If I was the transport minister

I would make some bold changes including:-

Give all PTEs the power to regulate the buses, it is stagerring some of the almost crinimal commercial bullying the big four bus companies have got away with due to lack of regulation.

I propose that each PTE assigns routes and prices and allows companies to bid to run them, just like the train system works. This will stop companies from flooding routes to force smaller companies out while neglecting other routes which don't have any competetition.

I would also make the train prices much for simple, there is too many tickets and its frankly confusing at the moment.

I would introduce congestion charges in all major cities.

I would rise taxes for vehicles which either/and
a) take up a lot of road space
b) Produce high emissions
c) Are noisy

I would rise road vehicle tax for individual people that own more than one vehicle (excluding busineses).

I would also convert all disused railways in viable locations into busways.

My main aim would be to make the system fairer, at the moment there is not enough regulation.

 

i'd improve the frankly farcical state of the uk's cycle network.
i'd require drivers to retake their test every 5 years if under 70 and every year if over that.
i'd improve park and ride schemes.
i'd abolish car tax (but introduce a nominal fee sticker to confirm mot and insurance) and instead tax fuel.
bio-fuel and fuel with proven lower emission qualities would attract lower duty.
i'd make speed cameras / traffic calming measures mandatory outside schools and areas where children play (parks, playing fields, village halls etc.) being caught by a camera in one of these zones would result in an instant ban for a year and the requirement of repassing the driving test at the end of the ban.
the lowering of the speed limit to 20mph in villages and outside schools etc.
the raising of the motorway / dual carriageway limit to more realistic levels - 85mph at least if not 100mph on certain sections.
the matrix sign lot to get a good kicking for being crap.

 

Yep more cycle lanes would be good, not the crappy bus/cycle=death lanes we have at the moment.

We need proper Amsterdam style cycle roads this will eat up pavement space though.

A lot of car drivers may not care about the situation with the buses, but when routes are being flooded with 3 buses every minute just to try and make smaller companies go bust this creates a lot of traffic, and its been going on the past 20 years.

A certain Scottish company was built buy doing just that and they are still at it.

20mph urban speed limits would be good.

So much good as come of the trains in the last 5 years and I am convinced they can do the same to the roads.

 

I wouldn't spend a farthing on cycle routes until cyclists are properly regulated and taxed.
I would throw the book at cyclists that ride on pavements, ignore traffic lights etc.
The rail companies have already announced a rationalisation of train fares. They are abolishing all 'saver' fares soon.

 

I'd renationalise the railways, return the rail network to its pre-Beeching extent and get the trains painted British Rail green; return the buses to local authority control and make them paint the buses whatever colours they were pre deregulation; and increase road fund licence to £1,500 (double for second and subsequent cars).

 

I'd get rid of the bull**** commuter lane on the M1 from Luton to London, and instead just build a couple of extra lanes in each direction - for everyone.

Id do this without the need to slow everyone down to 40mph on the motorway for the next 5 years.


I'd get rid of the M4 bus lane.


Extra lanes in each direction on the M25 aswell.

I'd get rid of the speed cameras on 'a' roads, unless they were in real danger spots.


I'd make trains more comfortable, faster and cheaper than driving - by investment and subsidy.

 

The problem is bus lanes do work, I know a lot of people who get the bus because its quicker purely because of bus lanes, in rush hour the cars are stuck at 1mph in the city centre where the buses can whizz along at 30mph.

These buses are often carrying 120+ people so they need priroity over cars.

The problem with completly regulating buses and trains is you cannot legaly split these companies up, if we did we will become a communist state.

With the trains it is all regulated by the state but private companies physicaly put the trains on. I think the same thing will work well with buses, the PTE will decide the routes and how frequently they need to be and set the prices, then they will ask bus companies to bid to run it. If they don't perform when they get the bid they will loose it just like they do with the railways.

 

All bus lanes to allow motorcycles, as in Bristol.

I dont understand why you would tax a vehicle due to noise tho?

