Transport professionals query cost of 20mph limit
TRANSPORT professionals are starting to query the costs of making 20mph the default traffic speed in built-up areas.
While many support the aims of the move, there are concerns about who will pay for enforcement or reengineering roads to make them self-enforcing. Bus, lorry and van operators warn of higher costs when journeys become slower.
In July, MSs voted in favour of 20mph replacing 30mph on most built-up roads, with 30mph retained only with road-specific justification. The plan is to switch the default to 20mph in April 2023 to make streets safer and encourage more people to walk or cycle.
However, research for the UK Government in 2018 confirmed that most drivers exceed 20mph limits in the absence of enforcement.
Many councils have installed “traffic calming” measures such as speed bumps to make drivers comply, but an expert taskforce told the Welsh Government recently that it would be impossible to re-engineer all roads which receive new 20mph limits because so many roads would be involved. The taskforce said sophisticated communications and marketing would aim to make speeding in residential areas socially unacceptable, “backed up with strong enforcement in the early stages”.
How to enforce 20mph divides opinion among professionals. The taskforce highlighted Average Speed Cameras (ASCs), but some council officers are privately sceptical about ASCs’ effectiveness in urban areas. GoSafe, the Welsh safety camera partnership, said ASCs had improved recently and many were designed for urban environments.
Installing, operating and maintaining ASC systems in each street where such enforcement is deemed necessary could be expensive. Revenue from Welsh speeding fines goes to the UK Government and is unlikely to be available to help fund 20mph cameras.
A GoSafe spokesman said: “Enforcement is always the last option. Engineering and education must be considered first.”
CSS Wales, representing council highways officers, said it awaited further information on funding to support the 20mph initiative.
A spokesman said: “As local authority budgets are already stretched, the majority of Welsh local authorities do not believe that they will have sufficient funds to introduce the identified hard engineering solutions or to resource the onerous engagement/education requirement for the 20mph zones unless additional funding is provided by Welsh Government.”
Analysis in the taskforce report shows the 20mph default limit would increase long-distance journey times by only a small percentage. On the route followed by the 132 bus between Maerdy and Cardiff city centre, journeys would increase by five minutes, or 6.7%.
However, if that prevented the existing number of buses maintaining the existing service frequency, the operator would incur the cost of an extra bus, driver and fuel or cut the frequency.
Bus industry analyst Chris Cheek said every minute added to bus journey times added roughly 0.8% to costs. He warned that slower journeys would deter some passengers, potentially by about 5% on the 132, reducing revenue.
Logistics UK, representing freight businesses, said the importance of vans delivering to homes had increased in the Covid-19 pandemic, and factories still needed their supplies on time. A spokeswoman said a 10mph reduction in the urban speed limit could have a significant knockon effect.
“The whole supply chain potentially needs to be retimed. There’s a big piece of work that will be needed around any kind of change in delivery times.” Any increased cost to freight operators would have to be passed on somewhere, she added.
Bev Fowles, of Swansea-based South Wales Transport, said most bus routes were within urban areas and wholesale 20mph limits would increase journey times by more than the 5% estimated for the 132, which has long stretches between towns. He also voiced concerns over the comfort and health of passengers and drivers if speed bumps proliferated.
Scott Pearson, managing director of Newport Transport, said: “If you were to add more traffic calming measures such as speed bumps, this would increase the already disproportionate costs of bus suspension system repairs. The increased journey time could adversely affect bus networks as it may require additional fleet to maintain service frequency.
“Overall the desire and intention is honourable of course, but there may be more effective ways in which to achieve the exact same outcomes.”
A government spokeswoman said: “We have seen an increase in walking and cycling during the pandemic while roads were quieter. We could like to maintain this positive change into the future.
“We want to support communities reclaim the streets on which they live by changing the law to introduce 20mph speed limits. Our research shows there is no significant difference in journey times by reducing speed limits to 20mph; cyclists would have more confidence to commute and there would be fewer cars on the roads doing shorter journeys, bringing with it improvements to air quality and people’s physical and mental wellbeing through active travel.”