Cambridge Labour Party Cambridge Labour Party
The Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) Sustainable Transport proposals as they currently stand will have a major impact on the residents of Cambridge. We will continue to challenge the proposals to ensure that any charge, if introduced, does not impact on the poorest people in our city.
Although the decision will ultimately be taken by the GCP Board and the County Council, we will lobby the GCP and instruct our voting representative to vote on behalf of our residents and businesses to make any scheme, if any is implemented, as fair as possible. This will include:
- Championing the needs of people on low incomes, small businesses and those who can’t access public transport because of disabilities or medical needs.
- Looking again at the hours of operation to ensure they work fairly for everyone.
- Lobbying for proposals to address the concerns of those commuting out of the zone away from the traffic, shift-workers and formal/informal carers.
- Support bringing buses under public control via a bus franchising system so bus services are determined by community needs and not private profit.
We believe that everyone should have access to safe, efficient and affordable transport, in a city where the air is clean and everyone can get where they want to go. We have announced a 2030 net zero carbon target for the council, and transport options need to be seriously considered as part of this work. We also know that the impacts of climate change, poor air quality and inadequate public transport hit those in poverty the hardest.
The current proposals are not final and it is inevitable that they will, at the very least, be adapted to take the 24,000 responses the GCP have received into account.
We will continue to insist that any changes introduced do not come into place until the buses are significantly improved. A more sustainable, reliable and affordable bus service would vastly improve residents’ ability to travel around our city. Without it we will not support any road charging scheme at all.
No decisions have been made yet, and your Labour councillors want to represent you. Please reach out to your local councillor if you’d like further information.