ANNEX D Developing an Integrated Transport Policy: The Round Table Response

D.1 The Round Table response consisted of three parts:

1. the general principles that must guide a sustainable and integrated transport policy;

2. answers to specific questions posed in the consultation paper, largely based on the recommendations of the Round Table in its previous reports on transport issues, but with some new material; and

3. some examples of the practical and detailed measures that will be necessary, based on the experience of Round Table members.

   Parts i and iii, and the new material in part ii, are as follows.

General Principles

D.2 The Round Table has previously applied the principles of sustainable development to transport in its report Defining a Sustainable Transport Sector. A sustainable transport policy should permit society to live within its environmental means, promote economic development, and seek to minimise social exclusion.

D.3 The objectives of a sustainable transport policy are:

1. To reduce the need to travel (note the difference between 'need' and 'inclination').

2. To ensure that travel is undertaken in a more sustainable manner, essentially by:

   1. encouraging changes in mode of transport -fewer car and lorry journeys;

   2. promoting better performance within modes of transport -in particular leading to less pollution (in the broadest sense, therefore to include noise, congestion etc).

D.4 The actions necessary to achieve Objective 2 may be generalised as:

1. Develop an integrated transport strategy.

2. Ensure that public decisions at all levels that affect, or have the potential to affect, transport (eg. land use planning, regulation of providers, fiscal measures, rules and regulations for operators and users) are evaluated for their impact on the integrated transport strategy; seek to maximise positive effects.

3. Encourage a change in attitude to non-car modes of personal transport by applying both 'carrots' (making journeys by other means seamless and acceptable - efficient in time and cost, and safe) and 'sticks' (for example, restrictions on cars and the use of economic instruments) and by education.

4. Encourage the development and use of less polluting vehicles (including the enforcement of existing regulations) and reduce the environmental impact of roads and railways.

5. Set targets.

Answers to Specific Questions (new material only)

D.5 The aims identified in the Government consultation paper are broadly the right ones, but they should be seen in the light of the objectives for a sustainable transport policy, set out in previous Round Table reports and referred to above.

D.6 The Government should set objectives which are, as far as possible, quantified, and measurable over time, with 'milestones' along the way. Road transport policy in particular should be based on setting national targets for reducing traffic levels over the short and medium term, and on increasing the opportunity for local authorities, acting in partnership with business and communities, to determine the means by which complementary local targets are set and met. These might include traffic restrictions and calming; parking restrictions and charges; the promotion of public transport, walking and cycling; and the development of integrated transport nodes around railway and bus stations.

D.7 The Government should define priorities, so to make rapid progress towards a sustainable transport sector. Although some difficult choices will have to be made, the Government should seek, as far as possible, to give priority to those proposals which are 'win-win-win' - that is, which simultaneously promote protection of the environment, economic development and social equity.

D.8 The Government must decide where, when and how to use the mechanisms at its disposal to achieve an integrated transport system. These include: taxes, the planning system, public expenditure, action on perverse incentives, creating opportunities for private investment, education and regulations. There is no single correct combination; different mixes can produce the same end-results. However, an abiding priority should be to minimise the costs of adverse impacts, which may be either direct or indirect; environmental, economic or social; and borne by the public or private sectors.

D.9 The Government must recognise that a sustainable transport sector will not come about without cost. Public expenditure should continue to move away from road-building and towards road maintenance and other transport modes. These should be targeted at schemes which are likely to persuade drivers to switch in significant numbers and which meet the needs of those without cars.

D.10 Much has been made of the difficulty of persuading car drivers to adopt different travelling habits. But a strategy which meets needs, increases the range of transport options, targets car dependency and unnecessary car use, minimises the environmental impacts of vehicles, ensures that Government and industry play their part, and provides incentives to change as well as penalties for not changing, is likely to be successful.

D.11 The Government consultation paper outlined the possible use of 'carrots' and 'sticks' to promote sustainable transport use, and asked in particular what a suitable balance between these two mechanisms might entail. It is often most effective to combine the two approaches, with the carrot offered shortly before the stick. The two may be linked financially by the use of levies and charges, the revenue from which is used to promote transport objectives, so that the 'stick' provides, and equally importantly, is seen to provide, the funding for the 'carrot'. There is evidence that the public would be willing to accept such charges, where there is an immediately visible and relevant 'pay-off'.

D.12 However, it is important that such elements of policy should take account of social factors, including the ability of people to pay. It is also important to recognise that problems of distribution cannot be resolved by further environmental degradation. A package of measures is needed, within a general framework of sustainable development.

Examples of Measures to Promote Sustainable Transport

D.13 Local authorities, in liaison with providers of public transport, can use a number of 'carrots' and 'sticks' to reduce car dependence in relation to regular travel to work. Examples are below:

Carrots

D.14 i. Intermodal transfer to rail made 'seamless' by good car parking facilities at rail station (risk of park being full must be low).

ii. Use of train made acceptable by increased reliability in time keeping (eg by reducing failures in engines, signals, points).

iii. Intermodal transfer bus/train facilitated by timetable co-ordination, good interchange site & through ticketing.

iv. Intermodal transfer to bus made 'seamless' by Park and Ride scheme.

v. Use of bus made acceptable by:

- frequent services (eg system to prevent competition allowing one company to shadow the other's timetable)
- good shelters avoiding waiting in rain
- easily available transferable tickets
- journey being fast and predictable as there are dedicated bus lanes and tickets are purchased prior to boarding (or conductors are employed), obviating loading delays.

vi. Use of bicycle made acceptable by:

- dedicated cycle lanes that follow the main direct route (safe and efficient in time)
- increased provision of cycle lanes by reassessing the allocation of highway space between pavement and carriageway (best carried out as a routine whenever curb stones are replaced).

vii. Use of bus and rail made 'seamless' by co-ordination of timetables.

Sticks

D.15 Car journeys made less attractive by:

- limiting lanes (by allocation to buses or bicycles) which may slow journey.
- increasing cost (eg parking charges, fuel costs, road charges)
- traffic calming measures
- parking limitations
- pedestrianisation of roads.

D.16 Most of these measures are well known and have been applied, but often piecemeal. The Round Table's view is that, for full effectiveness, they need to be applied in an integrated package; then there will be synergistic gains. We believe that, in any local scheme, the above or a fuller version could be used as a 'check-list' for the completeness of the proposed policy.

D.17 Employers may also use a number of 'carrots', such as:

- offering employees interest free loans for the purchase of season tickets, and/or cash in lieu of a company car;
- providing facilities at the workplace for cycle storage and for changing clothes;
- providing employees, and those to whom employment is offered, with specific details of public transport for the journey to work.

D.18 The Government could set an example of good practice in this respect. Government action to eliminate or reduce tax concessions for company cars would provide a further 'stick'.

Measures to reduce the need for travel

D.19 The RAC has recently reported work carried out by the National Economic Research Association forecasting that, in a decade, information technology will eradicate one in five business trips (10% of all road traffic). Specifically it forecasts that, by 2007:

- teleworking will cut commuter traffic by a fifth;

- videoconferencing will cut all business travel by a fifth;

- use of IT will cut lorry journeys by a fifth;

- sales by phone and Internet will mean a 6% reduction in trips to the

shops.