Public transport in Surrey is “disorganised, chaotic and confused”, but the county council has pledged to do something about it with a new initiative to revolutionise the way we travel.
The Transport for Surrey scheme has been approved by the council’s executive, with the aim of bringing together the different operators and establishing a central board along the lines of Transport for London.
Consultation with district and borough councils and government agencies is also under way, with tentative plans to introduce an equivalent of London’s Oyster card to Surrey.
The county council’s head of transport, Iain Reeve, said patience was required.
“The transport system we’ve got is disorganised, chaotic and confused,” he admitted.
“It’s fairly obvious that if you wanted to design a transport system, you wouldn’t start from here.
“The system we have got with privatised bus and train services is the result of history. What we want to do is create a single co-ordinated point.
“Eventually what people will find is, a bit like in London, there is a very obvious place to go to get information or to complain about transport.
“At the moment people are not sure who to go to or who is in control.”
A central body would oversee all aspects of public transport services, with designated hubs in Woking, Guildford and Reigate-Redhill being the main focus for development and government investment.
Tread carefully
Bus company Southdown PSV is one of the parties already in discussions with the council.
Managing director Stephen Swain said: “We’re definitely on board. Co-ordinated transport is the way forward. To get people out of their cars, transport has to be attractive and easy to use.”
But Kevin Wilde of Leggs Travel, another bus firm, said the partnership should tread carefully to begin with.
“If they’re trying to set up a Transport for London-type thing, in one way it’s good because of the co-ordination, but on the other hand there is a danger of it becoming a beast of bureaucracy,” he said.
Plans to establish a single card to cover all major bus operators are a long way off, but the council said it was definitely a possibility.
Mr Reeve said: “The beauty of something like an Oyster card would be to stop the fragmentation of the industries and bring everything together."
Councillor David Munro also admitted the current set-up was “uncoordinated”, adding: “It would be fantastic to have an Oyster card for the whole of Surrey. The technology is there, it’s just about the will.”
The first step for the project is a conference bringing together all the relevant parties on February 22.
Mr Reeve stressed that the scheme would not come at a cost to the taxpayer, as the council’s annual transport budget of £70m would be added to money from the private travel companies.
Sam Blackledge
www.surreyad.co.uk