Integrated transport plan seeks to ‘re-balance decades of under-investment’
A transport plan which addresses decades of under-investment in the north and integrates all modes of transport seamlessly was at the centre of discussions at a Transport Conference held by Sheffield City Region Mayor Dan Jarvis yesterday.
Jarvis told delegates: “We must re-balance the decades of systemic under-investment that has held back our region, and others like it, outside of London and the South East.
“Figures from the IPPR tell us that, in the 2017/18 financial year, just £315 per person was spent on public transport in Yorkshire and the Humber – compared to £1,019 in London.
“It is unacceptable, unfair, and unsustainable that spending on public transport – the very system that is designed to bring people together – is instead making our country more divided.”
Jarvis added that the Government held the key to redressing the balance and it was his intention to use his position to “make Westminster sit up and listen.”
He added: “It is the first time in our region’s history that we have a transport strategy that meshes with a wider, pan-northern plan.”
The conference, which heard from the region’s newly appointed active travel commissioner Dame Sarah Storey -whose task it will be to spearhead the importance of integrating walking and cycling in to the remainder of transport options across the region – heard about a “bold new vision for transport” for the city region.
Jarvis said the objectives including ensuring residents could walk, cycle, drive or use public transport from their home to their nearest town centre in no more than 15 minutes; that by using public or private transport, people should be able to travel between the region’s major town and city centres of Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield in no more than 30 minutes; and journey times to at least four major cities in the North – including Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham and Hull – take no more than 75 minutes.
He added: “We’re also putting our best foot forward to land major investment in the short term. I’m leading a Transforming Cities Fund bid that, if approved, would unlock major improvements in transport networks across our region, with a focus on Active Travel and public transport at its core.”
The region intends to secure funding for Supertram renewal and seek to extend the tram and Tram- Train in the region. Jarvis added: “It should not, can not, be beyond us to get on a Tram-Train from Doncaster Sheffield Airport and arrive in the centre of Doncaster, Sheffield, Rotherham and Barnsley. It is to that sort of scheme that we must aspire.
“And we’ve made a start. Late last year, I was at the launch of the Tram-Train service that connects Parkgate and the centre of Rotherham to the centre of Sheffield. Now, just six months later, more than 500,000 passengers have made the same journey I did that day.”
Jarvis said the 25-year project aimed to tackle transport issues to unlock social mobility, growth and the talents of people. He added: “We now need to look what is next; and we have to tackle the great irony of modern transport and mobility. We’re all moving more. Travelling further and longer. But too little of this mobility is powered by our own legs.
“We need to give people as much choice as possible in how they move around our towns and cities.”
