In this article the author examines the conflicts in the transport industry sector between: the EEC and the United Kingdom; central government and the nationalised industries; central and local government; and, local government and transport operators. It is concluded that continual reappraisals of government policy are necessary to ensure that institutional planning and transport operational objectives are consistent with the realities of political power. /TRRL/

Institutions and objectives in transport policy

Starkie D. N. M. (1979) Allocation of investment to inter-urban road and rail, Reg. Studies 13, 323–336. Returns on marginal projects influence the allocation of resources in the U.K. between trunk roads and inter-city rail. However, the basis of these returns is not consistent and their use is unlikely to result in an efficient allocation. A review of pricing policies for the two trunk modes suggests both a similarity of basic structure and an opportunity for extending in general terms the allocation principles of rail to the comparable road sector. Broad calculations are derived comparing avoidable costs and revenues for inter-urban road and rail in 1975. Changes in public expenditure patterns since the mid-70s indicate an efficient allocation might be achieved by the turn of the decade.

Allocation of investment to inter-urban road and rail

By the 1990s, many experts concluded that transit privatization in Britain had produced positive impacts on service provision in London, but that deregulation outside of the capital had resulted in a number of negative impacts to passengers, most notably, rising fares, lower service frequencies in some areas, and declining levels of service integration In an attempt to improve mobility at the local level, the incoming Labour Government effectively devolved transport planning powers to local authorities, requiring that they submit five-year Local Transport Plans in order to receive funding Empowering legislation specifically identified service integration as a means through which to improve transit and provide a viable alternative to the auto More recently, however, experts have surmised that local strategies in the Metropolitan Areas (Mets) have yielded limited gains in the area of service integration, in contrast to the experience of London While some politicians believe that re-regulation of the transit industry in the Mets would automatically resolve integration issues, interview results suggested that there are additional factors that keep transit providers from effectively collaborating with one another For example, existing competition law prevents transit operators from freely communicating with others, virtually eliminating the prospect of collaborative responses to common concerns Other factors influencing the level of integration include the ease with which local authorities voluntarily band together to provide service links, and the level of trust that transit operators have in local authorities In addition, the interviews revealed that the integration of transit is more easily achieved where operators sense that authorities want to engage in horizontal integration and do not have a hidden agenda Beyond providing a better understanding of transit integration and possible reasons for past failures in the coordination of services, this study suggests ways of encouraging the sort of collaborative planning that can effectively bring together operators to work on improving service links in common areas Attention to these issues is essential, not only to avoid disruptive, interoperator conflicts, but also to provide the conditions necessary to collectively offer a seamless, integrated transit service that provides significant benefits to passengers and society at large

/pdf/an-analysis-of-the-impacts-of-british-transport-reforms-on-11ojirnl3h.pdf

An Analysis of the Impacts of British Transport Reforms on Transit Integration in the Metropolitan Areas

As a transport mode, the taxi is often given scant attention. The mode consistent in appearance and function, and has followed the same patterns of licensing, rather than public transport, from its origin as the first licensed public transport mode to current day arguments whether a market operates better under a controlled or derestricted model. The apparent lack of reporting does not equate, however, a lack of analysis. This paper addresses the question whether a "golden number" of taxi scan in reality exist, and the conflicts of both the laisez faire and controlled approaches to providing sufficient appropriate services.

Taxi Demand Modeling to Ensure Appropriate Taxi Supply: Do Both Open Access and Model Based Restrictions Fail?

Heavy goods vehicle taxation has been the subject of considerable debate in U.K. over the past 15 years. There have been a number of attempts to relate the taxes paid by heavy goods vehicles to the public costs incurred to provide road track for their use. This paper reviews critically the position taken in the last public account of allocation procedures and also outlines recent modifications to the approach. It is suggested that the allocation of public costs is sensitive to some of the assumptions made and that this may result in an over-estimation of the costs associated with road haulage activities. A number of comparative calculations are made using data from both 1975/76 and more recent years to examine this hypothesis.

Heavy goods vehicle taxation in the United Kingdom

The authors describe the recent White Paper as a "pretentious failure" to secure allocational efficiency between road and rail. It recognizes the need for "unorthodox" rural transport and for better subsidy management, but the problems of railway finance and local public transport are fundamentally untouched.

K M Gwilliam

Papers

Transport policy in the united kingdom