Busting some transport myths
Here, we take some of the most common ‘transport myths’ to task and sort fact from fiction.
Myth 1. Not that many people catch the bus any more
Buses are in fact our most used form of public transport, carrying millions of us around the country every single day. What’s more, passenger numbers are now back to the levels seen before the pandemic forced the large-scale closure the bus network. Millions of people still commute by bus and in many areas buses represent the only mode of public transport. That’s why it is crucial we have a regular, reliable, affordable, zero-emission bus network in every village, town and city. To achieve this, we need to:
- Replace the numerous fragmented and competitive bus funding pots with a long-term funding settlement
- Allocate a greater proportion of bus funding towards ensuring more frequent buses and cheaper tickets
- Reallocate money away from carbon intensive transport, like road building, to buses instead
- Accelerate the move towards a zero-emission bus fleet.
Myth 2. Flying will get me there more quickly than taking the train
Even in a country the size of the UK, there are a surprising number of domestic flights every year. One of the reasons people often cite for flying within the UK is that is so much quicker than driving or taking the train, except we discovered it isn’t. Once you compare journeys like for like, i.e., the full journey time, not just the ‘flight’ time, travelling by rail within the UK and to the near continent is generally quicker than the equivalent flight. In our ground-breaking report, Plane speaking: Moving journeys from air to rail, we compared the top 23 domestic and UK to Europe flights which all have a direct rail equivalent on cost, journey time and carbon emissions and found that 14 out of the top 20 UK routes (based on passenger numbers) were quicker by train once airport travel and processing times were factored in, and all three of the European routes could be completed faster by rail than by flying. Yet Government policies – cutting Air Passenger Duty on domestic flights, tax-free aviation fuel and VAT-free private jet flights – are helping to incentivise air travel at the expense of rail. This needs to change.
Myth 3. Everyone owns a car
Well in fact, one in five households don’t own a car, rising to a one in three among lower income households. For the millions of people who do not have access to a car, a society built around driving means they can end up neglected and excluded, especially in areas where public transport networks are poor. For many people who do own a car, it may not be out of choice and is simply a necessity due to a lack of other alternatives. We want to see a society built around people, not cars, with the appropriate planning and infrastructure to support that vision.
Myth 4. Public transport doesn’t work in rural areas
People who live in rural areas still need access to a reliable and affordable public transport network. What that network looks like will be different to what an urban network looks like, but, as areas like Cornwall are proving, it is still achievable. Unfortunately, rural areas have disproportionally missed out on public transport funding in recent years. Our analysis found that in the last decade:
- The top 12 local authorities awarded the most government funding are all urban authorities
- Of those, eight are mayoral combined authorities
- Only four out of the top 25 councils are considered predominantly rural
- 15 of the bottom 25 local authorities that have historically received the least funding are considered predominantly rural or urban with significant rural areas.
The Government’s policy of asking local authorities to compete for local transport funding is producing the same winners and losers time and again. This shouldn’t be the case. All communities deserve a reliable, regular and affordable bus service. To ensure this happens, the Government must move away from this fragmented and competitive way of funding and replace it with a long-term funding settlement for all transport authorities.
Myth 5. Building more and bigger roads will help reduce congestion
Road congestion costs the UK economy billions a year and impacts on our health and wellbeing. We cannot build our way out of congestion with more and bigger roads because of a phenomenon called ‘induced traffic’. This means that the more road capacity we create, the more traffic uses it. This ’extra’ traffic means that the predicted congestion benefits of a new road are often quickly eroded. Traffic levels on bypassed roads can also rise faster than expected due to induced traffic, all of which means the hoped-for benefits of a new road can evaporate very quickly. The only way to reduce congestion is to have fewer cars on the roads.
Stay tuned for more transport myth busting next month…
