'We're wasting money': the case for greater local power over transport
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Version 0 of 1. Transport operators across the country can do more with the same amount of money if they have devolved control, a panel of transport experts said during a Guardian roundtable event. They did however, differ on just what the future of transport would look like. Devolution will save time and money and boost accountability Valerie Shawcross, deputy mayor of London for transport, said up to 10% of costs could be saved if her department were able to schedule its own projects and make autonomous decisions. She said the business case for improving the efficiency of London’s rail network lies in devolving franchising powers. “There is a big efficiency agenda behind the devolution agenda. At the moment we’re wasting money by waiting in line and having to keep projects on the burners,” she said, adding that she wished she had a penny for every tram project that had been endlessly talked about for years but never happened. David McNeill, director of public affairs and stakeholder engagement at Transport for London reflected on what devolved political powers can bring and said that it was clear from the capital that success is about political accountability, being subject to scrutiny and having a mandate. “Transport for London has been a product of its own mistakes, in that our success is actually built on a number of failures and some projects which have wasted money,” he admitted. “But political accountability and the relative volatility of politics in London has made us honest, and if you lose your sense of accountability, which can happen if you’re a big and dominant institution, things can go quite badly wrong.” Local needs Devolution should bring better cohesion between transport and development. The panelists discussed Crossrail 2, seeing it as not fundamentally a transport project, but a means to enable more housing and development, with transport to join that up. However, Stephen Joseph, chief executive of Campaign for Better Transport, observed that there is a historic missing link in central government between the Department for Transport and the Department for Communities and Local Government. Devolution should help to remedy that and put the passenger’s experience firmly in the picture. The campaign group did a survey of passengers using Merseytravel, which is now responsible for transport coordination in the Liverpool city region. “Somebody gave the feedback that when it snows, the people who manage the contract know it is snowing and they want to get home, whereas somebody in London wouldn’t care,” explained Joseph. The merits of devolution were widely discussed, but regional benefits should not come at a cost to thinking about the overall national picture, warned Philippa Oldham, head of transport and manufacturing at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. “It’s great to work on things to suit a region but we do need to make sure it still flows up to the top level and is right for the UK; an integrated transport system might help that,” she said, adding that devolution should also bring opportunity to business as well as commuters. Freight is a prime example that is often overlooked. Taking freight off the road and on to the railways will free up capacity on the roads and could save a lot of money and time; this should also feed into the idea of joined-up approaches. Transport for the North is doing just that and the room said they would like to see others follow suit. Local issues Data research in the west of England has found that six out of 10 car journeys at peak times are children being dropped off to school, according to Ben Howlett, MP for Bath. And yet the West of England partnership has not used its devolved transport powers to discuss that particular problem at all – it is wrongly viewed as a local council issue, he said. “One of the things which is often missed out of transport debates are the practical solutions to transport. Time and again we fail to understand the reasons why there are so many cars on the road.” Paying more attention to Safe Route to School schemes (pdf) is just one example of how walking and cycling to school could be normalised and peak-time traffic reduced. There was agreement from the room that finding practical solutions to problems like traffic pinch points in local areas should not be deflected from serious transport agendas as a “local council issue”. Future transport and cars Attention turned to what future transport will look like. There needs to be a balance between investing in digital infrastructure as well as physical assets, said Jason Pavey, local transport director at Atkins. “We are looking at the digital side of infrastructure and how to train the future workforce, because we will need a very different workforce to the one we have now.” Mobility options are changing – people are given much more choice and can access real-time information, particularly in urban areas; and that choice will only amplify with the advent of technology and innovation. Cars remain the most common way of getting around, and their empty seats present a big opportunity for cities. And yet carpooling schemes in London, Greater Manchester and elsewhere have been scraped by transport authorities, pointed out Ali Clabburn, chief executive of Liftshare. He’d like to see the car taken more seriously. “London’s spare capacity is in car seats; the buses are full, the tubes are full, the pavements are full and there is nothing being done to encourage car pooling” he said. But there was disagreement from some in the room on where the surplus capacity is. The deputy mayor of London for Transport said she thought the rail network was underused. “If we had a properly coordinated investment programme on the rail network in London, opened up the pinch points and dealt with short platforms in a much more coordinated way, we could deliver 25%-30% more rail capacity,” she said. In a world that is changing very fast and becoming demand-led rather than infrastructure driven, panelists throughout the room said they felt encouraged by the willingness shown by transport authorities and experts across the country to exchange ideas and share expertise. Even if they don’t always agree. The panel The discussion, which took place on 3 October during the Conservative party conference, was sponsored by Atkins. Talk to us on Twitter via @Guardianpublic and sign up for your free weekly Guardian Public Leaders newsletter with news and analysis sent direct to you every Thursday. |