Tory conference: Government confirms £25bn for road upgrades

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From The BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page)

On Monday, Mr Javid will announce that 14 of England's major roads will be upgraded.

The funding for 2020-2025 - a "national roads fund" - had already been set aside provisionally by his predecessor, and Mr Javid said later he will announce how it will be spent.

[broadgage]

Most regrettable in my view.
More roads means more road transport, means more fuel burnt and more global warming. Also more congestion on those routes not improved. What happened to the climate emergency ?

Unfortunately political opinion seems to have shifted away from railways and towards road building. The failed Great Western electrification scheme has not helped. Neither have the new GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) trains, it is not just me who considers shorter trains with worse facilities to be a backward step.

[IndustryInsider]

Neither have the new GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) trains, it is not just me who considers shorter trains with worse facilities to be a backward step.

He never misses an opportunity... 

[chuffed]

Actually, broadgage never mentioned the 6 letter 'B' word ...no, not the one that has x in the middle , but the one that has a double f .....

[broadgage]

I was careful NOT to refer to any particular feature of the new trains, but was repeating a generally held view that they are not an improvement, for various reasons as discussed elsewhere on these fora.

I again met two local political figures at a social event, both were very critical of GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway), both the design of the trains and the failings of GWR to engage enough staff to run the advertised service.

Both politicians are strongly in favour of new road schemes in general in order to attract more tourists. They have previously been incredulous at my suggestion that intending tourists could take the train.
One of them previously campaigned against the then plan to build a major arena in central Bristol, with limited parking and the intention that most visitors would come by train.

[Celestial]

Neither have the new GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) trains, it is not just me who considers shorter trains with worse facilities to be a backward step.

He never misses an opportunity... 

Maybe there should be a competition as to the most obscure topic with tangential relevance to IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) that Broadgage has managed to get a reference to the d***gr***ng of the rolling stock into.

[TaplowGreen]

I again met two local political figures at a social event

……...standing at the buffet? 

[JayMac]

Strange that the magic money tree is so verdant in the autumn...

[TonyK]

Most regrettable in my view.
More roads means more road transport, means more fuel burnt and more global warming. Also more congestion on those routes not improved. What happened to the climate emergency ?

Unfortunately political opinion seems to have shifted away from railways and towards road building. The failed Great Western electrification scheme has not helped. Neither have the new GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) trains, it is not just me who considers shorter trains with worse facilities to be a backward step.

If only there had been a buffet...

Both politicians are strongly in favour of new road schemes in general in order to attract more tourists. They have previously been incredulous at my suggestion that intending tourists could take the train.
One of them previously campaigned against the then plan to build a major arena in central Bristol, with limited parking and the intention that most visitors would come by train.

I'm right behind you now. I don't know if they have seen the whole picture - some places lose favour with tourists because there are too many cars, not enough parking in those small 17th century villages, or the roads are a bit tight for the new Range Rover, especially when some idiot in a tractor comes around the corner like he lives there (which he does). And yet the Great British tourist is happy to off to foreign climes without the car, and use public transport.  Yet what fool would take a car to London, and what Minister would be seen not cycling to PMQs?

In our cities, building extra multi-storey car parks to accommodate the climate change protesters is but only one oxymoron. Someone has to square this circle.

[chuffed]

More details on the bus bit........

New low-fare, high-frequency ‘Superbus’ networks, Britain’s first all-electric bus town, better information for passengers, and contactless payment on every city bus are announced today (30 September 2019) by the Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, in a major package of new measures to boost buses.

The package, worth £220 million in the first year, will see many cuts to services reversed. It will create ‘express lanes’ for buses in the West Midlands and elsewhere. It will invest in new ways of providing more frequent public transport in the countryside and other places where conventional buses have dwindled or disappeared. And new apps will also be developed that draw together information on bus routes, fares, and timetables from different bus operators across England into one place.

The government will also commit to the UK^▸ (United Kingdom)’s first-ever long-term bus strategy and funding settlement, including support for local authorities who want to create London-style franchised services in their areas.

Superbus networks will have low fares and there will be more bus priority measures to speed up journeys and make them more reliable.

The first Superbus network will be introduced across the county of Cornwall. The fares pilot is part of a project which is improving the quality, frequency and capacity of rail and bus services to create an integrated public transport system for Cornwall.

Buses are disproportionately used by people on lower incomes and Cornwall has been chosen as a county with significant deprivation and social exclusion. For many people, the cost and difficulty of travel is a major barrier to getting work. The Superbus service will connect them with jobs, education and evenings out.

Other Superbus networks will be rolled out next year, with the focus on places that suffer similar problems and where better public transport could significantly improve people’s lives, and will consider improvements in frequency and bus prioritisation.

The package also includes over £20 million for new bus express lanes in the West Midlands to make their buses, which carry over one million people per day, faster and more reliable.

A further £30 million will be paid directly to local authorities in 2020 to 2021, to help them improve current bus services or restore those that have been lost.

Britain’s first all-electric bus town will see an entire place’s city buses changed over to wireless electric vehicles. Country buses will be hybrids, using electric power within the built-up area and diesel outside. Pollution and operating costs will be dramatically reduced. The location is still being discussed with local authorities and operators and will be announced later.

The long-term funding package will be announced as part of the 2020 spending review. It will set out our plans to support local authorities which want to pursue London-style bus systems in their areas. The area where such proposals are most advanced, is Greater Manchester, which is shortly due to consult on adopting a proposed franchised model in 2020. The package will also support other areas which would prefer to pursue other forms of co-ordination, such as voluntary or statutory partnerships with operators.

[Timmer]

Strange that the magic money tree is so verdant in the autumn...

Was thinking that myself during the news this evening with the Tories now growing their own as well.

[broadgage]

Money trees always grow well when an election is expected. They die just after the result is announced. The seeds then remain dormant until the next election.

[JayMac]

Interesting to note that the 'Manchester Central' venue, where the Conservative Party Conference is currently being held, was partly funded by the European Union.

[Noggin]

Strange that the magic money tree is so verdant in the autumn...

Was thinking that myself during the news this evening with the Tories now growing their own as well.

I'd also suggest that it is not a co-incidence that it will be rolled out in Cornwall, where the Conservatives want to keep the seats that they won from the Lib-Dems.

Likewise, making friendly noises towards the likes of Andy Burnham who want to have control over bus systems seems deliberately designed to drive a wedge between him and the Westminster Labour party.

When's the rail announcement due? There's got to be something seriously big planned to appeal to English commuters - funding for NPR, or perhaps a big electrification programme?

[ellendune]

Money trees always grow well when an election is expected. They die just after the result is announced. The seeds then remain dormant until the next election.

And isn't it odd that the fruit of the magic money tree so often never gets a change to ripen before the tree dies.  So the magic money tree jam is always tomorrow.