What should the new Government do about transport?

Dear Supporter

The new Government has been in place for a week now, and the signals coming from new Transport Secretary Louise Haigh have been encouraging. In a statement that placed buses and rail front and centre, she promised that the Department for Transport will 'move fast and fix things'.  

So, how to start? Here at Campaign for Better Transport, we're calling on the Government to act quickly on five key things: 

1. Introduce targets to increase use of public transport and active travel
At the moment, there's no Government target for shifting journeys from cars and planes to greener modes. We think this would be a great place to start. 

2. Reform rail fares
Rail fares are complicated and often unfair. The Government should act quickly to make them simpler and more affordable and encourage more people to travel by train.

3. Commit to long-term funding for buses  
Rather making local authorities compete for bus funding, the new Government should put in place a single pot of long-term funding for all of them, to protect and improve vital bus services. It should ensure bus travel is affordable, including extending the £2 fare cap which we campaigned for.

4. Reverse the cut to domestic Air Passenger Duty, tax domestic aviation fuel and introduce a domestic flight reduction target  
Domestic flights are a climate disaster. Flying within mainland Britain should be taxed in a way that reflects its impact on the climate, and people should be helped to choose rail instead.

5. Replace current vehicle taxation with a pay-as-you-drive scheme
As more people switch to electric vehicles, the money raised by fuel tax is declining, resulting in an annual £28 billion hole for the Government. It should work to replace both fuel duty and vehicle excise duty with a pay-as-you-drive scheme based on how far people travel and how polluting their vehicle is.

We have already written to new MPs and got meetings in the diary, and in coming weeks we will be meeting with the new team in the Department for Transport and hosting a reception for MPs new and old to talk about these priorities and other measures to cut emissions, boost the economy, and improve people’s day-to-day lives.

People like you, who care about transport, will have an important role to play in the coming months; we will keep in touch and share actions that you can take. We're really excited to work with you to press for better, greener, fairer transport.

Best wishes



Ben Curtis, Head of External Affairs, Campaign for Better Transport