There have been questions in the past about traditional Cash for Clunkers initiatives—programs that provide a cash incentive to scrap an old, polluting car and replace it with something more fuel-efficient. While the general concept might make some sense, both the Return On Investment and the environmental benefit can be hard to quantify, especially once the embodied carbon of building new cars is taken into account.
Road changes in the City as next phase of Bank Junction work begins – News.cityoflondon
Changes are on the way to one of the City of London’s busiest transport intersections, as part of a major improvement programme.
From Monday, 13 February, Queen Victoria Street will close permanently to motor vehicles where it meets Bank Junction.
Meanwhile, a temporary one-way system will be introduced westbound in Mansion House Street, with a diversion route in place for eastbound traffic, including cycles.
The work marks the next phase of All Change At Bank, a City of London Corporation scheme timed to coincide with Transport for London’s Bank station upgrade.
LTNs bring major traffic falls on London streets, says study – Transport Xtra
There have been significant falls in traffic on streets with Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) across London, with sign of displacement to boundary roads, says a study by climate charity Possible and the University of Westminster’s Active Travel Academy.
LTNs in London introduced between May 2020 and May 2021 have “typically resulted in a sub- stantial relative reduction in motor traffic inside the scheme area, with particularly strong reduc-tions in Inner London”, the study says.
Parking spaces to go as Lewisham sets out Sustainable Street Strategy – Transport Xtra
Lewisham Council is to replace parking spaces with trees, EV charging points, cycle storage, and safer crossings and junctions. More car club and disabled bays will also be installed.
The borough said the first phase of its Sustainable Streets programme will focus on the roads around Deptford and Catford, with changes due to start next summer.
Better use of pavements and road space will improve local streets and road safety, reduce noise, traffic, and air pollution, and help more people walk, cycle and use public transport, the council states.
Next phase of people-friendly streets programme underway in Islington – Transport Xtra
Islington Council has announced plans to continue the roll-out of its people-friendly streets programme. This will include implementing more School Streets at primary schools on main roads and at secondary schools, Liveable Neighbourhoods, more cycleways and the development of public realm schemes such as Clerkenwell Green.
London mayor vows to press ahead with Ulez plan at launch of scrappage scheme | Automotive industry | The Guardian
The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has promised to press ahead with a city-wide ultra-low emission zone to stop people “breathing poison” as he launched a £110m scrappage scheme to help replace polluting vehicles.
Ulez will be expanded to the Greater London boundary in August despite widespread opposition from borough councils, four of whom have threatened legal action.
Drivers of some older petrol vehicles and most diesels more than seven years old have to pay £12.50 a day to drive in London’s Ulez, which was launched in 2019 and expanded to cover the inner boroughs in October 2021.
About 15% of vehicles in outer London would be liable for the charge.
On-street parking capacity to be slashed as Lambeth sets out Kerbside Strategy
Currently, 94% of kerb space in the borough is allocated to parked vehicles, the council estimates. Under the £31.7m strategy, 25% of kerb space would transfer to “sustainable uses” such as bus lanes, street trees, sustainable drainage systems (SuDS), parklets and cycle parking. But some of this space would also be set aside for car clubs and disabled bays.
Cutting parking spaces will result in “fairer and more equal access, community interaction, economic resilience, health and wellbeing ”.
Professors voice concern on the future of road investment – Transport Xtra
2023 seems set to be a critical point in aligning transport spending priorities with broader national objectives on economic, environmental and social policies. An in-depth look at how to approach the necessary alignment has just been published by a panel of transport professors. LTT invited the panel’s convenor Glenn Lyons to outline their thinking and each individual contributor to say what they feel is most significant?
Opinion: UK government fails to protect active travel citizens – cyclingindustry.news
Simon Cox 18 January 2023
As the 1 year anniversary of the 2022 Highway Code changes approaches, it seems an appropriate time to revisit the changes, exploring how they’ve been delivered, and their impact on active travel uptake.
Of the 8 changes , here we’ll focus upon the 3 ‘H Rules’, those focused on ‘hierarchy of road users’ changes.
Rule H1, “… those in charge of vehicles that can cause the greatest harm in the event of a collision bear the greatest responsibility to take care and reduce the danger they pose to others. This principle applies most strongly to drivers of large goods and passenger vehicles, vans/minibuses, cars/taxis and motorcycles.”
UK rail chaos increases demand for cars – ft.com
Philip Georgiadis, Peter Campbell January 4 2023
More than half of buyers say unreliable public transport is behind purchase, says Auto Trader
More than half of prospective car buyers in the UK said they were considering purchasing a private vehicle because of increasingly unreliable public transport, according Auto Trader.
The findings by the online car marketplace, based on its most recent twice yearly survey of customers, compared with just a third who gave the same reason for looking to buy a car in February 2020, before the coronavirus pandemic hit. The platform registers an average of 65mn visits a month.
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