Oct 2009 23

It's road congestion that's impractical6

This week we released a report on relative spending for road and rail, in which we said that road should be prioritised within a rapidly disappearing transport budget. Roads carry more passengers per pound than rail. Our research highlights that although spending on road and rail is roughly equal- £8.2 billion on rail and £8.3 billion on road during 2007-08- road had almost 13 times more passenger kilometres. In short, it offers better value for money.

The fact that more people travel by car is unlikely to surprise many people. However the arguments supporting continued high spending on rail, despite its comparatively low number of users, continues to bewilder many. This is particularly true outside of large metropolitan centres, where people have little option but to drive to work.

Greenguage 21 stated that it’s a “mugs game” to try and invest in road and trying to expand the road network is “impractical”. Yet today’s Telegraph predicts drivers are likely to face gridlock on the roads because it is half term, emphasising how impractical it is to continue to neglect the road network. A spokesman from the AA stated

“We're likely to get the worst traffic congestion of the year so far, with the heaviest traffic from 3pm on Friday.”

Roads are the main factor in keeping Britain moving, yet they are not viewed as such. Consequently when many families decide to go on holiday during the half term break they are faced with grim levels of congestion because the roads are already stretched beyond capacity.

Critics will argue that families should take public transport to go away on holiday. However families who own cars do so because it is a major component of their daily lives. They use cars to take the children to school, go to work and do the weekly shop. Hence using the car to get to a holiday destination is their most preferred option, and the most practical, particularly with the amount of luggage a typical family needs on a holiday. It would be near impossible for many families to use public transport to go on a half-term break.

These are the same families who already face high levels of fuel and Vehicle Excise Duty. The revenue from these two taxes combined outweighs the cost of road transport greenhouse gas emissions and road spending by £18.4 billion.  Road users have paid more than their fair share into the transport system. They should be able to use the car for a family holiday without having to face hours upon hours of congestion.

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  • Hardeep Singh

    It’s not the actual merit of the argument nor the pragmatic view expressed regarding road transport but the audience on whose ears these opinions fall. If they are brain washed with alternative ideologies then such points of view are irrelevant to them and as such the politicians won’t push the ‘issue’. Though this is of national importance both for the present and future prosperity it simply doesn’t register in ceratin quarters and that’s the real problem.

  • john cook

    seconded. the age old addage of :theres non so blind as them who will not to see comes to mind..but then with so much money finding its way into parliamentary trouser pockets in little brown envelopes from “lobby groups” i cant see a single politician suddenly switching horses mid stream can you ??? i mean motorists are a captive audience (read cash cow) and therefore dont NEED to be listened to, but when the piper is paid…..we know whose tune is played

  • Phil

    I agree with all of the above. Without the road network the economy will grind to a halt and if Variable Road Pricing (invasive Turnpike Toll Tax on wheels) was introduced then some examples of the following consequences will result in an effort to survive in general:-
    - A huge increase in crime rates
    - Mass poverty
    - Mass unemployment
    - Mass disease epidemics (caused by mass poverty)
    - Mass hunger (caused by the massive increase of cost of Variable Road Pricing)
    - Companies emigrating abroad (that’s already happened to a fair extent)
    - Practically no TV nor radio at all (think about how for example football match programmes are produced)
    - Britain being hurled back into the victorian dark ages.
    Another thing I have read as well is that apparently the Conservatives in a fringe meeting are also considering the turnpike toll tax on wheels. I just hope that they will rapidly change thier minds on that one and at least use some form of common sense (but they are politicians after all – can we trust them ???).

  • http://www.fairdealabd.org.uk/fdmatt.htm Brian Mooney

    You should have more fun today when Lord Turner’s ‘Green Fiscal Commission’ make their plea for more green taxes.
    For some reason they don’t like Taxpayers’ Alliance.
    The Tories will be daft if they support the shift towards penalising domestic fuel use and private motoring. Many pensioners will lose out, and these are a group that traditionally support the Tories!

  • Adrian Wrigley

    So you say we’re “spending just £11.11/1000 passenger km” for road transport? Methinks you forgot to include the cars, the fuel and the insurance? Should be more like £200.00/1000 passenger km!
    And you forgot to include the cost of land use. Those roads (at least some of them) could be turned over to alternative uses – this is another part of the social cost of roads.
    If this report represents the standard of economics that the TPA accepts, they can safely be ignored!

  • Adrian Wrigley

    Interestingly, bus journeys cost around £10.00-£15.00/1000 passenger *journeys* (eg under Free Bus Passes schemes (source : http://www.lga.gov.uk/lga/aio/198524
    )). (journeys are of a few km on average)
    So the bus services *considerably* outperform the £11.11/1000 passenger km quoted by the TPA for public average road spend – based on the per journey and per km stats – even taking into account Bus Service Operators’ Grant.
    By this measure, the government funding should *first* go to providing free buses for all users, where demand warrants it, before moving on to the pricier alternative of extra roads spending. And don’t forget that it is the marginal spending, not the average spending which counts – the marginal road spend is likely to cost rather more than the £11.11 claimed.
    It’d be great if the TPA ignited a genuine debate on transport policy. The figures are unambiguous – buses (and coaches) beat both trains and roads economically by a large margin. Would the TPA like to issue a revision including buses and coaches, and examining the marginal, not the average costs?
    Another great thing about free coaches is it reduces demand for road space, alleviating congestion, just as the TPA and associates call for. What’s not to like?