Labour: The Tories are failing on transport

• Chris Grayling and the Tories are failing to stand up for millions of passengers, road users and pedestrians. Fares are rising, public money is being wasted, and promised investment is not being delivered.

• From January, some commuters will be paying over £2,500 more to travel to work than in 2010. In Chris Grayling’s constituency, the cost of an annual season ticket from London to Epsom will rise to £2229 from £1680 in 2010.

• At the current rate of growth, average bus fares are set to be 59 per cent higher in 2022 than in 2010, while the number of bus routes is expected to fall by 5,000 by 2022.

• The Tories cut spending on cycling by 58 per cent in 2015.

The Tories are failing on rail

• From January, some commuters will be paying over £2,500 more to travel to work than in 2010.

Labour Party research based on the the  Avantix Traveller (National Fares Manual) database. http://data.atoc.org/fares-data

• The highest increase will be on a Virgin Trains season ticket between Birmingham and London Euston which will have risen by £2,539 since 2010 and now costs £10,567.

Labour Party research based on the the  Avantix Traveller (National Fares Manual) database. http://data.atoc.org/fares-data

• In Theresa May’s own constituency the cost of an annual season ticket from Maidenhead to London Paddington will have risen by £736 since 2010.

Labour Party research based on the the  Avantix Traveller (National Fares Manual) database. http://data.atoc.org/fares-data

• In Chris Grayling’s constituency the cost of an annual season ticket from London to Epsom will rise to £2229 from £1680 in 2010.

Labour Party research based on the the  Avantix Traveller (National Fares Manual) database. http://data.atoc.org/fares-data

• Official statistics show that only 493 stations around Great Britain have step free access to all platforms out of total of 2,557 stations - up by just two per cent or 41 stations over the past four years. This means that less than 20 per cent of British train stations are fully accessible for disabled persons.

Labour Party research of National Rail statisticshttp://archive.nr.co.uk/improvements/access-for-all/stations?status=completed&category=all&location=all

• The 2015 Tory manifesto promised that electrification was a key part of their investment programme.

“Electrification of the railways is a key part of our investment programme, with work already underway across the North, the Midlands, and South Wales;"Tory Manifesto 2015, p14, https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/manifesto2015/ConservativeManifesto2015.pdf

• But in July 2017 Chris Grayling announced that the Government was not pushing ahead with plans to deliver full electrification across the Transpennine network. The Government additionally announced that plans to electrify the London to Sheffield Midland mainline north of Kettering, the Cardiff to Swansea section of the Great Western network, and the short Oxenholme to Windermere line in the Lake District would likely be shelved.

FT, 17 July 2017, https://www.ft.com/content/522c0f8e-6e0f-11e7-bfeb-33fe0c5b7eaa

• A few days later Chris Grayling said that “we don’t need to electrify all of every route”

“We don’t need to electrify all of every route. There are places that are built in Victorian times where it is very difficult to put up electric cables,” Mr Grayling said on a visit to Manchester on Friday, according to the Financial Times.

The Independent, 22 July 2017, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/northern-powerhouse-manchester-leeds-electrification-scheme-scrapped-bimodal-trains-a7855046.html

The Tories are failing on bus services

• At the current rate of growth, average fares are set to be 59 per cent higher by 2022 than in 2010.

 Labour analysis of DfT, costs, fares and revenue bus statistics, Tables BUS0406 & BUS0402 14 March 2017,https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/bus04-costs-fares-and-revenue

• The number of bus routes is projected to fall by nearly 5,000 by 2022.

Campaign for better transport, Buses in Crisis, p5, 13 March 2017,http://www.bettertransport.org.uk/sites/default/files/research-files/buses-in-crisis-2015.pdf

• Bus passenger numbers are on course to be 13 per cent lower than they were when the Tories came to power. Elderly and disabled passenger numbers are set to fall by nearly 20 per cent.

Labour analysis of DfT, costs, fares and revenue bus statistics, Tables BUS0105, 14 March 2017,https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/bus01-local-bus-passenger-journeys

The Tories are failing on cycling

• The Tories cut spending on cycling by 58 per cent in 2015.

Cycling UK, November 2015, http://www.cyclinguk.org/press-release/2015-11-25/%E2%80%9Cpm%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%98cycling-revolution%E2%80%99-punctured-osborne%E2%80%9D-says-cycling-charity

• Cyclist deaths or serious injuries are 36 per cent higher than when Labour left office.

DfT, RAS45006, 2 February 2017, Reported road accidents,https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/ras45-quarterly-statistics

• There has been an increase in the number of people who think that it is too dangerous for them to cycle on the road: 64 per cent of people agree or strongly agree with this statement according to the British Social Attitudes Survey.

British Social Attitudes Survey 2015: public attitudes towards transport, DfT, 26 January 2017, https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/586193/british-social-attitudes-survey-2015.pdf 

• The Government mothballed its own cycling safety forum designed to allow campaigners to engage with the Department for Transport on road safety.

Robert Goodwill, PQ 40291, http://www.parliament.uk/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/commons/2016-06-13/40291