Boris Johnson’s £5bn funding boost for buses and HS2 will help parts of Britain that have been left behind
TUESDAY’S announcement that HS2 has been given the green light may be good news for the Midlands and the North — but it was Boris’s £5billion for buses that most impressed me.
Millions of hard-working commuters will also be cheering his plan to transform local transport.
HS2 will help bring employment and growth to regions that have been left behind and create thousands of good, well-paid jobs in construction, engineering and manufacturing.
But it won’t be finished before the next election. Perhaps even the one after that.
The benefits won’t be felt for decades — but there’s an urgent need to improve transport around the regions right now. And if Boris is to deliver his promise to “level Britain up”, he needs to help people get to work more easily and travel to find better jobs — and that means getting more people on better buses.
DIRTY AIR IS A HEALTH HAZARD
Buses are already the backbone of communities across the UK. In the West Midlands around four out of five of all public transport journeys are made by bus.
They are often used by people struggling on low wages or those who don’t have a car. Many elderly people rely on buses to go to the shops or meet friends and family.
But more than 3,000 bus routes have been cut back or scrapped altogether in the past ten years.
That means far too many working people spend far too long stuck in traffic jams, waiting for buses or packed on over-crowded trains as they struggle to commute.
Thirty years ago, when I started work, I trudged 15 minutes through cold, wet streets before spending another 45 minutes on a bus tour of Dudley’s council estates on a journey that couldn’t have been more than three or four miles as the crow flies. Later, when I worked just ten miles away in Birmingham, I had a longer walk to the bus station, then a slow, hour-long bus journey to the city centre before taking another bus or train to the other side.
No wonder, like millions of others, that I couldn’t wait to learn to drive. And as soon as I passed my test, I bought a Mini and added another car to our already congested roads.
Since then, things have got much worse for Britain’s commuters.
There are millions more cars on the roads and the ten-mile journey that took me an hour takes up to twice as long in the rush hour today.
That’s why Tuesday’s announcements are so important.
As Mayor of London, Boris Johnson and his transport guru Andrew Gilligan boosted the capital’s buses, got the city cycling and improved local trains.
The Oyster card transformed the Tube after Transport for London introduced it in 2003.
As a result, public transport works better in London than anywhere in the country. That shouldn’t be a surprise given that so much more has been spent in the capital compared with the rest of the country. Now they’re promising the same improvement for the rest of us.
And by investing in buses and local transport projects, those improvements can be delivered now.
Holding on to the seats he won in the Midlands and the North means Boris will have to deliver on his promised improvements in transport.
Is he making it easier to access jobs? Can people get around more easily?
Congestion is crippling our cities and preventing people travelling to get better jobs.
Dirty air is a health hazard but National Express, one of Britain’s biggest bus operators, has invested in new vehicles which are, incredibly, cleaner than a new diesel car.
The only way to persuade people to leave their car at home and catch the bus is by making journeys more reliable, fares affordable and the vehicles clean and green.
MAKE A REAL IMPACT
This is why Tuesday’s announcement was so welcome. It provided money for 4,000 new zero-emission British buses and more frequent services, including in the evening and at weekends.
There will be new schemes to tackle bottlenecks and traffic jams and cheaper and simpler fares too.
Bus lanes are controversial and must be carefully designed and located, but a double decker bus can carry nearly 100 people. That is a lot of cars — often with one person in — off the road, freeing up our towns and cities.
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If Boris is serious about buses he has a great opportunity to make a real impact — fast.
New buses, quicker routes, cheaper fares and faster ticketing should all help get Britain moving.
That will help deliver on the promises Boris made at the election, help his new MPs keep their seats in towns across the country that never voted Conservative in the past and keep him in No10 in five years’ time.
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