Data dispels myth that low-traffic neighbourhoods are disproportionately found in privileged areas
Low-traffic neighbourhoods, which use filters to try to reduce motor traffic on residential streets, do not disproportionately benefit more privileged communities, the most comprehensive study of their rollout so far has concluded.
The research, which examined about 400 filters created in London last year, seemingly demolishes the main argument by opponents of such schemes: that they tend to shunt vehicles from richer residential areas on to roads lived in by more deprived people.
One media report last month used an analysis of house prices to support this objection, saying homes tended to be more expensive in streets that benefited from low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs). Controversy over the neighbourhoods, created in cities across the UK by using planters or bollards to prevent through-traffic while leaving the route open for cyclists and walkers, has led to several being scrapped.
Ultra Low Emission Zone will be expanded London-wide
Mayor of London announces £110m scrappage scheme and expansion of bus network in outer London
26 November 2022
The Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) will be expanded to cover the whole of London, the city’s mayor Sadiq Khan has announced. The expansion will come into effect on Tuesday 29 August 2023 and will operate across all London boroughs up to the existing Low Emission Zone boundary.
In parallel to expanding ULEZ, the mayor is announced a new £110m car scrappage scheme, a package pf measures to support disabled Londoners and an expansion of bus network in outer London.
Schemes that aim to reduce traffic through certain streets have been accused of increasing air pollution on roads at their borders, but a study in London has found that the opposite is true
Environment 24 November 2022 Madeleine Cuff
Low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs), which use giant planters, barriers and cameras to restrict vehicle access to residential streets, lead to a reduction in traffic volume and nitrogen dioxide pollution both inside their perimeters and on boundary roads, according to a study of three such schemes in London. The findings run counter to claims by anti-LTN campaigners that the zones merely displace traffic and pollution to their boundary.
“Not only does traffic and air pollution reduce within the LTNs as you would expect, but we also found some reductions at the boundary areas, especially for air pollution,” says Audrey de Nazelle at Imperial College London. “The concern for air pollution is not a reason not to be in support of LTNs.”
Mark Sutton 20 October 2022
Sustrans’ Walking and Cycling index has demonstrated the ongoing economic benefits of active travel to the UK economy, calculating walking, wheeling and cycling to be worth £36.5 billion.
The Walking and Cycling Index is the largest survey of active travel, undertaken across 18 urban areas in the UK and Ireland. The latest assessment of 17 of those areas tallies the benefit to the UK economy to be £6.5 billion in those places alone and extrapolates the findings to reach the larger nationwide estimate.
The positive externalities judged are things such as bringing down the cost of traffic congestion and running a car, improved health and reduced burden on the NHS, and fewer sick days at work. Physically active people take 27% fewer sick days each year than their colleagues, it was found.
Removing cars from urban areas means lower carbon emissions, less air pollution, and fewer road traffic accidents. So why are residents so resistant?
Andrew Kersley 21.06.2022
London had a problem. In 2016, more than 2 million of the city’s residents—roughly a quarter of its population—lived in areas with illegal levels of air pollution; areas that also contained nearly 500 of the city’s schools. That same air pollution was prematurely killing as many as 36,000 people a year. Much of it was coming from transport: a quarter of the city’s carbon emissions were from moving people and goods, with three-quarters of that emitted by road traffic.
But in the years since, carbon emissions have fallen. There’s also been a 94 percent reduction in the number of people living in areas with illegal levels of nitrogen dioxide, a pollutant that causes lung damage. The reason? London has spent years and millions of pounds reducing the number of motorists in the city.
25 November 2022
Councils can help save motorists as much as £6000 a year by encouraging them to use their cars less, according to new report commissioned by bus operator Stagecoach.
Financial, environmental and community benefits of reduced car use and calls for co-ordinated action from government, councils and transport operators, the study says.
It found that motorists are most open to reducing car usage for the school run (+34% net openness rating) or personal leisure activity
Felix Reeves Sep 24, 2022
More than one in five drivers believe that the Government should actively be discouraging the use of private cars.
The findings reveal that one in five (21 percent) of those surveyed think owning a car is wasteful and should be discouraged by Governments. The research from Bolt looked into what would trigger British car owners aged between 18 and 39 to move away from owning a private car.
More than one in four stated they would give up their car if alternative modes of transport improved such as wider availability of car clubs and micromobility options in e-scooters or e-bikes.
This correlates with the fact that 55% believe having a car is useful for occasional access but they don’t depend on it.
Within the research, Bolt also asked what factors are most important to those surveyed when making transport choices, with affordability being listed as the most critical choice, closely followed by convenience and safety.
Amidst a cost of living crisis, the findings show that many people are considering whether continuing to own a private car makes financial sense.
Cycling Professor @fietsprofessor
Imagination can help us find solutions for the many tasks of our future. Let’s practise it!
Cllr Emily Kerr @EmilyKerr36
So this is interesting data from the Norwegian Travel Survey (bear with me): people whose cars are parked more than 50m from their houses use them significantly less, and alternatives more, esp for shopping and leisure trips. https://sciencedirect.com/science/articl
