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Pontypridd and Valleys

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Items on this page in natural order:

RCT's Local Transport Plan
Summary of the Responses
Response by Paul Stevenson, Coordinator of Rhondda Friends of the Earth
Response by Eddy Hunt (webmaster NetCymru)

RCT's Draft Transport Plan and Responses

It's Saturday morning. The buses are there but where are the passengers? The lack of activity in the centre of a city of about 40000 people.testifies to the decline in the use of buses. Pontypridd Bus Station about 9.30 on a Saturday in August .

In recent years increased car use and the fragmentation of bus and train services amongst a number of private companies has led to a deterioration of collective transport.

The response of both national an local government has been further road building.

As bus services decline local government responds either by subsidising near-empty buses or cutting services.

The more bus services decline, the more people are forced onto the roads.

Unfortunately in local governement there does not appear to be awareness that there is a vicious circle that needs to be broken or the extent of the problems created for those who lack transport.




RCT's Local Transport Plan

In the summer of 2000 RCT invited public responses to their Local Transport Plan.

The Plan itself is available (as of summer 2000) on the RCT website - (null)^www.rhondda-cynon-taff.gov.uk (null) as an Adobe Acrobat or Word document.



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Summary of the Responses

Both responses raise concerns not so much for what the plan says, but rather for the issues which it fails to address.

Paul Stevenson contrasts the Government's stated need to act to counteract the effects of climate change, with the lack of action in the plan to reduce road vehicle use. He highlights concerns for safety, with particularly children, the elderly, disabled, and visually impaired being most at risk. He recommends the development of home zones and the promotion of cycling as a practical means of transport.

Eddy Hunt points out the high cost of public transport compared to car travel and the high level of inconvenience, particularly at night. Areas which are already deprived suffer most. In order to make public transport safer and more attractive he recommends setting up shelters offering teas and other services in bus stations and implementing a collective taxi service to get people home at night. He also recommends a lift sharing system to allow better access to education - particularly evening classes.

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Response by Paul Stevenson, Coordinator of Rhondda Friends of the Earth


Transport and Climate Change
Global climate change is "one of the greatest environmental threats facing the world today" (A New Deal for Transport: Better For Everyone - The Government's White Paper on the Future of Transport, July 1998). Tnes of millions of people already living in this country will have to confront the immense challenge it poses. Global climate changes is driven primalrily by carbond dioxide (CO2) given off by fossil fuels we burn to generate energy. Transport is a major source of CO2 emissions. It is the largest single consumer of energy in the UK, accounting for a third of all energy consumed in 1996 (DTI, Digest of United Kingdom Energy Statistics, 1997).

The most recent document addressing the issue of climate change is Energy - The Changing Climate" (Royal Commision on Environmental Pollution, The Stationery Office, 2000).

In chapter 6 of the RCEP Report the section on Transport states:

The transport sector's final energy consumption rose by two-thirds between 1973 and 1998. Its share of total UK final energy consumption grew from 21% to 34% over that period. These increases were largely due to rising volumes of road traffic which now accounts for 77% of the transport sector's energy use.(6.107)

It went on to say:

During the recession of the early 1990s the growth in traffic volumes and in the sector halted briefly. Between 1992 and 1998, however, road traffic (in vehicle-kilometres) increased by 11% while transport's annual energy consumption rose by 9%. Its share of UK carbon dioxide emissions rose from 22% to 24% between 1992 and 1998. (6,108)

The Summary of the Report emphasises the pressing need to reduce CO2 emissions without delay:

To limit the damage beyond that already in train, large reductions in global emissions will be necessary during this century and the next. Strong and effective action has to start immediately.

The report makes a total of 87 recommendations, including 19 key points in the final chapter. These are also fully listed in the Summary.

The first recommendation states that:

The goal of reducing the UK's annual carbon dioxide emissions by 20% from their 1990 level by 2000 is a major step in the right direction. It should become a firm target and the givernment should produce a climate change programme that will ensure that it is achieved.

It goes on to note that:

While UK carbon dioxide emissions are falling at the moment, they are expected to begin rising again....The government should set out, within the next five years, a programme for energy demand reductions and development of alternative energy sources that will prevent this from causing an increase in UK emissions.

It follows this by saying:

The government should now adopt a strategy which puts the UK on a path to reducing carbon dioxide emissions by some 60% from current levels by 2050.

It later recommends that:

Reducing carbon dioxide emissions should continue to be a central objective of transport policy.

