Better Transport

Cutting car journeys to train stations
Sixty percent of cars on the road have only one occupant, so initiatives that encourage car-sharing can be a great way to cut traffic and CO2 emissions. One such initiative, called 'three for free', is run by Chiltern Railways. If three rail passengers share a lift to the station, they get a free parking space. 700 people take advantage of the offer every month. Chiltern Railways has also teamed up with Liftshare to set up Chiltern Carshare, a website where passengers can find other people making the same journeys as them.

Traffic reduction in Hertfordshire
Shenley Road, the main shopping street in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, used to have traffic flows of more than 1,000 vehicles an hour but after some traffic-calming measures, the street is now much more people-friendly. The local authority narrowed the two carriageways, widened the pavements and installed a central reservation. Pelican crossings were replaced with broad road humps that could be used as crossing places by pedestrians. Although cars are not obliged to give way to pedestrians at the road humps, they generally do. Parking for cars is restricted to marked bays and the street environment has been improved with the addition of trees, seating, attractive paving and street lamps.

Cutting congestion from business travel
An initiative called easit was set up in 2004, bringing together Local Authorities and businesses based in East Surrey and Crawley to reduce corporate congestion on the area’s roads. The group now represents over 40 of the largest employers in Dorking, Reigate, Banstead and Crawley. Monthly meetings explore setting up car share networks, improving public transport links and sharing company travel plans. easit has already recruited over 3,000 individuals into its car share scheme and negotiated a 20% discount on local bus routes, which has seen ticket sales grow by 67% in the last two months.

York leads the way on street-friendliness
York City Council began implementing a series of radical transport planning measures in 1987 to reduce car traffic and casualties. In 1989 it adopted the priority road user hierarchy already mentioned. It introduced a large pedestrianised Footstreets Zone in the centre, traffic calming in around 20 per cent of all residential areas and various other innovative measures to make walking safer. Within the city, walking and cycling accounted for 20 per cent of journeys to work in 1994, while Footstreets areas saw a 20-50 per cent increase in pedestrian traffic. A happy result of these measures was that York achieved the national road casualty reduction targets long before national government was able to make a dent in the figures.

Involving children in street design
In 1994, Leicester City Council asked over 800 school children what was needed to encourage them to walk to school. They came up with a series of designs to mark safe routes, which have since been implemented, giving Leicester school-children a head-start towards a life that doesn’t depend on the car.

Coordinated tourist transport in Kent
Thanet’s Viking Coastal Trail provides a circular 28-mile walking and cycling route that connects with train services from London at the coastal resorts of Margate, Broadstairs and Ramsgate. Mini-route leaflets suggest themed rides of varying lengths and improved signage guides visitors to the trail. Thanet District Council estimates that the trail is generating £300,000 for the local economy each year, with over 400 cyclists using it every day.