News from Elsewhere

Welcoming improved cycling access to the Volkswagen Wolfsburg plant, Chairman of the Board Herbert Diess has commented that “In overcrowded urban centers, the car – including the emission-free e-car – will only be accepted in the future if the bike has enough space in the mobility mix.

The car giant has spent the past five years looking to improve cycling access to its facility and has now launched a pilot project to stimulate greater ridership amongst its 500 staff. Wolfsburg’s cycling infrastructure network is reasonably broad and key loops actually circle the Volkswagen facilities in the city.

This post is by Helena Bennett, senior policy adviser at Green Alliance.
Amongst the chaos of the fuel crisis, the hours of queuing and the uncertainty of being able to drive, a collective sentience has risen, which questions whether we have to be tethered to petrol anymore.
Car sales advisers have reported that the number of people searching online for electric cars has rocketed, with a 75 per cent increase reported in a week. Sales of e-bikes have shot up too with one seller reporting a 100 per cent increase in enquiries.

A citizens’ initiative calling for a ban on private car use in central Berlin would create the largest car-free urban area in the world.
The campaign group Berlin Autofrei has taken the first step in a process known as the people’s referendum, submitting a petition with more than 50,000 signatures calling for a ban covering the 88 sq km (34 sq mile) area circled by the “S-Bahn ring” trainline – an area roughly equal in size to all the boroughs in London’s zones 1 and 2.
People who depend on their cars for their trade or because they have impaired mobility would be exempt, as would emergency services. Everyone else would each be permitted up to 12 rented car journeys a year – in case they need to move house, for example.

The emission savings from replacing all those internal combustion engines with zero-carbon alternatives will not feed in fast enough to make the necessary difference in the time we can spare: the next five years.
Tackling the climate and air pollution requires curbing all motorised transport, particularly private cars, as quickly as possible.

TOKYO — Once upon a time, having a car was a status symbol. But in Japan, young people in particular are leaving car ownership behind, forcing the country’s automakers to seek and strengthen strategies beyond the simple dealership sale. Now, a host of alternative ways to get behind the wheel are popping up, especially in cities, from fixed fee vehicle “subscriptions” to car sharing.
“I want to change this decades-old idea that a car is something you buy.” So said Shinya Kotera, president of Toyota Motor Corp. subsidiary Kinto Corp. during an online briefing on the company’s Kinto One service in January this year.
Kinto was launched in March 2019, and offers three-, five-, and seven-year vehicle “subscriptions.” The customer can use the car as though it was their own, while it legally belongs to Kinto. There is no down payment or vehicle inspection fee, while insurance, registration, maintenance and other costs associated with traditional car ownership are all covered by the fixed monthly subscription fee. Applications and contracts can all be handled over the internet.