A transport revolution stuck in traffic
IT HAS been quite a week for Deputy Peter Roffey. He spent most of it under fire from political rivals and even the Catholic Church, ending it a little battered and bruised, but still defiant.
Much was made of his ideology, and that of certain other colleagues. Critical States members never made clear what that ideology was, but many islanders can be sure that one ideology he wouldn’t want to shy away from, after a political career dating back nearly 40 years, would be his belief in environmental thinking.
And so it was hardly a surprise to see Deputy Roffey take to the ‘stage’ at the conclusion of the climate crisis protest march on Saturday and to talk about traffic. A controversial subject when raised in the Royal Court, but speaking of the ‘collective madness of an island besotted by cars’ was well received on what was very much ‘home turf’ on Saturday in Candie Gardens.
His call for a free bus service, subsidised by paid parking, sparked the biggest cheer of the day.
The facts tell the story of Guernsey already on a journey in the right direction.
Bus use went up 20% in the decade from 2010, equating to well over 5,000 journeys a day by 2019. Total vehicle ownership rose by 5% over the same period – to a quite staggering 73,000 privately-owned cars and motorcycles, a figure which reinforces that we are at peak vehicle ownership.
But registrations of new vehicles fell steadily over the period and carbon dioxide emissions from transport have gone the same way. But steady is the word, and with no significant change of mindset, those kind of figures won’t get Guernsey anywhere near where it wants to be by 2050, let alone 2035.
The deputy makes a good point when one of the loudest voices in opposition to planning developments today in the north of the island relates to traffic concerns. ‘We can’t leave people homeless to control traffic,’ he rightly said.
But it would be some surprise to see much acceleration on this issue in the next few years.
It would be expecting much for this States with its avowed intent to ‘get things done’, rather than to pursue individual ideologies, and with at least half an eye on populism, to revisit paid parking during the life of this Assembly.