Banning Cars in London Only Way to Reach 2030 Emssision Target?

Written on 11:42 PM by Unknown

The Greater London Authority (GLA) has pledged to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in London 60% by 2025. It’s a massive goal, and one which many believe is unreachable using current methods. A new study shows that some radical moves might be needed in order to achieve it, such as banning all cars from London. The report was written by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the Transport Studies Unit of the Oxford University Centre for the Environment, and explains that London will only make a 10-23% reduction at its current rate, but that their plan could achieve a 72% drop by 2030.

After reading the report, Auto Blog Green explain that, “Much of the reason that London's emissions are too high to begin with is that very few people walk, ride their bicycle or take public transportation.”

I think that this is far from true, as all trains and buses in London are packed to bursting at rush hour, and there are a lot of cyclists waiting at every red light. Yes, too many people drive, but the main problem is that public transport in London is old-fashioned and straining under the weight of far more traffic than it was designed for.

Not that many people actually drive to work in Central London, compared to the number that take public transport, but it doesn’t take very much traffic to clog up it’s ancient streets.

Although it seems very unlikely that cars would ever be banned from London, especially outer London, it does look as though the congestion charge will be raised, and its area increased.
Every time this happens the amount of traffic in the city will decrease, and it will be more comfortable for cyclists and pedestrians. Some pedestrian-only streets wouldn’t hurt either, but we’ll see if the next mayor shares Ken’s congestion-charge ideals.

Source: Treehugger.com

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