Act Now: Transport

Transport affects everyone. Unregulated public transport and dependence on private vehicles has led to colossal market failure and serious environmental damage. Time spent in traffic jams, waiting for delayed trains or finding alternatives to cancelled buses represents an enormous opportunity and financial cost to us all. We spend a fortune on transport, but we spend it inefficiently and reward the wrong actors. A paradigm shift is required, where we think of mobility as a service (MaaS) rather than a series of discrete purchases. We should hand regulatory control to devolved authorities to create integrated Total Transport Networks (TTNs) in conurbations and rural hinterlands. With powers to raise and retain income, we can have public transport so good that people will voluntarily leave their cars behind. This chapter focuses on intra-city and intra-regional transportation, where 95% of journeys are made. We outline a transformative programme of democratic control that turns the government obsession with road building on its head. By fully funding from land value capture, salary sacrifice and pension investment in a Total Transport Network (TTN) of buses, trams and cycleways, we can eliminate the traffic jam and all the associated dead time.