Mayor Speaks At The Local Transport Forum

Mayor's Speech to Wolverhampton Transport Forum (Personal Views)

It has taken Wolverhampton over a thousand years to develop into the city it is today.It’s a great city that is constantly evolving . It is a city with tight boundaries and it is a city that is in constant change. Transport in any city is not just a requirement it is as important as blood is to our own bodies.

Without good transportation no city in the world would be able to function or live upto its citizens expectations. I know that transport is a hot potato and that there are many rows raging over the County about what should be happening with regard to our transport system. but I do know that we cannot be seen to be developing our transport system here in isolation from the rest of the region. what ever we do here must be relevant to what ever is taking place elsewhere.

There are big issues around like Birmingham New Street Station and the regions rail requirements. It seems that there is now going to be a multimillion pound development at New Street Station. Some transport experts are very concerned that the station development seems to be about the retail offer, and that very little extra rail capacity is being constructed into the proposal for development.



I think we all recognise the importance of New Street as a rail hub. I know that business and industry will want to see it developed for better rail connections. My view is similar to those voiced by Rob Marris in Parliament. I think Rob was right to voice a word of warning about the possibility of this massive station in Brum sucking so much resource for its development that it causes uncertainty in the much needed plans for Wolverhampton's own big infrastructure developments like our own 'Interchange' project.

Rail is an important factor in the development of our city. Since the early days of steam Wolverhampton has been as the centre of rail development. Building engines, maintaining rolling stock and as a destination and access for rail passengers. Already the first phase of the new developments at the station have been much appreciated by passengers and has given the rail station additional rail capacity. The interchange project that will bring trams together with the rail station and access for buses will give the station new energy. Perhaps being one of the most vital schemes we have on our horizon here in Wolverhampton.


Highways are in the news we do need to ensure that our highways are well maintained and that we are making the very best use of them. I also believe that we do need to look again at the Wolverhampton Western Orbital Route .I know that this is a development that is wanted by some and hated by others. But the pressure of traffic is growing on all our highway's and the pressure on the M6 is enormous. When traffic spills off the motorway due to the frequent incidents. The effects on the black country and Wolverhampton is very evident. In delaying local movements the traffic clogs the city centre. A Western Orbital Route would help distribute traffic better, as well as providing the impetus for economic regeneration.


So where do buses fit in all this? Well they carry 90% or there about of people using public transport here in the West Midlands County. They are the work horse of the conurbation as stated by John Prescott our Deputy Prime Minister.

Every one want’s one if you read all the vox pops in newspapers after a service has been re-routed or after a petition has been submitted to the local council …………..but not down my street…..Then the excuses I would use a bus….But they are not convenient as they are not fast enough! I want to use the bus but they don’t go where I want?

All of these are excuses that you have heard before. They are hardly new. But we still cannot deliver a proper response to them. So how is it when the service stops operating..There are huge complaints. When your car breaks down and no bus operates there are complaints. When the bus gets caught in traffic and becomes unreliable there are more complaints.

Well the answer is easy in those sorts of conditions the bus becomes your priority. That’s the case in the West Midlands here….every working day 1 million bus passengers are using the bus service. 18 hours a day 7 days a week. the bus is our peoples priority and politicians should not ignore that. TWM buses travel some 65 times around the World in mileage terms in a week. They underpin the local economy and are fundamental to many workers journeys.

So why are they not treated with priority by the politicians here in the West Midlands County.? Bus priority measures have been advanced pitifully slowly here in West Midlands County.

When I asked the question in 2004 about how many miles of bus priority measures had we achieved here in the West Midlands County in the last 4 years. The answer was staggering …….go on have a guess?

Is it 20 25 35 kilometres?



No a staggering 4 kilometres. A measly paltry miserable 4 kilometres. Now with the officials responsible for providing me with that position statement here today, perhaps they would be good enough to tell me what the figure is now?



Considering that bus priority measures stand at the front of the Local Transport Plan to improve services, how can we have implemented such a miserable amount of kilometre? Bus services if they are not to stand in the same traffic as others need reliability and punctuality to attract customers to their services.

Indeed it should be a major concern for all who use public transport . The reputation of local Government has been damaged by the inability to provide systems that work and do the sort of job that they were designed to do.


So what is it that we should all be aspiring to? My vision of Wolverhampton is a clear one. It is a city that provides good well maintained highway’s and pedestrian routes. A city that is so comfortable with itself it encourages pedestrians to use their own legs to get about first and foremost.It means ensuring that new developments are planned correctly so that people get the maximum advantage out of the built environment, it means that social care homes are developed for the elderly in places where they can use public transport.



Social Exclusion is very much an issue though in the last year or so it does not appear to have had the same sort of profile it held previously; it is an issue that transport planners and planners in general should have. Social Exclusion is not all about what transport operators do not do.

It is a very important policy issue that should manifest itself in a variety of ways across Central Government and Local Government working.Often Social Exclusion is exacerbated by the lack of real thought of objective in the early planning stages.

What do I mean by that?


Well the placing of schools in hard to reach envelopes of land served by cul de sacs. Forcing parents to take their children to school by car when schools are placed in out of Town sites. The Sheltered Housing complex again being placed on the cheapest bit of land away from the nearest bus route again at the end of a cul de sac, or even worse the peripheral site that is bereft of any other local service.

The medical authorities that think of public transport access last when designing new medical facilities.Take a look at New Cross Hospital amongst the narrowest road in the whole of our city is the central transport access for the complex. So we find swish medical facilities, but no way of accessing them easily by bus. Because the bus gets caught in the hospital in the traffic congestion that builds around a badly parked car or ambulance!

