|
There are growing fears that the success of London's Olympic bid could hinder plans on Tyne and Wear to upgrade the public transport network. Business leaders and politicians are concerned the 2012 games will mean far less money for train and bus links, including the Tyne and Wear Metro, the UK's biggest underground system outside of London. Civic leaders, local politicians and MPs from Tyne and Wear are today presenting a case for major investment in public transport to the Secretary of State, Alistair Darling. But this is not about new tram systems, which have been proposed for so many other major UK cities, it is mainly about upgrading Tyne and Wear's existing Metro, which is almost 25 years old. Mike Parker, Director General of Metro operator Nexus, the local Passenger Transport Executive who framed the bid, said: "We looked at street running trams for some of the busy traffic corridors but found that the case was not robust enough. But the work we did demonstrated that if the key objective was taking people out of cars then the best value for money was upgrading the Metro and enhancing local bus services." Seen enviously by other parts of the UK as one of the jewels in the public transport crown, the Tyne and Wear Metro was built in 1980 and currently carries 37 million passengers a year (more
than most national train operators). However, it is showing its age and Nexus is worried that car owners who currently choose to use the Metro will drift back to using their cars. Mr Parker added: "If we are to attract not just today’s car users to Metro for some of their journeys but also the car user of 2015 and 2025 we need to have a step change in the quality of what we offer particularly in stations, rolling stock and waiting areas. Major investment in Metro, for these reasons, is critical." Cllr David Wood, Chairman of Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Authority, said: "We have not yet had any indication that the Olympic bid will starve the rest of the country of public transport funds. It is our belief that it’s more likely to result in a rescheduling of London's transport capital programme." NOTES
The Tyne and Wear Metro was the UK's first light rapid transit system and serves the cities of Sunderland and Newcastle/Gateshead and the districts of North and South Tyneside. This conurbation has a population of 1.1 million and the Metro system serves some of the most deprived wards in the country. Planned over 30 years ago, as a state of the art system, and opened in stages during the early 1980s, Metro was extended in 1991 and 2002 to Newcastle International Airport and Sunderland respectively. The present Metro system has 58 stations (60 by 2007) employs about 700 staff and carries over 37 million passengers each year. Car ownership in Tyne and Wear has been ncreasing at a faster rate than any other region in the UK in the last ten years. This will have a significant impact on levels of road traffic and public transport usage which will be a major transport challenge in the Tyne and Wear region, both in the short and long term. The conurbation will see an inexorable rise in traffic congestion that will restrict business and commerce and hamper people’s efforts to traverse the regional quickly and without disruption. These demographic trends mean that without changes in policies or funding for public
transport car use will increase and public transport use will decline. Working with experts (Steer Davies Gleave, Grant Thornton, Mott McDonald and Arup) Nexus has identified that the total cost of reinvigoration to ensure that Metro meets the rising aspirations of existing and potential users is circa £500m at 2005 prices phased over a 20 year programme. There is a strong financial and economic case for this concept. A range of procurement options have been identified as ways of funding this ambitious project with Nexus committed to exploring all options in detail and recognising that they all involve some level of private sector involvement. This view has been endorsed by the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Authority at its June 05 meeting and the project enjoys the full support of constituent local authorities of Tyne and Wear and its MPs. In order to take forward the programme to delivery, a number of actions are required. It is proposed that each of these work themes will be initiated before September 2005 and completed within 3 years. Because of the private sector implications for Metro rejuvenation Nexus will undertake a formal market consultation exercise later this year (2005) in order to assess the market appetite for involvement in the procurement of the Metro Reinvigoration Programme and any other aspects of the Metro business. This is estimated to take up to 12 months but is the crucial first step in the development of the procurement strategy. During this time procurement and delivery options will be explored and refined as well as informed by outcomes of the market consultation exercises.
Improvements, if successfully funded through a range of options, would include: • A new customer friendly fleet of state of the art vehicles. • New signalling. • Improved ticketing/barriers and station equipment. • Compliance with the Disability Discrimination Act. • Enhanced stations and platforms including track dualling in South Tyneside. • Improved information for passengers with real time/Smartcard and mobile technology. • Better integration with key interchanges and bus solutions. More information is available at: www.projectorpheus.com.
|
