Sep

Should cars be banned from London?

Posted by admin Published in Transportation Alternatives, Legislation and Policy

The Greater London Authority (GLA) has made a commitment to reduce London’s carbon dioxide emissions by 60 percent by 2025. Sounds like an honorable goal, right? But at what cost? How about the banning of all cars from both outer London and inner London? That sounds pretty radical, but according to a study by a team of experts from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and the Transport Studies Unit of the Oxford University Centre for the Environment, that is what may be mandatory. In fact, it would exceed the goal, reducing London’s emissions by 72 percent by 2030. Using the current action plans, London is on track to reduce their land transportation emissions by somewhere amoung 10 percent and 23 percent, well short of their goals.

Much of the reason that London’s emissions are too high to start with is that very few society walk, ride their bicycle or take

public transportation. In fact, increasingly than 70 percent of all trips via the automobile are shorter than 8 kilometers. Of course, Brits are not shy about sharing their dislike of walking. But, as another post will show, the health benefits would be astounding!

Sure, the likelihood of a ban on all cars in London seems pretty small. increasingly likely, the goals will simply not be met. But, perhaps just the threat alone of an all-out ban on all cars in London would be adequate to kick-start folks into making changes in their daily routines.