Government cares more for private transport companies than people and planet

10th January 2007

Dear Sir,

We welcome Cllr Fox's call for a Quality Bus Contract made at the We Want Our Buses Back demo (reported in the Star 8th Jan 07). This would bring buses back under public control. But why must we wait until 2009? True, government rules don't make it easy, but had Cllr Fox acted after the "Have your say" exercise in 2004 we would be further along in the process by now.

The fact is, this government has let us down over public transport. It refused to fund Supertram extensions (after South Yorkshire spent ?1m on a feasibility study). It refused improvements at Dore station which would have created better links to London and the Hope Valley. Meanwhile it is spending billions on widening the M1.

36% of Sheffield households rely on public transport and even car owners might use public transport for some journeys (e.g. commuting) if it was reliable and affordable. The need for a properly regulated bus service is obvious and urgent. We can only conclude that this government cares more about the interests of the private transport companies and the road lobby than about people and the planet.

Yours

Cllr Jillian Creasy
Sheffield Green Party