accident. Thus it is their lack of observation (due to giving inadequate attention to the driving task) that is the cause of both their offending record and accident history. Second, high mileage drivers are exposed to greater risk both of being caught speeding and having an accident, especially if they travel in unfamiliar areas where they will not be aware of speed camera locations and high-risk accident sites. The belief that lower speeds are always safer is not supported by objective evidence. The accompanying graph is known as the ‘Solomon curve’ after the American researcher, David Solomon, who first established it. It plots accident involvement per 100 million vehiclemiles (vertical axis) against speed variance and shows that drivers who travel about 5-6 mph above the mean speed of traffic have the lowest crash risk. This is generally the 80th to 90th percentile speed range. Note that the vertical axis is logarithmic, so a driver travelling 20mph below the mean speed is around eight times more likely to be involved in an accident than the safest drivers. A speed limit is supposed to represent the highest speed that is safe under ideal conditions – clear, dry weather, little traffic and few if any vulnerable road users. When set that way, only a minority of drivers will feel comfortable at a higher speed, so the limit will be largely self-enforcing and the safest drivers will remain within the law. Drivers will also be more inclined to reduce their speed when conditions are less than ideal. By setting limits at lower levels, as is the case in Britain today, speed limits are no longer seen as a maximum speed but instead become a target or minimum speed. Drivers will thus assume it is safe to drive at least to the speed limit, or slightly above if they
I am sure you will be pleased to hear that interest in LTT extends beyond the transport planning fraternity. My wife, an archaeologist by training and profession, always flicks through the journal when it arrives through the post. In the most recent edition one front page story in particular caught her eye (‘Access charge study for HA network’ LTT 20 Sep). Her response to the £40,000 question being posed by the DfT on how drivers might respond to being charged for access to the network – “Badly”. Now I am sure that Parsons Brinckerhoff will undertake a thorough and comprehensive study of driver attitude, and will deliver a full report that will more than justify the £40,000 cost of the study. I will be astonished, however, if the conclusions could not be encapsulated in my wife’s one word answer. I am sure she would only charge the DfT £20,000 for the report! Regarding the front page lead story – one driver controlling a number of freight wagons on the strategic transport network – I am sure I have seen this concept trialled elsewhere. Of course, that’s it – a train. I wonder if that idea ever caught on? John Seddon Leominster, Herefordshire
Political courage could make Bristol’s public transport great
Whatever the strength of feeling against Bristol’s bus rapid transit plans (Letters LTT 20 Sep), nothing will improve until campaigners and enlightened politicians create an affordable local bus and rail passenger service. The people of Bristol have complained since the 1960s about the local bus service. Since the 1980s local people devised various strategies to protect Bristol’s only surviving railway branch line [to Severn Beach] which spectacularly hit the one million passenger mark this year. How did we do it? And how do other cities create a service that gets public transport users around? In the hope of an answer, I subscribe to LTT. Friends Of Suburban Bristol Railways (FOSBR) is currently campaigning for local stations to be built on the expected four-tracking of the railway between Filton Bank and Bristol Temple Meads. On Friday 18 October, at the second reading of her Private Member’s Bill, Caroline Lucas MP, the Green MP for Brighton Pavilion, will urge fellow MPs that England’s fragmented railway system be gradually brought back into public hands as franchises expire or companies break the terms of their franchise agreement. Hopefully her Bill will be successful. It will save over £1bn a year and end the current transport fiasco. Julie Boston Friends of Bristol Suburban Railways campaigns organiser Bristol BS6
LTT632_p21_John Dales_LTT632_p21 03/10/2013 19:11 Page 21
TransportXtra.com/ltt
JOHN DALES Comment
TRANSPORT IN URBAN DESIGN
Don’t be just a statistic
Comment 21
In the continual war of numbers, one fact is almost entirely overlooked: 100% of us walk PROVERBIALLY, there are lies, damn lies, and what? No: the time-honoured answer is not ‘The outputs from traffic models’; nor is it ‘Eric Pickles’ take on high street parking’; nor is it even “The Alliance of British Drivers’ Twitter feed”. The answer is, of course, ‘statistics’. The thrust of the maxim is that we should be on guard against the way numbers are used to make a case. The numbers themselves may be accurate, and their use technically truthful; but the story that they’re used to tell may be partial or even disingenuous. Thus, for example, a reduction in the number and severity of injuries arising from collisions in a given street may mask (and be used to mask) a worrying increase in the number and severity of injuries sustained by a particular user group. The problem is exacerbated, of course, when the statistics themselves are of dubious reliability; what I call numbers masquerading as facts. However, what I want to focus on this month is a numerical outrage that is, in its own way, all the more scandalous for not being the consequence of deliberate dissembling or chicanery. What I’m referring to is the shocking fact that the vital statistics I’m about to relate appear to be hidden in plain sight, such that their impact on transport policy and practice, which ought to be huge, is instead vanishingly small. As near as makes no difference to the way they should influence how we design and plan our towns and cities, these stats are: (a) the ratio of the number of people that exist to the number of people that walk is 1:1; (b) feet ownership levels run at two per person (let alone per household); and (c) the proportion of people undertaking at least two journeys per day on foot (even if that’s just to and from where the car’s parked) is 100%. Excepting a very small part of the population (people whose needs and aspirations are very important but simply not the subject of this particular essay), we all walk. No other mode of transport comes close. What’s more, ‘Pedestrians’ are probably top of the official modal priority list of 100% of the adopted transport policy statements in the land. One would expect, therefore, (wouldn’t one?) that expenditure on walking would have a share of transport budgets that fully reflected this policy priority and statistical pre-eminence. It would be anticipated (would it not?) that businesses would welcome and actively support measures to making walking – by customers and employees – as attractive as possible. And you’d like to think (wouldn’t you?) that politicians across the nation would have used the party conference season just ended to try and outdo one another in wooing ‘the pedestrian vote’. Well, the Chancellor’s latest ‘fuel duty freeze’ sop to the electorate shows how forlorn such expectations, anticipations and thoughts are. Or have been for as long as anyone can remember. Yet maybe, just maybe, the tipping point of change is near. Perhaps it’s just my innate optimism, but I think three events of recent days have given justifiable cause for hope. The first was the publication by Living Streets (the national charity that stands up for pedestrians) of a report entitled The Pedestrian Pound – the business case for better streets and places. It’s an excellent publication,