These general recommendations are followed by a selection of others made to the government covering specific areas, focusing on those that call for action now. In the section on Transport a key recommendation relating to local authorities is to:

Increase funding for local authorities to implement integrated transport policies, including charging schemes for motorists.


The Local Transport Plan is significant in that it is a strategic document covering a five year time period, and will include the authority's objectives and targets (1.1.4). It is therefore important to make the right decisions now because of the long-term implications they will have.

The key elements of the strategy listed in 1.1.13 are commendable in many ways but overlook the principal and overriding requirement that transport must be environmentally sustainable. The RCEP has recommended above that reducing carbon dioxide emissions should be a central objective of transport policy. The conclusion to chapter 10 of the report states:

To knowingly cause large-scale disruptions to climate would be unjust and reckless. We stand on the threshold of doing just that. If the United Kingdom cannot demonstrate that it is serious about doing its part to address this threat, it cannot expect other nations - least of all those which are much less wealthy - to do theirs.

An environmentally sustainable transport plan has to be the first objective of the Authority. Reducing road traffic would be one of the most effective ways of doing this because of its overwhelming share of total transport energy consumption. The Plan notes that the Road Traffic Reduction Act 1998 imposes a duty upon the National Assembly to set and publish targets for road traffic reduction with the aim of reducing its adverse environmental, social and economic impacts. However, not only does the Authority not set a target for reducing road traffic but is actually planning for large increases.

There are many ways in which road traffic could be reduced as part of an integrated transport strategy to help achieve the very large reductions in carbon dioxide emissions recommended by the RCEP. The other two of the three most important transport-related issues which we have identified are the need for safe, accessible transport for all sectors of society, and the development of substitutes for transport and greater transport efficiency.


Safe, Accessible Transport for all Sectors of Society - Equal Opportunities

Planning

The transport plan should incorporate the ideal of Equal Opportunities in making facilities accessible to all. This includes young, old, the disabled, poorly-sighted, women with children etc, in short, everybody. At present many people are discriminated against on the grounds of safety or poverty, or because of physical barriers or difficulty crossing roads and other reasons. Britain has lower overall road casualty rates than comparable countries, but unfortunately the total figures conceal disturbingly high death and injury rates for cyclists, pedestrians and children. An Equal Opportunities transport plan must address all these concerns as well as being environmentally sustainable.

The creation of the long distance cycleways is an excellent move in the right direction to encourage more people, especially the young, to take up cycling. Britain has an unenviable record for heart disease and obesity, and British children are alarmingly obese and unfit. Anything to get people to exercise more is therefore to be applauded. However, the cycleways discussed in the Plan do not address the need for safe, local cycleroutes that everyone can use on a daily basis. People really need routes from home to school, shops, work, social activities etc. They need to be able to cycle as a matter of routine for all their daily activities, and not have to worry about safety or security. Cycle routes should be provided in all residential areas, as are footpaths. They should be constructed in all new housing developments as a matter of course, in addition to roads and footpaths, not as an add-on extra.

Cycleways should be segregated as far as possible from roads and also from the need to cross roads, in order to reduce the danger. Many parents are understandably reluctant to let their children ride on the road, especially busy roads. Often there is no alternative. Ideally,a network of longer distance off-road cycleroutes should be created throughout the Authority, linking up local feeder routes, analogous to, but separate from the road network.

There are some classic examples of new development where this has been carried out. The important thing is to recognize the need for Equal Opportunities transport and incorporate it into the planning process. It is not necessary to adhere to the conventional layout of houses and footpaths fronting onto roads; many other examples exist. Radburn, New Jersey was constructed in the 1920s with a segregated circulation system comprising front-access roads and rear-access linear green spaces and parkland with footpaths. It was possible to walk safely in a pleasant green environment without the need to cross any roads. Cumbernauld in the UK carried this theme much further in the 1960s, creating a network of segregated footways throughout the whole town.

If new developments were planned and designed to conform to Equal Opportunities principles safe, accessible transport would be intrinsic from the beginning. Safe, segregated footways and cycleways would be an integral part of the design, designed to connect to the wider network, and would be no more costly than conventional housing layouts.

New foot, and cycle routes can be constructed at a small fraction of the cost of major new roadworks. By helping to reduce road traffic they would reduce the demand for new roadworks anyway, and would thus be extremely cost-effective. This is especially important for local authorities where there are so many competing demands for scarce resources.

Every opportunity should be taken to use vacant land, disused tracks and underpasses etc, and to link them up with bridges for bicycles and short, new stretches of track where necessary. Because cycling demands so little space, unlike roads, it is a very practical proposition to take advantage of narrow, leftover strips of land, back-lanes, and so on and convert them into cycleways forming part of an integrated network.

