Description
Book SynopsisComprising contributions from a range of experts, this volume offers a critical commentary on the government''s sustainable transport policy.
- A critical commentary on the Blair government''s sustainable transport policy and its implementation.
- Firmly rooted in an appreciation of the politics of this controversial field.
- Experts contribute up-to-the-minute analyses of the key issues.
- Will inform debate over the future of transport policy.
- Includes a Foreword by David Begg, Chair of the Commission for Integrated Transport.
Trade Review"should be on every consultant’s, politician’s and planner’s desk and in the library of every institution where transport is seriously studied" (
Logistic and Transport Focus, March 2004)
"This book outlines the political and implementation questions relating to transport policy delivery in the UK. Despite good intentions and a radical policy agenda this book reveals the Labour Government has failed to reduce the need to travel and to improve travel choice. Society has become more car dependent, levels of congestion and unreliability have increased, and the goal of sustainable transport has disappeared. The contributors to this book systematically document and assess the record of the Government on transport over the last six years."
--David Banister, University College London
"This book is essential reading for anyone with an interest in UK transport policy. It debunks, in forensic detail, the myth that the government has a coherent strategy for transport."
--Christian Wolmar, author of Broke Rails – How Privatisation Wrecked Britain’s Railways
"This book is valuable not only to transport geographers and the growing literature on sustainable transport, but to anyone interested in how government promises fail to come to fruition." (The Geographical Journal)
Table of ContentsSeries Editors’ Preface ix
Notes on Contributors x
Foreword xiv
Preface xviii
List of Abbreviations xxii
Part I Policy and Politics 1
1 Policy, Politics and Sustainable Transport: The Nature of Labour’s Dilemma 3
Iain Docherty
2 Devolution and Sustainable Transport 30
Austin Smyth
3 Local Transport Planning under Labour 51
Geoff Vigar and Dominic Stead
Part II Progress in Policy Implementation 73
4 Roads and Traffic Congestion Policies: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back 75
William Walton
5 A Railway Renaissance? 108
Jon Shaw and John Farrington
6 Light Rail and the London Underground 135
Richard Knowles and Peter White
7 A ‘Thoroughbred’ in the Making? The Bus Industry under Labour 158
John Preston
8 Ubiquitous, Everyday Walking and Cycling: The Acid Test of a Sustainable Transport Policy 178
Rodney Tolley
9 Air Transport Policy: Reconciling Growth and Sustainability? 198
Brian Graham
Part III The Future 227
10 Towards a Genuinely Sustainable Transport Agenda for the United Kingdom 229
Phil Goodwin
Index 245
