Mode of travel on Hertfordshire and Essex transport plan 'still to be decided'

Hertfordshire County Council issued this picture but said the type of transport the Hertfordshire-Essex Rapid Transit (HERT) would carry had not yet been decided

Residents will be asked what a new east-west public transport link, being planned by a council, should look like.

Hertfordshire County Council has announced plans for a Hertfordshire-Essex Rapid Transit (HERT) system from Hemel Hempstead to Stansted Airport.

But it said the type of transport it would carry had not yet been decided.

The authority said it would be "presumptive" if it knew now what the system would look like.

A spokesman said: "A public engagement regarding the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) will be held in the autumn, which will then determine the requirements across the county in terms of type of transport, capacity and length of the network amongst other details."

The county council is developing a proposal for a MRT system to run along the A414 corridor as part of a strategy to improve travel between the east and west of the county.

With the county's population expected to rise by up to 175,000 by 2031, and plans for more than 100,000 new jobs and more than 100,000 new homes in the next 15 years, the authority said it needed to reduce car dependency and have a "new and sustainable passenger transport system".

Green transport

Routes running from Hemel Hempstead and West Watford, will join south of St Albans, before going to Harlow in Essex and Stansted.

HERT will be "accessible, reliable and affordable" and be more "environmentally friendly", the council said.

"[It] will carry people in much bigger numbers than a typical private car and will provide greater convenience, reliability and frequency than a traditional bus service," it added.

Council leader, Richard Roberts said it was only "sensible" to ask people what sort of transport system would help them most.

"We would be presumptive if we assumed we knew exactly what it was going to look like, does it have wheels, does it have rails, does it levitate on some amazing magnetic rail, is it up in the air?" he said.

"The most important thing is that it connects so many people who live on the A414 corridor that is congested and polluted... and we need the right connecting, green, clean transport system to let people get around."

It aims to submit an outline business case to the Department for Transport in spring 2022.