SC(3) CR-T10

Sustainability Committee

Inquiry into Carbon Reduction in Wales: Carbon Reduction by Transport

Response from Passenger Focus

Virginia Hawkins
Sustainability Committee
National Assembly for Wales
Cardiff Bay
CF99 1NA

24 October 2007

Assembly’s Sustainability Committee Inquiry into Carbon Reduction

Passenger Focus welcomes the opportunity to comment on this consultation. We recognise the need to reduce CO₂ emissions and that the transport industry has to play a role in achieving this goal. The consultation poses a number of detailed technical questions that Passenger Focus is not best placed to answer and we trust that Network Rail and the train operating companies will offer you some insights in this regard. We would, however, like to highlight some important aspects of this topic from the passengers’ perspective that we believe need to form an important element of policy development and implementation.

Question 3: What particular challenges does Wales face in reducing carbon dioxide emissions from transport, and how can these be overcome?

A specific challenge will be convincing people to make the modal shift from a less environmentally-friendly mode to rail or other more sustainable option.

Recent research (1) conducted by Passenger Focus indicates that environmental concerns are not a significant issue for most rail passengers when determining which mode of transport to use. When making their modal choice, rail passengers indicate that they typically consider a wide range of factors, including speed/time, comfort, cost, quality of life etc., but generally not the environmental impact of the journey.

Similarly, while the concept of reducing the environmental impact of rail travel is welcomed, through initiatives such as cleaner fuel and lighter trains, our research indicates this is not seen as a priority area for investment by passengers. This is particularly the case amongst commuters who have a range of other issues of more pressing concern, for example, cheaper fares and overcrowding (NB: Passenger Focus has recently researched passengers’ priorities for rail investment in Wales (2), which are summarised in Appendix 1).

This indicates that programmes seeking to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from transport that are based either solely or primarily on promoting the environmental benefits of modal shift are unlikely to have significant impact. Rather, it indicates that such endeavours must include investment in areas such as additional services and newer rolling stock that more directly influence passengers’ choice of transport mode.

Passenger Focus’ research has also found that very few passengers claim to be actively seeking information on the environment or environmental impact of different modes of transport, so they are reliant upon what the media/government tells them. There is some desire to find out more of this type of information if objective agencies (universities etc.) make it more accessible. Bald statistics on the relative environmental impact of various modes of transport are not felt to be very exciting, so these need to be re-packaged to create a more exciting story, e.g. a carbon calculator to aid choice of mode.

Our research shows that while passengers do not necessarily consider the 'green’ aspects of rail as a priority when choosing their travel mode, there is a number of quick wins from small measures which the industry could achieve that would contribute to carbon dioxide reduction, such as:

• bins for recycling litter

• low-energy bulbs

• better regulation of on-board temperature to level appropriate to weather conditions

• cycle facilities at station and on trains

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we wish to emphasise that the drive to encourage modal shift from less environmentally-friendly modes of transport to rail may have significant unforeseen implications for demand for rail capacity. Therefore, it is essential that ongoing planning is undertaken for long-term infrastructure enhancements.

Yours sincerely,

Simon Pickering
Passenger Link Manager: Wales
PO Box 114,
Chepstow, NP16 6WR

w www.passengerfocus.org.uk
t 0870 336 6095  f 0161 244 5981
e info@passengerfocus.org.uk
direct 07918 628 124 or simon.pickering@passengerfocus.org.uk

References:
(1) Environmental Issues: Research Report, Outlook, Passenger Focus, March 2007
(2) Passengers’ Priorities for Improvements in Rail Services, MVA Consultancy, Passenger Focus, March 2007

Appendix 1: Passenger priorities for rail improvement in Wales and Great Britain overall