WITH THE TIF BIFFED 4-1
THE CfFPT DEBATES THE FUTURE OF PUBLIC TRANSPORT IN GREATER MANCHESTER!
Continued from our main Debate page.
"Defending a platform with which to promote alternative tech"
I agree thoroughly with Bruce. But working to prevent the car lobby appearing to win anything here, is for me, about defending a platform with which to promote alternative tech, which will not only provide a cheap means of transport, making free public transport possible, but lots of other, more important spin offs.
To this effect, I propose a public meeting, which, if I'm over health problems, I shall propose again at the next CfFPT meeting.
If we have such a meeting, at which we demonstrate possibilities, such as air technology, which can be viewed at http://www.brasschecktv.com , (go to their home page, and then to the energy section, where there's a wealth of relevant stuff), we can suck in interest from a wide range of activists, in fact everyone who sees an opportunity to prise the sticky little fingers, of those who rule and terrorise us and others, off the levers of production and power.
Pah, I'll bet you never thought you'd hear a call for the overthrow of terror, from a (in world terms), middle class plonker!
John Somebody
I must answer Anne Power's assertion
In response to Anne Power:
As Bruce Robinson has already told you in his reply, it simply isn't
true that all of us involved in the Free Public Transport Campaign
voted NO, as you state.
We are an independent and democratic
grassroots campaign with a variety of opinions on the TIF bid and the
whole issue of Congestion Charging, as is made clear on our website
and leaflets.
Unlike the high profile YES and NO advertising campaigns
which have plastered our city over recent months, we do not represent
the vested interests and the covert agendas of big business. Instead, I
think most of us would agree, to a greater or lesser extent, that that
the whole TIF "debate" has been a divisive and damaging diversion from
the real and urgent social and environmental issues facing our city
and our planet.
As an active member of the campaign and one who most definitely did
vote NO, I feel I must answer your assertions that our campaign and/or
our NO votes (and the defeat of the yes campaign) will simply end the whole discussion and possibility of
improvement.
Far from it, the whole heavily-subsidised 'Yes' campaign (which Greater Manchester Council Tax payers have been forced to pay for without consultation or consent) was a cynical manouevre to blackmail and coerce the general public into thinking there can be no other discussion or debate about the future of public transport.
Not only that, that there can be no other discussion about what improvements are needed to tackle the related problems of road congestion, traffic accidents and management, carbon emissions, the rising costs and diminishing supplies of fossil fuels, the degradation of the urban environment and the quality of life for Greater Manchester residents and workers (to name just a few of them) either.
Also, for a strategy that, were it to be successful, will take five years to implement, it is extraordinarily short-sighted and totally inadequate!
"We don't have five years to begin tackling our energy and climate crises. We have to implement a radical strategy NOW.
The Free Public Transport Campaign IS pressing for re-regulation and
continuing the debate. It was very disappointing that the TIF bid did
not address re-regulation and that its supporters did not push for
greater elective control over pricing and ticketing policies and
routing/service levels in privately-owned public transport provision
via the recent Local Transport Bill.
Instead, its authors and
supporters were content to settle for token gestures and green-
washing, marginalizing and penalizing individual hard-pressed workers
instead of aiming costs at the businesses and employers responsible
for institutionalizing peak congestion levels and hours, and
"spreading" costs in the most UNFAIR way imaginable.
Only the YES
campaign could have the audacity to assume that the public would
swallow their main advertising argument that "only 1 in 10" motorists/
eligible voters would have to foot the bill for improvements for
others to benefit from and not see that that 1 in 10 was someone
struggling to earn a decent living just like, if not in fact,
themselves.
I for one want to shout "Hurray" that the vote has been such an
overwhelming rejection. THE REAL DEBATE BEGINS HERE!
Best Wishes,
Steph Prior
P.S. Please don't be scared of us. Come along to a meeting. Bring your
friends. Get involved!
People's common sense and gut instinct rule the day!
Firstly I would like to say that I am delighted that the TIF referendum was shown to be the sham we all thought it was.
The advertising campaign itself was a lack lustre affair. Every picture of so called aficionados of the bid looked ready to throw themselves off the nearest bridge. Especially the one which indicated her reason for voting for the TIF was cheaper bus fares.!!!! Those behind it should be made to account for the wasted £3 million plus on the advertising campaign.
The public when out and about, where we have campaigned every weekend, for example in Wigan and Atherton were resounding in their support for a REAL improvement in public transport BUT they did not want to ally themselves to something that they did not TRUST.
We should NOT have been blackmailed in this way. Decades of poor and EXPENSIVE public transport has eroded social inclusion and with 30% plus of Gr Manchester residents being carless, the need is real and this speaks volumes.
People's common sense and gut instinct rule the day! The general public are well aware that they have an inadequate public transport system. If they are old enough, some of them can remember the case against deregulation. Furthermore, if you happen to live in a semi rural area your level of ability to be included in normal societal activities is virtually nil. In fact to go and sign on is even preclusive in some North Western local authorities who do not even provide free public transport for everyone on benefits.
My support for the campaign for free public transport is unequivocal!
It makes so much sense and as many recognise, it is an idea whose time has come.
I would welcome the opportunity to campaign and raise awareness at all levels. This for me primarily would be through my union branch.
I am a member of Unison, Manchester City Council branch, who for whatever reason do not seem to have branch meetings at the moment which is subject to some consternation for the ever increasing numbers of grass roots members and stewards.
I was appalled therefore recently to receive a branch newsletter from Unison stating their support for the TIF bid.
We the Unison members at grass roots level, have had no opportunity to debate this matter. I feel aggrieved not to have had a platform within my union to be constitutionally represented and my voice heard. Whatever reason I may have to oppose the TIF bid in particular, at the very least an erosion of most local government workers terms and conditions is an issue.
I would ask the 'branch committee' who so readily took the line espoused by Richard Leese what their position might be when public sector workers couldn't afford to get to work to carry out essential jobs sometime in the future if the proposition they had supported had been taken up? I am ashamed to be a member of a union which appears to be operating unconstitutionally and also so blithe in disregarding its members views and needs on the ground.
Finally the campaign for free public transport is one of the most positive and sensible campaigns I have ever supported. The more you investigate the idea the less unrealistic and 'utopian' it seems.
In 20 years time we will be looking back unable to believe how many people thought it was a good idea but that it could never happen. The figures add up, the ideas and benefits add up, the only thing now is to get the decision makers to grab what is a blindingly obvious alternative with both hands AND NOW!
Claire O'Meara
A Socialist contribution to the debate
Hi everyone,
some of you might be interested in a Socialist
contribution to the debate about "what next" after the TiF Referendum.
If you are, you could have a look at this: http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/latest/6717
With festive greetings!
Hugh Caffrey
More contributions to the debate on the future of Public Transport in Greater Manchester
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