Smarter travel choices
May 11, 2009
People in Darlington, Peterborough and Worcester have cut their car use and adopted more active, low carbon forms of transport, according to research released by sustainable transport charity Sustrans.
Funded by the Department for Transport, the three Sustainable Travel Demonstration Towns ran "smarter choices" schemes over five years between 2004 and 2008. The aim was to encourage commuters, residents and visitors to walk, cycle and take public transport more often and to reduce single-occupancy car use.
Smarter choices refers to a variety of methods and initiatives which reduce the negative impacts of travel on congestion, carbon emissions, the environment and health. It embraces public transport, cycling and walking, together with workplace travel plans, car-sharing schemes and teleworking.
At the end of the five-year period, car use had fallen by up to 9% across the three towns; this equates to nearly 53 million miles of car travel taken off the roads, resulting in annual savings of more than 17,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide. As car travel fell, the use of more active and sustainable forms of transport increased, with walking levels increasing by more than 10%, bus use by about 25% and cycling by around 15%.
The Departments for Transport and Communities and Local Government have jointly published a new document called "Good Practice Guidelines: Delivering Travel Plans through the Planning Process", which will be valuable to those who work in either transport or planning. Details are available at www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/sustainable/travelplans/tpp/.
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