Transport

Free access to the local public transport system will allow you to get to your work, healthcare, shelter, and education.
Without your mobility I will find it harder to deliver on my promise to you.

A free local public transport pass for everyone is a basic component of WellFair.

For most people this will be a free local bus pass, and some areas it will also include other forms of local transport like tube trains, trams and bicycle borrowing.

LIFE will double the Transport budget, and push the majority of that new spending to local Communities. The total budget comes to £45Bn, or £61 per person per month. This means that local communities will get an extra £30 a month per person to provide free local transport.

Fossil-Free City Centres

LIFE supports the development of areas free of fossil-fuelled transport, to improve health and our quality of life. These plans will have to be developed and implemented locally, and the advent of Community Assemblies will give everyone the power to do this where they wish to.

Much can be done, at minimal cost, to improve our urban and rural transport routes for walking and other human-powered modes of transport. Additional savings are available through the knock-on effects of improvements to transport, especially in reduced health care costs from (even slightly) more active lifestyles.

Fuel Duty

LIFE will explore the opportunity to add no-fault 3rd party liability insurance to the fuel duty on vehicle fuels.
The cost of all fuels will include carbon taxes from 2017 or earlier.

Regions & National

Communities may enter into agreements with neighbouring Communities to extend the reach of the local transport pass for residents, but comprehensive local public transport is a primary responsibility of the local Community government.

Community Transport budgets will be paid directly to the Community, and the costs of regional and national transport services retained at those levels.

Airports & Runways

LIFE’s policy is to focus on the development of public, mass transport that will reduce environmental impact.

We recognise that current projections are for a massive increase in air travel, and that if such predictions were to come true then there would be a shortage of runway capacity in the UK. However changes in the pricing of fossil fuels are likely to make air travel more expensive in the coming decade, and we believe this will restrain the growth of air travel. And reaching our emissions targets will be almost impossible of we devote more capacity to air travel. All this makes the diversion of precious investment funds into building new runways the wrong choice.

Railways

LIFE will end the subsidy provided by Network Rail to private train operators. Private train operators will have to pay the full cost of the railways they use, including the maintenance, upkeep and improvement.
If the true cost of Network Rail is too much for the private operators, they will be converted into regulated utilities.

HS2: LIFE will prioritise investment in local transport services, and the £48Bn+ cost estimate (more than 2X the current total national budget for Transport!) for HS2 means cancellation of HS2. Furthermore, current plans propose to fund HS2 using UK-guaranteed debt, at a time when we need to restrain debt.
The benefits of giving everyone a free bus pass exceed the total benefit of HS2, in terms of total economic activity, regional rebalancing and reduced environmental impact.