Transport User Voice – March 2021 – Around Great Britain

25 February 2021

London, Wales and Scotland

London

Over the past few months London TravelWatch has been looking at how public transport across London will change as we start to come out of lockdown. The work was made up of interviews from a number of people to get their thoughts on what they think is likely to happen. This included politicians, businesses, transport operators and, of course, members of the public.

This forms the basis of London TravelWatch’s latest report The journey ahead: What do people need from London transport? It will be launched on 4 March during a live webinar which will be streamed on YouTube. The event is a chance to talk about the findings from the research as well as the recommendations that London TravelWatch has put together. There’ll also be a Q&A at the end for the public to ask questions.

If you would like to watch the webinar you can find more details by going to the London TravelWatch event page.

 

Wales

Transport Focus has responded to the Welsh Government consultation on Llwybr Newydd: a new Wales transport strategy.

Our response used our broad evidence base and insight from our work in Wales.

The transport system needs to be accessible, sustainable and take into account barriers to using it. There should be a recognised difference between cities, towns and rural areas. It needs to define a joined-up network which allows for door-to-door journeys.

Our response covered:

Priorities that could help encourage people to use public transport:

  • having a joined-up network with better connectivity
  • better punctuality and reliability
  • better value for money, flexible and innovative ticketing.

Understanding why some people are put off using public transport:

  • addressing barriers to travel such as cost, convenience and complexity
  • looking at issues for young people and those with disabilities
  • benchmarking measures with other nations and regions, and sharing best practice.

Independent representation of transport users:

  • holding operators to account for service delivery and challenging providers
  • across the entire transport system and across Wales.

Transport Focus will also be using our research to submit a response to the House of Commons Welsh Affairs Committee’s inquiry into railway infrastructure in Wales.

 

Scotland

In Scotland we’ve been working with ScotRail on timetable changes brought in at the beginning of February. The new changes better reflect the number of people travelling due to the ongoing lockdown restrictions.

With a focus on continuing to provide a safe and reliable service, particularly for key workers and in support of the vaccination rollout, the number of services was reduced to 65 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, while delivering 72 per cent of seats. ScotRail has had consultations with NHS boards across Scotland to ensure shift patterns for key workers are supported as far as possible.

The changes being made are constantly reviewed. And, following customer feedback, changes were made that came into effect mid-February to go further in supporting the shift patterns of key workers.

On Wednesday 17 February we were pleased to contribute to the Bus Partnership Fund conference for local authorities and others who are considering bids to the fund. This was a great opportunity to speak about the power of partnerships and the positive difference that they can make. We also discussed the potential to improve the bus journey experience through new arrangements between authorities and operators to help boost satisfaction for passengers.

 

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