Fellow travellers on a journey

If there is one common human urge that has lasted through time, it is the insatiable desire to travel. On foot, on horseback, by car or on boats, trains and planes people have made incredible journeys. I am in awe of the Time Lords of the past — circumnavigation of the earth, island hoppers, traders on land and sea. What has changed is the sheer number of people wanting to and having to travel in pursuit of livelihoods or leisure. In fast growing countries, investment in urban and national transport is a never ending race in pursuit of mass demand.

For London, Manila or Dhaka, public transport is not just about getting people to their destination. Day to day interaction with a fellow traveller, whether we speak to one another or look the other way, is a form of civic communion. When you share your travel space, you open your eyes to the diversity of your community, the disparities; you see fashion and other trends; you get a sense of the wellbeing or needs of people around you. Living behind high walls, or in the clouds in high rise condos; driving behind dark tinted glasses, diminishes vision and insight.

You would think that Britain as a country that pioneered transport would have found all the answers. And yet, travellers speak of airport and road congestion, long commutes to work, weather interruptions, high costs and carbon footprint. Victorian era private investment, followed by public provision and now a reversion to commercial models, including PPP, have given us a multi-mode network.

There is a new surge of transport investment in Britain. After 20 years of a long London commute by bus and the subway, the completion of the Cross Rail project will reduce my trip from West London to Big Ben to only 20 minutes. The number of big projects is such that it has prompted Hitachi Rail to move its HQ from Japan to the UK. The goal is not just to speed up travel from London to the provinces but also to create urban corridors between cities like Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds. Railways, of which traces of the old British tracks and stations remain in the Philippines, could open up not just faster links to Manila but connect other cities to each other.

In the Philippines, Britain has made a contribution to new thinking and solutions for transport. It is good to see our collaboration on PPP now gaining momentum with projects getting closer to realisation. Privatised ports in the UK range from Felixtowe, which handles 40% of Britain’s container movements, to small regional terminals. Many are owned by foreign investors, including from Asia. The issue is not who owns them but how well they work. The public are indifferent to the technicalities, what they want to know is how their journey will improve. Whether the cost of travel will be repaid by the ability to see the kids off to school and share a family meal together at home before bed time.

There are interim solutions to longer term challenges. Whilst the debate in the UK on an expanded or new London airport continues, we have created 5 modern and efficient terminals at Heathrow. A single runway airport at Gatwick can handle one take-off and landing every minute, 24 hours a day.  NATS of the UK believe they can increase NAIA flight movements by up to 50% through technology, systems and training alone. In London, Hong Kong and Singapore, there are examples of British engineering and planning that moves millions of people in urban areas by bus and light railway. Electronic and contactless payment systems, such as London’s Oyster card, can dramatically reduce bus and rail journey times and the need to carry cash.

We have shown that improvements can be made in living cities no matter what the legacy is and how new infrastructure can transform journeys.

Whether you are on the move by land, sea or air, UK expertise is available to the Philippines. We can be your fellow traveller on your journeys.

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(Asif Ahmad is the British Ambassador.)