Transport in the United Kingdom
Since 1952 (the earliest date for which comparable figures are available), the United Kingdom saw a growth of car use, which increased its modal share, while the use of buses declined, and railway use has grown.
Light rail and tram travel also continued to grow, to the highest level (0.3 million journeys) since comparable records began in 1983.
[4] The average amount of time people wait at a stop or station for public transport in London and Manchester is 10 minutes.
[7] Despite the growth in tonne kilometres, the environmental external costs of trucks and lorries in the UK have reportedly decreased.
Outside England, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast, are the busiest airports serving Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland respectively.
The rail network in the United Kingdom consists of two independent parts, that of Northern Ireland and that of Great Britain.
High Speed 1 is operationally separate from the rest of the network, and is built to the same standard as the TGV system in France.
The network grew rapidly as a patchwork of literally hundreds of separate companies during the Victorian era, which eventually was consolidated into just four by 1922, as the boom in railways ended and they began to lose money.
[20][21][22] In 1994 and 1995, British Rail was split into infrastructure, maintenance, rolling stock, passenger and freight companies, which were privatised from 1996 to 1997.
The privatisation has delivered very mixed results, with healthy passenger growth, mass refurbishment of infrastructure, investment in new rolling stock, and safety improvements being offset by concerns over network capacity and the overall cost to the taxpayer, which has increased due to growth in passenger numbers.
[23][24] In Great Britain, the infrastructure (track, stations, depots and signalling chiefly) is owned and maintained by Network Rail, a body of the Department for Transport.
Light rail and tram travel also continued to grow, to the highest level (0.3 million journeys) since comparable records began in 1983.
High Speed 2, under construction, is a wide high-speed line connecting London with Birmingham Curzon Street.
[25] The Network North programme consists of hundreds of transport projects mostly in Northern England and Midlands, including new high-speed lines linking up major cities and railway improvements.
NIR was united in 1996 with Northern Ireland's two publicly owned bus operators – Ulsterbus and Metro (formally Citybus) – under the brand Translink.
Although this is more of an elevated light metro system due to its lower passenger capacities; further, it is integrated with the Underground in many ways.
[28] The Liverpool Overhead Railway (opened 1893) was one of the first metros in the world but was dismantled 1956-1958 after years of neglect because nobody was willing or able to provide the funds for maintenance and repairs.
Four light rapid transit lines are opening in the Welsh Capital of Cardiff as part of the current South Wales Metro plan Phase 1 in 2023, which will reach as far out of the capital as Hirwaun, a town 31 miles (50 km) from Cardiff Bay, as well as three new lines planned to open by 2026.
[34][35] Road is the most popular method of transport in the United Kingdom, carrying over 90% of motorised passenger travel and 65% of domestic freight.
National Highways (a UK government-owned company) is responsible for maintaining motorways and trunk roads in England.
[39] Rod Eddington, in his 2006 report Transport's role in sustaining the UK's productivity and competitiveness, recommended that the congestion problem should be tackled with a "sophisticated policy mix" of congestion-targeted road pricing and improving the capacity and performance of the transport network through infrastructure investment and better use of the existing network.
[44] On 29 April 2015, the UK Supreme Court ruled that the government must take immediate action to cut air pollution,[45] following a case brought by environmental lawyers at ClientEarth.
Segregated cycle paths are being installed in some cities in the UK such as London, Glasgow, Manchester, Bristol, Cardiff.
[54] As of 2022[update], the five major ports that handled the most freight traffic were: There are many other ports and harbours around the United Kingdom, including: Aberdeen, Avonmouth, Barrow, Barry, Belfast, Boston, Bristol, Cairnryan, Cardiff, Dover, Edinburgh/Leith, Falmouth, Felixstowe, Fishguard, Glasgow, Gloucester, Grangemouth, Grimsby, Harwich, Heysham, Holyhead, Hull, Kirkwall, Larne, Liverpool, Londonderry, Manchester, Oban, Pembroke Dock, Peterhead, Plymouth, Poole, Port Talbot, Portishead, Portsmouth, Scapa Flow, Stornoway, Stranraer, Sullom Voe, Swansea, Tees (Middlesbrough), Tyne (Newcastle).
For long periods of recent history, Britain had the largest registered merchant fleet in the world, but it has slipped down the rankings partly due to the use of flags of convenience.
In Scotland, Caledonian MacBrayne provides passenger and RO-RO ferry services in the Firth of Clyde, to various islands of the Inner and Outer Hebrides from Oban and other ports.
Passenger ferries operate internationally to nearby countries such as France, the Republic of Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Spain.
Ferries usually originate from one of the following: More services from Ramsgate, Newhaven, Southampton, and Lymington operate to France, Belgium and the Isle of Wight.
Cruise ships depart from the United Kingdom for destinations worldwide, many heading for ports around the Mediterranean and Caribbean.The Cunard Line still offer a scheduled transatlantic service between Southampton and New York City with RMS Queen Mary 2.
[57] The United Kingdom also has a well-developed network of organisations offering education and professional development in the transport and logistics sectors.
