16.1 P2, M1 & D1

I will be describing significant developments and factors that are affecting and influencing passenger transport within the UK. I will then be explaining how the UK passenger transport industries have responded to developments and factors. I will finally be analysing how key factors are likely to impact on future passenger transport operations in the UK

I will be describing three factors and development that have been (for the last ten years) or are currently affecting passenger transport in the UK.

The three developments I will be talking about are: toll roads, congestion charging and new airports and airport expansion.

Toll Roads
There are many toll roads in the UK, the money gained by the people paying to cross goes to the funding to maintain and improve the road. The most common one is on the M6.

Toll roads have been around since the 1960’s and were put in place to improve traffic flow and get an extra income to help maintain the roads.

The M6 toll road was made for people to have an extra choice to avoid a congested stretch in the Midlands. There are various prices for crossing, there are all different prices and if you sign up to be a tag customer you get 5% off. They also have three prices because of the different days. The three price ranges are: Monday to Friday 6am-11pm, Night 11pm-6am and then weekends.

The toll road is 43 kilometres long but the cars are not stuck in traffic.  

The Dartford crossing is another toll road where there is a  tunnel and a bridge it crosses of the River Thames. There are two different prices for the Dartford crossing, daytime and night time. The prices range from £2.50 to £6 depending on the size of the vehicle.

Toll roads have been effective for more than ten years but recently they have been causing problems. One way they have been affecting passenger transport is when the Dartford tunnel toll changed their system and you now have to register online to pay and not hand over change to people working on the barriers. Some of the people going through are getting fines because they didn't realise. This is having a negative impact as people may choose to go a different route if they don't want to pay for a toll road and makes the other roads busier. 

Congestion Charging

 In London the congestion charge is £11 and was brought in by the Transport for London. In the financial year of 2009–2010, a yearly report done by the TFL, stats that they earned £312 million by people paying the congestion charge and the money goes towards the system and maintaining the road.

The congestion charge has affected passenger transport in a positive way because people are not wanting to pay the fee so are using public transport to get around London, so there is less cars on the road as people are using the buses. Not only is it the congestion charge but also the stress driving around London at peak times whereas if you are on a bus or even a train you can just sit down and get off when it is your stop.

New airports and airport expansion

There are 20 most popular airports in the UK, and they are always having extensions.

Heathrow airport want to have a third runway to increase the capacity of people flying out of the airport. 

Not only are they planning a third runway but also a sixth terminal, the 6th terminal to go to Heathrow airport will bring in an extra 125 thousand passengers every year.

Passenger transport has been affected positively by airport expansions and new airports because it means that there is a more of a choice to fly out of and then a price war happens between the airlines to get them to fly out of their airport and with their organisation.

New airports are constantly being thought of in the UK especially in London. The transport for London are wanting to bring a international hub in the city centre. The prime location for the planning of the airport is in the east of the country, this is a positive response to the development of new airports because they are meeting the needs of UK passengers.  

Expansions of UK airports is responding positively to the wanting needs of customers and plans of having bigger airports is a must. As said above, Heathrow airport want to build a new runway because it is one of the world’s busiest airports and in 2012, 70 million passengers used the airport as a major hub. The plan for the expansion should be in between 2025-2029 . Another positive impact of this development is that it increases the most amount jobs and make the most amount of money for the whole of the UK. Heathrow have another plan that is doubling the length of one of the other runways which will cost £13 billion.

Gatwick airport also had a plan for expansion as it is the world’s busiest airport with only one runway. The proposal was to build another runway which would be about 3,000m and would be far away from the first runway. It should cost around £9 billion. 

The three factors I will be describing are: legal, environmental and social

Legal - disability discrimination

The Equality Act 2010, provides a legislative framework for protecting the rights of individuals and advancing equality of opportunity for all. The equality act had to make sure everyone could use methods of passenger transport, the following are the things changed to the regulation in the last then years: all trains will accessible for everyone, in 2010 all of the  taxis in London have had to be wheelchair accessible, all double-decker buses must be accessible to people with disabilities and finally airports have to make sure there are accessible places within  the airport, getting on and off of the aircraft.

Disability discrimination is something that UK passenger transport industries have worked very hard to reduce allowing everyone to use various transport services, in the last ten years, the organisations have responding both positively and negatively.

In 2013, Easy Jet made it easier for people to book special assistance on their flights by having a separate call centre which is feee to ring up, this is a positive response as the organisation are realising that they can help people by offering this service and will also gain a competitive edge compared to other organisations which offers a special assistance phone line but at a charge of 10pence a minute (Ryanair)

Environmental - carbon emissions

This goes hand in hand with the congestion charge, because less people are driving around London to not pay the charge and use the public transport instead.

This has changed in the last ten years as emission levels have lowered since 2011, making public passenger transport more popular.

This factor is likely to affect have an impact on passenger transport operations in the future because there will more rules and regulations over how much carbon emission can be released into the environment. In the next five years I reckon public transport methods will be more popular particularly in London and even car sharing to reduce travel costs, lower congestion and reduce the amount of carbon emission. Also according to a report by Sustrans, using trains as transport rather than using cars trains will become more environmentally friendly and will release up to eight times lower than fumes by cars.

Social - personal mobility, changing needs and expectations

When People travel both internationally and domestically they want to do it with ease and comfort. So the transport systems need to adapt to everyones needs, so it has to be easy for everyone to use. In the last ten years, social factors have contributed to affecting passenger transport in a positive way as companies are also finding the best ways to beat the competition and provide better services.

Social is a factor which can have an impact on passenger transport in the future. The customers are forever wanting changes on their transport and the main want is having useful travel ways of moving. Another thing is retrieving information whilst on the underground. Organisations will also be  changing their products and service to meet the changing expectations such as wanting free Wi-Fi whilst on public transport and differing class on domestic flights and national rail.