Download - EMTA – April 2007
EMTA – April 2007
About pteg and the PTEs
• Six English PTEs serving six of largest
conurbations (population of 11 million)
• pteg brings them together to share good practice
and pursue issues of common interest
• Support Unit established four years ago
• Strathclyde Partnership for Transport and TfL are
associate members
Key challenges
• Effective management and development of city region
transport networks dismantled during Thatcher era (in
particular deregulation of bus network)
• With UK city regions on the rise and the success of the
TfL / Mayoral model the momentum now is for more
devolved powers to the city regions
• Forthcoming draft legislation will ‘reform’ PTEs –
possibly giving them more influence over highways
network
Key challenges
• More powers on bus – though network franchising still very
challenging proposition
• UK government wants more road user charging pilots
(West Midlands and Greater Manchester are front runners)
and will make more funding available to ease the politics
• Some, but slow, progress on allowing city regions to raise
more transport funding locally
• ‘funding gap’ on transport between London and the next tier
of major cities
Modal progress
• Bus use, at best, flat-lining outside London (other
than growing number of free riders)
• Heavy rail growing very rapidly – and recovering
from worst of post-privatisation meltdown
• Light rail performing well but still seen as ‘damaged
goods’ by government due to high costs…leaving
BRT and tram-trains as ‘flavour of the month’
Getting there…?
• Still some way to go before we have the normal
situation of public authorities determining,
procuring and (to some extent) funding their sub-
regional transport networks but…there is
momentum in that direction
pteg and Europe
• North West region’s Brussel’s Office to represent
pteg on trial basis
• pteg European group to be re-established
• Some PTEs dissatisfied with costs and benefits of
UITP membership
• Exploring potential for combined membership of
EMTA