Written evidence submitted by Greener Journeys (URB0029)

1. Greener Journeys welcomes the opportunity to respond to this inquiry. Britain is facing an urban congestion crisis and the attention of the Committee on this crucial issue is very timely.

About Greener Journeys

2. Greener Journeys is a campaign dedicated to encouraging people to make more sustainable travel choices. We aim to reduce CO2 emissions from transport by encouraging people to switch some of their car journeys to bus or coach instead. Switching from car to bus for just one journey a month would mean one billion fewer car journeys on our roads, and would save 2 million tonnes of CO2 every year.

3. Greener Journeys works to raise awareness of the value of the bus among consumers and political stakeholders by developing research and analysis which demonstrates the economic, social and environmental benefits to be derived from bus use.

Our submission
 

4. Urban congestion is hugely detrimental to the bus sector in the UK. Greener Journeys, as the leading voice on the impact of congestion on the bus sector, is committed to demonstrating the scale of the problem and contributing to sensible, sustainable policy solutions. As such we hope you will find this submission useful.

5. The submission details our research on congestion and some of the practical steps which the Government can take to reduce the problem. We also cover some of the other specific areas raised by the Committee, including cost-benefit analyses and bus priority measures.

Britain’s Congestion Crisis
 

6. Congestion continues to rise. Last year saw the number of cars on English roads increase by 600,000 to a staggering 25.8 million vehicles. The latest Government stats show that the average delay on local ‘A’ roads in England increased by 3.3% in the year to September 2016.

7. The rise of congestion is damaging the UK bus sector. The latest government statistics show that buses, which carry more commuters than all other forms of public transport combined, provide 4.51 billion local bus journeys in England every year.

8. This represents a fall of 2.7 per cent across England since 2015 and a fall of 2.6 per cent across England since 2011. Even in London bus passenger journeys have fallen by 3.6 per cent since 2015.  Congestion is one of the factors which have contributed to this decline.

The implications of urban congestion for the sustainability of the market for provision of bus services

9. In June 2016, Greener Journeys launched an in-depth research report, written by Prof David Begg, on The Impact of Congestion on Bus Passengers.
    
10. The report discusses at length the knock-on effect of congestion on the viability of the bus market, focused around “three vicious downward spirals”:

1. Slower speeds leading to higher costs, higher fares, fewer passengers, service decline, fewer passengers.
2. Slower speeds leading to increased journey time, fewer passengers, service decline, fewer passengers.
3. Slower speeds, punctuality and reliability decline, fewer passengers, service decline, fewer passengers.

11. The central findings of June’s report were:
     
• The increase in congestion has meant that in our most congested urban areas bus journey times have risen by – on average – 10% per decade.
• A 10% per decade increase in bus journey times means that bus patronage will fall by between 10% and 14% every 10 years.
• An increase in bus journey times, at a rate of 10% per decade, will cost 5,000 jobs per year.
   
12. Therefore, it is clear that any comprehensive measures to improve bus services must have at their heart concrete plans of action to tackle the scourge of congestion. And, conversely, any attempt to tackle congestion must understand the knock-on effect that congestion has on the millions of bus users around the UK.

13. The report’s key recommendations take the form of a five-point action plan, summarised as follows:

1. The Bus Services Bill, currently before Parliament, should set guidance encouraging local authorities and bus operators to set targets for average bus speeds
2. Some form of demand management, from parking restraint to the more effective congestion charging, coupled with improved public transport, is necessary to regulate traffic volumes in our cities
3. By introducing bus priority with other improvements, services can become more attractive to potential passengers. Bus priority schemes are also cheaper to build and maintain, and quicker to implement, than many traditional transport schemes
4. Speed up dwell time at bus stops through utilising new technologies, such as smart and contactless ticketing which reduce transaction time
5. Mobilise bus passengers to make the case for policy improvements

14. Greener Journeys is currently considering the need for further work in this area, and would be keen to discuss our thoughts on this with the Committee.

Urban congestion and approaches to cost-benefit calculations

15. The Committee has asked for evidence on wider considerations around approaches to cost-benefit calculations with regard to urban congestion and its effect on the economy and society.