which you should read and pass on to those you know who also should read it. There’s even an easily-digestible summary report for all those with a short attention span. The report is full of references to useful research which, by numbers, shows how valuable walking already is to the economic health of high streets and town centres, and how investment in walking is pushing at the open door of increasing footfall and hence commercial success. Event two was also a publication, this time of a study in the British Medical Journal which found that exercise (such as cycling or fast walking) can be as good a medicine as pills for people with conditions such as heart disease. Now, I know that such studies can seem as common as Chancellorian promises of fuel duty freezes, and yet I trust that each new one brings closer the day when the cumulative evidence of the wider health, economic and social benefits of helping people walk more will lead to the necessary shift in national policy and funding priorities. Which leads me neatly to the third event: the passing by the Welsh Assembly of ‘world first’ legislation that places a duty on local authorities to plan a network of walking and cycling routes and then work to deliver it. In my view, the Welsh Active Travel Act is a genuine landmark because of the simple fact that it treats walking and cycling as entirely legitimate, grown-up modes of transport that it is in the nation’s best interests to take very seriously indeed. The Welsh, it seems, have realised that undervaluing walking is like marginalising the importance of breathing, or having a heartbeat. I am, as you may have gathered from reading my stuff before, extremely glad that cycling for transport has begun to receive more political and professional attention and more funding. Investing specifically to grow the amount of travel by a benign mode that currently has a tiny share of all trips is, in its own quiet way, quite a revolution. However, it does beg the question about levels of investment in an even more benign mode that everyone already uses and which has such obvious potential to be grown further with benefits that ought also to be plain (and can certainly be found by anyone looking). In the 1967-68 TV series of that name, The Prisoner objected to being considered ‘a number’, asserting instead that he was ‘a free man’. The problem for pedestrians in this country (that’s all of us) is that, when it comes to transport investment decisions, we’re usually not even treated as numbers. It is, as I said earlier, a scandal. What are you going to do about it?
The Pedestrian Pound report by Living Streets. Read it; use it
‘Footway’ in name only: where stuff is more important than people
John Dales is streets design adviser to local authorities around the UK; a design review panelist for both Transport for London and Urban Design London; a trustee of Living Streets; a Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety committee member; and transport advisor to the Prince's Foundation for Building Community. He is director of Urban Movement. Tweet John @johnstreetdales
An archive of John Dales’ columns is available on TransportXtra.com/reports
If only all these losers would get in a vehicle, then I’d take them seriously
LTT632_p22_Paul Salveson_LTT632_p22 03/10/2013 18:49 Page 22
LTT632 04 October - 17 October 2013
22 Comment
PAUL SALVESON # 14
Plans to devolve rail services in the North of England are gathering steam – and reviving questions about how the North should be governed THE Huddersfield Daily Examiner has had a crop of irate readers’ letters about Kirklees Council’s apparent plans to take over the rail network. Despite patient explanations from the cabinet member responsible for transport that Kirklees is but one small part of a much bigger ‘Rail North’ whole, the message doesn’t seem to have got through. “They can’t even empty the bins regularly, never mind run trains on time” sums up the general tenor of the debate. What is actually going on ‘up North’ is very interesting, taking the ‘devolution’ debate much further and raising lots of issues about the future governance of the North as a whole, let alone just the rail network. There are two parallel developments, which have already been covered in LTT – but things are moving forward very rapidly. Firstly, there is an expectation that the secretary of state will make an announcement ‘soon’ about devolving franchising powers to the ‘Rail North’ consortium – the body of 33 local transport authorities (including Kirklees as part of West Yorkshire) – which has been formed to manage the regional rail network. He may say “Well I’ve chewed it over with my mates and we think we’re better keeping control here in London”. The hope is that he won’t say that, instead announcing that “we’re giving full powers over franchising of the Northern and TransPennine franchises to those nice friendly folk in ‘Rail North’ and offering loads of money to go with it to develop the network.” The likely outcome is probably somewhere in between, and the 33 local authorities sprawled across the North of England have already set up a kind of ‘shadow DfT’ to take on the job, with Stephen Clark appointed as franchising director. The second more or less parallel development is consultation by Rail North on a ‘Long Term Rail Strategy’ for the North of England. This process is underway and responses need to be in by 21 October, so shape yourself as my mum used to say. The strategy is probably the most important document ever to have been produced specifically on the North of England’s rail network. OK, cynics might say – ‘the only document’. But it’s a huge step forward and offers the North an opportunity to raise its game significantly and look at the network as a whole. It provides a positive framework for the growth of a network that contributes much more to economic growth and regeneration. Instead of being told to make do with what we’ve got – the assumption behind the original Northern franchise set up in 2004 – it is serious about growth and accompanying investment. Nobody would say the draft is 100% perfect and I hope the responses to the consultation will be taken seriously and incorporated into the final version. It needs a more
compelling ‘vision’ for the North which binds sustainable development much more strongly into rail, seeing the rail network as a catalyst for growth. It needs more emphasis on people, recognising that rail can be a tool for social cohesion. We still have far too many stations that are inaccessible. And it should be less tightly focused on rail as such and be more imaginative in its approach towards that familiar but elusive will o’the wisp, integrated transport. And finally, I’d say any strategy for a region the size of the North, with over 15 million people, cannot be too much of a shopping list. Much as I would like to see reference to more trains serving Slawit and a new station for Milnsbridge, it isn’t what a regional strategy should be about. That said, it will provide a framework for a number of future sub-strategies that put more meat on the bones. It’s good that the strategy includes freight, but it needs more detail on how greater modal shift from road to rail freight can be achieved. There is scope for distinct sub-strategies covering electrification, network development (i.e. re-openings), rolling stock, community rail, stations, fares and ticketing and accessibility. Let’s get the overall strategy in place and agreed, with some exciting but deliverable objectives, and look at specific areas where there is scope for some really creative thinking. It’s good that already some areas are developing sub-regional strategies, including the North East and The Humber.
