Siân Berry has unveiled her plans for cheaper, safer and more convenient transport in London, including a 20p cut in fares and a 20mph default speed limit. The transport manifesto, entitled "20-20 Vision for London" will also pledge free bikes across the city, a huge expansion in car clubs, car-free Sundays for West End shopping, and new rail and tram routes.
To download 20-20 Vision, click here.
Other measures in the transport manifesto include all-night Tube services at weekends, the removal of both ‘cattle-pen’ railings and gyratory one-way systems to facilitate pedestrian and motor traffic, the extension of the 30% student travelcard discount to day travelcards and single fares, and new pedestrian areas to improve every town centre in London.
Siân said:
"As Londoners, we have a choice to make – do we want our transport system to be liberating, or just frustrating?
"My top transport policies – the 20-20 Vision of 20p off public transport fares and a 20mph speed limit are just the start of a truly visionary programme that the Green Party and I have put together, but even those two measures will save hundreds of lives and change thousands for the better. Beyond that, the changes in this manifesto will open up London, get us all moving safely and cheaply, and make discovering our city fun again.
"We need to bring an end to the transport tribe mentality. It’s no good thinking of ourselves as ‘a motorist’, ‘a cyclist’, or ‘a bus user’ – we’re all just people trying to get around. I’ll give Londoners a real choice of cheaper, more efficient transport options for every journey they make.
"I’ll use proven solutions that are working in other cities around the world to provide cheaper public transport, safe, pleasant streets for walking, free bikes across the city, more efficient buses and trains, smoother traffic and increased access to car clubs for those journeys that really do mean getting in a car."
The manifesto’s pledges on public transport, walking, cycling, safety and congestion include:
Cheaper, better public transport
- A 20p fare cut to all bus and off-peak Tube fares.
- Extending the Freedom Pass for pensioners to give 24-hour free travel to pensioners, and defending free travel for under-18s.
- Extending the 30% student discount, currently only on travelcards, to all fares.
- An end to Tube privatisation; Tube Lines brought back into TfL.
- All-night Tube service at weekends.
More support for walking
- Pedestrian areas in every town centre, with local people empowered to choose the best improvements for their area.
- Car-free Sundays in the West End – every Sunday, not just once a year.
Action on safety and congestion
- A 20mph speed limit across London, except on a small number of major routes.
- No more one-way systems and gyratories; the worst 12 removed by 2015, all removed by 2025.
- Rapid expansion of car clubs, with a club parking space within 5 minutes of every home by 2011.
- Maintain the CO2-linked congestion charge, won by Siân as founder of the Alliance Against Urban 4x4s campaign
- Oppose an ever-expanding c-charge zone and explore more sophisticated options, targetting London’s most congested streets.
A model city for cycling
- Triple the budget for cycling again, to at least £150m/year by 2012
- Free bikes across the capital, on the Paris Velib model, by 2011
- More cycle routes, closing the gaps in the London Cycle Network by 2010, then expanding it further