Mets spell out fears
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THE METROPOLITAN counties and a major public transport pressure group have added their weight to protests against Government plans to alter public transport administration in the seven major English conurbations.
Merseyside County Council, on behalf of the six counties, has prepared a document outlining the advantage of the status quo, and has criticised plans to reinvent joint board passenger transport authorities (PTAs).
It has told Environment Secretary Patrick Jenkin that the PTA proposals, accompanied by maximum possible devolution to district councils, would be "destructive and retrograde".
It fears that the PTAs would be left with high cost routes to provide, after independent operators and district councils creamed off the rest.
Transport 2000, the public transport pressure group, has prepared a briefing note for MPs as part of its campaign to amend the London Regional Transport Bill.
It wants London Regional Transport to be bound by the requirements of the 1983 Transport Act. That would require its three-year plans to be made public.
As the Bill stands, Transport 2000 fears that LT's requirement to "promote the provision of integrated, efficient and economic transport facilities and services for Greater London" and to "provide or secure the provision of such public passenger transport services as best meet the needs of Greater London" will be replaced.
Instead, it will require LRT to "provide or secure the provision of public passenger transport services for Greater London" and to "have due regard to the transport needs for the time being of Greater London" and to "efficiency, economy and safety of operation".