If the 33 authorities do get rail responsibilities devolved from the DfT, some thought should go into looking at how a future rail operation is delivered. Does franchising in its current form really give best value for money? So let’s get back to governance. Assuming the secretary of state does indeed allow us poor benighted folk up North to take responsibility for local and regional rail, we have the embryonic ‘Rail North’ structure in place to hit those cobbled streets running. The last few months have seen a lot of hard work going into creating a suitable structure that allows the 33 (yes, 33!) transport authorities a real say in how things are run, whilst ensuring there is a tight executive. It’s inevitable that the big metropolitan transport authorities in Greater Manchester, West and South Yorkshire, Tyne and Wear and Merseyside have a strong influence, but authorities such as Cumbria and Lancashire have lobbied hard to ensure their voice is heard too. In the North-East, including Tyne and Wear, there has been strong support for a distinct ‘business unit’ within the new franchise that would give a strong management focus on the particular needs of the area. A similar
approach could work in other non-metropolitan areas. There is another aspect to the unfolding story of rail in the North. If the 33 authorities do get rail responsibilities devolved from the DfT, some thought should go into looking at how a future rail operation is delivered. Does franchising in its current form really give best possible value for money? A growing number of people in both the rail industry and local government would say it doesn’t. Yet Scotland, currently in the throes of creating a new ScotRail franchise, has already been told by London that it can’t have a ‘publicly-owned’ railway. But are there other options? It’s certainly arguable as to whether a not-forprofit train company, possibly structured as a co-operative, could deliver sufficient savings to justify not going through a franchising process. A less radical (but less legally contestable) approach would be to weight a future franchise specification towards much greater social and community objectives, which would help not-for-profit bids. What I don’t think is a good idea is creating some kind of post-BR state-owned operator that ends up with its headquarters – and mind-set – in London. The lesson of franchising over the last 20 years is certainly mixed but one strong lesson is that smaller franchises deliver best results for both passengers and growth, and longer franchises generally work better than shorter ones. Our lovely Merseyrail, with its long franchise and local accountability, shows that the idea of devolving rail isn’t that revolutionary. It’s also half publicly-owned, except that it’s the Dutch who are the partowners. So could we go a step further and encourage regional not-for-profit bidders? Finally, there’s a longer term issue here in ‘The North’. Rail is a very good example of how we need to be looking at a devolved political settlement in the North of England that gives us 15 million souls at least the sort of powers that Wales has. The arrangements are being made for managing rail, with those 33 authorities, is really a very eloquent pointer towards the obvious sense for the longer term in having a single assembly for the North with a transport panel that oversees management of the rail and strategic highways network and integrates that with regional planning. But hey, I’m getting political now. Paul’s book Railpolitik: bringing railways back to communities is published by Lawrence and Wishart price £14.99. Readers of LTT can get a £3 discount by quoting code ‘railpolitik’ when ordering on line www.lwbooks.co.uk Paul Salveson is a councillor for the Golcar ward on Kirklees Council in West Yorkshire and a visiting professor at the University of Huddersfield in the department of transport and logistics. He played a leading role in the formation of the Association of Community Rail Partnerships (ACoRP), has worked for Northern Rail as head of government and community strategies, and in 2008 was awarded an MBE for services to the rail industry.
