Transport
Policies for People, not for Fossil Fuels
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28% of households within our region have no access to a car or van – the highest proportion outside London. But our society, our towns and our services are very car dependent. We saw the impact of this during the recent Go North East bus strike, especially within County Durham where communities were cut off, socialising became harder, businesses suffered and many residents had hugely complex and expensive journeys to work.
But even in normal circumstances, our car dependence damages communities and individual wellbeing. Many who are disabled, elderly, vulnerable or too young, including the 28% of households without access to a car, cannot access affordable shops, good employment or many public services. Communities throughout the region are cut in two, with major roads running through them – causing disease due to air pollution, endangering lives, harming the local environment and contributing to the further loss of local facilities that sustain small communities. Many school playgrounds are next to busy roads, subjecting young lungs to toxic air pollution. Households increasingly depend on having multiple cars to access work, adding to household costs alongside local parking difficulties. And those who need to use their car, including for work or for caring responsibilities, find that roads are congested, parking is harder to find and delays more frequent. Increasing road traffic benefits nobody.
Reducing car dependence will bring huge benefits to wider society, but cannot be done with Mayoral powers or funding alone. It will take a commitment to all three strands of a Green transport policy. These are, in order of priority:
- Avoiding the need to travel – reducing demand
- Shifting journeys away from individual car use to use public transport or, where possible, walking and cycling instead
- Technical improvements and financial incentives to reduce the impact of the remaining car journeys.
Priority 1 – Reducing the need to travel
This is the hardest but the most important part of a Green transport policy. At Mayoral level, it would include:
- Supporting the ultra-local economy, so that shops and services are in reach of many more residents without the need to travel far
- Encouraging more employers to support working from home where appropriate, by building this into a revised Good Work Pledge
- Support for 15 minute neighbourhoods within our towns and cities, providing safer streets for children and other pedestrians, more space for pop-up parks, and a boost to the local economy
- Support for Green Tourism initiatives within the region, so that more of us, and more of our fellow UK citizens, choose to take holidays in our amazing countryside, city and coastal communities
- Planning developments with a better mix of housing, services, workplaces and community resources.
Priority 2 – Shifting the mode of Travel
Public Transport
Shifting more journeys onto public transport requires continuing investment from national government. In particular, further funding will be needed to re-open the much needed Leamside Line between Ferryhill and Gateshead in County Durham – the first priority being the section that will enable the Metro to serve Washington. But the shift also requires action from the new North East Mayor, using powers and funding available:
- Using new powers to regulate the buses (setting routes, fares, standards and timetables, which private operators then bid to provide), to prevent the continuing loss of bus services
- Regulated bus contracts would additionally include provision in relation to fuels used, rapid reduction of air pollution from vehicle emissions, increase in provision for disabled people, better procedures and training for staff to keep buses safe and wheelchair spaces accessible
- Integrating fares for different bus companies and between buses, metro, rail and ferry, so that all forms of public transport are quick and easy to access for a predictable fare, and accessible to all disabled people and those arriving by bicycle and foot
- Using technology to simplify travel via smart cards (‘Pop cards’) or contactless payments, subject to a daily maximum (the ‘fare cap’)
- Re-establishing the North East as the ferry gateway to Europe, by supporting port infrastructure. As well as enabling our travellers to link into new rail routes within Europe, this would help bring tourism into our region.
Active Travel
Supporting active travel (walking, cycling and journeys by wheelchair) is easy to promise but harder to deliver. Most initiatives sit with local councils, but they need help to win the arguments for change and this is where a Green Mayor could use the Mayoral funds available:
- Support for the redesign of town and city centre streets, to give priority to pedestrians and cyclists
- Establishing local freight depots in appropriate locations, to enable the shift of freight into small-scale delivery vehicles serving town and city centres (including cargo bikes and smaller electric vans).
- Revision of the North East Local Transport Plan to improve commitments on pedestrian infrastructure for all residents, including those with sensory disabilities, the elderly, children, those pushing or carrying heavy loads and larger groups of people
- Support for cycle hire hubs across the region, especially at key transport interchanges, enabling visitors and residents alike to rely on public transport and active travel instead of having to use a car for the final few miles of their journeys.
Local councils often want to implement active travel schemes (Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, School Streets and other measures), but poor initial design or lack of in-depth consultation with residents can significantly harm these proposals. As a result, many schemes get delayed, do not get built, or have been reversed following a pilot project. As your Green Mayor, I would be providing free consultancy support for councils planning such schemes. This would ensure:
- Better consultation with residents, through an engagement and challenge process that is independent of the local council
- Improved scrutiny of design, especially by disabled people or specific groups of road and pavement users
- Clearer community support for the changes needed.
Priority 3 – Improving Road Transport
Technical improvements are still needed, to cut the pollution and dangers arising from remaining car journeys. That’s why I will help to deliver:
- A wider network of Electric Vehicle (EV) charging points
- Vehicle scrappage schemes where appropriate (including support for replacing petrol/diesel cars with bicycles or bus and rail passes)
- Expanded car club provision, enabling occasional car users to hire a local vehicle when needed
- Roads maintenance to improve safety for all road users.
Andrew Gray with Chris Davies (on left), Green Party candidate for Biddick and All Saints ward. Chris is campaigning for better bus services for residents, so that they can access local hospitals without the need for multiple changes.