FREE PUBLIC TRANSPORT CAMPAIGN
LAUNCHED IN GREATER MANCHESTER

On 25th September 2008, 40 people attended the launch meeting of the Greater Manchester Campaign for Free Public Transport. Amongst those present where members of the Campaign Against Climate Change, Friends of the Earth, the Labour Party, Green Party, Socialist Workers' Party, the Socialist Party, Respect, and the Community Action Party. Alongside them were bus and rail workers, cycling and railway activists, and members of the general public.

Roy Wilkes of Respect opened the meeting by declaring that this "...is a campaign whose time has come. Climate change is a serious threat to the future of humanity and our response to it must include moving beyond the domination of the private automobile. In a recent survey, 72% of those interviewed said they would only give up their cars if public transport was free, and therewith," he said, "lay the solution to the problem".

"Hasselt, a town in Belgium", he said: "...shows that zero fare transport is both possible and transformative."

A campaign was also needed in order to assert the principle that public transport should be a genuine public service, rather than a source of private profit.

Cllr Jack Fagan (Wigan Community Action Party) who is a member of the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority (GMPTA) spoke forcefully against the TIF bid (and the congestion charge that goes with it), arguing that free public transport would be a fairer and more effective way of reducing congestion.

Ali of Friends of the Earth (attending in a personal capacity) defended the TIF proposals and argued that there could be drawbacks to free public transport, for example, it might "discourage people from walking and cycling".

A wide ranging, highly infomative and thoughtful discussion covering many aspects of public transport policy followed. It was agreed that we would leave aside the question of the congestion charge since there are supporters of the campaign for free public transport on both sides of the congestion charge debate.

Following a vigorous debate, the meeting adopted the following statement as the aims of the campaign:

“The aim of the Greater Manchester Campaign for Free Public Transport is to secure an expanded public transport system that is fully integrated, publicly owned and free at the point of use.”

Amendments seeking to replace “secure” with “work towards” and to replace “free at the point of use” with “affordable” were both heavily defeated.

The meeting recognised that a national campaign is urgently needed on this issue. (There is a very good campaign for free public transport in Scotland but nothing in England and Wales). It was hoped that the launch of our campaign in Greater Manchester might encourage the setting up of similar ones in other parts of the country, all if which might come together into a national campaign in the not too distant future.

Since the launch meeting, the Campaign has agreed to meet on the 3rd Thursday of each month. The next meeting will be at 7.15pm on Thursday 20th November, at the Friends Meeting House, Mount Street, (opposite the Central Library), Manchester.

In the meantime, for more information about the campaign, and/or if you'd like to contribute your own ideas and suggestions to the debate, then please e-mail: manchester@freepublictransports.com.