Many public transport initiatives are taking place across the country. The North East must be part of this welcome revolution.
Real progress in other parts of the country
In recent weeks, there have been a number of announcements about real and welcome progress in the development of integrated public transport systems across the country.
It was reported on 16 March that Oliver Coppard, the regional mayor for South Yorkshire, announced that a new £1.5 billion integrated public transport system is to be established in the region. Under the proposed plan, hire bikes, trams and buses will be given the same orange and black livery to highlight the industrial heritage of the area. As part of the plan, the supertram and bus network will be taken back into public ownership. Coppard commented it was a “once-in-a-generation change to how transport works in South Yorkshire”.
Meanwhile, it was reported on the same day that the underground system in Scotland’s biggest city, the Glasgow subway, had established “contactless payments across its ticket gates, which is said to be the most significant upgrade to the system’s ticketing system since the introduction of the Smartrd over a decade ago”.
The ticketing manager at Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, Michael Nimmo commented: “The introduction of contactless enables customers to travel using the convenience of a debit card, credit card or mobile wallet while also benefiting from daily and weekly price caps.
“Customers will be able to simply tap through the Subway gates with a payment card or mobile wallet, and their card will be charged depending on the number of journeys made.”
We need to be as ambitious
These are two very welcome developments which will help the country towards its important net zero targets. It is also good to see that public transport is being improved in areas like our own, with higher than national-average rates of poverty and deprivation.
There are numerous initiatives taking place, including collaboration between different regions outside of London, such as the Northwest region helping to establish electric buses in Northern Ireland.
It is imperative that we, in the North East, the birthplace of the railways, are not left behind in this transport revolution.
Alistair Ford from North East Public Transport Users group commented: “I think the South Yorkshire example is good. Manchester and Sheffield both have trams and Belfast has the Glider.
“There’s no reason why we shouldn’t be ambitious and explore trams or BRT here too for areas away from the metro”.
I agree; let’s make sure that we are part of the great public transport revolution across the country.
