The government has been warned that its target to reduce road use has effectively been scrapped.

In a report published on Monday the IPPR's Dr Tony Grayling concluded that "to all intents and purposes the current 10-year transport plan is dead".

"Its key target to cut road traffic congestion has been abandoned," he noted.

"Instead, traffic congestion is now forecast to increase and carbon dioxide emissions from road transport to grow."

He went on to warn that ministers had failed to deliver their promises on bus travel.

"Buses still remain the Cinderella service. Public spending on buses is less than half the spending on railways, yet two out of three public transport journeys are made by bus," said Dr Grayling.

"People from the poorest 20 per cent of households on average make three times as many journeys by bus but five times fewer journeys by train than people from the richest fifth."

Grayling said that the government is now more concerned with keeping transport off the front pages than it is about tackling congestion.

"Lack of continuity has not helped political consistency. Integrated transport is no longer even part of the vocabulary," he claimed.

"The political goal now appears to be keeping transport out of the headlines rather than promoting a vision for the part that transport can play in a good society."