Public Spending on Public Transport
Public Spending on Public Transport: The Party's Probably Over
The party is probably over after ten years of massive increases in public spending on public transport, TAS director Chris Cheek warned the ATCO summer conference in Nottingham in July 2006. Spending on bus services had risen by 81% in real terms over ten years, he told the conference, whilst spending on rail was 28% higher after a dip around the turn of the century.
He suggested that the 2007 comprehensive spending review would see increasing pressure put on transport budgets, given government's need to see spending growth slow down despite commitments given on health, education and defence. The need to deliver certain key projects for the London Olympics in 2012 would distort priorities as well, resulting in a "dangerous" skewing of spending on London and away from the rest of the country, he warned.
The 27 slides for the speech are available to download in PDF format, and provide a high level overview of current spending and what it is delivering.