Transport Secretary Chris Grayling visited Nottingham today to see how the city has successfully developed an integrated transport system.
He saw the redeveloped Nottingham Station, new tram stop above the station as part of the tram extensions and the cycle hub for bike hire – all funded from the city’s innovative Workplace Parking Levy.
He pointed to Nottingham as an ‘exemplar’ for integrated transport for places to look towards when bidding for £1.7bn of transport funding to be announced in this week’s Budget. While in Nottingham he heard how:
- Nottingham has successfully held traffic levels steady for over a decade – recent Government figures show a fall of 40 million car miles in Nottingham over the last 15 years
- The city introduced the UK’s first – currently only – Workplace Parking Levy in 2012 which has so far raised over £36m. It contributes towards the redevelopment of Nottingham Station, the extension of the tram network and a Linkbus network connecting communities with the city centre, workplaces and other major destinations (fleet of 58 fully electric buses)
- At the same time the Robin Hood Card has been introduced allowing multi-operator journeys across the conurbation – to be upgraded to allow for contactless bankers and mobile phone payments (funded through DfT’s recently announced National Productivity Investment Fund)
- Nottingham has among the highest bus use per head outside London – with 63m bus passengers a year
- A third of the 16m tram passengers a year leave their car at home or use Park & Ride
- Nottingham has 6,500 Park & Ride spaces served by buses and trams
- Cycle ambition programme has contributed to a 34% increase in cycling trips since 2010
Councillor Jane Urquhart, who met Mr Grayling, asked him to rethink pulling the plug on the Midland Mainline’s electrification, saying it was still unclear what the journey time benefits from the proposed alternative ‘bi-mode’ trains would be, as well as this option not addressing air quality issues.