Paul’s website is www.paulsalveson.org.uk. You can follow him on twitter @paulsalveson and on facebook. He can be contacted at: paul.salveson@kirklees.gov.uk
LTT632_p23_business page_LTT632_p23 03/10/2013 20:13 Page 23
TransportXtra.com/ltt
BUSINESS BRIEFING
News 23
DfT invites bids for Thameslink mega franchise and Essex lines THE DFT has invited tenders for the two rail franchises – the giant new Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise and one covering services on Essex Thameside. The Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise will run for seven years commencing in September 2014 and be the largest franchise in Britain. Network Rail’s ongoing £6bn Thameslink programme to increase north-south capacity across London will facilitate new and additional services linking Cambridge, Luton and Peterborough in the north to Brighton, Portsmouth and Southampton in the south. The operations are expected to carry 280 million passengers in 2015/16 and generate annual revenues of at least £1.2bn. Services are currently provided by FirstGroup, operator of the Thameslink/Great Northern franchise, and Govia, the operator of the South Central franchise (the latter will be incorporated into the new franchise from July 2015 when that franchise expires). It will also incorporate some services currently jointly operated by First Capital
Siemens: new trains
Connect and Southeastern. The DfT has ordered 1,140 carriages for the new franchise from German manufacturer Siemens. Five firms have pre-qualified for the franchise: Abellio; FirstGroup; Govia; MTR Corporation; and Stagecoach. They are competing for a management contract, in which ticket revenues are passed to the Government rather than retained by the operator. A system of financial incentives and penalties based on key performance indicators will be used to incentivise operator performance. The Department says a management contract is appropriate because: • the “scale and complexity of
the planned changes to services and infrastructure means that the train operator will need to focus on delivering these changes and managing their impact on customers”; and • the changes in travel patterns during and after completion of the Thameslink programme make predicting future revenues more difficult. From December 2018, once the Thameslink infrastructure works are completed, the appointed operator will be required to run 24 trains an hour in each direction at peak times through the heart of London between Blackfriars and St Pancras International. At least 14 trains an hour must operate in the off-peak. In the peak, 16 trains an hour must run onto the Midland Main Line (six at least as far as Bedford, the remainder at least as far as St Albans); eight onto the East Coast Main Line (two to Peterborough, two to Cambridge and four at least as far as Welwyn Garden City). South of the Thames, 16 will run via London Bridge (four to Brighton, two to Horsham or beyond; two to East Grinstead;
two to Three Bridges or beyond; and the rest at bidders’ discretion to a combination of Redhill/Epsom/Caterham/Tattenham Corner). The remaining eight will run via Elephant & Castle with four serving the Wimbledon loop, two serving the Catford loop through to Sevenoaks, and two to Maidstone East (or beyond) via Bromley South. The new operator must provide a four trains an hour “premium service” between London Victoria and Gatwick Airport but the services could extend beyond the airport. Bidders have until 24 December to submit their final bids and the preferred bidder will be named in May 2014. The Essex Thameside franchise covers the commuter lines that operate out of London Fenchurch Street to towns such as Southend and Shoeburyness. It will commence in September 2014 and run for 15 years. The franchise is currently run by National Express Group. Four bidders have been shortlisted for the new contract: Abellio; FirstGroup; MTR Corporation; and National Express Group.
Hourbike tipped for Reading bike hire Shortlist for The scheme is due to be the council terminated the conREADING BOROUGH Midland tract in 2012 after withdrawing Council is understood to have launched next April. Five bidders were shortlisted funding for the scheme. Hourselected Hourbike as the preferred bidder to run its bike hire for the Reading scheme but only bike also ran a scheme in Bristol highways scheme in the town. Hourbike’s contract will run for three years and can thereafter be terminated by either party on six months’ written notice. The contract is for the supply of docking points at 29 locations in central, south and east Reading with spaces for 350 bikes and the provision of about 200 bicycles.
three submitted final bids: Hourbike; the Project Centre in partnership with Next Bike; and a start-up called ITS who were in partnership with French bikeshare firm Smoove. Hourbike already runs bike hire schemes in Dumfries, Nottingham, Lincoln and Southport. It was appointed to operate Blackpool’s scheme in 2009 but
for 18 months until it folded in 2010. Reading says the maximum cost of the supply, installation and first year of operation of the scheme is £1.2m, which will be paid by the DfT’s Local Sustainable Transport Fund grant. The maximum subsidy for each of the following two years is £150,000.
French firm wins Dartford tolling contract
French road tolling firm sanef has won a contract worth up to £367m from the Highways Agency to design, implement, deliver and operate a new freeflow charging system on the Dartford-Thurrock river crossing that carries M25 traffic over the River Thames. The contract will run for an initial seven years but with the possibility of a three-year extension.
The new system is due to be introduced in October 2014. Toll booths will be removed from the crossing and drivers will pay using methods such as telephone, text, online, at retail outlets, or via pre-paid accounts. The Highways Agency says the change will cut congestion at the crossing. Drivers will have until midnight the following day to pay the charge. They will then face a
penalty charge of £35 if paid within 14 days, £70 within 28 days; and £105 for any longer. Only two of the six shortlisted suppliers actually submitted bids for the contract. Shortlisted suppliers were: ACS Business Process Solutions Ltd; Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering Ltd & Egis Projects S.A.; Capita; Cintra; IBM UK; and sanef. The £367m is the full potential contract value over ten years.
THE MIDLANDS Highways Alliance has announced the shortlisted contractors for two four-year frameworks for delivering road improvements. Five firms will be selected for a framework covering schemes worth up to £5m: Aggregate Industries; BAM Nuttall; Balfour Beatty; Dawnus Construction; Eurovia; Galliford Try; Interserve; Lafarge Tarmac/Carillion (joint venture); Osborne; and VolkerFitzpatrick. Three firms will be selected for a framework covering work costing between £5m and £25m. The shortlisted candidates are: Aggregate Industries/Galliford Try (joint venture); BAM Nuttall; Balfour Beatty; Eurovia; Lafarge Tarmac/Carillion (joint venture); and Morgan Sindall. The MHA is a collaboration of 18 local authorities and the Highways Agency.
FirstGroup wins franchise extension The DfT has extended FirstGroup’s contract for the Great Western rail franchise by 23 months until September 2015. A further contract extension will be negotiated before a long-term franchise is let in 2016.
Stagecoach seeks new trains Stagecoach is inviting expressions of interest for the supply of a fleet of suburban electric multiple units for South West Trains to increase capacity on lines into London Waterloo. Stagecoach is seeking 135 to 250 vehicles formed in units of three to five cars and capable of operating in ten-car formations. If the vehicles are newbuild then they will have to be dual voltage. The units should be introduced between July 2016 and July 2017 at a rate of no more than two a week.
