r-share scheme is laying with fire'
Page 7
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iVEINMENT plans for exded car sharing amount to ying with fire and could ;troy Britain's stage bus work, says Confederation; British Road Passenger insPort director general its Quin.
'ran port Minister Norman vier wants to remove restion which prevent motorfro advertising that they
will carry passengers for money, provided that they do not operate commercially.
He wants to encourage car sharing and envisages a 10 per cent increase which will make "very substantial" savings in fuel consumption and congestion.
Mr Fowler says this growth will come only from existing car users, but Mr Quin told CM he is sure that it will abstract traffic from bus routes and could kill off many marginal services throughout the country.
He says CPT is especially worried by a car sharing scheme being mooted already in County Cleveland and about which Mr Fowler is said to be sympathetic.
"Who will make good the loss of bus revenue? And what will happen to the car which is left at home?" he said.
He accused Mr Fowler of playing with fire in rural areas where there are no bye-laws to prevent taxis from picking up passengers at bus stops, and predicted that many carsharing schemes could cream off traffic from bus services.
In urban areas, Mr Quin suspects that car sharing may not succeed at all. "It may be a complete and utter damp squib, but we daren't look at it as such."
He wants the Minister to reconsider charging tolls on cars which enter major cities with fewer than four passengers, and pointed out that this has contributed towards a 44 per cent drop in traffic in Singapore.
According to Mr Quin, the Singapore scheme has helped save energy, cut congestion, and speed up bus services.
Mr Fowler told CM last week that the car sharing proposals are not an excuse to avoid investment in new public transport systems.
He says it is necessary to encourage all forms of transport, but his advisers recognise that increased investment in peak-period public transport will yield little return.
For more reaction to the Government plans see page 18.
• Alan Millar