The 1990s paradigm shift - Transport Policy and Planning in Great Britain - page 108

The Trustees commissioned a series of reports from a wide range of experts co-
ordinated by the Transport Studies Unit at Oxford University. The Unit's own report
titled 'Transport: the New Realism' (Goodwin et al. 1991) contained a number of
principles on which it claimed there was very wide academic and professional
consensus (Box 7.1).
In the face of the Government's plans for an expanded inter-urban roads programme
the report's core message was that
there is no possibility of increasing road supply at a level which matches the
growth rates of demand …. If supply cannot be matched to demand, demand has
to be matched to supply.
In practice this was a principle which had been followed for many years in
connection with urban traffic and transport policy. But its application to the inter-
urban context - where at first sight there would seem to be no physical constraint on
limitless road-building - challenged the approach which had been followed with the
national programme for the previous 35 years.
The report outlined the components of demand management strategies which
would include land use planning, 'very substantial' improvements in the quality
and scale of public transport, traffic calming and advanced traffic management
systems plus consideration of road pricing with its revenues being used as a means of
fulfilling the overall programme. As with the presentation of the Buchanan Report
almost thirty years previously the likely public resistance to such measures was
acknowledged:
Box 7.1 Principles of the New Realism
• There is an intolerable imbalance between expected trends in mobility and the
capacity of the transport system.
• This is causing problems to industry, to the environment and also to the ability of
people to lead comfortable and fulfilling lives.
• The main problem is the growth in reliance on car use, which no longer succeeds
in realising its own objectives.
• It is not possible to provide suficient capacity to meet unrestrained demands for
movement.
• It is necessary to devise systems of managing demand which are economically
efficient, provide attractive possibilities for travel for both car owners and non-car
owners and give priority to 'essential' traffic.
• Policies to accomplish this are technically feasible, providing they are properly
harmonised …. Expansion of road infrastructure will not be the core of transport
policy.
• Institutional arrangements must enable a co-ordinated and consistent treatment
of all the different parts of the transport system and a 'level playing field' in
planning and implementation.
Source: Goodwin et al. 1991 p.3