Local Transport Today is the authoritative, independent journal for transport decision makers. Analysis, Comment & News on Transport Policy, Planning, Finance and Delivery since 1989.

Recovery planning

Local Transport Today
18 April 2020
 

Surveying the scene of transport and travel in the UK this week, the fourth week of movement restrictions to combat Covid-19, there are some notable themes. To an extraordinary extent, (indeed, it has caught politicians by surprise), the public has accepted these unprecedented actions to control their lives. There have not been the riots some feared, nor mass civil disobedience. Rather, there is a sense of patient acceptance, a recognition that the Government and the emergency services face an extraordinary set of circumstances and deserve our support. 

The transport sector has settled down as best it can, with largely empty trains and buses plying back and forth, airports largely dormant, and roads free of the usual tailbacks, leaving those who do have to travel no doubt wishing that if only every day could be like this... 

If all of this appears to speak of a strangely settled country, let us not underplay the sheer misery that the virus and the consequent lockdown are loading on families and businesses. As of this week the UK death toll stood at almost 14,000. Many transport workers are on the front line of risk and it was shocking to hear this week that 26 employees of Transport for London and its contracted operators are among the fatalities. Of these, 20 were bus workers, which raise obvious questions about their safety. We share London transport commissioner Mike Brown’s sentiment of “utter devastation” at the toll it has taken on his workforce. 

Speaking to people in the industry this week,  what is clear is that, although the lockdown has just been extended for three more weeks,  transport operators and authorities are making preparations for a return to something more normal. One described the recovery stage as winning the war, emphasising that beyond that, once a vaccine has been developed, there would be a further legacy stage of ‘winning the peace’ when the substantial hangover issues of the virus will have to be addressed, be they funding, regulatory frameworks or such like. 

The recovery stage might sound straightforward, simply being a reversal of the shutdown. But for transport operators, it is likely to come with added complications because no one knows how fast demand will return to the system. Reintroducing normal timetables will be a costly business for operators if the passengers don’t come flocking back. 

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