Clearly transport is a government priority, and that is why we have set out our 10 year plan; so why is it proving so difficult to achieve?

Finance is, of course, a major factor.  We see billions going into our rail and underground systems, but are the services being delivered what we actually want?  Is there demand for an underground through the night?  Are there people who would use night buses when coming off shift work around our regions?

In some areas things are moving ahead – work on the West Coast Main Line is really progressing, but what about the services that connect with it? 

My constituency connects to the main line via two routes that are currently up for franchise, with a decision expected soon.  Yet, due to financial restraints the Strategic Rail Authority has basically specified that there will be no major upgrades at least to start with. 

One of the lines links Yorkshire with Blackpool and on Sunday is frequently standing room only, with the Burnley Manchester Road station platform packed with passengers waiting to board an already overcrowded train. The station has one small "bus shelter" style covered shelter with the remainder of the platform uncovered.  In bad weather when the station is busy there is no cover to be sought.

The station is also unstaffed – how many other unstaffed stations are there around the country where the tannoy doesn’t always work and passengers have no idea whether their train is coming or not – or, indeed, whether they have missed it due to incorrect timetable information?  And how many have suitable facilities for the disabled? Clearly the vast majority of unstaffed stations for one make disabled travel a challenge.

Yet with the SRA decision to not plan any upgrades we will not see station improvements, and rolling stock will – at best – be "hand-me-down" stock which might not necessarily be best for the services we are seeking to provide.

It also means there will be no real improvement in timetables – all we can hope for is for a better service delivery.  I have met both bidders for this franchise, and in fairness both want to do better.

My own preferred mode of travel between my constituency and London would be by rail, but I just don’t use it because it is too problem ridden and – whilst rail passenger usage is increasing – there really is tremendous potential that needs to be realised.

Likewise, on the buses we want people to use them and stop using their cars especially for short journeys.  It is odd that very often those who take decisions over buses and what other people should find in their bus journeys/timetables and so on actually use cars themselves!

It isn’t likely that fares are the key issue in stopping people travel on buses - in London for example, being spared the deregulation of the 1985 Act fares are very reasonable, certainly for middle and long-distance journeys although I accept that a flat fare for a couple of stops from the supermarket to home might be an inflated price to pay when you consider the wait, and walk with heavy shopping to and from the bus stop.

However, very few passengers pay on the bus as there are so many attractive options, from travel cards to Oyster Cards. 

And concessionary fares are attractive, in London the scheme for pensioners – who travel free after 9:30am – it is an excellent scheme and pensioners in many other parts of the country ask why the government is introducing concessionary travel nationally without insisting that it meets London’s standard.

What is a key issue on the buses – and indeed on the trains – is reliability.  It is no good wasting 20 minutes or more on a service that is supposed to run every eight minutes, only for a bus to then pull up to let passengers off and not allow any passengers on because it is so full.

That is no good on a fine day, and on a wet and miserable day is a real deterrent to bus travel.

If there is even the possibility that you may have to stand and wait at a bus stop with no shelter for 20 to 30 minutes with then the chance you will have to stand on the bus for a similar length of time for your journey who can blame the car owner for being tempted to just drive to work.

The congestion charge in London might be a deterrent to those people taking to their cars, and then the cost of parking (if parking can indeed be found) added to it; but whether it deters those car users or not, what it does do is stir up resentment and anger about public transport, costs, poor services and the suggestion that both public transport provision and congestion charging have been ill thought out.

At the end, politicians cannot say to drivers "you cannot drive", can we?  But if we can’t do that, then we have to ensure that our bus and rail services are reliable, comfortable, and value for money if we are to let passenger transport sell itself to the prospective passenger and attract car drivers to leave their cars at home.

Peter Pike is Labour MP for Burnley.