Response to the Questionnaire from Cambridgeshire Families for Sustainable Travel
And on public transport in general
Cambridgeshire Families for Sustainable Travel looks to be a fairly new organisation though the organisation claims that it is simply a slight renaming of an already existing one.
They have sent a series of questions to all candidates in all Cambridge wards for the upcoming local elections on 2nd May. The questions asked where in a Yes/No format, which myself and many others have criticised as such a format is restrictive and does not allow for nuanced answers or for discussion of implications. I do appreciate, however, that these questions have been posed in this manner for brevity.
Suffice to say that I answered Yes to all the questions.
While I don’t think I need to expand on the answers individually, since they’re all quite reasonable suggestions, it has to be said that the implementation of some of these questions hinge on the question of public transport in Cambridge. Some of my other statements might help elucidate where I’m coming from.
Here’s what I sent to Cambridgeshire Sustainable Travel Alliance (now published on their website):
“Public transport across Cambridgeshire remains dysfunctional with many workers and residents still relying on the car. Stagecoach still holds a monopoly on buses in the area. They are liable to chop and change routes frequently to maximise profit meaning commuters are often at their whim.
What Cambridgeshire needs is for buses to be franchised and placed under public control. We need a true multi-modal system complete with light rail both in the city and connecting rural areas and villages, as well as safe routes for walking and cycling. Any proposals must include transport that is accessible to all, especially those with disabilities, and they must not unfairly penalise those who do need to use their car.”
Combine that with the statement I sent to Cambridge Independent where I was more obviously pointing the finger:
“The policies of the ultra-wealthy are being imposed upon us from the top down. From Ekin Road to Michael Gove’s bonkers Cambridge 2.0 plan, these policies seek to enrich the developers, university cartel and friends of the government whilst riding roughshod over local democracy. They’re rarely in the interest of working class residents who increasingly have to decide between paying bills or putting food on the table.
We need to empower our communities and listen to their needs rather than the wants of the ultra-wealthy. Local transport is dysfunctional and must be taken back into public control but this cannot be at the expense of motorists. The big businesses who have caused the most damage to the environment must be the ones to pay.”
Although I support the implementation of all Cambridgeshire Families for Sustainable Travel’s suggestions, though in my opinion they’re tantamount to papering over the cracks, the real solution to safe streets for children is a fully publicly owned and run multi-modal system of transport. The must include buses, light rail both in the city and connecting rural areas and villages, as well as safe routes for walking and cycling.
This must be the priority focus.
The big businesses who have caused the most damage to the environment must be the ones to pay. Working class parents and workers should not be financially penalised for problems that they had no hand in creating, be they motorists or not.
If elected, I would be more than happy to form a united front of progressives in the council to strongly advance theses interests in any which way possible.
Papering over the cracks is sometimes necessary, but it is never a long term solution. Temporary solutions may open up opportunities for money-hungry developers across the city who will look to implement ludicrous, unnecessarily expensive solutions to simple questions as they trample on our democracy. No doubt that the Greater Cambridge Partnership would help them to help themselves.
We cannot have a repeat of the congestion charge fiasco, nor can we look to close off main trunk roads in the city, such as the Mill Road bridge permanently without first having fully functioning alternative modes of travel.