The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Once a network of cycleways is established which is a viable alternative to the car for day to day transport needs a lot more people will be encouraged to cycle.

People should not have to question whether it is safe or convenient to cycle. They should feel that they can cycle wherever they want without a second thought. It is therefore necessary to provide safe, secure, dry cycle storage facilities where bicycles can be left without anxiety over theft, rain, or vandalism. The lack of secure storage facilities is a major disincentive to cycling, and even though it is not a life or death matter it is still every bit as serious as the fear of traffic on the roads.

Everything should be done to make it easy for people, especially children, to cycle. Rhondda Cynon Taff has many in-built disincentives to overcome which cannot be changed, such as steep hills, high rainfall, cold, and long hours of winter darkness. These considerations really put people off cycling, and if there are dangerous roads and insecure cycle storage to worry about as well it is not surprising that so few do cycle.

Substituting cycle for car use is extremely cost-effective. Every kilometre of new single-carriageway road costs between £1.2 million and £2.5 million. Very large cost savings can therefore result from the need to build fewer roads.


Home Zones

Encouraging cycle use need not mean the construction of special cycleways. Home Zones which are "self enforcing" i.e. traffic calmed to reduce speed limits to 30kmh or even less, can encourage much greater cycle use simply because they are safer. Latest government figures state that they reduce road casualties by an average of 60%, and those involving children by 67% (Friends of the Earth Cymru Report). There are many examples of Home Zones in the Netherlands where cycle use is universal. Local examples exist in Llwynypia, eg. Campell Terrace and others. They therefore have multiple benefits - reducing road casualties, especially to children (and therefore saving a great deal of unnecessary expense and tragedy), encouraging greater cycle use and thus contributing to better health, and making the local street safe for children to play in, and quieter, and more pleasant for everybody, e.e. truly residential streets into what they should be, liveable Home Zones.

Planning has an important part to play in this. Home Zones can be integrated into a network so they provide viable transport corridors of quiet, safe streets. This would do a great deal to encourage greater cycle use. There would be an alternative to busy main roads using the existing road space. Many older parts of Rhondda Cynon Taff are severely constrained by narrow streets, and finding extra space even to fit in a narrow cycleway can be difficult in these established areas. Creating Home Zones can effectively provide more routes for cycles by using existing road space in a better way.

There are all-round benefits. Parents would not feel that they had to drive their children to school if they could be confident that they would be safe on the road, either walking or cycling. Everyone would benefit from the lower speeds, because if casualties do occur they are much less severe. This has great attraction for the elderly, disabled and poorly-sighted, where it can be a risky venture crossing the road.


Lower Speed Limits

It is safe to say that most traffic exceeds the speed limits, especially on major roads. Rather than interpreting the speed limit as the maximum which must not be exceeded most drivers seem to regard it as a minimum. This is dramatically illustrated in the case of speed cameras wherever they have been introduced. The abruptly reduced traffic speeds are immediately apparent even to the casual observer. Lower speed limits have great implications for casualty rates. Even a reduction of a few kilometres per hour is enough to make many pedestrian casualties survivable instead of fatal. At lower speeds again the severity of injuries is much reduced as speed decreases.

Even a fit and able-bodied person can have difficulties crossing the road nowadays. Traffic is not only dense but by speeding, drivers don't play fair. It can be very difficult to estimate vehicle speed and therefore the safe crossing time needed. Childre, the elderly, disabled and poorly sighted are paricularly at risk. It is noticeable that drivers on the whole make no allowance for anybody who happens to be in their way; if they do not step smartly out of the path of an oncoming vehicle they are likely to be knocked down. This is borne out by the very high figures for pedestrians and cyclists in Britain, which are worse than other comparable European countries.

Road casualties would be markedly less severe if speed limits were reduced everywhere, especially on roads which have a bad record for crashes, such as Nantygwyddon Road between Llwynypia and Gelli in the Rhondda. On present evidence drivers would still exceed whatever limit was set, but final outcome would be lower overall speeds. Lower speed limits would greatly reduce rates for deaths and serious injuries but it is improbable they would any effect at all on total journey times. The net benefits would therefore be very great.


