Car to be basis of transport in London?
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by Derek Moses • Reports in a national newspaper that the final part of the London Traffic Survey will recommend that futurekransport policy in Greater London should be based on the greatest possible provision for the private car, rather than on heavy investment in new tubes and other public transport systems, have been described by a spokesman for the Greater London Council as "pure speculation".
The surprising and unexpected conclusion in favour of cars is supposed to have been reached by consultants who are drafting the survey on behalf of the GLC and the Ministry of Transport. Five years' work has already been spent on the survey at a cost of about ilm and two parts have been published.
A key conclusion of part three is stated to be that even if large sums are invested in new tubes and other forms of public transport, car ownership in central London and the suburbs will continue to rise inexorably. The desire of the motorist to use his car rather than public transport would be well-nigh irresistible because the private car would usually be the most efficient way of making the journey the motorist has in mind, it is said. The consultants are reported to have calculated that investment in new roads and parking facilities will yield a big return and that a substantial increase in London's road capacity is possible without the wholesale rebuilding envisaged in some of the studies in the 1963 Buchanan Report. Construction of the Motorway Box would, for example, produce an increase of a fifth in the capacity of roads in central London by siphoning off through-traffic and making more space available for local traffic.
In view of this speculation, the GLC issued the following statement on Monday: "We cannot confirm or deny what is emerging from the consultants' report as they are still drafting it. It would be very surprising if the consultants recommended, and we acted on, a complete preponderence of private cars rather than tube and public transport, as we have gone on record as saying that the motorway programme is only one element in a comprehensive transport programme which does include public transport."