Smarter travel for all
Giving people smarter travel choices is a successful way of increasing travel by foot, bike and public transport. Many messages from UK governments, communicated in strategies, plans and speeches all point the way towards enabling people to choose smarter travel.
Is the outlook finally changing for smarter travel in the UK? Well, not exactly.
From ministerial speeches to action, commitment to smarter travel from UK governments couldn't be clearer. Recent action by the Welsh Assembly Government where it's cancellation of a planned extension of the M4 motorway has resulted in a proposed investment in smarter shows real leadership. However, implementation of smarter travel on the ground across the UK is patchy, with many local governments still prioritising motor travel in their plans and strategies. A far cry from programmes that would bring improved health, cleaner air and less congestion.
Conclusive evidence of the benefits of smarter travel from an evaluation of three typical towns in the UK shows that car trips in the towns were reduced by 9%, bus travel increased by up to 22%, cycling by up to 30% and walking by up to 13%. So, why not put lessons learnt into action?
For the situation to improve governments of the UK need to:
- Establish travel behaviour change programmes using proven, cost-effective techniques to encourage and support people to travel more sustainably within communities and to workplaces, schools, further and higher education, leisure and retail centres
- Give every child and young person the knowledge, skills and confidence to establish the habit of travel by foot and bike early in life.
Sustrans experience is that smarter travel can produce extraordinary results. Results that are proven and ready to be delivered now.
Sustrans' Bike It programme has had enormous success in encouraging children to cycle to school, our Active Travel projects often work with hard-to-reach groups to get them cycling and walking, and our TravelSmart programme has now worked with well over 250,000 households to enable people to reduce their car use by 10-14%.
But, with every policy paper or speech that extols the virtues of smarter travel, so the gap between aspiration and reality widens. To bridge that gap we must at last see smarter travel mainstreamed into local, regional and national plans as integral parts of national programmes.