I blogged about my commitment to the Campaign for Better Transport recently. I’m passionate about public transport and have great experience in the sector. I was on the CBT board when it was called Transport 2000, the environmental transport campaign, and I remain a member. I've also worked for the railway trade union TSSA as head of policy and firmly support a publicly owned, publicly accountable railway. Also, as someone who doesn’t have a car and uses public transport a lot, I know how poor public transport affects peoples’ every day lives.

Labour has invested heavily in public transport as part of the long-term strategy for a modern and more sustainable national transport system. Of course, there’s always more to do and we should always be asking for more.

As a Labour MP I will fight for more investment in Public Transport. Remember, for all their talk, the Tories are the party that deregulated the buses and slashed services as well as wasting billios of pounds selling off British rail at bargain basement prices.

Under Labour we’ve seen that investment in rail is almost 2.5 times higher than in 1997. Rail travel is also at its highest level since the early 1960s: passenger journeys up 38% since 1997. And don’t forget free bus travel for older people and disabled people! Will the conservatives take away your free bus pass?

Tags: CBT, Public Transport, trains, Tssa

Posted on February 26, 2010 in Public Transport.