ABSTRACT
In today’s UK, transport policy passenger representation occupies only a minor place. Certainly, there is an official passenger watchdog, Transport Focus (until March 2015, Passenger Focus), covering the entire country, though there are some areas, such as London, where more regionally based TravelWatch organisations operate. Despite being a national organisation, Transport Focus has a fairly low profile. The relative neglect of passenger representation, especially when one compares this to the high profile given to infrastructural programmes, is a growing trend. The coalition government’s halving of the budget of Passenger Focus in 2011 significantly weakened the position of the organisation since it was forced to reduce the level of liaison with the Train Operating Companies (TOCs) (Passenger Focus 2011: 6). The predecessors of Passenger Focus did not fare well either. The user consultative bodies established by the 1947 Transport Act have never had sufficient political leverage to tangibly affect transport policy making (Dudley and Richardson 2001: 40).
