Transport Meeting at the Convention of The Left
By Ann Papageorgiou
23/06/2008

The Convention of The Left is being held as an alternative to the New Labour conference in Manchester. The aim is to encourage wide participation in debate on The Left, which may lead to the development of ‘charters’ around which socialists can agree to mobilise in unity so as to campaign more effectively.

After discussion on more general political issues over the weekend of 20-21st September, the following three days will focus on particular themes, namely Politics (Monday), Public Services (Tuesday) and Peace (Wednesday), each with its own sub-committee. The Public Services sub-committee covers Education, Health, Housing and Transport; the following concerns the Transport meeting.

Why is transport an issue?

Any local bus journey will show the main users to be the young and the elderly – namely people on low incomes. For rural families in poverty the situation can be equally difficult with a car being an unaffordable necessity in the absence of local transport and the closure of local amenities. High fares can limit travel and lead people to live isolated lives or to refuse employment. The Oyster card in London has shown how people can be drawn to use public transport. And are all the lorries speeding up and down the motorways really necessary? Is there an alternative which meets the needs of people, society and the environment?

Integrated?

On the political left there is general support for an ‘integrated transport policy’ as the solution. However, what the word ‘integration’ means in this context is not always clear. Does it refer to the co-ordinated time-tabling of public transport, such as train connections or bus-train timetables? Or, regarding haulage, the more efficient use of freight trains and distribution of goods? And how should other forms of transport, such as coach travel, metro/trams/underground, cycling, domestic flights and inland waterways and ferries be integrated into the transport system? And then there is the private car issue … and, of course, our own in-built transportation, our legs! So, does an integrated transport policy mean the most efficient ‘integration’ of these various forms of transport? Taking ‘efficient’ here to include energy efficiency (less fuel and pollution), cost efficiency, time efficiency and convenience for the user. A second way to consider ‘integration’ of the transport system is how the movement of people and goods integrates with other aspects of society. This perspective would require consideration of issues such as:

* The environment and pollution, including noise pollution
* The effect of various forms of transport and associated infrastructure on local communities
* Congestion and parking
* The effects of the ‘school run’ and how to minimise this
* Safety – in terms of transport workers, health, accidents and late night travel in public transport
* The needs of rural communities, adolescents, young adults and the elderly.
* Minimising the need to travel by retaining local schools, Post Offices, shops and health care, de-centralised employment and local food production.

A third aspect of integration is that between public and private ownership. There is a consensus amongst socialist, and more widely, that all aspects of rail transport should be in public ownership or re-nationalised. But there could be debate around how a nationalised railway is run, and how this is made accountable to its users. Who should own and/or control the local bus services, the trams, metro etc? How should road haulage be controlled and owned? And ferries? How can the various roles of the government, the local authority and local/regional transport committee and the private sector be integrated? Who pays, and what is the role of subsidies?

Input to the debate

These issues are raised in order to stimulate debate and clear realistic thinking about the sort of transport policy we, as socialists, would support. As it will be impossible to discuss all the above, never mind other issues that may be raised, the following is proposed:

a) a debate on transport starts on the website now, prior to the Convention in September.
b) organisations (such as transport Trade Unions, political parties and pressure groups) which have an existing transport policy, submit this, or a summary, to the Convention of The Left website discussion.
c) submissions and comments from individuals are equally welcome, especially thoughts about various forms of integration. It would be particularly interesting to learn about successful transport systems operating in other European countries and how these are organised, run and financed.
d) Questions and issues arising from these submissions will be available before the Transport meeting on 23rd September. Organisations are also welcome to bring a summary of their own transport policies to the meeting to circulate.

Aim of the Transport meeting:

The aim of the meeting is to initiate ideas for an integrated transport policy, which can be further developed at a later stage, and to identify the first steps needed to achieve this. For example, people can’t be expected to use their cars less until there is a more convenient, safe and reliable alternative for a similar cost – so do we start by campaigning for off-the-road cycle routes to schools and major centres of employment? The actual issues discussed at the meeting will be those identified by contributors to the pre-meeting debate, or raised at the meeting, as being most relevant in the context of an overall integrated transport policy which is based on meeting people’s needs, and not on private profit.

Ann Papageorgiou – June 2008