Alton Town Partnership

The Alton Town Partnership oversees the delivery of the Alton Town Plan recommendations and also helps to develop Alton.

Transport Mode Comparison Page.



In 1951 there were no motorways in the UK and only 2.5 million cars. Today there are more than 33 million licensed cars on Britain’s roads, and the motorway network is 3,400 km long. Since 1960, the proportion of households with access to at least one motor vehicle has more than doubled, from 31% to 72%.

Overall, the road network is one-third longer than in 1952, whereas the rail network is 50% shorter. 85% of the journeys we make today are by car, van or taxi, compared with 27% in 1952.

Although the average distance travelled by rail has increased by 24% since 1952, the proportion of all journeys made by rail has fallen from 18% to 7%. The distance travelled by bicycle is only one-sixth of that in 1952.

The number of passengers flying into and out of the UK’s main airports is 65 times higher than in 1951. The total number of outward and inbound trips made by air have risen from 1.5 million (1952) to over 140 million (2000).

Contrary to popular belief, motoring taxes in Britain are about the European average, with drivers paying out similar amounts in France and Italy. Over the last two years, the cost of motoring has fallen and will continue to fall by a further 20% over the next ten years. The overall cost of motoring in Britain in 2003 was below the 1980 level in real terms, although the real cost of fuel was 7% higher. Bus and coach fares rose by 34% and rail fares by 36% in real terms over the same period. If the government is serious about limiting CO2 emissions, this does not seem the right way to go.

On current forecasts rail passenger demand will grow by 34% over the next ten years, but capacity constraints on the network would limit actual growth to 23%. Providing additional capacity and improved services is forecast to increase this to 50%. Passenger satisfaction with rail journeys ranges from 67% to 91%. Only 41% of users feel rail services offer value for money.

There were 66.4 million overseas flights from the UK in 2005 - more than treble the 1981 figure. Aviation accounted for 81% of all overseas trips in 2005 - up from 60% in 1981. Considering the likely effects on global warming, maybe some plans for airport expansions should be curtailed?

According to Holiday Which? In March 2007, plane is cheaper than train even though train is far more eco friendly. Here are some sample cheapest return fares including air passenger duty:-

.CostCost/MileJourney Time
London to Glasgow
Plane £57.67 5p 1 hour 22 mins
Train £72.00 9p 5 hours 20 mins
Birmingham to Edinburgh
Plane £54.95 6p 1 hour 10 mins
Train £72.00 15p 5 hours 15 mins
Manchester to Exeter
Plane £79.68 13p 1 hour 5 mins
Train £87.30 18p 4 hours 19 mins


Here is an informed discussion of the relative merits of different forms of travel.

Two easy ways for air travel to reduce emissions are for planes to be pushed to the start of the runway and for the approach routes to airports to be better aligned with incoming traffic.

As there are 33m cars in the UK, a rise of 7m in ten years, we suffer Europe's worst congestion in urban areas, and traffic accounts for 20% of our CO2 emissions. Congestion in towns and cities is set to rise by 25% by 2015. Congestion is defined as the delay experienced for each kilometre travelled compared to driving at speeds typical when traffic is light. The Government accepts that congestion will cost the UK economy £22bn in lost time by 2025, the equivalent of £900 per household.

We use our cars more and drive them further than any other EU country. We now spend more than twice as many hours a year in our cars as 25 years ago. Congestion will get worse, spreading to areas that are currently unaffected.

Our roads are the only public utility that is free at the point of use and one of the few that does not have differential pricing to restrict demand at peak times. We have off-peak electricity, first- and second-class stamps and variable telephone charges. If you travel by train or plane it is the norm to pay extra for peak-time services and to have discounted fares for travelling in the middle of the night. Why should roads be so different?
Research from the RAC Foundation has shown that we either need to have a road-building programme five times the size of the current one for the next generation or to increase fuel tax fivefold - just to stand still in terms of congestion. Neither policy is feasible or desirable. Road pricing is said to benefit the economy by £28bn.

