The news broke today that we’re having a general election on Saturday 8th February 2020. And I know that my vote is going towards parties that support sustainable transport.
Our towns and cities are growing more congested by the day, and our dependence on private car journeys only makes our roads more dangerous and our air more polluted.
We need real change in transport policy, and we need it now. We need a huge investment in infrastructure to support walking, cycling, and public transport. And we need to actively discourage people from bring their cars into town and city centres.
The current government’s obsession with getting people to buy electric cars doesn’t fix our cities. It doesn’t fix congestion, and it doesn’t stop emissions because electric cars are polluting too!
We need to make our cities places where people are happy to walk and cycle, where there’s pleasant and safe places to move around that aren’t dominated by motor vehicles. And we need fast, reliable and regular public transport – buses, tram and trains – that’s so good that is becomes the default choice for people to get around.
This means getting cars out of the city, and placing restrictions on the hours that commercial vehicles can get access.
If you care about these things as much as I do, then you need to use your vote to back election candidates that will deliver on this vision!