Lunch with Leon: Ben Plowden on Campaign for Better Transport's mission, rail renationalisation challenges, and planning the green transition

Leon's latest guest on the Lunch with Leon podcast is Ben Plowden, the newly appointed Chief Executive of the Campaign for Better Transport. Speaking from his new role - a position Leon describes as "written for anybody, this job was written for you" - Ben reflects on his first 100 days leading the organisation and the fascinating journey that brought him full circle from his early campaigning days to Transport for London and back to advocacy.

The conversation begins with Ben acknowledging the natural progression of his career path.

"There's a very nice symmetry about it," he explains. "I began my career in the voluntary sector campaigning, set up and then transformed what was Pedestrians Association, turned into Living Streets. Spent about 20 years at Transport for London learning about the political and practical realities of actually doing better transport in a real place with real stakeholders and real challenges." This experience has given him a unique perspective on the challenges facing the transport sector from multiple angles.

However, the discussion quickly turns to some concerning political trends that both Leon and Ben have observed. Leon expresses worry about the apparent softening of the green agenda, particularly with Reform UK's unexpected electoral success.

"Ten councils now controlled by Reform. Indeed, in the East Midlands, two of the four authorities now controlled by Reform. And I don't think any of us really know what their transport priorities and policies are going to be," Ben notes, highlighting the uncertainty this creates for transport planning.

Ben's response to these challenges reveals Campaign for Better Transport's strategic thinking. He emphasises three critical approaches: continuing to highlight climate change threats, reframing decarbonisation benefits in language that resonates with communities, and crucially, planning the transition carefully.

"We've got to be really careful about planning and delivering the transition so that people are ideally better off and certainly no worse off than they are in the current situation," he explains.

This careful transition planning is exemplified by Campaign for Better Transport's recent report on home care workers, produced in partnership with trade union Unison. The research examined how to transition car-dependent workers to more sustainable transport options, focusing on practical solutions like improved rostering to reduce travel distances and providing incentives for electric vehicles or e-bikes where appropriate.

The conversation then shifts to one of the most significant transport developments: the effective renationalisation of the railways under Great British Railways. Ben acknowledges the complexity of this massive organisational change while emphasising the importance of maintaining customer focus.

"Either current passengers or potential future passengers, I think it's absolutely fundamental," he states, noting that both transport secretaries since the election have made clear their commitment to putting passengers at the heart of GBR.

The challenge, as Ben sees it, is managing expectations while delivering a substantial organisational transformation.

"This is a very, very substantial organisational change project where you're moving thousands of people into a new organisation... at the same time as people out here are assuming that things are going to get better, really quite quickly."

A particularly engaging section of the discussion centres on rail fare complexity, where Leon challenges the conventional wisdom about fare simplification. Drawing on his experience with retail psychology, Leon argues that consumers who make sophisticated choices in supermarkets shouldn't require oversimplified rail pricing. "Every time I hear simplification, it will mean less choice, and that less choice will... there'll be disbenefits in the less choice," he observes.

Ben acknowledges this complexity while suggesting there must be "a sweet spot between four fares and the alleged 50 million that there currently are on the network." Campaign for Better Transport has advocated for specific reforms including fares freezes, capping peak fares, and eliminating penalties for last-minute ticket purchases.

The discussion highlights some positive international examples, particularly France's approach to domestic aviation and rail development. Ben notes France's ban on domestic flights under two and a half hours where rail alternatives exist, alongside their ambitious RER-style services being planned for cities equivalent to "Portsmouth, Peterborough and Swansea" - something unheard of in the UK context.

Ben draws attention to a fundamental structural problem in UK transport funding: "Transport is just seen as a dead cost, funded through the Department for Transport. All the benefits to society, the economy, goes to the Treasury." This misalignment means the department bearing the costs doesn't capture the economic benefits, creating perverse incentives in investment decisions.

The conversation reveals Ben's optimism about changing travel patterns, particularly among younger people. While acknowledging concerns about car dependency becoming institutionalised, he points to National Travel Survey data showing lower car ownership and usage among younger age groups. His own daughters exemplify this trend - learning to drive for flexibility but unlikely to own cars, having grown up with excellent public transport options.

Throughout the discussion, Ben's passion for integrated transport planning shines through. He emphasises the "agglomeration benefits" of better rail connectivity, citing examples like the proposed Liverpool-Manchester link that could create "a single, substantial city region" and the North London Line reopening that generated "five times as much use as the most optimistic forecast."

The episode concludes with Ben promoting Campaign for Better Transport's upcoming Better Transport Week from June 16th-22nd, culminating in a conference in Manchester.

"It's absolutely about celebrating better transport," he explains, "because it's quite easy to think, oh, it's all very difficult, and can't do it here, or it's too expensive, but there's some amazing stuff going on all over the country."

Ben also discusses the upcoming Integrated National Transport Strategy - the first of its kind for over 25 years since John Prescott's 1998 white paper. He's particularly interested in how integrated it will be, especially regarding transport and land use planning relationships and ensuring the transport system itself is "fully integrated in terms of buses and trains and taxis and cycling and walking all connecting together."

Throughout their conversation, Ben's vision for transport as a fundamental public service rather than a commercial enterprise becomes clear. Representing an organisation committed to connecting people and communities, Campaign for Better Transport continues to advocate for the kind of integrated, sustainable transport system that could transform how we move around the country. Listen to the full episode