New Chair of pteg calls for more investment in local rail

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Geoff Inskip, chief executive of Centro, has been appointed as the new Chair of pteg, taking over the role from Neil Scales.

Geoff paid tribute to the hard work and leadership of Neil, which he said had kept pteg at the heart of the urban transport debate. Neil stands down after chairing the influential group for the last three years.

In taking up the Chair, Geoff called for greater investment in local rail networks in order to help boost the economic vitality of the country’s major cities.

‘I am delighted to take on the role of Chair of pteg in these challenging but exciting times,’ Geoff said.

‘The Government has rightly recognised that transport is key to the economic future of the city regions and at the same time they have made clear that they are looking at new ways of devolving responsibilities for local transport. We believe that PTEs are well placed to deliver on these linked agendas.

For example our booming local rail commuter networks are fundamental to the vitality of our core cities. However, they need more investment, and they need to be better integrated with wider local public transport networks.

Smart ticketing can also help bind local rail, tram and bus services into a single city region network, and as PTEs we are working together, through pteg, to make this a reality.’

Geoff said that as part of the Government’s current rail review, the PTEs were making the case for devolution of further responsibilities over local rail networks where that fits with local circumstances and aspirations.

He said this would enable the networks to become more responsive to the needs of the cities they serve and to more easily benefit from local funding sources.

‘A key role of pteg has always been to cut costs through doing things once via pteg, instead of separately at each PTE,’ he added.

‘This includes joint working on everything from customer satisfaction surveys to concessionary travel funding. In these straitened times we will be re-doubling pteg’s collaborative working efforts so that we can all continue to do more for less.’

Geoff continued:

‘I would also like to pay tribute to the hard work and leadership shown by my predecessor, Neil Scales.

Neil has ensured that pteg has been right at the heart of the urban transport debate and has strengthened the pteg network as an effective way of sharing good practice.’

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