14.11.13
‘Curb transport growth to deliver capacity’
The Mayor of London should look to curb rail growth to ensure the network can meet future demand, consultants WSP have suggested.
In their official response to Boris’s London 2020 Vision, they recommend reducing peak travel to create necessary capacity. The vision aims to improve transport networks in the Capital to meet a projected 12% increase in travel by 2020.
WSP suggests ‘rewarding’ commuters for travelling fewer stops and more off-peak, including free travel for those touching out before 7.45am and incentivising passengers to get off one stop early.
Head of development at WSP, Ian Liddell, said: “Boris’s vision, admirable as it is, requires some bold moves to make it achievable. Our transport networks are ill-equipped to deal with an extra three million more trips per day in 2021.
“If every person cut their commute by just 500m we could save 10% in total trip kilometres and if we reduced our peak travel by 10% we would curb peak hour public transport growth by effectively 10 years. We support the investments proposed by the Vision, but for the longer term we also need to find ways of cutting our travel demand.”
The vision also contains recommendations on housing and energy needs: you can read WSP’s full response here.
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Image c. TfL
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