THE impact of transport on our daily lives, for better and for worse, has been under severe scrutiny since the lockdown.

However, as things start to ease what sort of transport network will we have in the future?

Many people talk about a new normal, but what does that mean for transport?

During lockdown, messages about how to travel have been confused.

The Government has been keen to get more people walking and cycling to minimise the numbers jumping in their cars while public transport cannot run at full capacity.

A sensible move, but at the same time it allowed holiday flights to operate while telling people not to use buses and trains for recreational purposes.

This didn’t make sense. Nor did the previous damaging messaging about avoiding public transport which is no riskier than many other activities that were allowed.

One of the biggest changes though could be a big reduction in commuters as more people work from home.

Why waste several hours a day and several thousand pounds a year commuting long distances when you can do the same job from home?

This is a no brainer for some and could have profound impacts on future public transport and traffic levels.

Others though aren’t so lucky, so the need for travel is not going to disappear.

In Brighton and Hove, more than 50 million bus journeys were made in 2019 with bus patronage consistently rising over the years. Buses are the workhorse of the city and enable it to function most days without coming to a complete standstill.

While buses may not be able to take the numbers they could just a few months ago, they are still far more efficient users of road space than cars.

They are crucial for the many people who do not have access to a car, nearly 40 per cent of all households in the city, including many key workers, and for those who cannot or don’t want to drive.

That’s why we mustn’t forget the bus as we emerge from the lockdown.

In fact, just like walking and cycling, buses also need extra help. Over the past decade congestion has slowed bus journey times by as much as one third, making it substantially more expensive to provide the vital transport links that so many people rely upon.

This is a direct cost inflicted on bus users by the sheer number of people driving on our roads.

With traffic levels rising, now is the time to give buses a helping hand.

More priority measures are required to reduce running costs and fares and to improve reliability.

Not all of these need be bus lanes. Smarter traffic signals could also speed buses on their way with little or no impact on traffic flows. Removing private vehicles in the city centre such as in Queen’s Road and the top of West Street would provide big benefits for bus users, pedestrians and local businesses alike.

Buses also help with cleaner air– the latest diesel buses are often cleaner than a single car.

However, the improvements go further. Brighton and Hove Buses is now running its new hybrid buses on batteries through the Low Emission Zone, while the Big Lemon runs the country’s first solar electric buses in the city.

Brighton and Hove Buses and Metrobus aims to be “zero emission by 2030 but that will be undermined if car use is allowed to go back to its previous unsustainable levels. Electric cars are not a silver bullet for cleaner air and are certainly not an inclusive one.

They are still inefficient users of road space, still cause traffic jams, still create particulate air pollution and still undermine healthy lifestyles.

Another significant change during the pandemic has been the rise in cashless payments, something likely to continue. For buses, this speeds up boarding as well as making it easy to travel. The future has got to be to extend this with better integration with other services. Bringing together bus and rail fares, bike, car and scooter hire, even car parking and other services into one integrated app could revolutionise the way we travel. It would further reduce the barriers to living without a car and help change cities for the better.

Urban centres based on high proportions of walking, cycling and public transport use, with people-friendly streets, create a virtuous circle of sustainable growth. With car dependency diminishing, many world cities are seeing the benefits as their quality of life markedly improves.

Let’s not miss this opportunity in Brighton and Hove nor forget the bus’s role in getting us there.

Chris Todd is from Brighton and Hove Friends of the Earth