The good things that happen when you walk into work

In last week’s Kentish Gazette the chairman of the Canterbury Society was arguing strongly for a car free day in Canterbury. Terry Hudson of the Alliance of British Drivers was claiming it was ‘gesture politics at its worst’ and those behind the scheme are ‘Luddites’.

There are huge benefits of giving up our cars. I can write from personal experience.

I now walk in and out of Canterbury instead of driving. A return journey of 3.5 miles.

I got fed up with driving to council car parks with signs stating ‘open’ and then finding no spaces to park. How daft a sign is that?

By walking to and from Canterbury I have lost weight. I bump into interesting people and broadened my network of friends.

I also notice interesting buildings which I didn’t before.

A car-free day is not going to permanently change the behaviour of all drivers. Of course not.

Parents living in nearby villages have to ferry their children to schools.

But if the car-free day alerts only a small percentage of Canterbury residents to give up their cars for viable alternatives something will have been achieved. We need the council to take the lead. For a start it could make parkand-ride free.

It is interesting that even pensioners stop driving into town the day they get their bus passes.

To cover the costs, parking fees in central Canterbury should be increased.

But what was not mentioned in last week’s car-free debate was the impact of future technologies and how these will revolutionise transport in the future. Next year driverless/autonomous cars hit the road in parts of London as already in Singapore.

By 2025, it is estimated these will bring about a big reduction in cars in urban areas.

Google, Apple and Tesla are bringing ‘computers on wheels’ to the market.

With our smart phones we will be able to call for a driverless car/pod to pick us up and deliver us to our destinations.

The service will be provided by hire companies like Uber and Lyft.

There will be no need to own cars and ownership will rapidly fall. This is already happening among young people.

The rapid adoption of electric cars will greatly reduce pollution.

Improvements in battery technology are reducing costs and extending driving range.

Electric cars will be mainstream in the UK as they already are in Norway.

Why not dedicated tracks for driverless pods between the proposed edge-of-town housing developments and the city?

They would need far less width than bus lanes, be cheaper and totally nonpolluting.

A car-free day is fine but longer-term remedies for pollution and congestion are needed. I am optimistic about the future.

We are on the verge of a technological/transport revolution that will drastically reduce urban congestion and pollution.

Sadly, my experience is although there are urban councils around the world that are exploring imaginative possibilities, this does not include Canterbury.