I am pleased to present this year's Transport Report, my second as Secretary of State for Transport. Transport issues touch all of our lives.
Many people work in transport-related industries.
The availability of public and private means of transport has brought both economic and social benefits. But increasingly people are realising the need to use transport responsibly, taking due account of its relative cost and efficiency and its impact on the environment. These priorities are also reflected in my forward spending plans. The Transport Departments will spend, on average, about 4.7 billion a year over the next 3 years. One third of next year's budget will support the railways, where we have substantially completed the privatisation process and will begin to see the financial savings coming through over the next few years, with future costs set firmly on a downward trend.