Executive Summary

The flow of people is as fundamental to the economic well-being of a country as the flow of goods and money. Without investment in the transport infrastructure, economic growth, quality and standard of life are restricted, yet there has been no Government White Paper on transport since 1977.

The main feature of Government transport policy over the last 15 years has been a bias towards the individual and the use of the motor car. This has led to a decrease in the use of all forms of terrestrial public transport, as has been the case in all other major countries, yet modern lifestyles demand more mobility from all sections of the population. Public transport by sea and air has increased over the last 15 years.

Concern for the environment, due to pollution and traffic problems caused by urban congestion, has revived the need to develop mass transit systems and improve bus services in city centres. Four of the six mass transit systems (excluding British Rail) currently operating have been built since 1980. There are at least another four at the planning or design stages.

As the demand for public transport declined from 16.6% to 11.8% of passenger kilometres performed in the UK in the 10 years to 1993, the ownership and structure of the passenger transport industry has been transformed.

Since the beginning of the 1980s, most of the bus and coach industry has been put into private ownership and has been deregulated, except for London. The airline sector is totally in the private sector following the sell-off of British Airways. Most of the major airports are in the private sector through the privatisation of BAA PLC and the sale of several municipal airports. British Rail is at the late stages of preparation for complete privatisation.

The aim of stimulating demand through privatised competition and deregulation may have caused an increase in coach travel demand, although British Rail fare increases may also have been the cause. Demand for local bus services has not increased throughout the country, but the full effects of privatisation and competition have yet to come through.

In order to stimulate the remaining municipal bus and airport undertakings into the private sector, the Government changed the regulations in April 1995. The percentage of sales receipts which a council must use for debt reduction was reduced from 50% to 25% for airports sold before April 1997 and similarly for bus services sold before April 1996.

The National Road Traffic Forecast predicts that all motor traffic will increase by between 11% and 18% between 1994 and the year 2000. It does not predict any increase in the number of buses and coaches, yet the numbers have increased recently due to smaller and more frequent buses being used on some routes.

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