The way our society is organised means that many of our basic needs are further away than they should be.This is not just a question of transport, but also of planning.Facilities should be accessible to all who need them without excessivetravel. We need to support local businesses and facilities should beprovided locally, not in distant developments using up green fields.Long journeys encourage excessive use of cars, lorries and aeroplanes.

Walking and cycling, which should be healthy and enjoyable, are now often too dangerous because of congestion.Public transport has been progressively run down due tounder-investment, deregulation of bus services, the closure of raillines and then privatization of the network.

Our Aims

The Green Party is committed to access for all, not just mobility for some.

The Green Party would:

1. Provide more facilities locally, reducing the need to travel.
2. Help people use electronic communications to access facilities and employment from home.
3. Provide a truly integrated transport system which will enable people to travel where they need.
4. Provide a sustainable transport policythat will enable people to travel in a way that does not endanger thewell-being of others or the environment, and brings communitiestogether rather than dividing them.

Addressing Your Concerns

• How can I travel more sustainably? I just don’t have the time.

3/4s of journeys made are still under 5 miles, and 1/2 under two miles.Most local journeys, especially in cities and towns, can be made morequickly by bike than car, while a train can take you further in lesstime than driving if it is properly integrated with other public transport.

• Trains and buses are too expensive, unreliable and inconvenient.

We want an integrated transport system to ensure there is the reliable and convenient service.We would bring the rail network back into public ownership and regulatebus companies. Fares should be cheaper, including subsidies wherenecessary, to encourage car users to switch to public transport.

• What about walking and cycling? I don’t feel safe on the roads.

We would enforce slower speeds on the roads to make both even safer, and build more cycle routes and pedestrian areas.

• Don’t we need more roads, especially by-passes, to reduce congestion and create jobs?

No, more roads encourage people to drive further.They move and extend the problem rather than solving it. New roads cantake business and jobs away to more distant facilities, leaving adegraded town centre with unemployment. We would encourage small local firms and transfer freight onto rail and waterways, where it causesless damage and congestion.

• What about flying? Those cheap flights mean I can go anywhere.

Aeroplanes cause more damage to the environment than any other form of transport,because the upper atmosphere is more sensitive to pollution. Flying ischeap not least because its fuel is currently exempt from tax - wewould ensure all the costs of flying were included in the price andwould stop the expansion of airports.

• How can we afford an improved transport system?

Currently, transport taxes and charges go nowhere near covering all the costs that transport imposes on us,such as congestion and damage to our health. A greener transport systemwould lead to a large reduction in these costs. We would also adherestrictly to the ‘polluter pays principle’, requiring transport users topay for the costs that we all have to live with.

Learn More

More Information:
Transport in the Manifesto for a Sustainable Society

Related Sections in the Manifesto for a Sustainable Society:
Climate Change
Energy
Land
Local Planning and the Built Environment
Pollution
Population
Science and Technology