castanyes blaves

Been to the public hearing for the transport commission at the Guidhall in Cambridge and got the impression that everybody was very prudent in saying that transport increases will be at all affected by the economic downturn.

Some interesting numbers were given:

• The Silicon Fen area of influence generates £100bn per annum. In contrast to that, the national transport inversion in the area is disproportionately small.
• Measures taken in restricting car access to the City centre have stopped and even decreased the volume of private car traffic in the last 10 years. In contrast, the access to the centre has increased steadily, and the Park and Rides are now at 2.2-2.5M per year.
• The property bust in the economic downturn will probably last for 2009 and 2010, and number of dwellings and transport needs will spike back after 2010. The property market is already thawing from the late 2008 or early 2009 freeze. Projections of 75000 new homes by 2021 will only need to be shifted by two years, to 2023.

Cambridgeshire knowledgebased economy is and will be among the least affected by the downturn, and it will even be able to atract ex-City workers now shifting into research and development. The transport estimates for the Cambridgeshire County will only need to be shifted by two years with respect to pre-credit crunch estimates.

All very interesting and looking forward to see what comes out of this comission in the near future...