History
Transport 2000 was formed in 1972 by various railway workers' unions and environmental pressure groups as a reaction to a newspaper disclosure that one of the options in a report for the Department of the Environment was the possible closure of a large part of the rail network. The National Union of Railwaymen instigated a meeting with other concerned parties where they agreed to form Transport 2000 with 14 affiliated organisations, many of which are still associated with the organisation.
Michael Palin was appointed as chairman in 1986 and then as president in 1988, the same year that Stephen Joseph was appointed as Executive Director. Joseph received an OBE for "services to transport and the environment" in 1996.
In 1998 Transport 2000 was part of a coalition of organisations which jointly launched the Slower Speeds Initiative which campaigns in favour of traffic calming, lower speeds and better enforcement of existing speed limits. Although a founding member, the organisation now focuses less on speed reduction in favour of other campaigns.
In 2006 The Times reported that Michael Palin was facing moves to oust him as president because of his passion for long-distance air travel. They calculated that he had flown more than a quarter of a million miles in the previous 17 years while making his six TV series. The organisation denied any such suggestion saying "Michael Palin brings popular appeal, wisdom and a sense of proportion to the transport problems we as a society face today". The Daily Telegraph also covered the story in their motoring section, initially claiming that over half of the organisation's funding came from the bus and rail sector, but then correcting the figure as 20%.
In 2007 the organisation changed its name to Campaign for Better Transport and re-focused its campaigns and appointed Rebecca Lush as 'Roads and Climate campaigner'. Lush was a long-time roads campaigner and founder of Road Block, an organisation which supported local groups that were resisting road schemes and which became a project within the organisation at the same time. Other former members of staff include Richard George, previously Campaigns Coordinator at CTC, the national cyclists' organisation and co-founder of Plane Stupid.
Read more about this topic: Campaign For Better Transport (United Kingdom)
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“No cause is left but the most ancient of all, the one, in fact, that from the beginning of our history has determined the very existence of politics, the cause of freedom versus tyranny.”
—Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)