In November 2021 the world’s eyes will be on the city as it hosts the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP26; and decision-makers are trying to make long-standing changes to its transport systems to help support net zero ambitions. In 2019 Glasgow City Council (GCC) set up a Climate Emergency Working Group, subsequently declaring…
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Incorporating the “No Travel Option” in Mobility Planning
2020 resulted in many global changes due to the impact of the Covid19 crisis. The impact on transport was particularly severe. The need for social isolation and lockdowns has accelerated the earlier gradual trends to flexible working and, for many, working from home. Thus, we have been faced with a suppression of movement and a…
Read moreRoad pricing is essential: we must face down the ghosts of past failure
“Never let a good crisis go to waste”, as Winston Churchill may once have said. Covid has been a disaster for public transport but it also made the unthinkable, thinkable. And when the health crisis ends, the debt crisis begins. Covid caused an increase in public sector debt equivalent to the total debt when I…
Read morePublic transport must have a future after the pandemic
The role of transport has always been to bring people together. From early days transport underpinned urban creation through people coming together to exchange/market goods. Today transport underpins much of what we regard as fundamental to civilised society – the way to include citizens in society through accessing essential goods and services as well strengthening…
Read moreCan National Road Pricing Survive ‘Real Politics’?
In November, an anonymous government source told the Times that Chancellor Rishi Sunak was considering national road pricing to fill a “£40 billion tax shortfall created by the switch to electric cars.” A month later, the Transport Committee of the House of Commons launched an inquiry into Zero Carbon Vehicles and Road Pricing. We have…
Read moreDecarbonising transport: what will it really take?
“As with anything unpleasant, the sooner you start, the sooner it will be over”. This is the sort of thing I probably said to my children as they hesitated on the brink of one or other of life’s daunting little challenges; jumping into a swimming pool for the first time, or filling in a tax…
Read moreWho will be the first local authority to cross the Rubicon?
The Rubicon was not a large river for Julius Caesar to cross in January 49 B.C. The river flows from the Apennines in Central Italy into the Adriatic Sea, close to the modern resort of Rimini and in those times it marked the Northern boundary of Roman territory. However the significance of that simple action…
Read moreThe Green Road Ahead?
The role of transport in the delivery of the climate change agenda is fundamental. The Government has made a series of high-profile announcements, not least bringing forward the date for ending the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans to 2030. But detail on delivery is lacking and that is what makes the…
Read moreA fair transition in transport
Ambitious decarbonisation targets are now set in stone, with net zero by 2050 ingrained in our consciousness, along with the more challenging target of 2030 for the ban of new petrol and diesel car sales. These targets give us something to work towards and highlight that the UK is leading the way on setting ambitious…
Read moreTo find the best route to net zero, ask directions
If the UK Government is serious about wanting to deliver its own legally binding target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050, the public’s acceptance and engagement with the need for behaviour change is absolutely vital. Step forward, Climate Assembly UK – a ground-breaking initiative for Parliament in which six select committees…
Read moreAmbitious targets alone won’t be enough – the Government needs a proper Plan
The Government has made a series of welcome announcements this year prior to COP 26. The PM’s 10 Point Plan for a “green industrial revolution” includes bringing forward the date for a ban on new petrol and diesel vehicles to 2030 but it is lacking in the level of detail needed if we are to…
Read moreWe need to stop building roads just for cars
In 2019, Essex County Council didn’t declare a climate emergency, the Authority instead went further by committing to a significant and sustained programme of climate action. The first step of this was to establish the independent Essex Climate Action Commission and invite academics, industry experts and business representatives to join. I have the privilege of…
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