Transport - England's Most Important Local Issue 15/07/00 Transport-related issues are the most important local concerns in England today, according to a major new survey carried out for the Commission for Integrated Transport. Transport problems were spontaneously cited by 32% of the 2,024 respondents - more than twice as many as any other issue except crime and vandalism, which scored 28% in the MORI poll. Congestion was the biggest single transport issue listed, with 81% of people believing it was going to get worse over the next 10 years. The responsibility for tackling that congestion in our towns and cities lay with local government, according to 70% of respondents. The public holds strong views on the measures that they would support for cutting traffic congestion. Almost half (49%) would favour restricted car access to towns and cities (with just 31% opposed). A majority (41% for and 35% against) would back charges for driving into city centres when combined with reduced VED or fuel duty, and 39% would also support such a charge where revenue was invested in public transport (compared with 40% against). The message on priorities was clear. When asked to make a choice 22% wanted to see improved conditions for motorists while nearly three times as many (66%) wanted to see public transport improved. While the public clearly wants more attention paid to roads there is little enthusiasm for building new motorways, which were backed by 34%, only 10% of them strongly. A further 46% opposed new motorways. Top road priorities for respondents were for maintaining the roads better, which were supported by 92% of respondents, and using traffic management systems to make better use of existing roads, which was backed by 89%. Cars were by far the most frequently used form of transport: 40% of people said they never used a train and 37% never got on a bus. However, the survey showed that four our of five motorists are at least occasional public transport users. For buses a quarter of respondents cited fares, reliability and frequency as the key issues to be addressed in the next few years. According to Commission Chair, Professor David Begg, "This survey demonstrates that people are far more open-minded about transport issues than they are given credit for. They clearly recognise that difficult decisions need to be taken to stop congestion worsening. They want to see public transport being given a greater priority and they say they will use it more themselves when it is improved. They even recognise the role that congestion charging will have to play. These results are very encouraging to the Commission. They confirm that the general thrust of current transport policies is very much in line with public thinking." Professor Begg said the survey results had already been passed to Government to help influence the shape of the ten year strategy expected to be published later in July. This is the first of what will be an annual series of research by CfIT into attitudes and behaviour. Over time CfIT will be able to measure both how transport is felt to be improving and whether people are making greater use of more sustainable forms of transport. MORI conducted a total of 2,024 interviews across England. Interviews were conducted face-to-face, in-home, between 12 May and 11 June 2000 in 258 constituency-based sampling points. Respondents were selected to be a representative sample of the English public aged 16+, including proportional splits by age, gender, employment status, socio-economic group and geographic region. No bias was made towards any particular group of transport users.