Successive governments have connived in the decline of public transport - Yorkshire Post Letters

From: ME Wright, Harrogate.

For the last 30 years, successive governments have connived in the decline and disappearance of the UK’s ‘public transport’ – as it is still quaintly called.

Once again a Northern Oyster Card is mooted by Transport for the North (TfN) (The Yorkshire Post, September 1).

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A means of joining up a long-fragmented system which must astound visitors from the rest of Europe and elsewhere: “is this really the country which changed the world with railways?”

Once again, the words demonstrate a mindset divorced from any notion of 21st century public service. “Stakeholders” keep appearing; “constraints”; “insufficient commitment” (from bus companies).

The greatest hope (for omnipotent stakeholders?) seems to be that “there may be an opportunity for TfN to regulate and facilitate enhanced data sharing”. Great news for those who revel in such, but will it get us reliably and affordably from A to B?

There is not one mention of “service”; “people” and “passengers”.

In one way or another, aren’t we still in suit-based, car-borne, stuck-record mode?