I will be describing
significant developments and factors that are affecting and influencing
passenger transport within the UK. I will then be explaining how the UK passenger transport
industries have responded to developments and factors. I will finally be analysing how key factors are likely to impact
on future passenger transport operations in the UK
I will be describing
three factors and development that have been (for the last ten years) or are
currently affecting passenger transport in the UK.
The three developments
I will be talking about are: toll roads, congestion charging and new airports
and airport expansion.
Toll Roads
There are many toll roads in the UK, the money gained by the people paying to cross goes to the funding to maintain and improve the road. The most common one is on the M6.
There are many toll roads in the UK, the money gained by the people paying to cross goes to the funding to maintain and improve the road. The most common one is on the M6.
Toll roads have been
around since the 1960’s and were put in place to improve traffic flow and get
an extra income to help maintain the roads.
The M6 toll road was
made for people to have an extra choice to avoid a congested stretch in the
Midlands. There are various prices for crossing, there are all different prices
and if you sign up to be a tag customer you get 5% off. They also have three
prices because of the different days. The three price ranges are: Monday to
Friday 6am-11pm, Night 11pm-6am and then weekends.
The toll road is 43
kilometres long but the cars are not stuck in traffic.
The Dartford crossing
is another toll road where there is a
tunnel and a bridge it crosses of the River Thames. There are two different prices for the
Dartford crossing, daytime and night time. The prices range from £2.50 to £6
depending on the size of the vehicle.
Toll roads have been
effective for more than ten years but recently they have been causing problems.
One way they have been affecting passenger transport is when the Dartford
tunnel toll changed their system and you now have to register online to pay and
not hand over change to people working on the barriers. Some of the people
going through are getting fines because they didn't realise. This is having a
negative impact as people may choose to go a different route if they don't want
to pay for a toll road and makes the other roads busier.
Congestion Charging
The congestion charge has affected passenger
transport in a positive way because people are not wanting to pay the fee so
are using public transport to get around London, so there is less cars on the
road as people are using the buses. Not only is it the congestion charge but
also the stress driving around London at peak times whereas if you are on a bus
or even a train you can just sit down and get off when it is your stop.
New airports and
airport expansion
There are 20 most
popular airports in the UK, and they are always having extensions.
Heathrow airport want
to have a third runway to increase the capacity of people flying out of the
airport.
Not only are they
planning a third runway but also a sixth terminal, the 6th terminal to go to
Heathrow airport will bring in an extra 125 thousand passengers every year.
Passenger transport has
been affected positively by airport expansions and new airports because it
means that there is a more of a choice to fly out of and then a price war
happens between the airlines to get them to fly out of their airport and with
their organisation.
New
airports are constantly being thought of in the UK especially in London. The
transport for London are wanting to bring a international hub in the city
centre. The prime location for the planning of the airport is in the east of
the country, this is a positive response to the development of new airports because
they are meeting the needs of UK passengers.
Expansions
of UK airports is responding positively to the wanting needs of customers and
plans of having bigger airports is a must. As said above, Heathrow airport want
to build a new runway because it is one of the world’s busiest airports and in
2012, 70 million passengers used the airport as a major hub. The plan for the
expansion should be in between 2025-2029 . Another positive impact of this
development is that it increases the most amount jobs and make the most amount
of money for the whole of the UK. Heathrow have another plan
that is doubling the length of one of the other runways which will cost £13
billion.
Gatwick
airport also had a plan for expansion as it is the world’s busiest airport with
only one runway. The proposal was to build another runway which would be about
3,000m and would be far away from the first runway. It should cost around £9
billion.
The three factors I
will be describing are: legal, environmental and social
Legal - disability
discrimination
The Equality Act 2010,
provides a legislative framework for protecting the rights of individuals and
advancing equality of opportunity for all. The equality act had to make sure
everyone could use methods of passenger transport, the following are the things
changed to the regulation in the last then years: all trains will accessible
for everyone, in 2010 all of the taxis
in London have had to be wheelchair accessible, all double-decker buses must be
accessible to people with disabilities and finally airports have to make sure
there are accessible places within the
airport, getting on and off of the aircraft.
Disability
discrimination is something that UK passenger transport industries have worked
very hard to reduce allowing everyone to use various transport services, in the
last ten years, the organisations have responding both positively and
negatively.
In 2013,
Easy Jet made it easier for people to book special assistance on their flights
by having a separate call centre which is feee to ring up, this is a positive
response as the organisation are realising that they can help people by
offering this service and will also gain a competitive edge compared to other
organisations which offers a special assistance phone line but at a charge of
10pence a minute (Ryanair)
Environmental -
carbon emissions
This goes hand in hand
with the congestion charge, because less people are driving around London to
not pay the charge and use the public transport instead.
This has changed in the
last ten years as emission levels have lowered since 2011, making public
passenger transport more popular.
This
factor is likely to affect have an impact on passenger transport operations in
the future because there will more rules and regulations over how much carbon
emission can be released into the environment. In the next five years I reckon
public transport methods will be more popular particularly in London and even
car sharing to reduce travel costs, lower congestion and reduce the amount of
carbon emission. Also according to a report by Sustrans, using trains as
transport rather than using cars trains will become more environmentally
friendly and will release up to eight times lower than fumes by cars.
Social - personal
mobility, changing needs and expectations
When People travel both
internationally and domestically they want to do it with ease and comfort. So
the transport systems need to adapt to everyones needs, so it has to be easy
for everyone to use. In the last ten years, social factors have contributed to
affecting passenger transport in a positive way as companies are also finding
the best ways to beat the competition and provide better services.
Social is
a factor which can have an impact on passenger transport in the future. The
customers are forever wanting changes on their transport and the main want is
having useful travel ways of moving. Another thing is retrieving information
whilst on the underground. Organisations will also be changing their products and service to meet
the changing expectations such as wanting free Wi-Fi whilst on public transport
and differing class on domestic flights and national rail.
