Sustainable Transport - Sustainable Choices

No, I have no complaints about his treatment, the hospital or the response to getting him there. The only problem was with visiting him in hospital.

My mother has chosen to no longer drive. She is very pleased with the opportunities her new bus pass gives her. However, to get from the centre of Bexhill to the Conquest involves either a one hour picturesque journey via Ninfield and Battle or a journey into Hastings and a change of buses. Having recently suffered a fall herself she decided to take the longer journey to minimise the trip hazards. The last bus from the Conquest is however at 5.30 p.m. so she had to shorten her visiting time. Time, on a daily basis, is of course something of which elderly people have a richness. However she is not in a majority. She was the only person completing the whole of the bus journey. I find this strange when there are so many elderly in Bexhill who must need to use this service to the Conquest. They must have been the ones filling up the car park.

With the current rise in fuel prices no doubt this will change. There will surely be a greater demand on public transport, but it has to be made easier to use. It is also a case of use it or loose it. It has to be appreciated that the free bus pass and the subsidised bus services have to be paid for by someone; that someone is, of course, us the taxpayer.

A better and more usable public transport system would surely see car use decline and reduce the demand for new roads. There are major proposals for a new road through Bexhill but many people doubt it will be the solution to all the problems and may also create more itself. What has happened to the proposed local rail link between Hastings and Bexhill or even a parkway station at Glyne Gap?

The Liberal Democrats have just published a new Transport policy paper which will be fully debated at our conference in September. It is based on empowering individuals to make sustainable choices about the way they live and offering modern affordable, accessible and reliable means of travelling. It contains proposals aimed at both national and local problems. The motor car has given individuals untold freedom but it now constrains our way of life. It is time to make radical changes to the way we travel.