How to make public transport easier

I was at the Environment Agency’s conference on environmental futures today listening to representatives of local government talk about sustainability (including Ken Livingstone, who knocked the rest of them into a cocked hat).

I was particularly interested to hear what Sandy Taylor, Head of Climate Change & Sustainability in my home city of Birmingham, had to say on public transport.

He lamented the fact that while 80% of Londoners use public transport, 80% of inhabitants of other cities don’t. It’s largely due to density of population and avoiding congestion, he said.

But isn’t it also - like everything else - about making it easier for people? In London they have a proper integrated public transport system, which is cheap, reliable and easy to use (I lived in London and moaned about the tube but now realise how much better it is than everywhere else). In Birmingham there is no sense of the train from Four Oaks to Redditch being part of the same system as the bus that goes to the airport, or even as the train out to Walsall. And for people like me who don’t want to travel every day, it’s a pain (and often expensive) to have to buy a ticket every time.

Surely cities like Birmingham could benefit from a system like London’s Oyster card? I’ve got one even though I hardly ever need to use it - but when I am in London I know I can swipe onto any form of public transport and I’ll always be charged the cheapest possible rate.

Is this something that is already happening in other cities? Or are we just behind in Brum (as we have been with recycling). I’d be interested to know.