Around 75% of those working in central London travel to work by public transport. Large parts of the Underground are already overcrowded in peak times and demand is forecast to continue growing. On London commuter rail services, four out of the ten operators exceed overcrowding standards.

In many towns and cities public transport does not offer an attractive choice. Buses are the main form of public transport for most local journeys, but bus patronage has declined by two-thirds since the 1950s. Outside London, only 15% of those working in metropolitan areas, and 7% in other towns, commute by public transport.

Low population densities increase the cost per head of providing public transport, which limits its provision. Currently, only 36% of households in rural areas are within a ten minute walk of a regular bus service, compared with 94% in urban areas. 86% of rural households have cars compared with 70% in urban areas.

Economic growth will generate growth in the distribution of goods and services. The economy depends heavily on efficient distribution, which itself accounts for some 10% of GDP. Without action, rising congestion (to which increasing lorry and van traffic will contribute) and associated increases in distribution costs will reduce our competitiveness, limiting future economic growth and job creation.
Emissions from the transport sector of carbon dioxide - the most significant of the greenhouse gases causing climate change - currently represent a quarter of the UK's total emissions, and are forecast to increase from 2010 as road traffic grows.

Emissions of the most noxious air pollutants arising from road traffic should be about half present levels by 2010, largely because of improvements in vehicle technology and fuel quality. But on current projections, the trend will reverse beyond 2010 as these improvements are offset by traffic growth. Noise level standards for new vehicles have also been tightened, but noise from road transport in particular remains a concern for many people.

60% of the poorest 20% of households have no car. Fifty-five% of those over 70, a rapidly growing proportion of the population, live in households without a car. Lack of accessible and affordable public transport contributes to problems of social exclusion.

The summary of a research project into the health benefits of owning a house and owning a car, reportedly the states: "There is clear evidence that people who have access to a private vehicle live longer and are healthier than people without their own means of transport." The ESRC states "...car drivers/owners reported higher quality of life than non-car owners/drivers could not simply be explained by the fact that they were wealthier". According to the AA, this benefit is most apparent in cyclists, who are more likely than the average to own houses and pay higher rate tax.

The most common reason given for a household not having a car is lack of any qualified drivers (38%), followed by the cost of a car/driving (32%), then lack of need due to availability of other modes (31%) and physical difficulties (19%).
Reasons given for not driving were: availability of lifts from family & friends (33%); not interested in driving (31%) and the cost of learning (24&). Over half of all drivers state that the costs and environmental factors do not influence the amount of driving at all, but for around a quarter of individuals the price of petrol limited how much they travel by car "to some extent" (22%) or "a great deal" (5%).

The number of private cars registered in the UK rose by 28% between 1995 and 2005. During this time the population increased by around 3.4%. In the ten years 1993-2003 the proportion of households with no car dropped by 5 percentage points from 31% to 26%, and in the ten years 1994-2004 total car mileage increased by 15% from 345 to 398.1 billion passenger km.

In November 2006 sales of new 4x4s were down 15.2% on the same month in 2005, at 11,500.
Fall in UK car sales (May 2007 - May 2008)
Overall -3.5%
Sports cars -14.5% and 4x4s -18.3%

Tax discounts on biofuels will be extended soon to allow pilot schemes using biomass, which is derived from plants, in fuel. Incentives for environmentally friendly company cars that use bioethanol are being considered. Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Trains was one beneficiary of the announcement. Gordon Brown said duty on blended diesel and biofuels on trains would be cut from 53p to 8p, allowing the operator to launch a biodiesel train trial on its Cross Country franchise.

Transport costs are higher in the UK than anywhere else in Europe. Britons pay almost twice as much for bus and train tickets as people on the continent. Journey times for commuters have increased over the past decade. We spend 15% of our disposable income on transport and 3.8% is on fares. The amount spent on fares is nearly double that of France, Germany and Italy.




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Last Change - June 2008

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