REAL MEDIA
2017 / ISSUE 105
11
DRIVING CHANGE –
WHY WE NEED TO
RETHINK TRANSPORT
Hannah Gardiner: The main
drivers of air pollution in cities
is transport. It comes down to
stuff being transported. We're
now in the age of the internet -
delivery consolidations, electric
delivery trucks, these kind of
things are definitely the way
forward.
And then you have public
transport emissions. If everyone
was using public transport, it
would be better because we'd
have less vehicles on the road.
However, again, this is like a
fleet where there's a lot of
scope for potentially updating
things that could and should be
done.
Mobility is going to change;
it's just going to change. The
technology is coming, it's
here, it's being tested, it's just
about how it's going to be
implemented.
For example, in Norway, you
now have 35% of people using
electric cars. And that was due
to a progressive policy around
vehicle taxation around clever
investment and infrastructure
to ensure that there were
charging points everywhere so
people could make that transfer
without worrying.
In terms of people making
decisions themselves, that's
more tricky and I think it's going
to be generational. Cars being a
status symbol; the convenience
of moving in that way, I think
once you're in it, it's very hard
to change. I think that the next
generation coming in are the
people who, the expected trend
is shared ownership instead
of owning things yourself,
convenience is looked at in
a completely different way.
That's such a mind-set, I think
it's going to be hard for people
who have done the same thing
for 20 or 30 years.
In terms of policy, the national
planning and policy framework
needs to take air pollution into
account a lot more.
Because what needs to
happen is people need to make
different decisions. Businesses
needs to do business
differently. And you need the
infrastructure to back it up. The
national planning and policy
framework taking air pollution
more seriously would be a
good start into shaping that
infrastructure.
The biggest driver of air pollution in the UK is
transport – we spoke to Hannah Gardiner from
Air Public about what needs to change
