1. Adopt The Space For Cycling Framework
We would adopt the “Making Space for Cycling” framework.
- Cycle infrastructure funding to councils would be increased to £20 per person
- Safeguards would ensure that it is spent on infrastructure that primarily benefits cyclists
The key to enabling high cycling levels is excellent quality infrastructure, appropriate to the location, as well as bicycle parking. People don’t like mixing with heavy traffic. Space for cycling is needed, away from motor vehicles, with care taken in relation to pedestrians. For instance, mixing cycles with pedestrians on narrow footways is never acceptable. In new developments providing for cycling will free up space that can be used for more productive things, such as houses, shops, or public space. The ease of cycling, and the casual interaction that this brings, makes it easy for people to visit shops and chat with friends, fostering the sense of community which is an essential element in a successful new development.
New developments and street renewals should design for a third of all journeys to be made by bike. This is achievable if the right design approach is applied.
2. Nationalise Rail Services
Rail privatisation has made a mess of rail provision in the UK. Ticket prices are on the rise, and seats are in short supply. Rail is more highly subsidised now that it was prior to privatisation – since 1985, rail subsidies have increased five-fold in real terms. Profits are increasingly funnelled out of the country via contracts with international providers.
We would renationalise the railways; we would do this gradually; as contracts expired, provision for each area would be renationalised.
3. Promotion Of Active Transport
Active transport (walking and cycling) reduces congestion, pollution, and disease. We would support promoting active transport through integrated Health and Transport policy.
We believe in the health benefits to the extent that we would consider promotion of active transport to be a health issue; cycling promotion is currently fragmented, and split between Department of Transport and NHS budgets; we would move all such funding into the scope of a single NHS project. This would result in a net saving to the NHS, since obesity, heart disease, and other inactivity-related illnesses would be significantly reduced as a result.
4. Vision Zero – Safe Transport
Our safe transport goal would be zero road deaths, zero road injuries, and zero fear of traffic.
Transport systems are traditionally designed for maximum capacity and mobility, not safety. This means road users are held responsible for their own safety. The Vision Zero Initiative takes the opposite approach. We place the main burden for safety on system design because we recognise human weaknesses and low tolerance to mechanical force. Ultimately, no one should die or suffer serious injury in traffic.
A new Road Traffic Safety Bill will set an ultimate target of no deaths or serious injuries on the roads, and is not merely content to reduce accidents to an economically manageable level.