Focus of work
This research positions two UK metropolitan areas, Greater Manchester and Leicester, within an international comparative framework based on the relative sustainability of their passenger transport systems. Reducing dependence on cars in cities is now a major goal in just about every city worldwide, not just for reasons of local environmental improvement, social equity, economic savings and the enhanced beauty of public spaces, but also for helping to reduce global dependence on liquid fossil fuels and mitigating climate change by reducing greenhouse gas generation.
The research looks at the key factors that underpin car dependence and how public transport, walking and cycling could be improved, providing a thorough evidence base for understanding the main elements of transport sustainability in urban areas.
Impact
This work has the potential to help communities campaign for better public transport, healthier and safer conditions for pedestrians and cyclists, and more attractive and livable ways of developing urban spaces that build in less need to own and use a car. It will also help local decision makers make good choices for their communities about future transport and land use.
Eleven key recommendations have emerged from this work that can provide insight and guidance for cities across the UK:
- Stop further declines in urban density and focus urban planning policy on strategically increasing urban densities and mixed land uses especially around public transport.
- Centralise jobs in the central business district and sub-centres.
- Further reduce parking in the city centre.
- Stop further freeway (motorway) or other high-capacity road building or widening and consider some selective removal.
- Limit the growth in car and motorcycle ownership and then reverse it.
- Provide greater public transport coverage and build more reserved public transport routes through new rail lines (including light rail transit and bus lanes).
- Increase public transport services, especially rail.
- Steadily increase public transport use by reversing public transport deregulation, as in Greater Manchester, and improving services.
- Continue the changes being implemented in Greater Manchester towards a franchised, integrated system of public transport with capped fares.
- Increase the use of non-motorised modes, using Freiburg-im-Breisgau as a model of what is possible (63% of daily trips are by non-motorised modes, with a very high contribution from cycling).
- Use every available land use planning tool and transport policy change suggested in the paper to create the synergies needed to replace as many car trips as possible with public transport, walking and cycling.