Bus fare rise not the answer
OH DEAR. Guernsey's road transport strategy really is in a mess.
OH DEAR. Guernsey's road transport strategy really is in a mess.
At the heart of the original plan were very cheap bus fares and the introduction of modest, long- stay parking charges to encourage a drift from car use to public transport.
This wasn't driven by blind ideology but by increasing congestion on Guernsey's limited road network.
It was realised that failure to act would either require massive spending on road improvement or else accepting the negative impacts on our economy and our quality of life which come from traffic constipation.
Unusually, the States showed the courage to commit to a logical, structured plan to deal with the problem, knowing it would prove very unpopular in some quarters. Far more predictably, they have now lost their bottle.
First they did a U-turn on paid parking and now they're proposing a move that means multi-journey bus fares will have rapidly increased by 150%, from the original 20p to 50p. That might still sound reasonable, but undoubtedly the ultra-low fares helped spawn Guernsey's new age of bus travel and it's a crying shame to put such a success story at risk.
Yes, I know the States are strapped for cash and the question will be: 'Where is the money to come from to sustain the bus subsidy?'
The two counter questions are:
1. How come we've got the cash to subsidise long-term parking by providing free spaces for a minority of islanders on very valuable land which belongs to us all?
2. Where are we going to find the cash to deal with the inevitable infrastructural consequences of stoking private car use?
Talking of budgetary constraint, some of the unpopular austerity measures introduced by the new British government will have to be mirrored here to some extent.
Like the UK, we have a structural budget deficit. Put simply, the States are spending more than they receive in income. The big difference is in how that situation came about.
Governments of all colours in Westminster, over many decades, have accepted borrowing as a fact of life. That national debt escalated alarmingly over the last couple of years as they borrowed heavily to stimulate the economy at the same time as tax revenues were falling because of the recession.
It's a real mess and the British people – like those of other heavily indebted nations – will feel the pain for many years to come.
Guernsey's situation is very different. We have no national debt. Our deficit isn't caused by interest payments but by a deliberate decision to slash the island's tax on business profits, coupled with a failure to control spending. Difficult though that situation is, it's not half as bad as the UK's.
'All' we need to cure our deficit is a mixture of £40m. of extra revenue/economies to bring income into line with expenditure. The EU has even helped by insisting we should charge at least a minimal level of corporation tax.
It will still be painful and require some unpopular measures but once the correction has been made our budget will be back in equilibrium, and if revenues grow, so can public spending.
By contrast, in the UK it will take a generation to emerge from under a mountain of public debt. How right Deputy Matt Fallaize and his supporters were to oppose plans for Guernsey to embark on wholesale external borrowing.
With the pension age it's harder to spot the differences between what's happening in the UK and Guernsey, but again, our problems are less severe.
The States have agreed to increase the retirement age from 65 to 67 over an extended period of time. That strategy is supported by actuarial evidence showing that it is financially sound, given the partially funded status of our local state pensions.
In Britain the state retirement pension is not funded at all, there's no investment fund that has been built up to help with future expenditure. All of today's pensions are simply paid out of current income.
That makes their situation far worse. They are having to move quite quickly to increase the retirement age to 66 and it may eventually rise to over 70.
Once again our forefathers' financial caution makes Guernsey's problems easier to tackle.
Many years ago, when quite a young deputy, I was accused of acting like a 'cloth-capped old Guernseyman' because I was reluctant to embrace a 'buy today, pay tomorrow' approach. Hopefully recent events will emphasise the virtues of a cloth cap mentality.Multi-journey bus fares will rise from the original 20p to 50p. The previous ultra-low fares helped spawn Guernsey's new age of bus travel and it's a crying shame to put such a success story at risk, says Peter Roffey. (0877385)The States have lost their bottle regarding the road transport strategy. No surprise there, says Peter Roffey, but what a shame to put a success story at risk. The island may be strapped for cash, but it's still providing free parking...
