21 June 2019
The Minister for Infrastructure, Deputy Kevin Lewis, is planning with officers how to accelerate the development of the sustainable transport policy in the light of this week’s States debate.
States Members rejected most of a proposition to introduce free bus services, but approved an amendment “to research, consult upon and identify funding for a sustainable transport strategy, including safe routes for walking and cycling, and provision for those with impaired mobility, by the end of 2019”.
Deputy Lewis said: “Work is already well underway on a sustainable transport policy and we have already made commitments to bring forward revenue and policy initiatives in next year’s government plan to make a real impact in 2020 onwards. This is why I was keen not to see any decisions made in isolation and in advance of the work being completed.”
He added: “We need a long-term sustainable vision for islanders’ use of transport across the board. The Assembly has now given a very tight deadline for its delivery considering the scope of work that has to be undertaken and we need to resource up for this.
“We need to set a common goal of ensuring that the environmental impact of transport is minimised. We will have to ensure that islanders understand what we are trying to achieve, and how it will affect them and the way they travel. We fully support building on the increases in bus use that we have seen in recent years.”
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