GREENER JO URNEYS
Planning and investment in local bus networks will help unlock the value of new housing. New developments in urban centres can stimulate 50% more economic growth than similar developments located at the fringe, but these benefits will be diluted if traffic congestion can’t be controlled. Unless we provide more public transport options alongside new housing, we risk bringing local roads to a standstill. Improvements in bus services support training, employment and increase productivity. More people commute to work by bus than all other forms of public transport combined. 400,000 workers are in better more productive jobs as a direct result of bus services and the additional economic output they produce is worth £400m. A 10% improvement in bus journey times would mean 50,000 more people in work. HOW DO WE GET THERE?
diesel car despite having 15 to 20 times the carrying capacity. Buses should also play a central role in decarbonising transport. We have seen a revolution in clean bus technology – with more than 5,000 low carbon emission buses in operation. Modal switch will also be key to meeting our carbon reduction targets. If everyone switched just one car journey a month to bus, there would be a billion fewer car journeys on our roads and a saving of 2 million tonnes of CO2 every year. Buses play a major role in tackling social exclusion and deprivation. Nearly 1 in 4 people in the UK is at risk of social exclusion, and 1 in 4 households have no access to a car. Half of all workless households have no access to a car. A 10% improvement in local bus service connectivity can deliver a 3.6% reduction in social deprivation.
We will achieve the turnaround with a long-term bus investment strategy. This must include a funding commitment from central Government, and a commitment from bus operators and local authorities to work together to maximise the wider social, economic and environmental benefits of bus services. The strategy should include: Revenue support for bus 1 services. Local bus journeys form the huge majority of public transport journeys and provide essential access to work, education and training, healthcare and social activities. Revenue funding for bus services must be protected. The economic, social and environmental benefit for each £1 spent on bus revenue funding ranges from £2 to £3.80. Increased funding for local 2 transport. The next wave of major transport upgrades should focus on transport within towns and cities, to be provided to local transport authorities via stable devolved infrastructure budgets, which must ensure adequate provision for local bus infrastructure. Buses need to be fully aligned with local plans for growth; land use planning and
AT A G L A NC E
400,000 workers are in better more productive jobs as a direct result of bus services
75
the number of cars a double decker bus can take off the road
80%
of UK urban buses are built and sold in the UK
170,000
people employed by the bus and coach industry
£2.5bn
spent by the bus sector in its supply chain
new housing and plans to tackle air quality and congestion. Increased investment in 3 local bus infrastructure. Expenditure on bus capital projects is shown to generate considerable wider economic, social and environmental returns. Typical capital schemes generate £4.90 per £1 invested, and high performing schemes such as Crawley Fastway and Hampshire’s Eclipse generate returns of up to £8.10 per £1 invested. Modal switch from car to 4 sustainable transport. Bus operators, technology firms and local authorities need to form alliances to encourage service and product innovations, and to encourage the development of platforms such as Mobility as a Service to reduce car dependency. Demand management 5 measures to reduce traffic. Building new roads will not reduce traffic congestion. Typically, new roads lead to new journeys quickly filling up the additional space. The only solution is to make better use of existing road capacity through measures such as: road pricing; workplace parking levy; and city centre entry restrictions. As we look to the future, we must pay heed to lessons learnt from tried and tested approaches and protect the value of mass-transit. The basic challenge of urban transport will remain the same: there is simply not enough space in cities for everyone to travel by car. In achieving a long-term bus investment strategy, a collaborative approach will be required – one that brings all interest groups together in the recognition that they have much more to gain from working together. Local bus operators and local authorities need to be inextricably linked, and to work closely with bus users, bus suppliers, network planners, and wider interests such as Local Enterprise Partnerships, large employers, Business Improvement Districts and town centre managers. Thereby creating local bus networks that are directly relevant to the communities they serve and creating a virtuous circle of more bus users and better outcomes for society. n
19
18-19_UKBS_GreenerJourneys.indd 19
04/01/2019 16:15