Letter: Daytime Traffic Congestion Remains an Issue

Published on: 23 Jul, 2019
Updated on: 23 Jul, 2019

Guildford traffic congestion

From Bibhas Neogi

Current talk of the town is, of course, Brexit but when it is all over, maybe we could look forward to solving some locals issues.

Now that a new council is in place, it is reasonable to assume it will look at possible solutions afresh. Daytime congestion in the town centre needs to be addressed for the safety of pedestrians and cyclists, for lessening pollution and improving businesses by making the centre attractive and easier to access.

The concept of “modal shift” is academic unless the network is made safer but even then it is unlikely to reduce traffic appreciably because of the nature of the traffic and weather. When the entire journey is either too long or not covered by public transport, cars still offer the solution for travelling to work and back.

Improving public transport networks such as bus routes and their frequency and making the fares affordable are tall orders and almost impossible to achieve without subsidy. Subsidising public transport is a political issue for both the central and local governments but for the improvement for all, it is possibly the solution that would contribute to some reduction in traffic.

The problem of congestion, however, could not be solved by any single measure. It needs to be a combination of the improved network, some modal shift and an affordable and improved public transport.

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