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The Woman Who Stops Traffic
With road transport being a major contributor to UK CO2 emissions, with approximately 91m tonnes emitted annually, and up 1.3% on 2006. Channel Four last night screened the Woman Who Stops Traffic, one woman named Kris, with her aim of reducing gridlock in the town of Marlow, Buckinghamshire, which has one of the highest car ownership rates in the country, through a no car day.
Focusing her efforts on three different local traffic hot spots, the eight local schools, high street and the industrial estate which employs 8000 residents. After a harsh initial response from community leaders and the community itself, a four week campaign to promote the car free day on 01 February, Kris and her supports eagerly watched on to see if the fruits of their labour, council money and the future of Marlow. A shaky start saw large numbers of vehicles at day break, but by morning, the areas around the traffic hot spots were literally no car zones. Reducing traffic by up to 40%, and reducing those pupils that travel to school by car to only 10%.
If you missed the first episode in this new series, why not log on to 4oD, to stream or download the latest channel four television shows. Is this the model for the rest of the country?
The show follows on from Transport for London's latest increase in the congestion charge for cars which exceed emissions of 225g/km (or for cars manufactured before March 2001, an engine size over 3.0 litres). Cars that do not meet the new threshold will be forced to pay a congestion charge of £25. But the types of car that fall into this category include some family favourites, with some larger vehicles such as the Land Rover Freelander 2 2.2, BMW X5 3.0d and Porsche Boxster 2.7 falling into the lower price category.
To find out if your car is over or under check out the government website, VCA Car Fuel Data.
I will be reviewing the new more efficient, carbon friendly and shorter Eurostar service to Paris, in May, as I take a short trip to London and Paris (if Eurostar would like to send me free tickets just let me know). For more information on train travel, the Man in Seat Sixty-One can help.
Whilst on the topic of trains, and in more general terms Stagecoach, the firm that operates bus services across the UK, holding a 16% market share, and controls 25% of the rail market, including South West Trains, East Midlands Trains, and a 49% stake in Virgin Trains, the operator of the West Coast Main Line. This week announced "encouraging" like-for-like revenue growth was 14% on train services and up 7% on bus services compared with the same period (fours months from Oct 31).
Sorry for the late updates as I have been very busy at work and ill lately. In positive terms it has made me think about greening my work more as a solution to future unresolved problems. The news over transport emissions in recent weeks has shown that we need to tackle what is a growing dependence on cars, with the main method by local and national government of getting those out of their cars via green taxes, but are these effective methods?.
With ever increasing fuel costs, added tax is certainly pricing lowest income families out of the market, the new £25 congestion charge and higher road taxes will focus on high CO2 emitting vehicles, the majority of which are the highest priced and aimed at the luxury market. The hefty increase will certainly serve as deterant to high emitting cars in London, and should make people think twice about what they buy, as in future the bar will be lowered to include more cars.
I do not live in London, but since Tuesday night I have been transfixed about buying a new bike, as a method of travelling to and from work and general exercise, maybe even for my late night lurks to Tesco. But in a funny way I find myself asking the same questions as aired in the Woman Who Stops Traffic. Where will I lock it up? Will it be safe? Will I be safe? ... I shall update you on my outcome next week when I will confirm my final decisions. Which I hope will be a resounding "get on yer bike". As I am a bike newbie any advice would be welcome, hence I might ask some blogger out there in the field to write an article.
Focusing her efforts on three different local traffic hot spots, the eight local schools, high street and the industrial estate which employs 8000 residents. After a harsh initial response from community leaders and the community itself, a four week campaign to promote the car free day on 01 February, Kris and her supports eagerly watched on to see if the fruits of their labour, council money and the future of Marlow. A shaky start saw large numbers of vehicles at day break, but by morning, the areas around the traffic hot spots were literally no car zones. Reducing traffic by up to 40%, and reducing those pupils that travel to school by car to only 10%.
If you missed the first episode in this new series, why not log on to 4oD, to stream or download the latest channel four television shows. Is this the model for the rest of the country?
The show follows on from Transport for London's latest increase in the congestion charge for cars which exceed emissions of 225g/km (or for cars manufactured before March 2001, an engine size over 3.0 litres). Cars that do not meet the new threshold will be forced to pay a congestion charge of £25. But the types of car that fall into this category include some family favourites, with some larger vehicles such as the Land Rover Freelander 2 2.2, BMW X5 3.0d and Porsche Boxster 2.7 falling into the lower price category.
To find out if your car is over or under check out the government website, VCA Car Fuel Data.
"Some really surprising cars will be caught by the £25 charge. A 2.0-litre petrol Vauxhall Zafira - a family MPV - emits 228g/km of CO2 and will have to pay. And there are plenty of 4x4s and sports cars that will pay the minimum charge of £8."An alternative to the car is train travel is often seen as a relatively clean way to travel, and rightly so. The carbon emissions produced by train travel are between two to three times less than by road. Currently, rail travel accounts for about 7% of traffic but emits only about 0.2% of the carbon monoxide, 2% of nitrous oxides and 1% of volatile organic compounds produced by the transportation sector. The best electric trains produce less than a third of carbon than diesel trains, and with the efficiency of electricity production improving this too will get better. The trouble is, only 40% of trains in the UK are electric, the lowest proportion in Europe.
Dan Stevens, News Editor, Autocar
I will be reviewing the new more efficient, carbon friendly and shorter Eurostar service to Paris, in May, as I take a short trip to London and Paris (if Eurostar would like to send me free tickets just let me know). For more information on train travel, the Man in Seat Sixty-One can help.
Whilst on the topic of trains, and in more general terms Stagecoach, the firm that operates bus services across the UK, holding a 16% market share, and controls 25% of the rail market, including South West Trains, East Midlands Trains, and a 49% stake in Virgin Trains, the operator of the West Coast Main Line. This week announced "encouraging" like-for-like revenue growth was 14% on train services and up 7% on bus services compared with the same period (fours months from Oct 31).
Sorry for the late updates as I have been very busy at work and ill lately. In positive terms it has made me think about greening my work more as a solution to future unresolved problems. The news over transport emissions in recent weeks has shown that we need to tackle what is a growing dependence on cars, with the main method by local and national government of getting those out of their cars via green taxes, but are these effective methods?.
With ever increasing fuel costs, added tax is certainly pricing lowest income families out of the market, the new £25 congestion charge and higher road taxes will focus on high CO2 emitting vehicles, the majority of which are the highest priced and aimed at the luxury market. The hefty increase will certainly serve as deterant to high emitting cars in London, and should make people think twice about what they buy, as in future the bar will be lowered to include more cars.
I do not live in London, but since Tuesday night I have been transfixed about buying a new bike, as a method of travelling to and from work and general exercise, maybe even for my late night lurks to Tesco. But in a funny way I find myself asking the same questions as aired in the Woman Who Stops Traffic. Where will I lock it up? Will it be safe? Will I be safe? ... I shall update you on my outcome next week when I will confirm my final decisions. Which I hope will be a resounding "get on yer bike". As I am a bike newbie any advice would be welcome, hence I might ask some blogger out there in the field to write an article.
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