News from Elsewhere

Sadiq Khan urged to introduce ‘paymile’ road charge in London | Evening Standard


Joe Talora 3-4 minutes
Motorists in London should be charged based on how many miles they drive to tackle poor air quality and plug the gap in TfL’s finances, according to a leading thinktank.
The Centre for London has called on TfL and the Mayor of London to introduce the measure following the publication of new data from City Hall about the impact of poor air quality.
The City Hall analysis found that BAME Londoners and those in poorer areas were more likely to suffer the effects of poor air quality, with nitrogen dioxide levels up to 13%  higher in the most deprived areas of the capital compared with the least deprived.
While clean air initiatives such as the ULEZ have seen that gap shrink by almost 50% since 2016, there are growing calls for more to be done to tackle to root causes of air pollution.
But Claire Harding, research director at Centre for London, has said that TfL and the mayor need to “go further”, adding that it is “simply unacceptable that tens of thousands of Londoners still breathe illegally polluted air”.

News from Elsewhere

Third of drivers use cars for walking-distance journeys – uk.motor1.com

:excerptstartExcuses include poor weather and running late. James FossdykeOne in three people regularly uses the car for short journeys that could be completed on foot or with public transport, according to a new study.Drivers beginning to consider electric carsA survey of 2,000 people by motoring website Carwow found that short trips are usually completed by car for convenience reasons,

News from Elsewhere

Want to fix Britain’s broken trains? Look at Austria | Wired UK


Austrians will soon be able to travel huge train distances for next to nothing – and it’s all part of an effort to tackle the climate crisis

08.10.2021 06:00 AM

Just €3. That’s how much it’ll cost to travel the 692km from Bregenz to Vienna, or Salzburg to Kitzbuhel, or anywhere else in Austria on its trains or buses, including in cities. That’s thanks to the country’s new Klimaticket, or climate ticket, introduced to encourage people out of cars and onto public transport as part of carbon reduction efforts.
The pass isn’t daily but annual, so Austrians will have to shell out €1,095 in advance when Klimaticket is introduced later this month, though early takers will get a 15 per cent discount. “It makes commuting by train cheaper in most cases, especially for those with long distances, and is very easy to use,” says Ulla Rasmussen of Austrian mobility campaign group VCÖ. “Furthermore, we expect more people to choose public transport for their leisure activities and inland holidays since they then don’t have to buy additional tickets. Thus, the Klimaticket is not only cheaper, but also easy to use.”

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2019) Away with All Cars (Redux) – Leo Murray


1.8.2019

The privatisation of public transport in the UK has had widespread negative impacts on human welfare and social justice. But these are dwarfed by what may prove to have been the most profoundly damaging privatisation project of all time: the relentless subjugation of the public realm to the exigencies of the private motor car. Four out of five journeys in Britain are now made by car, van or taxi[2], and there are 39.4 million licensed vehicles on the UK’s roads – more than one car for every two human beings in the country.[3] The number of cars in the UK has grown in every year since the end of the Second World War,[4] alongside a continual increase in the distance travelled by car.[5]

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Show your local Council that the public support traffic filters — Possible


Not only are traffic filters an inexpensive and effective way that Councils can make streets cleaner and safer, but, as our new research shows, they are overwhelmingly popular among those who are most affected by them.*  Let’s make sure our Councils know this. Will you use our easy tool to write to your councillors with the evidence to ask them to take action?
We are really keen to hear of any responses you receive so that we can plan how to best engage with decision makers. Please forward any councillor responses you receive to cfc@wearepossible.org.
To see our draft email for your local Council, just fill out this short form.

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Build now, pay (a lot) later: the hidden cost of car-centric development – transportxtra


Build now, pay (a lot) later: the hidden cost of car-centric development


Schemes such as Garden Towns require expensive off-site road infrastructure and a huge amount of on-site space for cars, says Martina Juvara. It’s time for cost effective alternatives that will help achieve net zero, she argues

Martina Juvara 05 October 2021


 
This is a decade of innovation: big change is awaiting us as technology continues to evolve and the response to climate change starts to gather momentum. Yet most housebuilding companies shy away from trumpeting innovation. They clearly rise to meet challenging government targets, but they do not make their customers aware of the innovation they are providing; energy efficient appliances are often disguised as chandeliers or Victorian-looking A-rated stoves, in developments reassuringly named like aristocratic parks or farmhouses.

Housebuilding companies will not be the ones fighting for change, proposing new ways to live and a different relationship with our cars. In doing so, they may be perpetuating a status quo where not enough questions are asked about the real costs of car-centric development. Unfortunately, they are not the only ones.

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How pro-car extremists cheated a Cambridgeshire Consultation and Won – Conservative Friends of Cycling


Chris Howell 27th July 2021 Cambridgeshire County Council Highways and Transport Committee met to decide the fate of the experimental bus gate on Mill Road in Cambridge, that had been introduced in June 2020 as part of emergency active travel funding by the then Conservative controlled Council.

The scheme implementation was not a shining example of how to do things – initial consultations were poor and didn’t get local traders on board. The physical implementation was poor, with poor signage, ugly buildouts to allow social distancing, and no efforts at all to improve the appearance of the road or take advantage of the dramatic reductions in motor vehicles on the road to help traders benefit from the higher levels of cycling and walking. Local campaign group Camcycle begged the Council to improve the quality of the scheme, but these requests fell on deaf ears.

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New WHO Global Air Quality Guidelines aim to save millions of lives from air pollution


Air pollution is one of the biggest environmental threats to human health, alongside climate change.

22 September 2021 Reading time: 4 min (1079 words)
New WHO Global Air Quality Guidelines (AQGs) provide clear evidence of the damage air pollution inflicts on human health, at even lower concentrations than previously understood. The guidelines recommend new air quality levels to protect the health of populations, by reducing levels of key air pollutants, some of which also contribute to climate change.

News from Elsewhere

Providence Ordinance Paves the Way for Street Safety | Providence Media


The Green and Complete Streets Ordinance is the second of its kind in New England to mandate road repairs for accessibility

By Katarina Dulude
“When you travel Dexter Street now, you can see really clearly that it’s a thoroughfare that has all users in mind,” says John Flaherty of GrowSmart RI. He’s talking about Central Falls, the first city in New England to pass a Green and Complete Streets ordinance, in 2018, that lays out the framework for how future street projects will be executed. “They’ve got really clear crosswalks that have a different surface treatment to them, they have a sort of stamped concrete that appears to be brick, and you know, visually that sends a message to people who are driving that they’re actually crossing a pedestrian way.”

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