Campaign for Better Transport urges transport secretary to divert funding to public transport as CPT calls for ‘immediate decision’ on £2 bus fare cap
Campaign for Better Transport has called for “large and unnecessary” road projects like the £9bn Lower Thames Crossing to be cancelled
Ahead of this month’s budget, Campaign for Better Transport has urged transport secretary Louise Haigh to cancel “large and unnecessary” road projects – including the £9bn Lower Thames Crossing and the £1.5bn A66 Northern Trans-Pennine scheme – and to invest in public transport instead.
A letter from the campaign to the transport secretary, cosigned by Transport Action Network and the Rail Freight Group, argues that rather than basing the need for new road schemes on increasing capacity for heavy goods vehicles, the government should instead invest in rail freight upgrades.
Spending £9bn on a road that can’t even carry a bus is utterly nonsensical
Michael Solomon Williams of Campaign for Better Transport, said: “Spending £9bn on a road that can’t even carry a bus is utterly nonsensical and if approved by the transport secretary would completely undermine the government’s Net Zero commitments. Building new roads doesn’t cut congestion, it does the opposite. Investing in public transport and rail freight is the best way to cut congestion, free up road space and grow the economy for only a fraction of the cost.”
Meanwhile, responding to Louise Haigh’s speech to the Labour Party conference in Liverpool last week, Graham Vidler, CEO of the Confederation of Passenger Transport said: “It’s great to have a transport secretary who cares about buses and can recall when bus fares were just tuppence in Sheffield. But passengers today are waiting for clarity over the future of the £2 fare cap. An immediate decision is needed.”
This article appears in the latest issue of Passenger Transport.
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The post Halt ‘nonsensical’ road projects to save £10.5bn first appeared on Passenger Transport.