 

I notice that because of the number of buses in Manchester it can now take the Metro tram an hour to go a mile cos of buses queuing in front of it!

 

A pedant writes:

The thread title should of course be: 'If I were the transport minister'.

 

Hands up anyone who thinks bus services have improved since de-regulation, or that all the manking about with privatising then partly re-nationalising the railways was anything other than a criminal waste of time and money?

A national rail service needs to be nationally controlled, otherwise you have the ludicrously complex system of routes and fares that now exist, to say nothing of the compromises made on track maintenance. Nowt to do with communism.

 

All I have seen is the time to London knocked off by a good hour, brand new state of the art tilting trains that do 125mph and a decrease in prices (if you know how to play the system).

Bob its not quite that bad with the metrolink but it is a problem, too many buses are going into Picciddilly.

The current problem at the moment is the bus service is down to a postcode lottery, it depends if a certain smaller company runs the route, then a certain larger one will flood it. If not then your service gets neglected.

I certainly wish my train line was still there, it was closed by Beaching but its supposed to be converted into the metrolink but thanks to this labour government that will never happen, they are too busy spending money in London.

 

bob,
a good job farthings are as ancient as your ideas on traffic policy then isn;t it?

 

I heared he wants to reduce the speed limit to 4mph to match standards of the 1890s

 

In Manchester public transport is a disgrace, Metrolink cancelled to pay for the olympics. If I want to travel to work a journey of 20 miles on public transport, I would have to make 4 changes, pay £22, and set off at 6am to be on time.
Yet as that is apparently acceptable, I'm looking forward to congestion charging being introduced on the M60 so I will have two unacceptable choices as to how to get to work. I should be able to get to work in under an hour. Metro to Piccadilly, then train from there. It'll never happen, this country is far to Londoncentric. They already have the best public transport yet they're getting another cross London link.

 

Yep they are building some £10 billion rail scheme in London for the olympics. However £1 per user the Metrolink system is far better value. I am not sure about the Rochdale spur but the south Manchester spur was supposed to be built by 2000. Half way through 2006 nothing has been done.

The buses are just far too slow and deregulated to provide a long term transport solution to Greater Manchester.

The train from Rochdale to Manc only takes 15 minutes though, althouhh in rush hour I could imagine it would be a nightmare.

It can take me 40 mins to get into the city centre as the bus can be 15 mins late (due to 3 or 4 not turning up) and then it can take ages to get into town.

We have all the land for railtracks to be laid so I just don't see what the major problem is. The victorians have done that for us. All we need to is lay down tracks and signals on the land that Beaching closed.

 

London is if anything MORE starved of acceptable road/rail solutions than other cities.

There may be a tube/motorways, but until you have commuted on them on a regular basis, you won't understand how completely over-run and shafted they are.

If I want to do a commute to london for a 9am start (I live 45 minutes away by car), I need to set off at 5am in the morning, or I'll be sat in a traffic jam for 3 hours minimum.

 

I think the book is thrown at cyclists who ride on the pavements, ignore traffic lights etc. You don't see the police ignoring them if they see it, just as you don't see the police ignoring dangerous driving if they see it. You seem to think all cyclists are pavement riding, light jumping idiots. Some of us are, just as some motorists, but not all, are inconsiderate, dangerous fools.

Anyway...I think road taxes these days are based on emissions, and given that bicycles produce zero emissions it wouldn't be much use would it.

The fact is that bikes are great and should be encouraged wherever possible. They are good for you, better for the environment and healthy transport for a nation turning into fatties. Plus its great fun weaving in and out of traffic. You ought to try it Bob

 

How long would it take you on public transport though. A train and a tube or bus?

 

London is by and large fine for getting about although it help if you live there. i have three railway stations within walking distance from home and buses into to town from the top of the road every 10 mins or so. DLR to canary wharf/city etc. london bridge is 15 mins away by train.

The traffic is a bit more problematic but most of the time is fine until something goes wrong - like a bridge or tunnel closure. then it's every man, woman and child for themself.

commuting in by car from the sticks isn't to be reccommended