Expand congestion zones to take cars off road, says PM’S adviser
CONGESTION charging zones, low traffic neighbourhoods and road tolls must be introduced across Britain to drive the public away from using cars, the Prime Minister has been told.
Sir John Armitt, chairman of the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC), has published a report warning ministers against a “wait and see” approach towards encouraging motorists to switch to public transport.
He said: “With many cities already back to pre-pandemic road congestion levels, a shift in demand from cars to public transport and active travel is the most sustainable route open.
“In some places this transition will need to be supported by demand management schemes, carefully designed to shift rather than reduce journeys overall.”
While congestion charging and ultralow emissions zones have been steadily expanded in London, motorists across the rest of the UK have largely been spared paying to drive in built-up areas.
The NIC report, entitled Getting Cities Moving addresses concerns that those living in urban areas are reluctant to ditch their cars for public transport because of traffic jams and pollution.
It said: “Enabling more people to make more trips in cities is a good thing – trips support economic growth and quality of life – and this is what urban transport networks need to aim to do. However, for the largest cities in England, congestion on urban transport networks is inhibiting these trips, even with the reduction in travel caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.”
It concludes by urging ministers to consider taking steps to make private car journeys less attractive in areas “where an alternative is available” as improved public transport alone is unlikely to get more cars off the road.
The analysis also shines a light on post-pandemic commuting trends.
It found that roughly one in seven adults are now working exclusively from home and nearly a quarter of people operate under a hybrid pattern.
In 2019 an estimated 5pc of adults worked exclusively from home.