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.
“Cities should not just build green transport but actively dismantle car infrastructure” – dezeen.com
Phineas Harper11 January 2023
Instead of desperately trying to reduce road congestion in the short term, politicians should be using traffic as a tool for making urban transport more sustainable, writes Phineas Harper.
New research claims London’s roads are the most congested in the world. But rather than wasting money and emissions building new roads in self-defeating attempts to reduce the time that Londoners who drive spend in traffic jams, politicians should be doing the exact opposite. Managed strategically, congestion is critical in supporting the transition to safe, sustainable transport.
Widening Highways Doesn’t Fix Traffic. So Why Do We Keep Doing It? – nytimes.com
With billions of dollars available to improve transportation infrastructure, states have a chance to try new strategies for addressing congestion. But some habits are hard to break
Interstate 710 in Los Angeles is, like the city itself, famous for its traffic. Freight trucks traveling between the city and the port of Long Beach, along with commuters, clog the highway. The trucks idle in the congestion, contributing to poor air quality in surrounding neighborhoods that are home to over one million people.
“Entrenched car culture”: Brits spending up to 19% of income on cars is stifling active travel, claims cycling campaign group – road.cc
A study by cycling campaign group Bike Is Best suggests that millions of people in Britain are trapped in transport poverty and are spending concerning proportions of their income to enable them to drive a car, with bicycles and increased investment in cycling infrastructure touted as a solution.
The report is based on nationally representative survey of 2,000 people and found that on average those who own a car are spending 13 per cent of their pre-tax income on the associated costs of driving (fuel, insurance, Vehicle Excise Duty, MOT, maintenance etc.).
Islington Council to introduce low-traffic schemes on 70% of roads – bbc news
A London borough is planning to impose traffic restrictions on 70% of its roads in a bid to reduce pollution.
Islington wants to introduce six more low-traffic schemes, called liveable neighbourhoods (LNs), which will work in the same way as the current low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs).
The restrictions will mean drivers cannot pass through designated roads, which will be pedestrianised.
The seven current Islington LTNs will also remain in place.
The proposals won council backing but remain subject to “extensive” consultation before a planned implementation in April.
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