Ever since the UK left the EU, it’s fair to say that we’ve taken a fairly consistent economic pummeling. After Brexit, there was the pandemic. After the pandemic, there was a cost-of-living crisis. And after that? Well, we’ve had volatility from tariffs and the current conflict in Iran.
So what can we really do to turn things around? Well, there are some who argue that a simple, impactful change would be to introduce stronger transport links in all of the UK’s major cities. If we could turn these cities around, it would be a much-needed win for the UK economy. Local governments and mayors have been pushing the narrative that this could be a massive game-changer, so let’s see if they’re onto something.
Comparing the UK’s Transport
So, according to the promoters of this theory, one of the main reasons that our economy is underperforming is that public transport infrastructure in the UK is lagging behind its European counterparts. And, for the most part, this is true. If we take a quick look at Munich, for example, the city has its own suburban railway system, underground, and bus and tram networks that link the entire metropolitan area together.
As a result, workers who live in more affordable housing in the city perimeters are linked to the office areas in the centre of the city and industrial districts on the other end of town. In comparison, Manchester has one of the most celebrated public transport systems in the UK, its own Bee Network, which consists of a fleet of trams and buses, but the city’s economic statistics still don’t compete with Munich’s.
London naturally has its own underground and bus system, which are essential as finding parking in central London isn’t exactly easy. The underground is incredibly efficient, and the city’s buses run like clockwork, so workers in a rush have a system to rely on when they can’t find a Care Park car park.
So, Why Can’t We Build New Public Transport Systems?
The answer may not be all that surprising. It all comes down to cost. Ticket prices in the UK, on average, are much higher than in Europe, and even the cost of building these systems in the first place is over twice as expensive as in Europe. That’s because in the UK, when we build a tramline, we’re not just paying to put the tramline down, we’re also paying for the removal of the utilities that block the way, like pipes used for plumbing and wires used for electricity
So, Could Better Public Transport Improve the Economy?
So, let’s just pretend that we could actually afford to build new public transport systems in UK cities, would it noticeably improve the economy? Not necessarily. That’s because, if we go back a few decades, we can take a look at what happened when Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds all scrapped their public transport systems in the 1940s and 1950s. The result was not economic downturn; in fact, the same cities kept pace with their European rivals.