16. In recent years, Greener Journeys has undertaken a significant amount of research looking at traditional cost benefit calculations concerning investment in bus infrastructure and bus services:

1. In 2012, we commissioned the Institute of Transport at the University of Leeds to examine the role the bus plays in the economy, as a means of ensuring access to jobs, shops and education. The research demonstrated the importance of buses for employment and the wider economy.
• 2.5 million people in the UK travel to work by bus and a further one million use the bus as a vital back up. Those commuters create more than £64 billion worth of goods and services
• The Bus facilitates £27billion in retail spend per annum
2. In 2014, we commissioned KPMG LLP to evaluate the economic returns on investment in local bus infrastructure and to analyse the benefits and costs of the Concessionary Travel Scheme and the Bus Service Operators Grant.
• Every £1 spent on the concessionary travel scheme delivers at least £2.87 in net economic benefits
• Every £1 spent on the Bus Service Operators Grant delivers £3.50 in net economic benefit
• Every £1 invested in local bus infrastructure delivers up to £7 in net economic benefit
3. We also commissioned a report from the Institute of Transport Studies at the University of Leeds in partnership with the Department for Transport in 2014. This showed the crucial role played by the bus in driving jobs and economic prosperity, with one of the key findings being that there is a significant relationship between accessibility by bus and employment
• A 10% improvement in bus journey times would be associated with 50,000 more people in work
• Buses are the primary mode of access to city centres, responsible for facilitating 29% of all city centre expenditure

17. Greener Journeys’ recent report The Value of the Bus to Society for the first time looked at the true social value of bus services. The report, undertaken in partnership with KPMG LLP and the Institute for Transport at the University of Leeds, concerns the social value of local bus services, and the effects of differing access to local bus services on health, education and employment in more-or-less deprived neighbourhoods.

18. For the first time, our research has made a definitive link between increased investment in bus services and a significant improvement in health, education and other social benefits in the most deprived areas of the country.
     
19. The central finding of the report is that a 10% improvement in local bus service connectivity is associated with a 3.6% reduction in deprivation. This 10% improvement in local bus service connectivity will lead to the following in the UK’s most deprived 10% of neighbourhoods:
     

• An additional 9,909 jobs
• 22,647 people with increased income
• A 7,310 increase in those with adult skills
• 2,596 fewer years of life lost
   

20. These findings prove that there is a clear relationship between investment in local bus infrastructure and improved outcomes across health, education and employment for the most deprived in our country. Areas with better bus services have lower levels of deprivation.

21. The message to policymakers is clear – when the policy landscape around public transport, including issues related to congestion is considered, these significant social benefits should be a determining factor. Better bus infrastructure and services means material improvements in the life chances of the poorest in society.
     

Bus priority measures

22. The Committee has asked for evidence on the impact of bus priority measures on urban congestion.

23. Greener Journeys has done extensive research on the specific issue of bus priority measures. In 2015, we commissioned KPMG LLP to consider the costs and benefits of investing in local bus infrastructure, and examined how to monitor and evaluate the impact of local bus infrastructure schemes. KPMG LLP carried out detailed evaluations of local bus infrastructure projects and found that the projects achieved or exceeded their specific objectives and targets, and provided very high value for money.

24. Their findings, included in the report Roadmap to Growth, considered three local projects and analysed their impact. KPMG LLP found that each of the projects delivered very high value for money. For each £1 of investment the Crawley Fastway project delivered to users, non-users and the wider economy benefited by £4.67. The Mansfield Public Transport Interchange delivered benefits of up to £6.50 in return for each £1 invested. For the South East Hampshire Bus Rapid Transit (Eclipse), up to £6.94 was delivered for each £1 invested. The evaluations showed that each of the three case study projects met their objectives. These included improvements to transport accessibility, safety and environmental impacts. The projects have also improved the image of public transport and increased the demand for public transport services.

Conclusion

25. Buses have a vital role to play in society. They are central to reducing air pollution and cracking the capacity crunch on Britain’s roads. But the rise of urban congestion puts in jeopardy the sustainability of the UK bus sector.

26. The Government must act on the evidence presented here and take bold, sustained action to reduce urban congestion and support our bus sector across the country. We support all efforts by the Committee to convince the Government of the seriousness of this issue, and the need to act.

27. Greener Journeys would be happy to arrange for the author of our congestion reports, Professor David Begg, to provide further oral evidence to assist the Committee.

December 2016