Rail Services

It is good to see that it is proposed to lay double track from Porth to Ystrad Rhondda. This will undoubtedly help to overcome delays caused by single track working. A problem with Valley Lines services is the radial nature of the system, focusing on Cardiff and with little connection to other lines. This rigidity is a major drawback for anyone wishing to travel across country or to places west of Cardiff. It would be very helpful if the former tunnel from Treherbert to Blaengwynfi could be reopened. Rather than building new roads other opportunities for reopening former lines could be investigated. Apart from coal trains no Valley Lines services are used for carrying freight. The potential for moving goods by rail should also be investigated as a means of transferring freight off the roads onto rail, and away from homes and town centres.

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Response by Eddy Hunt (webmaster NetCymru)


Context

Although I am a member of the Pedestrians Association, I am making this submission without reference to the Pedestrians Association. The views expressed are therefore my own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Pedestrians Association.


One Case

One case is used to illustrate the depth of transport problems faced by some people in the RCT area.


Summary

Vagueness and inaccuracy makes detailed responses difficult.

Commitment appears to be to maintaining the status quo. Virtually all spending commitment appears to be for roads.

Cycle lanes are to be financed, but there is no indication of what use they will be or the level of demand.

The report acknowledges problems but offers little in the way of solutions. Simple and obvious steps are not being considered.

Social exclusion is described, but the Plan offers little room for optimism. Some measures will probably make things worse for the most disadvantaged members of the community.

The principle weaknesses of the Plan is what it does not say and what it does not consider. Citizens elsewhere benefit from a much more flexible transport system - but in RCT they will not, it would appear, either now or in the future.


Practical Measures

A series of practical measures are described. Positive experience elsewhere is described along with the experience of the writer (unsuccessful to date) to get alternatives taken seriously.


One Case

My wife (living in Tonypandy) attends an evening class in Pontypridd.

Tonypandy and Pontypridd are the two largest population centres in the RCT area, six miles apart along a continuous valley.

The bus journey for the return journey (after 9 pm) requires about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

The concessionary return fare is about 80p, single about 70p. The full fare would be about three times as much.

The average speed is about 5 miles per hour. The main contributors to the time are the need to change buses at Porth and deviations into housing estates.

The concessionary return fare is about 7p per mile. This is about the same as the cost for a single driver in a fuel-efficient car. The single full fare is about 35p per mile. This is about 20 times as expensive as four people travelling in a fuel-efficient car.

This case is close to being the most favourable for the bus traveller. It does not consider travel between minor centres or travel between valleys.

It illustrates clearly why people are abandoning public transport if they can and why public transport is becoming the domain of those who have no alternative.


Summary


Vagueness and Inaccuracy

The Plan states that public transport will be maintained at present levels (2.1.2.1), yet refers to expanding parking facilities. The competition between public transport and the car is acknowledged, yet little appears to be done to stop further erosion of public transport and there appears to be no commitment to further subsidies. On the one hand the level of public transport appears to be left to respond to demand and on the other there appears to be commitment to maintain present levels. This appears to be self-contradictory.

The plans for the various streets illustrated in the appendix do not make clear what they are for - motorists or pedestrians.

The plan for the Rhondda (TR 11) says that the pedestrianisation of Dunraven Street will be investigated. Dunraven Street was pedestrianised two years ago.

The Plan says that 80% of journeys over one mile are by foot (3.11.3). Surely this must be a mistake.


Maintaining the Status Quo / further bias toward Motoring

As noted above the commitment is to maintain present levels of public transport - not improve them.

Spending will be mainly for motorists - improved bypasses and more parking.

Spending on improving stations are noted, although this does not answer the main problem that public transport is slow and expensive.


Cycle Lanes

Cycle lanes will receive nearly two million pounds. There appears to be no clarification as to what the cycle lanes will be or who will use them.

Cycle lanes can be anything from a stripe along a roadside with a bicycle symbol to completely separate pathways.

Current cycle routes appear to be mainly oriented toward leisure / tourism rather than commuting or other journeys of necessity.

One of the features of the area is the unnevenness of the terrain. The rivers along which trails could be established are fast flowing with numerous rapids. It would be difficult to see much use for journeys of necessity.


Problems but No Solutions

The Plan noted a number of problems, but few solutions.

In the Practical Measures section (below) solutions are suggested for the following problems:

People using Park and Ride parking as a free carpark

Personal safety as a deterrent to use of public transport, particularly at night.

The Plan acknowledges that the high price of public is a deterrent to use, but apart from concessionary fares there appears to be nothing on offer. There appears to be very little to encourage those who do have a choice onto public transport.


Social Exclusion

Although a whole section was given to Social Exclusion, the Plan appeared to be limited to describing the situation without offering improvements.

One major contributor Social Exclusion is lack of access to education. In the Practical Measures section below, suggestions are made for possible improvements.

