Better information for commuters and a vital need for integrated transport modes, and the role technology could play in facilitating this, were discussed at a Dods Transport Dialogue fringe event, chaired by transport commentator Christian Wolmar.
Opening the fringe session, Wolmar said the session would explore how to make the daily commute easier.
Lilian Greenwood MP, Shadow Transport Minister for rail and aviation, said it was about sustainability and to combine this with economic growth. A growth in rail commuting was clearly an important part of that, she said.
Referring to the Passenger Focus passenger survey, Greenwood said a third of commuters travelled less because of rail fares, as she called for a strict cap on rail fare rises.
“We do need better connectivity with other modes of transport,” Greenwood went on to say.
Greenwood stressed the need to devolve rail to regional transport partnerships and to introduce travel smartcard schemes, integrating this with cycling, walking and light rail.
“Integration needs to be done in the local area,” Greenwood said.
Labour would also look at parking charges at stations, which she argued had an impact on the appeal of rail commuting for road users. She also told delegates that there was a need to increase the rail network’s capacity and argued the case for a new high speed line.
She added that the electricity that would power the new high speed line needed to be decarbonised, as Ed Miliband had already pledged, to make sure it was environmentally friendly.
Steve Scrimshaw, Managing Director of Siemens Rail Systems, said they were intrinsically linked to commuting around cities and he acknowledged that the reality was that it was not always the most relaxing process.
The performance of London’s main transport arteries were essential to the vitality of the UK’s communities, he told delegates.
Scrimshaw referred to Professor David Begg’s report, ‘World Class? London’s Transport: Progress and Future Challenges’, which concluded that London’s transport system was world class, despite there being room for improvement in air pollution, cycling safety, public transport fares and allocation of road space.
There was a need to secure funding to address future challenges and build on successes he said.
“The transport industry must work together to ensure that all journeys are as integrated as possible,” Scrimshaw added.
He said this was possible through IT, such as the integrated mobility platform, which provided mobility solutions for cities. Dynamic traffic control could assess traffic flow by means of previously defined strategies, he told delegates.
These innovations were just a couple of example of technologies to aid integration and ensure not every Monday morning commute was a “manic Monday”, Scrimshaw concluded.
Glynn McDonald, from Virgin Trains, said the company wanted to learn, which was why they were participating in the Dods Transport Dialogue.
“We have an absolute wealth of inform about the core part of the commuters journey,” he said, telling delegates that the company knew a lot about what commuters thought.
He stressed however the need to learn more about the ends of people’s journeys.
“Although we have very high level of customer satisfaction, 92 per cent in the recent passenger survey, we know we need to do much more,” he added.
He warned not to lose track of the small things such as access to car parks and lighting.
“We want to find out much more as a company both big and small to ensure seamless journeys,” McDonald concluded.
Claire Porter, head of strategy of Transportation Systems at Thales, said “technology plays a vital part in the door-to-door strategy”.
“Innovation really needs to be encouraged” she added, urging for different research in this area to be pulled altogether.
She referred to a new signalling system being introduced by Network Rail that aimed to predict failure on the network and mitigate train delays, as an example of successful innovation.
Modern signalling systems were delivering more capacity and Porter cited the Jubilee and Northern London underground lines as successful examples.
“Connectivity is a real issue” she state, but said that by integrating some systems “we can greatly enhance the commuters experience”.
Asked by Wolmar what the speakers thought would make people’s lives easier,
Scrimshaw said the integration subject was the key issue.
Greenwood said it was about creating not only new capacity but making the most of what was already there.
McDonald said it was a combination of the big and small things. “Technology and big solutions were great but let’s remember the small things as well,” he said.
Porter felt reliability and predictability to aid the user experience were most important.