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Greater Manchester\u2019s Bee Network is an example of what can be achieved<\/em><\/p>\n
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\nI am writing this on what feels like the first proper day of Autumn and just over 100 days from taking up the role as director of the Urban Transport Group. Why is 100 days important? Because that is the timeline I set myself to refresh this brilliant organisation to meet the challenges (and opportunities) that public transport faces over the next few months and years.<\/p>\n
Now, it would be wrong to use this column to say how fantastic we are as an organisation. We are only as good as the work we deliver and the strength and depth of our relationships in the sector. But I do believe that the team \u2013 in this short space of time I have been with UTG \u2013 have worked incredibly hard to deliver some great policy interventions, with a highlight being our recently published A Smoother Ride \u2013 Reviewing the Bus Services Act 2017 to empower local areas in collaboration with the Local Government Association. <\/p>\n
While the paper may not have got the column inches (being about the nitty-gritty of bus legislation), it did get the recognition it deserved across the public transport sector \u2013 and rightly so! For me, it was vital that the paper challenged the orthodoxy of a one size fits all approach to public transport. Given that we have plurality of devolution across our nation, can we be confident that what works in one place will also work in another? Put simply \u2013 no. <\/p>\n
What is important is that there is a framework provided by national government for devolution to operate and thrive<\/p>\n
What is important is that there is a framework provided by national government for devolution to operate and thrive, and I know that many in the Department for Transport worked extremely hard to provide a sound piece of legislation in the Bus Services Act 2017 that allowed for devolution to be, in my own words, \u2018scaled-up\u2019. This is why, now that the devolution genie has been fully released from the lamp, the legislation needs to be updated to reflect the progress of devolution across the country, starting with franchising to be open to all areas (without the need for secretary of state approval) and the ban on local authorities setting up municipal bus companies being lifted. <\/p>\n
The point however, about the framework provided by national government, is also relevant to the newly launched Network North. <\/p>\n
When I started the job just over three months ago, I expected from the Conservative Party, just as night follows day, a refreshed narrative on net zero and a widening of the policies to support motorists in the run up to a general election. And in the same vein, I also expect we will hear more from the Labour Party about greater public control over key tenants in our economy and the growth potential of the green industries. <\/p>\n
However, what I hadn\u2019t expected was to find myself (as someone who lives in Manchester) living in a newly defined geographical north that spans the breadth of the country from Stranraer in Scotland to Plymouth in the South and the Port of Felixstowe in the East. This was quite a revelation \u2013 as was the prospect of being able to get a Metrolink tram to Manchester Airport\u2026! However, given that a third of all the money announced in Network North will go to road projects, this surely means that at the very least, if I choose to drive to any of these places, the roads will be top notch and smooth as silk. <\/p>\n
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This article appears in the latest issue of\u00a0Passenger Transport<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n
DON\u2019T MISS OUT \u2013 GET YOUR COPY! \u2013\u00a0click here to subscribe!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n
The post Transport needs clarity and certainty<\/a> first appeared on Passenger Transport<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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