Worst traffic and dearest transport

London bears the brunt of Britain's nightmare traffic congestion - and its public transport is among the most expensive of any major European city, according to a damning new report.

The government has spent two years and millions of pounds to discover what anyone who travels the by roads or rail already knows - that Britain has the worst traffic congestion, some of the highest public transport fares and the longest commuting times in Europe.

Consultants WS Atkins studied UK and European investment in transport and found that Britain spent £30 billion less over the last 20 years than the European Union average.

Their report, for the Commission for Integrated Transport (CfIT) concludes: "The evidence is a clear but stark demonstration of two generations of neglect, of a transport network starved of investment for half a century - a situation that forced people into their cars whether they wanted to or not."

Since the report was first initiated by the then Transport Secretary John Prescott there has been a further massive deterioration in the railway network.

Last month the Evening Standard revealed that on the railways, 1.4 million fewer journeys were made in London and the South-East during a four-week autumn period compared with the same spell last year. On the Underground, an estimated-300,000 fewer journeys were made each week, resulting in a £500,000 fall in income.

A lack of subsidisation means commuters pay more. In London, public transport costs an average 71p per mile - almost 50 per cent more than Madrid, Paris or Berlin and four times more than Rome.

Commuters turn to cars resulting in about 25 per cent of the most heavily used roads in Britain suffer congestion for at least an hour a day. The report found fewer than one-tenth of roads in France, Germany, Austria, Belgium and Portugal are jammed.

Professor David Begg, chairman of CfIT, said that unless more initiatives are created to get motorists on to a decent public transport system, Britain would continue on its path towards a depressing US-style car culture.

Prof Begg warned: "There will be less choice, even longer commutes, more urban sprawl, and social exclusion for those without cars, more gridlock for those with. This is not what we want."

Transport Secretary Stephen Byers said: "We have now got a 10-year plan in place which I think will make a real difference. I am confident that over the next period we will see a real improvement in our transport system.

The report's findings included:

Congestion

? More than 11 per cent of key roads have bottlenecks of more than three hours.

? London buses are slower than those in Rome, Berlin, Madrid and Athens.

? British workers spend more time commuting each day (46 minutes) than European counterparts.

Cars

? Car use rose 52 per cent in the Eighties and Nineties, more than other European countries except developing economies like Portugal, Greece and Italy.

? Almost nine in 10 motorised journeys are by car, compared with and EU average of eight in 10.

Fares

? Lowest level of public subsidy for fares in Europe.

? The UK has the most efficient operators with the lowest operating costs per mile but because of low subsidies, it has the highest fares. British fares are three times higher than Holland's, 60 per cent more than in France and five times more than in Greece.

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