improved travel choices

High-speed railways in Western Europe have established a beachead in the battle to win over air travellers. National railways are now banding together to create a bigger market that can compete with air on cost and travel time for international travel. The intriguing possibility is that by transforming the upper echelons of the travel market, they may also influcence how travellers use the cheaper rail services. The redesign of major rail interchanges in Britain, such as at Stratford and Ebbsfleet, demonstrates an intention to improve connections between regional and international rail lines. This is an essential step in getting to and from the high-speed international services, but there should be an additional payoff. By making it easier to move from one type of service to another, an integrated system will change the way the system as a whole is peceived and used.

A similar phenomenon is emerging in South Africa. Not in the competition between air and rail, but between rail and cars - with potentially big benefits for other low-cost public transport modes. Two controversial projects in Gauteng Province demonstrate a brave effort to stop the loss of commuters from public transport to private cars. Brave, because they serve people who have some choice in how they travel. In South Africa, where the majority cannot afford the luxury of a car, there is strong political pressure to deliver projects that improve conditions for this majority. Projects serving the privileged minority run the risk of being snuffed out; but these two projects are attemping the unthinkable, with the backing of government.

The first project is construction of a new rail link between Pretoria and Johannesburg, currently underway. The Gautrain will be too expensive for the majority of commuters, but aims to win over car-driving commuters and business travellers between the two cities. The second project, less ambitious but no less subversive, is the Soweto Business Express that began running between Soweto and the Johannesburg CBD earlier this month. This high-end service offers drinks, newspapers and Internet access on board: a relaxed alternative to car travel. There are plans to roll out similar services in other cities.

Subject to cries of elitism in a country that is trying to make amends for past injustices, both projects may nevertheless be doing more than the obvious. By establishing premium services that are well integrated with the rest of the public transport system (as they must to be successful), they can improve the system as a whole in the same way that Europe's high-speed railways are doing. If they succeed in attracting car drivers to premium rail services, they can improve the financial health of the rest of the public transport system.

The result would be a bigger market share for the buses and taxis that carry passengers to and from the railways, so they would also benefit from a more secure business footing on which to recapitalise their aging fleets. Planners could then more realistically talk of public transport as a viable alternative to car travel, and could wholeheartedly implement supporting policies such as reduced parking and public transport-supportive land use configurations. It would also be possible to improve public transport by devoting more road capacity to public modes. While some of Gautrain's critics argue that the money should have been spent on bus rapid transit (BRT) facilities, these are also going ahead to increase the reach of the mass transit system.

This would establish a virtuous cycle to improve travel conditions and access to opportunities for all. Not by trying to stomp out cars, but by providing meaningful choice at all levels of the travel market. The private automobile would no longer be the only mode of transport to aspire to. Improved sustainability would have been achieved - or at least begun - not only in reduced emissions from transport, but also in broader social and economic terms.

Comments

[May]

Ebbsfleet also has an ancient past, long before modern times !!!

Ebbsfleet Ancient History

Ebbsfleets Ancient Man