Eurostar to launch Amsterdam service Eurostar has announced plans to begin operating direct services between London and Amsterdam from December 2016. Two services a day will operate with a journey time of about four hours. Services will call at Brussels, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Schipol Airport and Amsterdam Centraal. Eurostar said the air route between the two cities was the largest international airline market in Europe, with over three million passengers a year.
Dublin consults on bus tendering The Republic of Ireland’s National Transport Authority has launched a public consultation process into its proposals to introduce an element of competitive tendering into the bus market. Directly awarded contracts (issued without competitive tender) will continue for Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann in 2014/15, but from 2016 up to 10% of services could be tendered (though it is unclear whether this proportion refers to value of contract or mileage). The deadline date for submissions is 11 October 2013.
Stagecoach expands Megabus Stagecoach is to expand its Megabus budget coach operations into Germany, with a new twice-daily link between London and Cologne launching on 21 October. Twice-daily services are also being launched between London, Lille, Ghent, Antwerp, Rotterdam, and Amsterdam.
Information for this page can be sent to:
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24 Conferences & Courses
LTT632 04 October - 17 October 2013
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26
Consultants & Researchers
TransportXtra.com/consultants
Action Streets consultancy supports clients to improve sustainable access to employment and education by bike, walking and public transport including LSTF projects. We enable clients to regenerate streets and urban centres through practical studies, street audits, workshops and training.
Please contact Richard Smith Tel: 07850099517 Email: richard.smith@actionstreets.co.uk
Air Quality Consultants Ltd provides independent expert advice on ambient air quality. Established in 1993, the Company has completed many assessments of road, rail, shipping and airport schemes. Its staff have presented expert evidence at numerous Public Inquiries. The Comapny plays a central role in the development of air quality management and assessment in the UK and abroad, and has developed guidance and many of the tools used for assessment.
Bristol contact: Prof. Duncan Laxen on 0117 974 1086 London contact: Stephen Moorcroft on 020 8673 4313 Email: aqc@aqconsultants.co.uk www.aqconsultants.co.uk
We are one of the UK’s leading civil engineering consultancies, with an enviable reputation for quality, reliability and value, providing Transport Planning & Traffic Engineering, Transport Assessments, Road Safety & Mobility Audits, Travel Plans, Highway & Civil Engineering Design, Traffic Management & Parking, Flood Risk Assessment & Drainage Strategy, Development, Masterplanning, Code for Sustainable Homes Assessment, and Expert Witness services.
Please contact: Swindon: Rob Bowley T: 01793 619965 Email: rbowley@coleeasdon.com Bristol: Doug Hickman T: 01454 800474 Email: dhickman@coleeasdon.com Warrington: Brett Farmery T: 01925 661707 Email: bfarmery@coleeasdon.com Find out more about us at www.coleeasdon.com
Curtins is a leading team of transport planners, engineers and consultants. We have developed design consultancy services nationally with a strong local presence across the UK. We provide innovative transport and highway solutions to both private and public sectors developers. Our proactive and commercial approach is focused upon responding to clients’ needs by providing a personable service with highly experienced specialists.
Offices at: Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Douglas, Edinburgh, Kendal, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, and Nottingham. Please contact: Tony Dolan on 0161 236 2394 Email: tony.dolan@curtins.com www.curtins.com
Specialist consultancy providing highway, traffic and transportation advice to both the public and private sectors. Transportation Strategies, Transport Assessments, Sustainability Appraisals, Travel Plans, Policy Advice, Expert Witness Support.
Forester House, Doctor’s Lane, Henley-inArden, Warwickshire, B95 5AW Tel: 01564 793 598 Fax: 01564 793 983 inmail@dtatransportation.co.uk www.dtatransportation.co.uk
ITP is a dynamic consultancy specialising in sustainable transport planning and research. We offer expert advice and solutions in: Smarter Choices; Demand Management; Sustainable Transport Strategies; Public Transport; Transport and Climate Change; Market & Social Research; Consultation; Rural Transport; Accessibility Planning; Mobility for Disabled People; and Concessionary Travel.
Offices in Birmingham – Milton Keynes – Nottingham Please contact Nick Ayland Tel: 0115 988 6905 Email: ayland@itpworld.net www.itpworld.net
Specialists in all aspects of traffic signal design, analysis and training. As the producers of industry standard software such as LinSig, JCT is unrivalled in its ability to offer clients correct and appropriate solutions to their traffic problems. In particular, JCT is highly regarded for its expertise in signal roundabout and complex junction design having been involved in numerous projects and providing advice to Government at both National and Local level. JCT Consultancy Ltd, LinSig House,
Deepdale Enterprise Park, Nettleham, Lincoln LN2 2LL Tel: 01522 751010 Fax: 01522 751188 Email: anthony.gerundini@jctconsultancy.co.uk www.jctconsultancy.co.uk
Introducing our SmarterTravel Service. Our Smarter Travel Team provides the full range of sustainable transport services: school, work and individualised travel plans, travel surveys, business travel networks, promotion & marketing and much more. All schemes are managed by our in house specialists, with additional resource taken from our pool of over 450 registered sustainable transport professionals. This flexible consultancy model provides excellent value for our clients at a cost of up to 50% less than other traditional consultancies.
Specialists in the provision of transportation planning, highways, traffic and infrastructure engineering, and working for the public and private sectors. The services provided range from initial appraisals and feasibility studies, transport assessments and analysis, traffic modelling and travel plans through to detailed highway and infrastructure design and supervision of construction projects.
