Travel planners bid for £29m in to improve public transport

Jul 30 2009 by Amy Hunt, The Journal

A BID has been made for millions in cash to persuade Tyneside drivers to ditch their cars.

Travel planners are hoping for up to £29m to spend on improving public transport and bike routes to cut the number of cars on our roads by 20%.

But as well as “carrots” like free bus passes, cycle training and other sweeteners, they could use “sticks”, such as an increase in car parking charges or a cut in the number of car parking spaces available, to convince commuters to curb their car use. Motoring campaigners said driving people out of the city centre in their cars could have an adverse impact on businesses.

But Tyneside is forecast to have the fastest growth in car ownership in the UK over the next 10 years, with problems like congestion, air quality and health predicted to grow in parallel.

Through the Local Transport Plan, councils and the Integrated Transport Authority are pitching to the Government to become a Sustainable Travel City, with the ambitious aim of cutting the proportion of journeys made by car by 20% in three years.

Tyne & Wear will compete with eight more of England’s largest urban areas, Greater Manchester, the West Midlands, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Merseyside, Bristol, Nottingham and Leicester, for the cash.

The successful bidder or bidders will be announced in September.

The main aim of becoming a Sustainable Travel City is to cut the number of cars on our roads by making it less attractive to drive.