Labour ‘taxing, spending and failing’ on public transport
The Conservative Party’s transport spokesman has attacked Labour’s failure to improve conditions for passengers on Britain’s trains.
Tim Collins comment’s came after the cross-party House of Commons Transport Committee, in a report entitled “Overcrowding on Public Transport,” warned the Government that commuters using public transport faced a “daily trauma” in chronic “intolerable conditions.”
MPs said failure to take the issue of overcrowding and train delays more seriously was “tantamount to waiting for a tragedy to occur.”
The committee warned that monitoring of rail overcrowding was “fundamentally flawed.”
The report in particular highlighted the “unacceptable” degree of overcrowding in major cities in Britain. It noted the problem was likely to get worse.
Mr Collins attacked the Government for expecting passengers to pay more for poorer services: “As passengers and taxpayers alike pay more and more for steadily deteriorating travel experience, it is evident yet again that Labour are taxing, spending and failing.
“This damning report from a Labour dominated select committee demonstrates the scale of the failure by Labour over the last six and a half years. No one supposes that there are easy overnight solutions to overcrowding, but many would have expected at least some progress after all the promises Labour made in 1997.”
The report suggested some ways to tackle the problem of overcrowding including lengthening trains, changing service frequencies and even simply communicating better with the public.
“Constant gross overcrowding should not be an acceptable fact of travelling life,” the report said.
National director of the Rail Passengers Council, Anthony Smith, said on the back of the report: “Being crowded in like sardines does not make for a pleasant journey experience and we welcome today’s report as a sign that this key passenger concern is being taken seriously.”
And Bob Crow, general secretary of the rail union, the RMT, said: “The committee has recognised that overcrowding does not just do damage to commerce and tourism but also poses major health and safety problems.
“Overcrowding is a major source of the frustration that passengers all too often take out on our members, who face the constant threat of verbal and physical assault.”
The report was published as Transport Secretary Alistair Darling launched new rolling stock for South West Trains on a busy commuter route.
At the launch at Waterloo yesterday, Mr Darling said: “We are replacing just over one-third of all rolling stock and half of this is on London commuter lines.”
“Progress will take time. There are no quick fixes but the key is more capacity and also to make sure you have reliable and regular services.
“The committee is right to say overcrowding monitoring has its problems. It may be difficult to define but passengers know overcrowding when they see it.
“If the question of how it is monitored needs to be looked at, then we will look at it.”
