UK/US may co-operate
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on urban transport
• The Minister of Transport is to meet the United States Secretary for Transportation, Mr. Volpe, next month, to see how far Great Britain and the USA can tackle the problems of urban transport in the Seventies together.
"The battle between the car and public transport is the biggest problem facing any Minister of Transport, either here or in the US," Mr. Richard Marsh told the Granada and Westinghouse Broadcasting Company's dinner in London last week.
We were beginning, he said, to face the acute problems which the States had had for 10 to 15 yearsThe next decade would see car ownership in the UK rise from 12m to 20m—and get worse!
In the UK we had not let public transport run down so far as in the US, but it was already in danger in some parts of the country, Now America was proposing to put a massive effort into reviving public transport systems.
To cope with the car and protect the environment we needed to develop a new form or urban vehicle to provide an alternative to the private car—possibly some form of crossbreed between the bus and car. In city organization and management of existing public transport perhaps the UK was the better placed. But the US had the resources and many of the new capabilities needed. He had no doubt we could do better together than going it alone.
Said the Minister: -In the words of Chairman Marsh—what shall it profit a man if he gaineth two cars and finds it quicker to walk?"