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Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru |
National Assembly for Wales |
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Pwyllgor yr Economi, Seilwaith a Sgiliau |
Economy, Infrastructure and Skills Committee |
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Ddatgarboneiddio trafnidiaeth |
Decarbonisation of Transport |
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EIS(5)DT28 |
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Ymateb gan: Rhondda Cynon Taff Council |
Evidence from: Rhondda Cynon Taff Council |
· Link between GVA/GDP and Travel Demand(related to growth aspirations around City Deals, etc) showing increased economic activity leading to increased travel demand and the need to try to decouple this link with better land use planning/Strategic Development Plans/Transit Orientated Development/Polycentric Growth (as advocated by CCR City Deal);
DfT Road Traffic Trends 2018;
The graph and discussion at p32 illustrate the link – some fluctuation arises from policy decisions such as implementing and then suspending the fuel duty escalator but the general principle of economic growth generating travel demand is clear.
· Scale of the problem; General traffic growth and mode share; same source document but refer to pages 1,2 and 3.
The detail in the table at page 2 is instructive; All Motor Traffic 328.1Bn miles, Cars and Taxis 255Bn miles, pedal cycles 3.3Bn miles – shows cycles equating to about 1% of all motor vehicle miles.
In the last year of data;
Cycling grew at 1.8% = 0.0594Bn extra miles
Cars/taxis grew by 0.2% = 0.51Bn extra miles
So whilst the growth in cycling is welcomed and needs further encouragement – based on the most recent annual data, growth travel demand in 2017/18 resulted in 8.59 times as many additional car miles as cycle miles.
In other words one year car growth equates to 8.59 years current cycle growth.
Expanding considerations to commuter trips (this is important because it is directly related to congestion, etc)
DfT Statistics – Table TSGB0108 – Usual Methods of Travel to Work by Region of Residence, Great Britain: October to December 2017; Line 32 shows Wales data (File attached and also accessible via https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/tsgb01-modal-comparisons#mode-share
Car accounts for 81% of travel to work journeys, cycling 2% of the 1.431M residents in employment. Doubling cycle journeys as the main mode of commute would be an exceptional achievement and probably exceeds any credible target, even if all cycling growth transferred from car (unlikely)
It would only equate to 2.4% reduction in car use – a couple of years traffic growth. Bus and rail each account for 4%.
It is therefore clear that decarbonisation cannot be achieved simply by switching car journeys to cycle journeys and that significant growth in all sustainable modes, including bus and rail is required. This will need substantial capital investment (infrastructure) and ongoing revenue (services, behaviour change).
To be absolutely clear; the foregoing is not intended to denigrate the role of cycling in decarbonisation – it is vital that investment in active travel continues and increases over the coming years as active travel has a crucial role to play. What should also be emphasised is that ALL sustainable travel modes (including bus and rail) need to grow at pace if there is any possibility of meeting the decarbonisation targets that have been set.
· Taxis and EV; I referred to strategies that are being developed by the Cardiff Capital Region Transport Authority under the aegis of the Cardiff Capital Region City Deal. The proposals are scalable across Wales and could deliver WG targets for zero taxi emissions by 2028.
The Metro Plus Taxi Electric Vehicle Strategy Update Report and Appendices are available via;
https://www.cardiffcapitalregion.wales/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/ev-taxi-strategy-appendix-2.pdf
In addition we have looked at EV requirements for 11 metro+ projects and it is intended that this will inform scheme delivery so that such measures are included at the identified sites.
In addition we have looked at wider EV infrastructure requirements using public land across the region and we are in discussion with Welsh Government regarding a potential joint procurement exercise where we secure a commercial partner to develop charging infrastructure on public sites in return for a slice of any revenue generation. We believe that a large package would attract the best commercial offer and create a consistent offer for users across a wider geographical area. We have secured support from a commercial specialist to support some of this work. Again, such proposals are scalable across Wales.
· Relative Transport Expenditure(I quoted rail as 55% of UK transport spend);
Reference is DfT Transport Statistics great Britain 2018; Moving Britain Ahead - page 26
· Affordability; questions were raised regarding funding; affordability is a major barrier to decarbonisation – significant investment is required to deliver decarbonisation across transport. In se Wales the “Metro” vision was estimated to have a capital cost of around £5Bn. Through City Deal, the first £740M is committed but several more tranches of funding are required to deliver the full benefits of Metro, including wider rail development, bus integration, ticketing, wayfinding, active travel, etc, etc. There will also be significant revenue implications to operate new and more frequent services. Removing barriers to EV will also require capital investment in terms of the additional capital cost of vehicles, providing power to the EV infrastructure and providing infrastructure at locations or for fleets that are not commercially viable (e.g. rural locations, bus, etc).
· Demand Management (links to affordability);behaviour change measures (p67): demand reduction policies are cited as mechanisms for behaviour change and include a number of measures as carrots to reinforce the right behaviours. However, there does not appear to be any consideration of measures that directly discourage car use - sticks, which may include; fiscal measures such as fuel taxation, road fund licence, road user charging, congestion charging, workplace parking charges, general public parking charges or more direct action (Bristol) potentially banning diesel vehicles from cities or towns. Additionally, the growth of out of town retail parks with an abundance of free parking seem to create considerable challenges on traffic and transport and have undermined our town centres; should consideration be given to some form of parking charges/taxation related to these free parking spaces? Some of these measures have the potential to generate funding to implement major capital projects or provide additional revenue to support public transport services and therefore go toward the affordability considerations that were raised by the Committee.