CONGESTION in busy towns was raised in parliament last week by one of the borough’s four MPs.
Reading East’s Matt Rodda – whose constituency includes parts of Woodley and Earley, raised the importance of quality public transport.
Mr Rodda, who is Labour’s spokesperson on the issue, said that “many towns… suffer severe problems with congestion”.
He added: “It is important to address that serious issue, which wastes valuable time and money for businesses and harms the quality of life of many residents. A number of towns suffer from serious air pollution as a result.”
As part of his argument, Mr Rodda said that it was low levels of investment by Central Government that was causing part of the problem, with bus funding having fallen by 45% since 2010.
The Government has “failed to acknowledge that investment in buses is a simple, cost-effective and environmentally friendly way to cut congestion and give more people access to high-quality public transport,” he argued.
“This ill-thought-through approach has hit pensioners, commuters and young people, all of whom rely on buses.”
He also pointed out the success of Reading Buses, which runs services in Woodley, Earley, Finchampstead and Wokingham, saying that since 2010, usage had increased by almost a third. This, he said, bucked the national decline.
This could be increased, he added, if Labour’s policies of a young person’s bus pass and changing rules on council-owned bus companies could be adopted.