Socialists and greens want to use this crisis to impose a dystopian new normal

Cycling fanatics want us all to get on our bikes. Yet the evidence to date is that people are more likely to get in their cars, even in cities

Already it has started. Councils have suddenly sprung into action, publishing suspiciously comprehensive plans to widen pavements and cycle lanes, and narrow space on the roads for motorists. They recognise, correctly, that the post-coronavirus world could see a collapse in use of public transport, thanks to social-distancing rules and as people decide that they would rather not crush themselves up against other commuters as they tentatively return to some semblance of normal life. Local authorities, and the Government, want us to walk and to cycle instead.

But is that realistic? We are told we are entering a “new normal”, one where some of the measures imposed during the current emergency become permanent fixtures of our lives. Perspex screens to protect cashiers in supermarkets and marks on the ground to remind us to keep apart are just the start of it. Any number of ideologues, central planners and utopian dreamers are desperate to turn this crisis into an opportunity to impose their favoured schemes on the rest of us.

Extreme environmentalists delight at a “permanent” slump in air travel. Yet a third of British people say they will travel more than ever once restrictions are lifted. Socialists argue that this experience shows the state must indefinitely prop up our incomes. Yet that does not change the inescapable fact that lunatic ideas such as the universal basic income would bankrupt the country if they were to pay out anything more than a pittance. Cycling fanatics want us all to get on our bikes. Yet the evidence to date is that people are more likely to get in their cars, even in cities.

There is no doubt that some things will change once this nightmare is finally over. The premium placed on unnatural urban living – miniature flats, communal outdoor space – could shrink if people work from home and better recognise the value of private gardens. HR departments in large corporations will hopefully obsess less over identity politics issues such as gender pay gaps, and more over the enormous practical difficulties of supporting workers who come into the office less often and enacting public health directives within workplaces. Some people may think twice about attending large public events. Others will wear face masks (although I will not be joining them).

However, if the socialists and the environmentalists and all the other special interest groups think this “new normal” is a chance to fundamentally shift society in the direction they would like, I suspect they are in for a disappointment. Their eternal problem is a failure to recognise that people largely act the way they do because it reflects their interests, desires and ambitions. The reason many people don’t cycle is not because cycle lanes are too narrow, but because the car is more convenient and comfortable.

Perhaps the cycling ultras will succeed in their aim by making motoring such a dreadful experience that drivers have no choice but to abandon their vehicles. But that is not a “new normal” I want to contemplate.