Drop road-pricing demand, say senior council officials

15 February 2008

Local authorities should be able to submit transport funding bids under a government scheme without including road-pricing measures, according to a report published by the County Surveyors’ Society.

The Travel is good report calls for greater flexibility in Transport Innovation Fund (TIF) to enable appropriate local solutions to congestion problems.

The report calls for more up-front investment in alternative travel choices before the introduction of road pricing, and a comprehensive assessment of the impact of urban and motorway pricing on other roads.

‘The great risk associated with road pricing will be the transfer of congestion, environmental damage and increased casualties on to local communities and local authority roads,’ it states.

The report calls for a pragmatic response to alleviate congestion, spurning the prevalent view among ‘today’s transport intelligentsia’ that travel should be discouraged. Instead, plans for change have to be measured and incremental, and must make sense in a local context.

As such, the CSS calls for sustained investment in forms of transport which suit local conditions and needs. It also backs light rail and tram schemes in order to upgrade public transport systems, and as an alternative to the bus, which has suffered a decline in patronage outside London in the past 20 years.

‘The perception of bus travel is that it remains too expensive, unreliable, grubby and unable to deliver the depth and breadth of services expected by customers living in a 24/7 society.’

Trams offer a solution, in terms of image and patronage, but their introduction has been stalled due to the cost of delivery. ‘There is a view that this is due, in part, to proposed schemes needing to be designed to heavy rail standards in order to meet inappropriate and stringent specifications demanded by the Department for Transport.’

In light of this, the CSS calls for a relaxation in the design standards for light rail. To encourage use of light rail and other alternatives to the car, the CSS urges recognition of the importance of the public realm in town and city centres. A clear investment in the public realm would help prevent movement to edge-of-town housing, business and shopping ‘which do not lend themselves to the provision of attractive modes of travel to the car’.

Ultimately, a transport strategy should aim to maintain mobility while reducing the amount of CO₂ produced, the report states. This could be achieved through investment in R&D for a hydrogen-based transport infrastructure and a set timetable for the shift to a hydrogen-based economy, and by support for developing hybrid public transport/private vehicle solution to personal travel needs.

Download the CSS Travel is good report here.

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