PFA Consulting Ltd, Stratton Park House, Wanborough Road, Swindon, Wilts SN3 4HG Tel: 01793 828000 Fax: 01793 835500 Email: admin@pfaplc.com www.pfaplc.com
Delivering modern sustainable mobility: travel plans, transport and the NHS, active travel, carbon reduction planning, parking management schemes, car clubs, accessible and community transport. Transport and travel service design and start-up: consultation services, transport events, workshops and conferences, business planning, social enterprise development, website and graphic design.
More about us: www.ratransport.co.uk Office: +44 (0) 161 368 6603 Contact: Richard Armitage Mob: +44 (0) 7973 538 556 Email: richard@ratransport.co.uk
Please contact: Peter Mattinson Tel: 020 7960 2551 Email: pjm@mattinsonpartnership.com www.mattinsonpartnership.com
The leading independent Transportation Consultancy. Travel Plans, Accessibility Studies, Highway and Infrastructure Design, Transport Assessments, Noise and Vibration, Air Quality, Public Transport Planning, Streetscape Solutions, Road Safety, Pedestrian and Cycle Networks, GIS Modelling and Evaluation, Regeneration Studies, SuDS and Integrated Transport Plans.
Woking Office: Tony Brown, Paul Stocker Tel: 01483 750 508 Highway & Infrastucture Design: Tim Moore Tel: 01483 750 508 Strategic Group: Ian Mitchell Tel: 0207 874 1580 London Office: Paul Zanna Tel: 0207 874 1574 Leeds Office: Geoff Blackburn Tel: 0113 248 1414 Newcastle Office: Nigel Dyson Tel: 0191 230 8005 North West Office: Mark Butt Tel: 01524 382 522 Bristol Office: Adam Padmore Tel: 0117 925 1027 Birmingham Office: Paul Zanna Tel: 0121 224 7630 West Midlands Office: Stephen Checketts Tel: 07787 523397 Isle of Wight Office: Ken Fry Tel: 01983 866 234 Cardiff Office: Leigh Fotiadis Tel: 02920 263653
A central London transport planning consultancy specialising in global sports stadia and major events, central London development planning and international stations and transport interchange. We enjoy what we do, and deliver outstanding value and technically excellent advice by employing the best consultants and empowering them to solve our clients’ most complex challenges.
Tel: 020 7242 0228 Email: info@momentum-transport.com Twitter: @Momentum_TP_Ltd www.momentum-transport.com
Mott MacDonald is a leading consultancy shaping transport solutions around the world. We provide a comprehensive range of services combined with a real understanding of local conditions to find the right solution in all stages of the planning and implementation process for all modes of urban and inter-urban transport.
Mott MacDonald Limited, 35 Newhall Street, Birmingham, B3 3PU. United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0)121 234 1509 Email: jo.baker@mottmac.com
To get your profile in print and online call us on 0845 270 7861 or email info@transportxtra.com
Stratageeb Ltd assists businesses develop strategic visions and positioning, thus, allowing for stronger, more focussed growth. Based on the experience of its MD Giles Bailey, who brings 20+ years of knowledge in strategy, innovation and marketing at organisations including TfL, its activities include work with digital starts-ups, business mentoring, university lecturing, public speaking and proposal refinement.
Tel: 0203 589 8618E: info@stratageeb.co.uk Twitter: stratageeb1 www.stratageeb.co.uk
Specialists in innovative ways of developing and promoting sustainable transport, covering every step from strategies to implementation. We can offer advice and solutions on a range of sustainable transport options: cycling & walking projects, cyclist training, professional training for cycling & walking practitioners, public consultation, travel plans, promotion & marketing, active leisure and much more.
Office 4, 145 Islingword Road, Brighton BN2 9SH Tel: 0845 345 7623 Email: info@transport-initiatives.com www.transport-initiatives.com
The Transportation Consultancy (ttc) is a dynamic and innovative transportation consultancy that specialises in transport planning, traffic engineering, sustainable transport and transport economics. Our people have over 100 years of combined technical knowledge and can offer you expert advice covering the whole transportation sector, helping you to make sound decisions in today’s complex environment. Our advice is underpinned by innovation, technical excellence and expert opinion, enabling our clients to make sound decisions in what is often a complex and challenging environment. “ttc” has a set of values that guides us in our everyday business and continues to drive our ambition to provide unrivalled advice that helps deliver the best transportation solutions to our clients.
Please contact Alan Bailes Tel: 07803894686 Email: info@ttc-transportplanning.com www.ttc-transportplanning.com
TTR are sustainable transport experts who provide high quality transport consultancy and research services. TTR also helps local authorities and partner organisations to gain access to European and national funding. What we do: • Freight Transport Policy • Health, Environment & Climate Change • European Projects and Bids • Smarter Choices • Travel Information Services • Transport Demand Management • Market & Social Research • Transport Accessibility & Equality.
Please contact Chris Douglas Tel: 01543 416416 Email: enquiries@ttr-ltd.com www.ttr-ltd.com
URS provides transport consultancy and planning solutions across the investment and project lifecycle for local and central government, infrastructure operators and private sector clients. Core services include business case, demand and revenue forecasting, transport assessments, sustainability, technology, road safety engineering and travel planning.
For further information please contact: Caroline Brock Tel: +44 (0)121 212 3035 Email: caroline.brock@urs.com www.ursglobal.com
Waterman is a leading engineering and environmental consultancy with specialist skills in transport planning, traffic engineering and infrastructure design consultancy. We work in partnership with both public and private sector clients to deliver sustainable and affordable solutions on projects throughout the UK.
