Peter Bradley of the LTCOA has been busy responding to a consultation on London transport strategy. Make your voice heard
I have recently completed the LTCOA response to Transport for London’s consultation on the Mayor’s Transport Strategy (MTS).
On the positive side, the strategy took a much longer-term look at the future of London, with the predicted population increase to over 10 million by the early 2030s, and the impact that this will have on the road and rail networks.
Improvements in air quality, health and wellbeing underpinned its overall direction and many of the policies and proposals contained within. The concept of healthy streets and places was key and although there was frequent mention of the importance of public transport, I was left to wonder how much priority this would get in practice over the provision of schemes to promote cycling and walking.
More or less visible
Now don’t get me wrong; I am a keen fan of active travel and will walk in London wherever I possibly can. However, unless both current and successive Mayors of London can make significant changes to the use of private transport and distribution of goods and services across London to free the necessary space, I fear that there will be a negative impact on road-based public transport by many of the schemes proposed.
A more specific concern was the relative lack of mention of coaches in the draft strategy and an over simplification of the services that they provide.
The long-distance express services together with those to and from airports and commuter routes tend to be more visible and are easier for the layperson to understand. However, much of what the coach industry is so good at providing is ‘below the radar’, and many politicians have no idea of the variety of demands that are met.
Shout louder
Since I started my role with the LTCOA it has been a privilege to visit some of our members at their operating bases. My eyes have been opened as to the variety of work that the average locally-based coach operator is involved with. For example:
- Education (including transport of kids from schools to their playing fields where these are on a separate site)
- Employment (transporting employees to conferences, exhibitions or work-based training)
- Sport (transport of spectators and teams to fixtures and events) and other leisure activities
- Rail replacement work
- Tourism (local, national and international) from a visit to a regional theatre to a fortnight-long major tour.
I am sure that readers can add to these categories and I would be interested to hear from them. However, the point I am making is that we need to shout louder about all that we do, otherwise these important activities will continue to be unrecorded and the necessary infrastructure required to provide them will not be thought about in Transport Strategies.
I made these points in my response to the MTS. Did you?
Find out more
The London Tourist Coach Operators Association (LTCOA) is a trade body for all operators taking coaches into London. Contact Peter Bradley on 07802 679795 or peterbradley@ltcoa.co.uk, or visit ltcoa.co.uk
