Complete the survey before 31 March
Transport Scotland’s Strategic Transport Projects Review 2 (STPR2) proposes several ‘Interventions’, which could have a big impact on Glasgow’s public transport over the next few years.
We’re calling on all our supporters to offer feedback before the deadline at midnight on Wednesday 31 March 2021. We’re specifically focussing on these two proposals:
- Intervention 9a: Development of Glasgow ‘Metro’
- Intervention 10: Reallocation of roadspace for buses
Whilst we strongly support the long-overdue ambition to deliver a Metro system for Greater Glasgow, we are extremely concerned with the proposal to force local authorities into ‘partnerships’ with private bus companies in order to secure funding for essential bus lanes.
This would lock us into a broken privatised system for years to come, and prevent us using the new powers in the Transport Act 2019 to re-regulate our bus network that are essential to deliver fully-integrated services and cut fares.
You don’t need to answer every question in the survey. If you skip through and focus on the two open questions highlighted below, it should only take you 5 mins to complete.
Suggested Responses
For the first few questions, we recommend you generally agree with the STPR2, as it is a big improvement from the previous STPR in terms of prioritising active travel and public transport. Then…
Open Question (at 36%) Please use the space below to highlight the Phase 1 themes and interventions, that you particularly support:
Intervention 9a: Development of Glasgow ‘Metro’
I strongly support the proposals for the Glasgow Metro. Glasgow is long overdue any substantial investment in improving its fixed public transport infrastructure. Therefore this project must be given priority and a significant amount of funding to reflect the fact that it will serve the most populous part of Scotland, with some of the lowest levels of car ownership.
However, it is also vital that Glasgow’s public transport governance is reformed so that there is a ‘guiding mind’ for the region’s public transport network capable of planning and delivering the Glasgow Metro project. Without this, it will be impossible to achieve the stated aim of ensuring the Metro will “augment and be integrated with the bus and rail network”. This must be full integration: across timetables, bus routes and fares, so that the network is planned to the principle of ‘one network, one timetable, one ticket’ like that in Munich City Region.
This will be impossible to deliver without utilising powers to re-regulate the bus network like Manchester has just done with its ‘Our Network’ scheme. Without regulation of fares and a significant reduction in the cost of public transport across the board, the Metro would risk becoming another expensive white elephant like ‘Fastlink’ has been. The main reason people don’t use public transport in Glasgow at present, is because it is prohibitively expensive and does not take them where they need to go.
Open Question (at 40%) Please use the space below to highlight where you disagree with any the Phase 1 themes or interventions.
Intervention 10: Reallocation of roadspace for buses
Whilst I strongly support the need for bus priority measures, especially on Glasgow’s motorways and trunk roads, it is completely unfair that this money is linked to the so-called ‘Bus Service Improvement Partnership’ model in the Transport Act 2019. The very fact that this Bus Partnership Fund exists, goes against the spirit of the Transport Act, which the Transport Secretary himself claimed was meant to “give local authorities options for improving bus services”. In fact, this proposed Intervention is doing the opposite – forcing local authorities into partnerships which will simply maintain the status quo. As Transport for Quality of Life clearly show:
“No partnership model – no matter how it is framed – can achieve the transformative change that is needed: it cannot enable a local authority to plan and deliver a comprehensive area-wide bus network; cannot enable creation of a single easy-to-understand fares structure; cannot allow timetables and services to be coordinated; cannot guarantee network stability and easy-to-find comprehensive information; and cannot enable costs of concessionary fares payments to be brought under control.”
Unless the Bus Partnership Fund is urgently amended so that it will support local authorities to explore and utilise any of the three options now available to them in the Transport Act 2019 (including powers for re-regulation and to set up their own publicly-owned bus companies), then it will be impossible to deliver the ambitions of the Glasgow Metro to “augment and be integrated with the bus and rail network”.
Both Manchester and Liverpool, have carried out extensive investigations into all the powers now available to them, and both have concluded that only re-regulating their entire bus networks through region-wide franchising frameworks will deliver the comprehensive, fully-integrated and affordable networks their regions need. ‘Partnerships’ have already been tried and have consistently failed passengers across Scotland over the last twenty years – these ones will be no different.
43% Please use the space below to provide any other comments you wish to make on the STPR2: Update and Phase 1 Recommendations report.
[open question]
46% Would you like to comment on the National Case for Change?
[select: No and survey ends here]
93% Thank you for completing the survey, please click on the button below to submit your response.
[select: Submit]
