| TRANSPORT SECTOR
PATHFINDER |
| Introduction |
| The
Pathfinder Group was chaired by Brian Souter of
Stagecoach Holdings plc. The Group comprised
representatives of the Freight Transport Association,
Railtrack, ScotRail and Scottish Airports. Caledonian
MacBrayne Ferries and FirstGroup also submitted written
suggestions. |
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| Overview |
| A number of
opportunities and problems facing the transport sector
were identified by the Group, including: |
- the need to
incentivise companies and the key role of
investment (1);
- the failure of
previous Governments to treat integration of
transport in its widest sense as a strategic
issue, at times simply playing one mode off
against another;
- recognition that for
present levels of financing to be maintained,
there needs to be an increased reliance on
private finance. PFI/PPP initiatives should be
extended into areas of revenue support and income
leverage, not just concentrated on a few capital
support projects which often take too long to
reach fruition.
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| |
| A list of
proposed actions |
| Education,
Education, Education |
| Fundamental
attitudes to public transport are determined by people's
view of car use and environmental awareness. Nordic
countries enjoy high car ownership with increasing use of
public transport. This lesson must be taught to present
and future generations of Scots in the classroom if we
are to make young people aware of the benefits of modern
public transport. At the present time, using public
transport is not "cool" and is badly
stigmatised. In tandem with significantly increased
investment in transport infrastructure we must equally
invest in education. |
| |
| Polarisation
or Partnership? |
| Travel
Choices for Scotland (2) has
set out the Government's long-term vision, recognising
that the task was not for Government alone but for a
partnership involving local authorities and transport
providers and users. The importance of getting that
partnership structure right on an effective tripartite
basis cannot be stressed too much. The Parliament should
avoid being too prescriptive in charting the way forward.
The transport challenges facing Scotland are diverse. It
is ultimately for partnerships, sometimes national, more
often regional and/or local, to decide on appropriate
practical solutions that address the issues of shared
funding and sustainability. The ultimate success of the
Government's integrated transport policy will be measured
by whether or not we increase passenger and freight use.
Commercial companies, innovation and competition are key
elements to this equation. We are concerned that an
over-emphasis on local government could produce a very
sterile result. |
| |
| A
holistic approach is imperative |
| While
"holistic" has become one of the most over used
words, there really needs to be such an approach to
transport policy, bringing together land use strategical
planning and building control policies, education policy
and economic growth policies. The risk, however, is that
there will be too many regional and local bodies involved
in delivering an integrated transport policy, so it is
essential that Parliament takes full responsibility for
all transport policy and land use policy matters that do
not impinge on the remainder of the United Kingdom. In
practical terms, transport planners in government, users
and providers of transport frankly need to come together
more often. Because of Scotland's geography, demography
and the small number of companies involved, there are
exciting prospects for co-operation. Policy planners
could and should move outside their government offices
more often and work alongside managers in their
day-to-day operations and control centres and both at the
same time also need to get closer to existing and
potential users. |
| |
| One
National Freephone Number for Information |
| We share
with Government the wish to develop a national transport
information service by 2000, with one national freephone
number for Scotland. There is also an urgent need to
develop a fully flexible, integrated fares and ticketing
system for public transport, including a standard
concessionary fare scheme for the elderly, the disabled,
the visually impaired, the unemployed and those receiving
full-time education. Such a system can in the long term
be provided by means of smart cards, and while much
development is rightly being carried out on a commercial
basis, Government may have a co-ordinating or seed-corn
funding role. We also see substantial tourism benefits
spinning off from this new approach. |
| |
| Bridges |
| Road bridge
strengthening to upgrade key arterial routes for 40 tonne
lorries to comply with European Union requirements must
be given top priority, supported by new legislation if
necessary. Scotland is still a manufacturing nation and
is heavily dependent on road transportation. Considerable
economic benefits should arise from such an
infrastructure development. |
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| The
Funding Issue |
| Our final
idea is the early launch of a Scottish Transport Bond to
raise leveraged funding from securitised income streams.
We see the net proceeds from congestion pricing schemes
on selected roads around the major Scottish cities being
used to generate capital funding which would then be
immediately available for new investment. Annual revenues
of £25 million from road users would service new
borrowings of possibly seven or eight times that amount.
The Bond would bear interest at near gilt-edged rates
which are much cheaper than the venture capital costs of
PFI funding. These new funds could then be used, for
example, to reduce the Kingston Bridge bottleneck in
Glasgow, to assist M74 completion and to facilitate
extended Greenway systems in Edinburgh and other cities.
We believe this innovative financial arrangement should
not count as part of PSBR, but if it does then we believe
the Scottish Parliament should not be shy of asking for
increased borrowing powers through appropriate use of the
UK/European bond markets. |
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| Conclusion |
| We are
grateful for the opportunity to offer our assistance in
this way in the setting up of the Scottish Parliament and
its ongoing operations. If it would be of assistance we
would be happy to discuss any of our comments further
with The Scottish Office or with any of the political
parties in Scotland, if required to expand on our ideas.
We believe our pooled industry expertise allows us to
make an important contribution at this time. |
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| (1) Paragraphs 1.20 and 1.21 of the UK
Integrated Transport White Paper, a New Deal for
Transport (Cm 3950) stress: "We need a new approach
bringing together the public and private sectors in a
partnership which benefits everyone. We want to ensure
that companies have incentives to provide new services
and raise standards, that taxpayers' money is spent
wisely to make public transport available for all... More
investment in public transport and more people using it
will work together to create a virtuous circle,
generating more revenues, further investment and even
better services." (2) Travel Choices for Scotland,
the Scottish Integrated Transport White Paper (Cm 4010)
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