What I am trying to say is that Social Exclusion needs to be tackled by a whole range of bodies which includes central and local Government, the Office of Fair Trading, Traffic Commissioners and of course public transport operators. Social Exclusion is not an easy issue to tackle, it is not uniform and it just doesn't hang out in easily defined geographic cores.

The industrial/ business site placed on one of the newest spine roads in the West Midlands County provided by Central Government money and provided for by those engines of growth the Development Corporation. Yes, I know that this road was declared an award winner in that it provided access that opened up derelict land for development. But it also provided no access at all for the public transport user.Hence no bus service so if you live a distance from the factory you work in, you are forced to use a car even if you did not want too. Oh and by the way it doesn't have pedestrian footpaths either …..Many of the factory units are at the end of cul de sacs!!!.

Ok the development isn't in Wolverhampton but it is a great example of the planners designing transport systems for cars only.

Therefore no car; no job. I know from my day job how important buses are for the regions users , 210 million female passengers and 30 million children aged between five to 16 years, travel each year on local bus services. Six million children aged under five years. Also in excess of 50m passengers on OAP concessions.

The last Government figures I saw placed West Midlands bus fares as amongst the lowest in the country. This obviously helps mobility and there is a wide range of travel cards that allow travel to take place across the whole of the county.

I believe very much in the "Quality Partnership" approach to growing the bus market and providing quality bus services. I also recognise that the fear of crime on public transport is also a contributor to people not travelling even when they do have a bus or train to call upon. Weshould not take this issue lightly. I am pleased to have played a personal part in initiating an award winning partnership with West Midlands Police , that has now expanded to take in Centro Operation Safer Travel.

It has been highly successful in tackling petty crime, bad behaviour, and violence aimed at staff, all of these issues which impact upon the decisions of passengers to take public transport.

Yes we do know that passengers like to see police officers travelling on the bus.Bus operators have encouraged this by a policy that they have had for a number of years whereby officers on the production of a warrant card can travel free on our services. We know that we are having an impact on crime as we have seen a 29% reduction on driver assaults last year.

Passenger research informs us that Operation Safer Travel is very popular with public transport users.

This co-operation extends to work with British Transport Police, National Express is very serious in its aim of making public transport crime free.

New and innovative schemes that provide better information, ticketing and fare arrangements to pockets of socially excluded people is required. Some of this innovation can be provided in partnership between Local Authorities and bus operators.

We do need a more enlightened view to emanate from the Office of Fair Trading for this action to take place.

To be fair that change of attitude may now be taking place.

But we should not underestimate the damage that has been caused by the attitude and policy that the OFT had been previously pressing, in creating a fear of 'partnership working ' between Local Authorities and other operators in trying to provide better and more efficient fares and services for passengers.


One of the great networks that operate here in Wolverhampton is the NX inter urban coach network.

It is a story of some success. Here in Wolverhampton we are very well provided for in accessing services to any part of the country. Local rail usually grabs the headlines.

Let me surprise you with some facts .More people come into Wolverhampton than leave Wolverhampton with National Express services.

Nearly 130,000 passengers per year travel using the National Express coaching network which is a 5% increase YOY here in Wolverhampton.

So you are asking where can I go to, or arrive from, using these services.What are the cities served by direct service?

There are 49 destinations that are plugged directly into Wolverhampton. You can travel to the Northern Ireland Capital of Belfast, or the Scottish Capital Edinburgh or to the UK's Capital City of London.

But you can also reach all these cities, Aberdeen, Banbury, Barnstaple, Belfast, Blackburn, Blackpool, Bolton, Bournemouth, Bridgwater, Bristol, Burnley, Carlisle, Cheltenham, Coventry, Dundee, Edinburgh, Exeter, Falmouth, Gatwick, , Inverness, Glasgow, Heathrow, London, Luton, Manchester, Manchester Airport, Milton Keynes, Newquay, Oldham, Oxford, Paignton, Perth, Plymouth, Poole, Portsmouth, Preston, Reading, Rhyl, Salisbury, Southampton, Stockport, Stoke-on-Trent, Stratford-upon-Avon, Taunton, Torquay, Truro, Weston-S-Mare, Weymouth, Winchester.

Indeed the league table for Wolverhampton people's favourite coaching destinations are : 1) London 2) Heathrow 3) Birmingham 4) Manchester and Airport 5) Glasgow 6) Blackpool 7) Golders Green!

Are there any development plans?

NX Coaches have recently increased the frequency of the 420 to London/Birmingham to two hourly. Later this year a trial will take place to see if there is an opportunity to increase this further (it is every half an hour from Birmingham).

Wolverhampton - Heathrow is an important route and the company will ensure Wolverhampton is included in the development of services to the new Terminal 5. This will I am sure be most welcome as Wolverhampton University continues to grow and has lots of overseas students.

Also as Wolverhampton and low cost airports continue to grow, in five years time the company can see the potential of a direct Wolverhampton to Stansted airport route being developed .



So I have left the best to last.

I have always been a huge fan of LRT I am convinced that we should see this form of transport also as a development tool. Every where you look along the Line One you can see development being attracted to the line. It is a fact that the line is playing its part in developing land that has not been used for decades.

It is slowly growing its traffic with 5.1m users on the line last year. The public love the service and Centro are expanding the network.

We should not be satisfied with being at the end of the line. We should be ensuring the future success of our city by aggressively promoting future routes. If I have a criticism of the City it is this. Here we have being developed, a £210m shopping scheme New Summer Row.

The largest retail scheme after the development of the Bull Ring. A whole swathe of our city is to be redeveloped to take account of this development. Yet the flagship metro service has not been extended to serve the development?

Wolverhampton is a city that is going places, its a great city, but we do need to be self critical where we can, and we do need to ensure that proper debate about our objectives can be aired. I am pleased that you have allowed me to paint a personal view on the way that we should be going as we head into the 21st Century