REPORT CALLS FOR M4 CONGESTION CHARGE
SOME form of congestion charging is necessary to solve the ongoing traffic problems on the M4, a government commission has said.
The South East Wales Traffic Commission yesterday published the preliminary findings of its report on how to solve congestion issues on the M4.
The commission was asked by First Minister Mark Drakeford to look into alternatives to the proposed M4 relief road, which the Welsh Government said last year it would not build.
In the report, the commission said that the only way to solve the problems on the M4 was to encourage people to use more public transport – and this could only be done through “some form of charging mechanism” on the roads to encourage people to use trains and buses instead.
It said such charges could be brought in in the form of road user charging or workplace parking levies, adding that charges would be decided in line with its other recommendations.
Among the report’s other recommendations were improving rail services on both sides of Newport to better serve commuters, improving bus services along main commuter routes, and encouraging walking and cycling among commuters.
The members of the commission are chairman Lord Burns, Beverly Owen, Elaine Seagriff, James Davies, Jen Heal, Lynn Sloman, Peter Jones and Stephen Gifford.
Regarding charges, it said: “Space on the road network is a scarce asset, free at the point of use.
“We believe some form of charging mechanism is necessary to encourage uptake of public transport and active travel alternatives, and moderate demand for the motorway.
“We also note that a charge could provide hypothecated revenue funding for regional transport services.
“We recognise the difficulty in implementing any charge before new transport alternatives are in place.
“We will focus on considering the options for charging (for example, road user charging, a workplace parking levy or other forms of parking management) and the interactions with our other emerging recommendations, including on the timing of any implementation.
“The current rail system does not offer an attractive alternative for the majority of the journeys undertaken using the M4.
“The South Wales Main Line is focused on inter-city services rather than commuting services, and many residential and employment concentrations are poorly connected,” the report said, adding that introducing additional stations and reconfiguring the train line towards local stopping services and inter-city express services would “support lateral travel needs between Cardiff, Newport and Bristol”.
Finding that the M4 was “not a resilient motorway”, the report noted several differences in the makeup of it compared to other UK motorways.
These included lane reductions causing bottlenecks, bends and slopes, intermittent hard shoulders and junction frequency resulting in many changes to traffic over short distances.
The report said the congestion issues were mainly at peak times, with the road performing well outside these times.
It noted the peak times as the morning, late afternoon and early evening on weekdays, when up to 5,000 vehicles use the motorway per hour.
It said most trips were those travelling to or from Cardiff, Newport and Bristol, noting “these three cities account for more than half of all traffic on the motorway in South East Wales”.
It said traffic growth in the UK over the past few years had made congestion on the motorway worse.
It also noted that “the removal of the tolls at the Prince of Wales Bridge in December 2018 has also contributed to higher traffic volumes, especially on the far eastern stretch of M4 in Wales.
“On this part of the motorway, traffic increased by around 10% between 2018 and 2019.”
The report noted that disruption to the motorway often had a knock-on effect on other traffic in the area.
It said: “M4 diversions become congested very quickly and these inevitably involve the Newport road network.
“This affects journeys which do not even involve a car, for example, bus travel within Newport is very difficult if there is a major incident on the motorway.”
The report noted that many travel patterns in the region were not well served by the existing rail network.
“In particular, many post-war developments are not served by rail services, such as eastern and north-eastern parts of Cardiff, and suburban areas of Newport.
“Newport is particularly poorly served by rail, even after the reopening of the Ebbw Vale branch in 2015.”
It said that while city centres were well connected, out-of-town destinations were not well served either by public transport or bus services.
Other issues highlighted by the commission included a projected population growth in Cardiff, Bristol and Newport in the next 20 years, and a lack of integrated transport systems in the region.
Among its recommendations were improvements to the South Wales Main Line running from Cardiff to the Severn Tunnel junction.
“With additional stations, a local stopping service operating on this line could provide a new local rail ‘backbone’ into which other transport modes could connect. This would support lateral travel needs between Cardiff, Newport and Bristol.”
Regarding improving bus services, it said: “To ensure reliable journeys, our starting assumption is that some form of bus priority is offered along these corridors (such as ‘queue jump’ stops or dedicated bus lanes), unless this is physically impractical.
“Second, and in addition, we will focus on services required to connect people to rail stations and the wider transport network.”
The report said it would also consider ways to better integrate transport services including “measures such as integrated ticketing, a co-ordinated timetable, and efficient interchanges between modes”.
The commission said it intends to publish its full report by the end of the year.