Concessionary fares are not available on the ground of poverty or unemployment.


Problems which appear to have been Overlooked in the Plan

Over the past two decades the cost public transport has increased massively in real terms. The cost of motoring (including the recent petrol price rises) has been very close to constant in real terms.

The geographical situation of the RCT area means that population and roads lie along limited corridors. Traffic outside the corridors and between corridors is limited - hence companies will provide a bus service only if highly subsidised.

Housing is most expensive near the corridors and cheapest away from the corridors - hence a class distribution which means that those who most need public transport have the least access.


Practical Measures


Use of Park and Ride schemes as Free Car Parks

The Plan indicated a problem of people using the parking spaces as free car parks.

Full car parks could be a deterrent to genuine rail users.

Possible Solution: Give rail users parking cupons with their tickets. Easiest for season users, since these tickets are paid in advance. Other users may experience inconvienience of having to go to the ticket hall and then return to their car. Could be combined with conventional Pay and Display - user buys the first ticket and receives a blank ticket on purchase of the ticket - for use the next trip. (The technical details are slightly different than normal Park and Ride but date-stamping machines are widely available.)


Perceptions of safety while waiting for buses

The Plan acknowledges that perceived lack of safety is an important factor reducing the use of buses. - particularly so at bus stations where shelters may attract groups of young people.

A threatening environment could be changed into a positively enjoyable social environment by setting up a shelter with facilities such as tea, snacks, newspapers and / or other suitable forms of entertainment such as quizzes, bingo - depending on what is requested by travellers.

Those running the shelters would be attracted by free accomodation - no rent, no council tax - and if necessary a small hourly supplement. In return they would be expected to be integrated into the Neighbourhood Watch network. They would be equiped with a rapid means of communication with the police, both for their own safety and that of the travelling public. It could be coupled with the additional element of safety of providing CCTV cameras.

There would be some cost but very small compared to other outlays in the plan. (An extremely generous estimate of ten thousand pounds per shelter, two pounds per hour incentive for six evening hours and 8% interest, yields a total capital cost of about two hundred thousant pounds for the three bus stations - Pontypridd, Tonypandy and Aberdare. It would be surprising, however, if the shelters were not self-financing within a short time.)


Keeping up services where Demand is insufficient to support scheduled buses

The Taff-Ely twin city of Nurtingen in Germany operates a collective taxi service - something like a cross between a taxi and a bus. Calls are not answered immediately, but delayed until there are a reasonable number of passengers. Travellers are taken right to their door. In practice, pickups can be made within about a half-hour and the service costs about one pound 50 pence. The service is very popular and has quickly expanded from one to three vehicles.

Something similar could be tried, possibly using the stations as pick-up points. If, for example, the Tonypandy - Rhondda Fach - Aberdare route could be maintained on a response-to-demand basis, then it could bring onto public transport people who would not otherwise have considered it because of the problem of getting back home.


Social Exclusion and Educaton

Given that the present fare concessions are awarded only on the basis of age or disability, those who are marginalise through lack of educational achievement or poverty must pay the full fare, which as noted above, could be up to twenty times as much as a car journey. Those poorest are likely to live furthest away from public transport corridors.

The Plan describes the problem in great length, mainly as a collection of statistics, yet appears to propose to do nothing about it.

During the spring of 1999 I approached the two main Further Education Colleges in the area (Aberdare and Pontypridd) with a proposal to promote car pooling to centres where adults are educated. It would involve matching up those attending courses at the same centre (or a nearby centre) at the same time and attending by car with those living along the route, or grouping students who could reasonably share a taxi. I believe that sucb a system could be operated without any public subsidy. One of the factors favouring such a system is that people have been "educated" into accepting that "public" transport is expensive. (I have used the quotation marks here - as I would like to do elsewhere, because collective transport is run by private companies for private profit.) Any money saved by avoiding fares could be used toward the running of the system.

Unfortunately the response that I received was not very good. Aberdare did not respond to letters or return calls. Pontypridd objected on the grounds of Data Protection and the protection of minors. It is difficult to see the former objection given that those in the scheme would be asked only for a telephone number and the name of someone to ask for. It is unlikely that any minors would be involved in the scheme, since they benefit already from subsidised transport schemes.


Conclusion

A number of proposals have been made to improve the mobility of people in RCT, especially those who have no choice but to use public transport.

They offer something - either at low cost or at no cost - to the most disadvantaged, something pointedly lacking in the Plan.

They merit serious consideration and a clear response.

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