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Journey Time Targets for Urban Areas

18 July 2006

The Secretary of State for Transport (Douglas Alexander): The accessibility of our cities is key to their economic growth and success. It is therefore important that local authorities take responsibility for addressing the problem of road congestion, and the impact on journey times caused by the increasing numbers of journeys being made.

Each of the ten largest urban areas in England therefore has a target to limit the increase in person journey time per mile, given the expected increase in travel over the next five years. The target relates to the overall average journey time on a representative set of the busiest roads in each of their major urban centres. The ten are: London, Greater Manchester, West Midlands, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Tyne & Wear, Merseyside, Bristol, Nottingham and Leicester.

Whilst ownership of these local targets, and implementing measures to deliver them, is the responsibility of the local authorities involved, we have weighted (according to traffic volumes) and averaged the journey times across the ten areas to create a national composite PSA target for the Department for Transport, as we announced on 5 July 2005.

The national PSA target is therefore that:

By 2010-11, the ten largest urban areas will meet the congestion targets set in their local transport plan relating to movement on main roads into city centres. The target will be deemed to have been met if, on target routes in the ten largest urban areas in England, an average increase in travel of 4.5% is accommodated within an increase of 3.7% in person journey time per mile. The local targets on which this is based include:

  • in London, accommodate an increase in travel of 3% within an increase in journey time of no more than 1.5%;
  • in Manchester, accommodate an increase in travel of 1.5% with no increase in journey time; and
  • in the West Midlands, accommodate an increase in travel of 4% within an increase in journey time of no more than 5% (the target is expected to change-possibly to 3%-if funding for the West Midland's Urban Traffic Management and Control project is fully approved in 2006-07).

Each local authority is responsible for finding a balance between economic development, safety and journey times consistent with local circumstances and needs. The targets for each area are consistent with each authority's local transport plans, which set out their wider transport strategies. The Department for Transport will be working with each authority, to encourage and support them in delivery.

London, Manchester and the West Midlands account for about two thirds of the traffic in the ten urban areas. Major scheme bids, including for the West Midland's Urban Traffic Management and Control project, are currently being considered.

We have today published a PSA Technical Note, with full methodological details, on the Department for Transport website. Copies have been placed in library of the House.

  24 July 2006: Journey time targets for urban areas - amendment

The Secretary of State for Transport (Douglas Alexander): In my Written Ministerial Statement of Tuesday 18 July 2006 [Official Report 18-19WS] the Department published new targets for journey times in urban areas. The target included for Merseyside unfortunately used an interim version of Merseyside's target, rather than the final target they adopted. Incorporating the final target has a small beneficial effect on the national journey time target, lowering it by just 0.03%.

The revised success criteria is therefore as follows: the target will be deemed to have been met if, on target routes in the ten largest urban areas in England, an average increase in travel of 4.4% is accommodated within an increase of 3.6% in person journey time per mile.

An updated PSA and Technical Note has been placed on the Departmental website today.

Click here to view the PSA Technical Note.

Click here to view the Spending Review 2004 PSA Target.

Delivered: 21 July 2006