Regional Transport Inequality

Alex Mayer Excerpts

Thursday 11th September 2025 Commons Chamber

[Alex Mayer (Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard) (Lab)]

I strongly believe that a regional geography is the right scale to make substantial public transport improvements. That is why I back this Government’s devolution agenda as the right approach to improving transport. The real inequality of the future will not be north versus south or urban versus rural, but between those areas that have well-respected, ambitious mayors and those that do not. For the sake of passengers, I hope that the Government move swiftly to fill in the gaps on the devo map, even if there is not complete consensus.

Inequality in transport is already linked to some extent to governance. In the past, larger areas had passenger transport executives, and that gives them a head start, as more power heads to strategic authorities. I still believe that the Government could go further to encourage the creation of more executive bodies to co-ordinate transport regionally.

I also remain concerned about the highways-transport split. I very much welcome clause 25 of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, which will allow mayoral combined authorities to take on civil enforcement of traffic contraventions, but we could go further. Fundamentally, the same organisation needs to be responsible for the bus, the bus lane and the bus stop.

We also need to think differently about geography. From the Victorian radial rail network through to modern motorways, there has for too long been an assumption that all roads and rails should lead to London, but we cannot just think north to south; it must be east to west too. That is why I warmly welcome the £2.5 billion commitment to East West Rail to rebalance decades of under-investment in cross-country links. I will continue to call for the expansion of the Luton-Dunstable busway to Leighton Buzzard and on to Bletchley, linking it into East West Rail.

The Minister will be delighted to know that my final question is a train question, rather than a bus question. I am keen to hear from him about plans for Great British Railways within regions. Does he believe that the current Network Rail regions are the right ones to build on as we move to GBR, or does he believe there are other opportunities and shapes other than triangles?

We must always see transport as a driver of growth. In order to build thriving networks, we need a relentless focus on growing passenger numbers, which we can all do, as we know that September is Catch the Bus Month.