Fare Free London has submitted its response to the government’s “call for ideas” about its proposed new Integrated National Transport Strategy, and we ask all our supporters and allies to do the same.

Any organisation or individual can respond to the survey. It only takes a few minutes. If you support the idea of free public transport, please take this opportunity to mention it!

The DEADLINE for submissions is Thursday 20 February.

Here’s the link to the government web site. https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/integrated-national-transport-strategy-a-call-for-ideas.

This is what we have said in our response:

In your opinion, how could the transport network be better ‘joined-up’?

At national level, changes are needed in how government and local authority funds are invested. Transport infrastructure decisions need to be properly coordinated with climate policy and decarbonisation targets. On one hand, major investments are needed in the rail network, and the level of public ownership and regulation increased.

Major investments are needed at local level in bus services; in addition to franchising, the potential for increasing municipal ownership should be considered. On the other hand, investment in the road network, and airports, should be frozen and reviewed in line with climate targets and the precautionary principle with respect to climate change.

At city level, planning for different aspects of the transport network – cycling, walking, public transport by road, rail, riverboats and cars – should be better coordinated. For people using the various services, information about all the options should be gathered in one place. Transport for London’s web site is an example that could be built on.

The principle of public transport being offered free, as a public service, should be accepted at all levels of government, and work begun to determine how it can be implemented and financed.

How could data be used to improve the transport network?

Free public transport could be at first offered on a limited basis, e.g. for one week in a prescribed set of geographical areas. Data gathered on the use of transport at this time could be used to determine how the shift to free public transport could be made more broadly.

The same principle could be used in pursuit of reducing unnecessary car journeys. Limited road closures – e.g. the early introduction of “school streets” – could provide opportunities for gathering data about how driving patterns change as a result. This could be the basis for more ambitious policies that make modal shift away from cars
practical and possible.

How could technology be used to improve the transport network?

In urban settings, technologies such as tram lines, more robust bike lanes, and bus lanes, could be used to reverse the trend towards car-dominated transport systems. The potential of providing e-scooters and e-bikes, and changes to the road network that make it more amenable to these, as well as to bicycles, should be fully considered.

Technologies should be devised that make it possible to complete more journeys by bicycle, e-scooter, e-bike together with public transport. So, for example, research should be undertaken into e-bikes and e-scooters that could be safely transported on trains, enabling people conveniently to complete journeys with a combination of these.

How, if at all, would you improve the way decisions are made about the transport network?

By treating the system holistically and treating public transport as a public service (see answer re “joined up” network, above).

Any other comments?

There is abundant research, including research on the large number of places in the world where public transport has been made fully or partially free, showing that offering free public transport has a wide number of benefits. We refer here to urban and local public transport rather than e.g. intercity rail travel, although many of the same principles apply there.

Free public transport always enhances social equality, and reduces the effect of “transport poverty” on low-income households. See: Mari Martiskainen, “A sustainable transport system needs to address inequities like transport poverty”, IPPR Progressive Review, November 2024. There are also substantial benefits in terms of health and mental health, and support for disabled passengers. See: Transport for London, “Campaign Briefing – Free Public Transport. Why and How”, April 2024.

Equally important is that free public transport, combined with other policies to discourage unnecessary and avoidable car journeys, can make a substantial contribution to decarbonisation of transport, to reducing urban air pollution and to improving the quality of life of urban residents in other ways. See, e.g., Lisa Winkler et al, “The effect of sustainable mobility transition policies on cumulative urban transport emissions and energy demand”, Nature 14, 2023.