Offices in Belfast, Birmingham, Brentwood, Bristol, Cardiff, Derby, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Leeds, Lingfield, London, Manchester and Nottingham. Jonathan Hoare: Tel: 0121 212 7700 Email: jonathan.hoare@watermangroup.com Mark Jackson: Tel: 01277 238100 Email: mark.jackson@watermangroup.com www.watermangroup.com
Transport Organisations
The CIVINET UK & Ireland Network is the sustainable transport network for local authorities. Members can access European and national funding information, comprehensive sustainable transport expertise and networking events. Private organisations are welcome as associate members.
Tel: 0117 907 6520 Email: civinet-uk-ireland@civitas.eu www.civitas.eu/civinet-uk-ireland
ITS United Kingdom is the society for all who work in the Intelligent Transport Systems sector in the UK. ITS technology delivers transport benefits in terms of reducing congestion, lessening the environmental impact of transport, and real time and accurate information to travellers and managers. ITS (UK) has 170 corporate members, ranging from UK Government departments to systems suppliers, consultants, and academic institutions. ITS (UK) is the voice of the ITS community
Tel: 020 7709 3003 Email: mailbox@its-uk.org.uk www.its-uk.org.uk
The Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership is an action and advisory group established in 2003 to take a lead in accelerating the shift to low carbon vehicles and fuels in the UK and to help ensure that UK business can benefit from that shift. The LowCVP now has over 300 member organisations from sectors including: energy; automotive; government; academia; environment campaigns and road user groups.
Tel: 020 3178 7859 Email: secretariat@lowcvp.org.uk www.lowcvp.org.uk
20’s Plenty For Us is the national charity that supports local 20’s Plenty campaigns across the country. Implementing lower speeds that work requires far more than highway engineering. 20’s Plenty For Us can offer practical advice on how to work with communities to maximise driver compliance and community ownership of lower speeds.
Tel: 07973 639781 Email: info@20splentyforus.org.uk www.20splentyforus.org.uk
Carplus is the national accreditation body for car clubs in the UK and co-ordinates annual data collection and research for this sector. We provide information, advice and consultancy to regional government, local authorities, transport professionals and community groups on car clubs and ride-sharing. Carplus is a membership organization and registered charity with offices in Leeds and Edinburgh.
Tel: 0113 234 9299 Email: info@carplus.org.uk Twitter: @CarplusTrust www.carplus.org.uk
The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (UK) is the leading professional body for individuals and organisations involved directly and indirectly in transport, logistics and supply chain management. As a member of CILT you will receive a wide range of products and services to support you throughout your career. These benefits represent an outstanding return on your initial investment and will help you to make a noticeable impact at all levels within your organisation.
Tel: 01536 740 100 Fax: 01536 740 101 Email: enquiry@ciltuk.org.uk www.ciltuk.org.uk
PTRC Education & Research Services Co Ltd is a company within CILT (UK). PTRC is the leading international organisation specialising in the training of transport, highways and planning professionals.
Tel: 020 7481 970 Emai: info@ptrc-training.co.uk www.ptrc-training.co.uk
Your company here?
Please contact Daniel on: 0845 270 7861 or email: daniel@landor.co.uk
The Transport Planning Society facilitates, develops and promotes best practice in transport planning and provides a focus for dialogue and debate between all those engaged in it, whatever their background or other professional affiliation. TPS works closely with its four partners ICE, CILT (UK), IHT and RTPI to further the profession and in the development of transport planning qualifications.We run a programme of events across the country. Tel: +44 (0)20 7665 2238 Email: info@tps.org.uk www.tps.org.uk
The Transport Statistics Users Group brings together users and producers of transport statistics to develop understanding, identify problems in provision and suggest solutions. The TSUG organises a series of regular seminars and publication of newsletters and a Yearbook, all of which are free to members.
For more information, visit: www.tsug.org.uk, email membership@tsug.org.uk or phone 0203 054 0874
Specialists
View their full CVs at TransportXtra.com/consultants FINE Ann
Fine Reports Professional policy and strategy development including clear and concise report writing. Experience in local transport plans, Highway asset management plans, Parking and Enforcement plans, Road safety plans, Network Management reports and plans, Freight Transport Strategies, School Travel Plans, data management, report writing and bidding.
Tel: 07815 526068 Email: ann@finereports.co.uk www.finereports.co.uk
HURDLE David. DipTP, MA, MRTPI, FCILT
Transport Planning Consultant Travel Plans, Transport Policies/Strategies and Active Travel Audits.
Broomfield, 20 Holt Road, Sheringham NR26 8NB Tel/Fax: 01263 822300 Mobile: 07808 533165 Email: d.hurdle@btinternet.com www.davidhurdle.co.uk
STAVELEY Peter. MSc CMILT
Public Transport Consultancy Railway and bus operational planning, public transport strategy, railway timetabling, capacity studies, software development, data manipulation.
