If you had the power to change things what would you do? Specifically, what would you do to help your business or the industry as a wider whole?
During the general election campaign, we can’t expect that coaches and buses will be mentioned, and maybe that’s a good thing.
This week Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn said that, if his party is elected, it would scrap hospital parking charges.
While we see the political carrot dangled, especially for NHS staff whose employer makes them pay to park, one thing that parking charges have done is to increase the provision of hospital bus links. Free car parking would undermine that.
It’s the same with shopping and town/city centre access. The public does not want to pay for access, parking or have any restrictions placed on it. Indeed, if it were possible many would like to drive their cars to the shop’s front door.
While for all sorts of reasons – from congestion to air pollution and the general quality of what planners call ‘streetscapes’ and the ‘public realm’ – public transport only would be good, it’s not voter-friendly.
Perhaps that’s why the consultation on clean air, which the High Court forced the government to publish despite electoral ‘Purdah’, is a framework, rather than the expected list of another 20-30 Clean Air Zones as expected.
It’s just one aspect that affects operations. So, what would be in your manifesto? Email mholley@divcom.co.uk and tell us.
