Once again this year, Jonathan Taylor made the trip to the annual CPT conference by coach, and shares his thoughts on the experience
It feels as though we’ve only just started January and now it’s nearly over, but not before another kind invitation from the CPT to its annual conference and dinner. Maxson Goh has been covering the conference, as I couldn’t get down to London for the whole day, so I had the tough job of attending the black-tie dinner.
Avid readers may remember my report from last year when the theme of modal shift from cars to buses, coaches and minibuses was the conference hot topic. It was especially emphasised in the address given by Alex Jensen, CEO of National Express.
My view is that a really big modal shift will only take place when public transport truly competes with the private car on cost, trip times and comfort.
Last year, to test how the modal shift was going I had taken the NatEx option for the ride into London from Wiltshire. There were some serious shortcomings in the service and I would have preferred the car or train for comfort. But NatEx still just about won out on the spectacularly great value price and the overall door-to-door journey time not so far off the competition, despite several stops and detours.
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