247 Davidson Road, Croydon, CR0 6DQ Tel: 07973 168742 Email: Peter@PeterStaveley.co.uk www.PeterStaveley.co.uk
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The LTT Directory 27
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The next issue of LTT will be published: Friday 18 October Advertising booking deadline: Tuesday 15 October
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28 The LTT Directory
LTT632 04 October - 17 October 2013
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www.Jobs-in-Transport.com
Recruitment 31
The best jobs for transport specialists starts here
Principal Planner £43k plus benefits To ensure TfL’s objectives and London Plan policies are met in leading TfL’s response to land use planning matters referred to the Mayor by local planning authorities and planning applications affecting the Transport for London Road Network and Strategic Road Network referred to TfL by London boroughs.. Closes: 11th October
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Senior Transport Planner/Modeller Qatar Our client is a long established, highly successful, multi-discipline consultancy working across all the GCC countries in the Middle East. Due to their continued success, and the recent award of several more prestigious projects, they seek to recruit additional staff for their engineering and transportation teams based in Doha. Closes: 30th October
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Transport Advisory Manager/ Assistant Manager (Rail) £50,000 - £70,000 per annum London transport advisory team. Focusing on rail and bus industries the role will involve managing the team in providing specialist financial, commercial and strategic advice to clients in the transport sector. Closes: 2nd November
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LTT632 04 October - 17 October 2013
Councils and rail operators urged to devise level crossing plans
People
News
LEVEL CROSSINGS
A MAJOR programme of reforms to level crossing legislation in Britain has been put forward by the Law Commission and the Scottish Law Commission. The proposals include placing railway operators and traffic authorities under a duty to cooperate on the management of public level crossings, voluntary level crossing plans, and bringing level crossings within the scope of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. Level crossing plans would be prepared by the railway authority and the road traffic authority and be subject to public consultation. As well as reflecting the outcome of a risk assessment they could include “in extreme circumstances” a statement of the maximum downtime per hour during which the crossing can be closed to road traffic. The law commissions also propose giving ministers the power to issue a direction on maximum downtimes for a crossing.
Level crossings: new closure procedures
Closing procedures for level crossings will be simplified if the commissions’ advice is accepted. Network Rail told the commissions that closing public level crossings was “notoriously difficult” under present law. The commissions recommend the introduction of closure orders, which could be made by a railway operator or a local highway authority. Ministers would determine closure applications after a public consultation. In reaching a decision they would have to take into account the safety of the public;
the convenience of the public; the efficiency of the transport network; the cost of maintaining the crossing; the need for the crossing; and the cost and environmental impact of any works needed to replace or upgrade the crossing. The reforms are the culmination of five years work sponsored by the DfT and the Office of Rail Regulation. The law commissions have presented their proposals in a draft Bill that would be enacted by the UK Parliament and cover England, Scotland and Wales. Welcoming the recommendations, Ian Prosser, the ORR’s director of railway safety, said the Office was making available “millions of pounds of extra funds to close or upgrade level crossings over the next five years”. There are 7,500-8,000 level crossings in Great Britain of which about 1,800 allow motor vehicles to cross the line. Level crossings is available at http://tinyurl.com/pb7oo9k
Think twice before installing bollards, says DfT
TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT
TRAFFIC BOLLARDS featuring ‘keep left’ signs are not always necessary for indicating the side of a feature road users should pass, according to new advice from the DfT. “Traffic bollards provide a valuable contribution to road safety but their over-provision can have an unduly negative impact on streetscape and energy consumption,” explains the Traffic
Advisory Leaflet. “Where it is clear which side of the feature a road user should pass, signs indicating this might not be necessary.” But it adds: “Where there are concerns that road users might take advantage of the absence of a sign to pass on the wrong side, a ‘keep left’ sign might be advisable, especially at pedestrian refuges.” The DfT raises concerns about hoop-mounted signs that are
sometimes used for aesthetic reasons to display instructions such as ‘keep left’ or ‘no entry’. The Department says they can be prone to vandalism and collision damage, are easily obscured by pedestrians and vehicles, and are sometimes inappropriately used as bike parking. Traffic bollards and low level traffic signs is available at http://tinyurl.com/oabu7kz
Magrath retires from Centro Centro’s policy and strategy director Tom Magrath retired this week. He had served in the post for 23 years.
Plant quits Cambs for senior Royal Mail post Alex Plant, Cambridgeshire County Council’s executive director for the economy, transport and environment, has been appointed the Royal Mail’s director of regulation and competition economics.
Hunter joins Waterman Jane Hunter (pictured) has joined consultant Waterman Transport & Development as an associate director in its Manchester office. She was previously a team associate with Ramboll UK, responsible for the firm’s transport planning team throughout the UK.
Lord leaves Arup for SDG Adrian Lord has joined consultant Steer Davies Gleave as an associate from Arup.
Cummins sets up ADC Infrastructure David Cummins has set up transport consultancy ADC Infrastructure Ltd following his departure from BWB Consulting.
Catapult appoints senior team The Government’s Transport Systems Catapult centre in Milton Keynes has appointed three more senior staff. Mark Ruddy joins as chief operating officer from Network Rail where he was most recently Sussex Route managing director. Neil Ridley joins as director of business development, having led the transport knowledge transfer network for the Technology Strategy Board for the last three years. He has previously been a director of Arup, leading its global automotive design and engineering business. Chris Powell joins as chief financial officer. Former transport minister Sadiq Khan has been appointed Labour’s shadow minister for London.
Alex Macaulay, director of the South East Scotland Transport Partnership, has taken over the chairmanship of the High-Speed Rail Scotland Group. The group provides “advice and challenge” to the UK Government for a possible phase 3 of the high-speed rail network reaching Scotland, and to Transport Scotland, which is developing plans for a high-speed line between Edinburgh and Glasgow. Aviation specialist Pete Lowson has joined consultant Steer Davies Gleave as an associate.
Paul Matthews has been appointed managing director of First West of England. He has been interim managing director since June, and joined First in 2012 to help reshape the UK Bus business. From 2011 to 2012 he was chief executive of RATP Group’s UK operations. Tim McQue has joined consultant Steer Davies Gleave as head of technical due diligence. He has previously worked for Leigh Fisher, Capital Symonds and Halcrow.