LOCAL TRAFFIC CONGESTION

A Virtual-Lancaster Report
18/2/05

One reason given for the necessity of a bypass is traffic congestion in Lancaster City Centre and along the A6 and A693 between Lancaster & Morecambe.

When is a Bypass Useful?
All research and experience shows that a bypass can only mitigate congestion where the town / village in question is not the final destination for most of the road users - for example where a village lies between two cities. It is argued that the congestion in the roads named above is due to heavy traffic from and to Morecambe and Heysham trying to bypass Lancaster for M6 access.

Traffic Survey Result
However Lancashire County Council (LSCC) surveys show that in fact 80% of the traffic travelling on the connecting roads between the two towns is in fact doing just that - travelling between the two towns, with no part of the journey motorway-oriented. The 2000 Local transport Plan noted that the proposed Northern Bypass Route woud have an insignificant impact on congestion.

The School Run
Another feature of the traffic is the substantial difference between school term-time and school holidays. During school holidays traffic moves freely and it is estimated that about 25% of congestion is caused by the school run. However (correct me if I am wrong) we understand that if you apply these overall statistics down to the time-bands that the school run actually affects, during the rush hours, the percentage figure is significantly higher. Again the presence or absence of a bypass will have no impact on this traffic.

At the public meeting (17/2/05) a nurse at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary said that that morning she drove home at 8.30am from the RLI to Torrisholme in 10 minutes as currently the schools were on holiday. When they started again next week the same journey would take her 30+ minutes.

Cllr Abbott Bryning (Labour) pointed out that the only feasible people to implement solutions to the school run congestion problem are the Local Education Authority / LSCC.

Everyone noted that in the school holidays traffic circulates freely throughout the area. However there appears to be no-one in any area of central or local government or education with the ability to take on the problem that is clearly causing the congestion on which MP Geraldine Smith blames almost all the ills of all the area.

'Ribbon' Development Promotes Traffic
As the experience of the Newbury Bypass demonstrates, and government policy documents also point out, a bypass will, paradoxically, have the effect of increasing the traffic because while it will not attract traffic away from the town centres that are its destination, it will encourage out-of-town housing development and shopping centres along its route, all of which encourages greater car use and increases traffic overall.

The only way in which congestion can be reduced in Lancaster, between Lancaster & Morecambe and between Morecambe and the M6 is to reduce the number of cars on the road. It's as easy to say as 'If you want to lose weight you have to eat sensibly'. And to most local politicians the concept is about as attractive as the salad option in KFC.

Buses Don't Win Votes
Public transport is not a vote-winner. Politicians want to be seen to be supporting options that drivers see as facilitating their car journeys. It doesn't matter if 5 years down the line everyone discovers that it didn't help, that it cost a fortune, that it added to the environmental destruction and the traffic problem is actually worse and still making our daily lives very difficult and costing us time and money. Because the elections will have come and gone. And, they will argue, politicians can only be helpful if they stay in power.

At the end of the day it is up to electors to identify the strategies that will actually improve their situation and appoint the politicians who have the ability not just to spin and score cheap points, but to make the strategies happen that will benefit us, our children, and their children.

On The Buses
A number of people complained at the meeting (17.2.05) about the public transport services (or lack of them). It costs £2.45 return to travel from Torrisholme Square to Lancaster Bus Station and £1.80 to travel from Common Garden St to Williamson Park. This encourages car use. However these residents were thought fortunate to have access to buses at all. One woman explained 'There is no bus route anywhere near where I live in Lancaster. So I have to drive in to work every day and park on somebody's doorstep - I'm sorry.'

Parking Problems in Residential Streets
It became clear that the problems besetting areas such as Bowerham, where college commuters cars are parked choking the streets all day are part of this overall neglect of the root cause of congestion.

Commuter Policies
Others have suggested that all centres - schools, colleges and places of employment need to be pressured / incentivised to formulate transport plans for their commuters aimed at reducing congestion.

The Preston Park & Ride scheme was raised as an example of a successful scheme. As it is inevitable that most of the streets in central Lancaster will eventually become resident parking zones, the sooner such a scheme can be developed the better.

Essential Vehicle Use
Cllr Bryning sugggested that many of the people in cars need their cars to do their jobs, such as workmen, doctors etc etc. However those of us whose streets fill every morning at 8.30am with cars that stay there until just after 5pm would point out that these people would probably be enabled to do their jobs better if they were actually able to park at their destinations.

Cllr Bryning also suggested that the idea of electrically powered minibuses - eco-shuttles - travelling the Millenium Cyclepath from Morrisons to Lancaster Bus Station past Asda & Saltayre would also help but he could not get any support for the idea in Council. He and most of the people in the meeting favoured the idea of greater subsidisation of public transport. Public Transport needs to be more flexible to meet modern needs.

Flexible Shuttle Services
Many foreign cities use minibus shuttles that connect residential areas to central locations with greater regularity than conventional buses. Some offer doorstep delivery within a particular neigbourhood or along a particular corridor of streets. Electric shuttles or trams might serve for getting around in town. Our current council is probably as likely to provide jetpacks.

Learning A New Language
One problem is that people in the Town Hall have little personal experience or grasp of public transport issues. Andrew Dobson (Head of Planning & Building Control for Lancaster City Council) said: " If it [the road planning application] doesn't go ahead we will have to deal with the consequences and find other solutions". When asked what solutions he could envisage to the congestion problem if the planning application fell through (although this is largely irrelevant to the problem) all he could think of was Park & Ride schemes and electronic congestion warning systems.

It's a small beginning and to be fair it could be argued that these are the only areas in which the Council has a remit - as Public Transport is actually Private Transport. At present. But to be any use a plan has to actually address the problems. And if the concepts of non-car-based public transport, by bus, rail, tram or shuttle, and off-road freight transport are so alien to the Head of Planning that he forgets their necessary place in the strategy, then we know at least one place where change needs to begin.

18/2/05