The comments by Westminster Watcher about me and Campaign for Better Transport [routeone/28 February] are very flattering, but I must take issue when it is suggested that the organisation's work is done and that when I leave it should just pack up and dissolve itself.
On the contrary, there is still a huge job for the organisation to do in championing public and sustainable transport and buses in particular.
Buses are a vital transport mode and need champions more than ever at the moment – their status on the road is under threat from councils and politicians seeking to curry favour with motorists and trying to seek politically easier targets for cutting air pollution than the diesel cars and goods vehicles mostly responsible.
Funding for buses – tendered services, school transport, the Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) – is also an easy target for cash-strapped councils and the Government, which still refuses to properly fund the concessionary travel scheme.
If Campaign for Better Transport and others like Bus Users UK are not there to make the case for buses, the industry risks losing these national and local battles. Our Save our Buses campaign has generated a lot of national and local support for buses, has helped make buses visible politically and reduced or even reversed budget cuts in some areas.
We make no apology for opposing the current scale and dominance of major road building, which is adding to car dependence and congestion, causing large scale environmental damage and is also taking funding away from the support for local transport and the maintenance of local roads which matter to ordinary people and businesses.
The organisation has had its ups and downs, but far from losing support as the article suggests, Campaign for Better Transport has in the past few months seen a reaffirmation from the wide range of organisations and people who support it and see its value.
It still has a vital job to do, and I maintain that leading it is one of the best jobs in the transport and charity sectors – but after 30 years I think it’s time for someone else to do it.
Stephen Joseph, Chief Executive,
Campaign for Better Transport
