Written by Sir Peter Hendy FCILT Former President, CILT; Chair, Network Rail
Covid-19 has changed our lives and public transport in ways we could never have imagined and that none of us saw coming.
Demand has been massively affected; government guidance to tens of millions of people has been to work from home and to travel by car instead of taking the train or bus, and passenger numbers across the entire sector have reflected this. In the first lockdown, London tube travel was down by 95%, and bus travel was down by 85%. Numbers recovered during the summer, but were still around a third of what we were seeing prior to March 2020 and has dropped further as a result of the third lockdown. As of 11th January 2021, we carried 17% of our pre-Covid-19 demand. A new virulent strain and the resultant total lockdown will mean no change for weeks, if not months. Only mass vaccination will change this.
First, though, a wonderful plus point. Public transport people, bus, rail, light rail people, have been magnificent. Most cannot work at home; they have carried on running services, maintaining vehicles and infrastructure, and building and upgrading, and in very difficult and personally challenging circumstances. Their commitment is extraordinary and we should remember that and build on it.
Mass transport is still in a good position. Connectivity drives economic growth, jobs, housing and social cohesion, and all those are even more vital in a very difficult economy. One of the government’s main priorities is the levelling up agenda and we can help deliver this. In addition, the railway sector has really delivered for freight during the pandemic and we must build on that success as well. Note that with very low levels of public transport, urban road traffic volumes have been in the 80–90% range, indicating that as things get back to normal mass transit must have a role to play, without ensuing gridlock.
For the railway, putting passengers first has never been more important; it is the duty of all of us, regardless of our role not to take our passengers and freight customers for granted. We have learnt a less crowded timetable can significantly improve performance and we must embed this in our planning and continue this when demand does increase. In the longer term, it means making sure the railway – infrastructure, trains, people and processes – is fit for different working and travelling habits, providing the nation not only with a reliable service, but also a sustainable railway that is the greenest and cleanest way to travel. Delivering projects on time and on budget will also be key to improving confidence. Being entrusted with public funding is a huge responsibility and we must provide value for money.
It is the same for other mass transit modes; ‘building back better’ entails even more concentration on putting passengers first, given the opportunities people have had to make car journeys during the pandemic. As my former colleagues in Transport for London say: ‘Every journey matters.’
Of course, we have a really big job, to tell people that the advice about not travelling was not because public transport is somehow unsafe, but was meant to tell people to stay at home. I think cleaning and hygiene will remain things we have to be brilliant at in the next several years; maybe it should have been before, but it certainly will be now.
This is only the end of the beginning, as Churchill said. Home working, even if you can, seems not to have the shine of novelty to it now that it had last March, but we have proved millions of us can do it if we must, or it suits us. There will probably be fewer days in the office for commuters. On the other hand, look at the demand for leisure travel that erupted after the first lockdown; I bet that happens again, and remains, to some extent. Mass transit has always adapted to changing conditions in economic and social life, and we will be able to do it again. It would not be new on the railway for the very maximum demand to be on holiday weekends rather than in the peaks; that was true only 60 years ago.
Other long-term issues are constant. Urban congestion is a huge cost and environmentally damaging; our trunk roads and motorways are full of traffic. Mass transit has made enormous strides in environmentally friendly technology and in decarbonising. Those issues are huge and not going away.
Most of all, we are sociable animals. We all long to go out, meet others, at work and play, and enjoy life, which is why cities worldwide are growing. Mass transit within and between cities is not going to be dead any time soon, but we have to work hard to get back to the new normal. I am confident we will do it. It will just be hard, and another chapter in the versatility of mass transit, and the sector’s brilliant people.