Transport – The Liberal Party

Expansion of London Heathrow: allowing a third runway to be built in order to enhance economic growth and thus improve Heathrow’s connectivity.

Railways Franchises will be scrapped in favour of ‘Open Access Rail’ as the franchise agreement comes to an end:
- Privately owned self-financing operators that are not subject to franchising, instead purchasing individual slots on the mainline. There would be a minimum of four operators per railway route.
- Major Railways routes would operate 24/7.
Greener railways by increasing the number of electric light rail/trains.
Invest heavily in light rail as well as metro transit systems across all major cities in England: Manchester, Leeds, Bristol etc:
- All light rail and metro systems in major cities would operate 24/7.
HS1, HS2, HS3 etc. should be extended to cover Wales (Cardiff), South East England (Brighton), South West England (Bristol), East Midlands (Leicester), East Anglia (Norwich), North West of England (Liverpool and Manchester), Yorkshire (Leeds – Phase 2b and Sheffield), North East of England (Newcastle), Scotland (Glasgow and Edinburgh) and Northern Ireland (Belfast).
Investment in infrastructure to encourage rail freight rather than movement of freight by road.
Increased investment in rail infrastructure and rolling stock, to reduce levels of overcrowding:
- Set up a Royal Commission that would look at reopening some of the Beeching’ cuts to British railway lines in the 1960’s.

Introduce road pricing throughout the Strategic Road Network, and use all additional revenue to cut fuel duty.
We believe that e-scooters should be covered by legislation like that which cover pedal cycles with safety advice on their use on pavements and for it to be mandatory to wear a safety helmet whilst riding them.
Remove ‘Powered Transporter’ restrictions to legalise the development of dockless e-scooter schemes.
Lower the driving age from 17 to 16.

Motorways and Dual Carriageways: Increase the national speed limit from 70 miles per hour to 80 miles per hour.

Single Carriageways: Increase the national speed limit from 60 miles per hour to 70 miles per hour.

Local governments should have the power to integrate all forms of public transport including bus, light rail, metro and train services:
- Just like the Oyster Card used in London, a similar payment method will be encouraged within an integrated transport system within each respective Local Government (Regional Assemblies) across England.
Spend £2.5bn on new cycle routes across all county councils in England.
Allow private investors to finance, build and operate new train and light rail lines at the invitation of the local government.

Giving local government more powers to support and fund new bus services within there respective region, including powers over franchising, as well removing the ban on local government creating their own publicly run bus companies:
- Reform of the Bus Service Operators Grant so that it is devolved to Local Government.

A Minister for Rail, Light Rail and Metro (directly answerable to the Secretary of State for Transport) will be introduced, responsible and accountable for making the system work for both passengers and the public at large.

Reform ULEZ so that it doesn’t apply to drivers or motorists, who have no choice but to commute into the zone for work related purposes (Delivery drivers, Uber etc.): a 50% discount rate will apply to the aforementioned.

Mandate and ensure all new builds include lift and ramp access from both platform to transport and platform to street; where possible the retrofitting of lifts should be funded.

Maintain the £2 cap on bus fares while fares are reviewed, including ensuring that bus operators and local authorities are not left out of pocket from bus fares, reviewing reimbursement rates for concessionary fares and that all fare revenue is reinvested in bus services.

Extend half-fares on buses, light rail, metro and trains to 12 to18 year-olds, allowing them to continue receiving half-fares while still in full time education.

Reverse the government cuts to the active travel budget and introduce a nationwide strategy to promote walking, e-scooters and cycling to work etc.

Give all local government – which do not already have the powers – to pilot innovative schemes to increase public transport usage and reduce congestion, including the ability to heavily discount public transport fares or make them free when possible, learning from successful schemes introduced in European cities such as Tallinn.

Abandon current government-mandated proposals to close ticket offices at railway stations