Norman Baker Norman Baker on cycling and rail O
n a visit to Brighton station in the summer, Baker announced revised guidance on the implementation of Station Travel Plans to help improve access to the rail
network for people who chose to travel to stations by foot, bike or bus. Aimed at Toc’s, local authorities and transport professionals, the guidance updates the methodology for assessing current travel patterns around stations and the techniques used for surveying current users. Baker said: ‘Making door-to-door journeys easier is important
to the coalition government – people do not just want to know what times their train will run, they want to know how they are going to get to and from the station. This new guidance will help train companies and Network Rail to make important progress on station improvements up and down the country.’ Designed in collaboration with ATOC, the Transport Research
Laboratory and RSSB, the guidance builds on a successful pilot instigated by the DfT and carried out at 30 stations across the UK. It looked at lessons learnt from successful improvements to bus, cycle, motorcycle and pedestrian access to and from rail stations. ‘Train companies and the rail industry as a whole clearly
recognise the important role cycling plays in our growing railway, but we need to encourage those bidding for future rail franchise agreements to reflect this in their bids. This toolkit will help train operators embed cycle provision firmly within their business objectives by explaining how to provide for cyclists, how to encourage new users, and how to promote and market their facilities to ensure the maximum benefits are gained,’ said Baker. While at Brighton, Baker welcomed the news that planning
permission has been granted for a new cycle hub at the city’s station, where passengers are already set to benefit from a pioneering Station Travel Plan managed by Southern. The new facility will allow people to leave their bike securely in a staffed facility, have it expertly serviced and also offer a convenient cycle shop selling spare parts and accessories. The popularity of combining cycling with rail journeys has
surged in recent years. Journeys accessing stations by bike have increased by over a third in recent years, up from 27.6 million in 2009 to around 38.4 million last year.
Cycling brings 15-fold increase in catchment area Encouraging cycle-rail can open up a new market for access to stations by sustainable transport. In 2000, a report published by the European Union concluded that, when compared to walking, cycling to the station represented a 15-fold increase in the catchment area for non-motorised access. The figure was based on the distance covered by the cyclist being four times greater than someone walking to the station in the same time, and it still holds true today.
them to do that.’
The industry seems to be aware that there is a certain lack of trust from the public, especially around fare rises, franchising issues and so on. Does it beat itself up too much? ‘I haven’t noticed that particularly,’ said Baker, ‘but what I have noticed is certain among the press, not your magazine obviously, who are very keen to find the highest fare rise possible, put that in big headlines on page one and present that as if it was somehow indicative and representative of all fares. It isn’t. And we’re told we’ve got the highest fares in Europe. We haven’t. You know 85 per cent of our fares are cheaper than they are in Europe. What we have in our fares basket is a combination of long-distance travel whereby most people buy Advance tickets – around 85 to 90 per cent do now, and these can be incredibly cheap – London to Manchester for £20 quid for example, which is extraordinarily good value. So when the newspapers present this as ‘London to Manchester costs hundreds of pounds’ they are referring to an open ticket that virtually no one is buying and I think we have to ask our newspapers to represent the fares as they actually are, rather than finding a headline which is misrepresenting the facts to people.’
Bustitution busted No explanation is necessary for readers of this magazine, and Baker has done it because ‘When people buy a railway ticket they want to use a train not a bus, and I think the industry has been too comfortable with rail replacement buses. Network Rail hasn’t been that worried because it gets more time to do the work it has to do, probably more expensively than it should do, and Toc’s haven’t been that bothered because they’ve been fully reimbursed by NR for the trains not running. And indeed sometimes they run their own buses and get money for them, including, until I’ve stopped it from October 1st, effectively fuel duty rebate through the Bus Service Operators Grant. The only person who’s not been happy has been the passenger so
September 2013 Page 47
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