Action for Public Transport (N.S.W.) Inc.

TRANSPORT RETORT, Published by Transport 2000 U.K. Issue 26/1 March 2003 http://www.transport2000.org.uk/

• Transport for all … or none! The 90’s are back in fashion, at least for the Department for Transport. Britpop may not yet have made its comeback, but road building as a first and last answer to transport problems, alongside cuts in rail funding, again seems to be Government policy.

• Flexible future for cameras The challenge mounted by Transport 2000 and the Slower Speeds Initiative over the Government’s guidelines on speed cameras ended on a high note when the door was opened to the use of grey or hidden cameras.

• Spirit of Beeching lives on as SRA cuts trains On the 40th anniversary of the Beeching Report, the Strategic Rail Authority has announced cuts of around 170 mainly local trains a day and a suspension of grants for local passenger and rail-freight improvements.

• Main roads set for new life Too many main roads are little more than rivers of traffic, but a new project from Transport 2000, Revitalising Communities on Main Roads, is seeking to bring them back to life. The three-year project brings seven local authorities together with Transport 2000 with the aim of testing ways of making main roads places for people too.

• National railcard would win new passengers Transport 2000 and Platform have launched a campaign for a national railcard to encourage regular use of rail through discounted fares. The campaign targets the Strategic Rail Authority’s Fares Review and invites people to complete pretend ‘application forms’ for a national railcard that will be handed in as a giant petition.

• National groups unite to demand safer streets Transport 2000 and 24 other NGO’s wrote to Transport Secretary Alistair Darling in February demanding tougher Government action on traffic speeds … calling for lower speed limits, tougher enforcement and more traffic calming.

• Postcard from Canada: A country where public transport has a long way to go … Canada is a nation that boasts world class airports, none of which has a rail connection and many of which have bus links that are either expensive private hotel buses or give the appearance that public transport links were a cold afterthought.

• Street People The village of Jordan in Buckinghamshire is severed by a country lane that has become a rat-run between motorways. Villagers are demanding a 30 mph limit and have even offered to foot the bill but the council has told them to wait in the queue.

• The same old story? London’s Congestion Charge. The extraordinary press coverage of London’s congestion charge has highlighted the extent to which most newspapers write the story before considering the facts. For weeks before the introduction of the change, readers were treated to apocalyptic stories about the damage the measure would cause.

• Public transport can deliver Public transport in the UK is always assumed to be taking people for a ride but despite the overall lacklustre image, some bus, train and tram services do achieve excellence.

• Towards traffic-free tourism Tourism is often the lifeblood of the countryside but the traffic it brings often places beauty spots in a stranglehold. A new initiative from Transport 2000 with 17 local authorities on board aims to provide easier access to visitor locations by public transport, by cycle or on foot.

• Get decision-makers out of their limos Where in England would you see a Minister, a city Mayor or a Head of Transport arrive for a meeting on a bicycle? Yet in Denmark or Holland this is quite normal.

• What about workplace parking charges? (Letter to the Editor) I read with interest in Transport Retort about addressing the growing problems of urban congestion. However, I am surprised the focus is on traffic charging rather than workplace parking charges.

TRANSPORT 2000 Published by Transport 2000 France. Issue 2003/1 (mangled translations by our in-house francophile)

• Les Pollueurs non-payeurs (the non-paying polluters) Les pollueurs non-payers coûtent très chers a là nation. Et à l’Europe. Et à la planète tout entière! (They cost everyone very dearly.)

• Charte pour des chemins de fer prospères (charter for prosperous railways) A suggested 8-point charter for European railways. The first one mentions fulfilling the wishes of the clients, and providing railways that are safe, punctual, reliable, of high quality and at a favourable price. The second says that the competitive capacity of the railways must be augmented. The third says that the clients’ wishes can be satisfied by a railway enterprise that retains to itself the sole responsibility for transport and infrastructure. And so the list goes on.

• Les excès du transport routier de marchandises Too much freight on road instead of on railways or waterways.