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The man responsible for tackling epidemic traffic congestion in London last night (thurs) issued a stark warning to Tyne and Wear leaders to "get their houses in order" or potentially face the same problems here. Peter Hendy, Managing Director of Surface Transport for London, is the man tasked with delivering congestion charging in Central London and controls buses and taxis in the capital.
Mr Hendy who reports directly to Mayor of London Ken Livingstone, told political leaders, academics and opinion formers from Tyne and Wear that congestion charging was only viable if the public transport alternatives were boosted and local authorities got their "houses in order" and added bus lanes, no car lanes and extra public transport provision. He was speaking at a meeting in Gateshead Civic Centre last night (thurs) and was invited to visit the region by Mike Parker, Director General of Nexus, to brief political leaders and opinion formers on London's success in driving down congestion in the capital. Mr Hendy, said: "When this scheme started 18 months ago I don't think any of us, including Ken Livingstone, had any idea of the results we would achieve. The amount of cars now entering central London has been reduced by almost a third and our bus passenger use has risen by 14% year on year. "There are now 8,200 London buses with 5.7million passengers using them. "In fact, only 20% of people we recently market researched said they didn't use a bus at some point. Buses are good for business and retailers. They allow people to move freely and recent research shows that people using public transport to enter London spend as much as car users in the shops." Audience members quizzed Mr Hendy on what could happen in Tyne and Wear over the next few years. Mr Hendy, said: "You're in a difficult position in Tyne and Wear in that you aren't seeing those traffic congestion levels yet. Your situation is similar to some of the larger London boroughs like Croydon who I am trying to persuade at the moment to take some difficult decisions about their future congestion levels and the kind of problems they will face unless they act now."
Mr Hendy's comments come on the day that Nexus unveiled its aspirations to tackle traffic congestion in Tyne and Wear over the next 20 years through its innovative public transport plan, Project Orpheus. The Passenger transport Executive will be asking politicians to ratify the two phased 20 year approach which will see Metro reinvigoration, substantial investment in buses and street running trams at a meeting next week.
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