Deniz Huseyin 31 January 2022
There is a growing number of older people in the UK
The UK’s population is growing at a slower rate than previously forecast, reveals a new report from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The information will raise questions over transport planning decisions, for example in terms of demand forecasts and housing plans.
ONS National Population Projections point to a slower growth than in the 2018-based projections, 600,000 lower in mid-2030 and 1.8 million lower in mid-2045.
The population of the UK is projected to increase by 3.2% in the first 10 years of the projections, from an estimated 67.1 million in mid-2020 to 69.2 million in mid-2030.

Laura Laker
New greenfield housing developments are locking residents into car dependency, making everyday journeys impossible without a vehicle, a new report has found. Meanwhile, pledges for walking, cycling and public transport are often left unfulfilled.

Rod King Oct 06, 2021
New research[1] from engineering consultants, Skyrad, models the impact of capping speeds at 20mph vs. 30mph. This “real life” modelling that takes account of the stop/start nature of urban traffic yields a very different result from traditional steady-state models. It shows significant and substantial reductions in emissions: CO2 lower by 26% and NOx 28% lower. With UK hosting COP26, campaigners are calling on governments to set 20mph or 30km/h limits as national urban/village defaults.
Although the auto industry is fully aware of the impact of acceleration on vehicle emissions, it does not publish the results. Basic physics means that 2.25 times more energy is required to reach 30mph than 20mph. When this is repeated in the real-world environment, where we slow down at junctions, crossings, congestion points and other hazards, acceleration becomes the dominant factor in overall journey emissions.

Juliana O’Rourke 02 February 

Members from the Stop the Arundel Bypass Alliance joined with Extinction Rebellion representatives, from Brighton, Worthing and Petworth, for the demonstration in Arundel on Saturday (January 29). 

Zero emission vehicles should not mean zero tax revenue, says Transport Committee
07 February 2022
The UK faces a future of under-resourced and congested roads unless the government acts urgently to reform motoring taxation, warns the House of Commons Transport Committee. The MPs argue that a road pricing system, based on miles travelled and vehicle type, would enable the government to maintain the existing link between motoring taxation and road usage. In its new report, Road Pricing, the committee warns that it has not yet seen a viable alternative to a road charging system based on technology which measures road use.

Carlton Reid
Pedal Me cofounder Ben Knowles on one of his firm’s electric cargo bikes.
“Overwhelmingly, our staff experience injuries off the bike, not on the bike,” states Pedal Me cofounder Ben Knowles, who has been fielding comments on Twitter after he confirmed the London-based pedal-powered taxi service has long banned its riders from wearing bicycle helmets. 
“People that are taking risks that are sufficient that they feel they need to wear helmets are not welcome to work for us,” Knowles tweeted on 4 February.

On 22 June 2021, the Deputy Minister for Climate Change, Lee Waters MS, announced in a statement to the Senedd that there would be a pause on all new road schemes while the existing pipeline of schemes is reviewed.
The context for the review is that Welsh Government, and many local authorities in Wales, have declared a climate emergency. Welsh Government has recently published Net Zero Wales Carbon Budget 2 (October 2021), which identifies the need to reduce CO2 emissions across the whole economy by 63% by 2030. In the transport sector, Net Zero Wales sets an aim to reduce the number of car miles travelled per person by 10% by 2030 (from 2019), and to increase the proportion of trips by sustainable modes (public transport and active travel) to 35% by 2025 and 39% by 2030. Transport emissions accounted for 17% of Welsh CO2 emissions and had declined by only 6% against the 1990 baseline in 2019, highlighting that meeting targets will be very challenging.

Oliver Milman
The Covid-19 pandemic has seen two pernicious trends emerge as to how Americans are getting around their country: public transit is struggling with a reduced number of paying customers, while there has been a sharp increase in car crash deaths.
The shuttering of businesses, the rise of working from home and a fear of contracting the coronavirus saw public transport use plummet across the US – commuter rail alone reported a 79% decline in ridership in the year to September 2020. Despite a slight resurgence in 2021, trips taken on all modes of public transit are still around half of what they were before the pandemic, federal government figures show.

@StreetsblogSF
Rotterdam was bombed into rubble in the 1940s and rebuilt around cars. They then retrofitted for bikes, transit and walking when they realized it wasn’t worth letting children get mowed over to be able to drive fast.