In the UK, the last ten years have seen a sea change in both transport policy and the way transport infrastructure and services are provided. In policy terms the "predict and provide" approach to planning increases in road capacity has been abandoned. The traditional direction of policy has changed, challenged by a Green Paper of the last Conservative Government and now formulated in the Labour Government's recent White Paper. Transport infrastructure and service provision is now largely in the hands of the private sector: the bus industry has been privatised and deregulated and the process of rail franchising completed. Private finance is used widely for both road and public transport schemes. The paper briefly reviews this policy shift and examines how local and central governments are responding to the new agenda in terms of their policies and programmes. Important questions are raised regarding the ability of the private sector to facilitate government policy in a cost-effective way. Finally, we examine a key question: can the transport planning profession deliver techniques appropriate to the new agenda? (A)
Samenvatting