Is the Government’s Transport Decarbonisation Plan up to scratch? | Campaign For Better Transport
16.07.2021 | Silviya Barret
While launching the Plan the Transport Secretary was at pains to say that people's lives won't change much: "We will still fly but in more efficient aircraft, using sustainable fuel. We will still drive, but increasingly in zero emission cars". The good news is that – by contrast – the Plan itself recognises the need for modal shift and to reduce how much we travel, as well as how we travel. It reiterates the government's ambition for public transport, cycling and walking to be "the natural first choice" for people.
Yet there seems to be an overreliance on some of the changing habits during the pandemic sticking, rather than actively promoting behaviour change going forward. Without any specific traffic reduction and modal shift targets to promote action, even the reforms proposed in the National Bus Strategy and the Plan for Rail may not result in significant change.