comment
THE WRIGHT TRACK
TICKET
TO RIDE?
The government has stated its intention to further integrate the UK’s public
transport. But, asks robert Wright, is integration all it’s cracked up to be?
O
n a wet, windy November morning last year in south London, Adonis said triumphantly. ‘This is a key moment in the history of
Lord Adonis turned up at Southern’s bustling Balham station London transport.’
with Boris Johnson to announce some good news. From 2 Most advocates of integrated transport probably have in mind
January, the transport secretary and London’s mayor said, passengers the system of a city like Berlin or Copenhagen. There, holders of a
on nearly all Overground rail services in greater London would be able single, often fairly cheap, ticket can move seamlessly between S-Bahn
to pay for their journeys with the popular pay-as-you-go Oyster smart suburban rail services, metros, buses and, in some cases, trams. The
card. tickets are relatively cheap and rail stations are often the termini of bus
Lord Adonis also resurrected one of the and tram routes.
oldest aspirations of the current government’s Such integrated transport has been a goal of
transport policy. He presented the step as not
Lord Adonis also resurrected one
British transport policy before. Metro stations
merely a leap forward for convenience but for
of the oldest aspirations of the
developed in the 1970s – such as Four Lane
integrated transport. The Labour government Ends on the Tyne and Wear Metro or Govan
set up the Commission for Integrated
current government’s
on the Glasgow Subway – were envisaged as
Transport almost immediately after the 1997 transport policy. He presented interchanges between bus and rail services
election. The Labour councillors who control
the step as not merely a leap
then provided by the same PTE. Buses would
England’s Passenger Transport Executives – ferry passengers to the metro stations, from
inevitably now renamed Integrated Transport
forward for convenience but for
where they would continue their journeys.
Authorities – complain bitterly about their
integrated transport
Much of the present government’s
weak powers to integrate their areas’ privately- rhetoric is a reaction to the destruction of
run transport services. the assumptions behind the 1970s schemes,
However, listening to the transport secretary on the windswept fi rst by 1986’s deregulation of most buses outside London, then by
platform, it was impossible not to question the assumptions behind rail privatisation. Large numbers of people, especially local Labour
the phrase ‘integrated transport’. How would an integrated transport councillors, still resent those changes bitterly. They believe they
system differ from the present – presumably disintegrated – system? destroyed a rational, well-ordered, publicly-owned system with a greed-
How would the integration be achieved and would it all be for the good driven free-for-all.
of passengers? Yet an examination of the continental European reality suggests
‘From January 2, we will for the fi rst time in London have an continental models might be hard to apply in the UK and may not
integrated system that embraces the Underground and Overground,’ produce the desired effects.
16 rail professional : January 2010
RPJan10 pp16-17 Wright Track.indd 16 10/12/09 15:20:22
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