MPs slam ministers
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• Transport ministers have given "too low a priority" to developing a coherent transport strategy and have failed to make transport safer and more efficient.
That is the damning view of the all-party backbench Commons transport committee. In their annual report the MPs have told the Department of Transport to set realistic targets instead of merely stating its objectives.
The committee has welcomed Transport Secretary Malcolm Rifkind's announcement that Section 8 grants for building road-rail depots will be increased. It says Rifkind shows "a change of emphasis and an acceptance that transport policy had to contain more than just the provision of a basis for fair competition between modes".
PCV operators should be helped to provide services, say the MPs. "Buses can't remain public transport's poor relations any longer if the country is to deal effectively with urban congestion," they say, and tax relief should be extended to the purchase of new vehicles. The report also calls for an "aggressive policy of building bus lanes".