Ms. Harrison, MP for Copeland, said the country needs to “adopt the thinking of the 20th. She stressed the importance of Britain’s roads to adopt” more flexibility with personal choice and low-carbon shared transport, “such as bicycle-sharing programs, Car clubs, e-scooters, and digital, demand-driven transportation services like Uber.
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Richard Dilks, Chairman of the Board of CoMoUK Public Transport Activists, welcomed Harrison’s comments, which he believed show that public transport is on the government’s agenda.
He added, “By encouraging people to use public and active transportation more often, they can help reduce the demand for private cars and achieve the country’s net-zero strategy.”
But in a poll of 3,276 Express.co.uk readers, held December 21-23, a staggering 91 percent of voters said private car ownership should not be banned in cities.
One reader, Ms. Mitchell, said, “How is this person a Secretary of Transportation with the crazy idea that we should ban owning private engines ?!”
However, other voters questioned why downtown residents want to own a car in the first place.
One Express voter commented: “I’m sure if I lived in central London I wouldn’t have a car. Why should I? Why should anyone? “
When asked if readers would join a car sharing program, 88 percent said they would not, while eight percent were opposed to it and four percent were undecided.
A reader, Ken Maid, pointed out the risks of using shared transportation in the era of Covid.
They said, “With all of these viruses, I wouldn’t travel on public transport. A completely unattainable policy. “
READ MORE: Germans in the UK are raving about their own nation’s travel rules
Speaking on behalf of the Department of Transport, Ms. Harrison said at Collaborative Mobility’s annual collaborative mobility conference that Britain “needs to make collaborative mobility less new and raise the standard to make it as simple, convenient and accessible as possible”. .
She added, “I think the benefits are really significant: from cleaner air for a healthier population to more connectivity for more people no matter where they live.”
In October, the London Ultra Low Emissions Zone tax was extended from a 21 square kilometer area in central London to most of London on the outskirts, which is a 225 square kilometer zone.
The move aims to encourage city dwellers to turn away from private cars and use public transportation to reduce toxic air pollution.
Since ULEZ was launched in 2019, 44,100 fewer cars are driving the zone each day, and toxic NO2 levels have been reduced by 44 percent.
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London Mayor Sadiq Khan has put combating air pollution high on his agenda, as air pollution accounts for 4,000 premature deaths per year in the city and up to 36,000 deaths in the UK.
He told BBC London: “This is a matter of life and death. We can’t afford to wait any longer. “
The ULEZ expansion comes as other cities want to introduce similar road tax measures, with Portsmouth being the newest city to introduce measures to combat air pollution.
Portsmouth will open its Clean Air Zone on November 29th, which will charge £ 10 for polluting private rental cars and taxis.
Birmingham City Council announced a “transformative” transport plan that will turn the busy city into an oversized, low-traffic area, as well as the introduction of a new fleet of zero-emission buses and more bike lanes.
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