Peninsula Transport is one of seven Sub- National Transport Boards (STBs) in England. STBs are responsible for defining and prioritising the strategic transport improvements for their area and working closely with central Government to deliver them. Peninsula Transport works with five local transport authorities covering Cornwall, Devon, Plymouth, Somerset and Torbay.
From 11 December 2023 to 5 February 2024, Peninsula Transport ran a public consultation on the draft Peninsula Transport Strategy. The strategy will be used to guide regional transport investment decisions through to 2050.
Benefits across transport modes
The South West Infrastructure Partnership (SWIP) agrees with the principal objective of the strategy to achieve “a single integrated transport system for the peninsula capable of meeting the Government’s target for net-zero by 2050”. However, SWIP advocates for a stronger focus on equitable benefits across different transport modes. This includes reducing road congestion and leveraging long-term economic gains to incentivise early investment in public transport, particularly buses, to promote modal shift away from private cars.
Importance of reliability
The goals of the strategy set a solid foundation, but SWIP would like to see greater emphasis on reliability. Research has shown that reliability, more routes, increased frequency, and improved affordability are key requirements for people using public transport. Equally, SWIP would like to see a requirement for universal accessibility, considering the views of users with different disabilities.
Optimising the economic benefits
The Peninsula Transport Strategy seeks four desired outcomes:
- Easier journeys: integrating walking and wheeling with the bus and rail network, to make getting around without a car easy.
- Going electric: affordable zero-emission transport through a reliable electric vehicle charging network.
- A connected peninsula: safe, reliable, and resilient road and rail travel within the peninsula and beyond.
- Completing the network: improved connections within a growing and fully integrated transport network on a path to net zero.
SWIP proposes adding a fifth desired outcome of ‘optimising the economic benefits of the network’ to reflect the economic benefits of reducing congestion as a mechanism to financing multi-modal transport improvements.
User-centric focus
The strategy’s emphasis on the user experience echoes SWIP’s own findings in the South West Vision 2050 report that underlines how improving the user experience will lead to improved benefits across transport infrastructure. SWIP highlights that implementing user-centric strategies will need to be backed with strong leadership and industry collaboration to break down silos.
Solutions for adaptation
Adaptation to climate change impacts is highlighted as essential by SWIP. This will be an increasing focus in the years ahead and require increased awareness and contingency planning, particularly for transport infrastructure in locations where potential adaptation solutions are not economically feasible.
SWIP advocates the use of ‘Living Labs’ as a methodology to experiment with proposed changes and to quickly identify what is and isn’t working in terms of new proposals.