I have quite a number of friends living in Greater London, all but one with driving licences having owned cars at various times. Well over half of them no longer own a car now, using public transport, supplemented for two of them by occasional bike use.
Also, up until about five years ago, it was common for 16/17 year old's on my large and fairly affluent estate to buy mopeds, but since then this has largely disappeared. Of the only two I know of since then, one sold his and has been on public transport for the last two years.
What has brought these changes about is partly the congestion charge, partly the high cost of motoring, and partly the free public transport provisions, and it's this last one I'm discussing here.
All youngsters to the age of 16 travel free on London's public transport, and up to 18 years if in full time education, as so many are these days. It's self-evident how much they enjoy this facility which is heavily used and immensely popular with them. All the over 60s also travel free, as do the disabled for all their lives, and they form nearly 11% of the population. This effectively means that with the average lifespan being about 80 years, an average of half of all lifetimes enjoy free transport (0 to 18, 60 to 80 = 38 years, plus the disabled proportion).
Since the evidence is that this reduces car/moped ownership and very greatly reduces usage of the remaining ones owned, perhaps now is a good time for the very bold step of universal free public transport for Londoners, funded from London taxation as the present free provision is.
As well as the advantages of reducing motor vehicle ownership and usage, having youngsters acclimatised to public transport throughout the whole of their developing years could change the whole culture and attitudes to motor vehicles.
In addition, removing the constraint of containing investment within fares income could result in enough investment to greatly improve the capacity and coverage of public transport, making public transport even more popular and further depressing the desire to use or even own personal motor vehicles.
So what do you think, could London be a transport provision model for the rest of the country's future? Could England or even Britain once again be a model for a future world to emulate?
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Also, up until about five years ago, it was common for 16/17 year old's on my large and fairly affluent estate to buy mopeds, but since then this has largely disappeared. Of the only two I know of since then, one sold his and has been on public transport for the last two years.
What has brought these changes about is partly the congestion charge, partly the high cost of motoring, and partly the free public transport provisions, and it's this last one I'm discussing here.
All youngsters to the age of 16 travel free on London's public transport, and up to 18 years if in full time education, as so many are these days. It's self-evident how much they enjoy this facility which is heavily used and immensely popular with them. All the over 60s also travel free, as do the disabled for all their lives, and they form nearly 11% of the population. This effectively means that with the average lifespan being about 80 years, an average of half of all lifetimes enjoy free transport (0 to 18, 60 to 80 = 38 years, plus the disabled proportion).
Since the evidence is that this reduces car/moped ownership and very greatly reduces usage of the remaining ones owned, perhaps now is a good time for the very bold step of universal free public transport for Londoners, funded from London taxation as the present free provision is.
As well as the advantages of reducing motor vehicle ownership and usage, having youngsters acclimatised to public transport throughout the whole of their developing years could change the whole culture and attitudes to motor vehicles.
In addition, removing the constraint of containing investment within fares income could result in enough investment to greatly improve the capacity and coverage of public transport, making public transport even more popular and further depressing the desire to use or even own personal motor vehicles.
So what do you think, could London be a transport provision model for the rest of the country's future? Could England or even Britain once again be a model for a future world to emulate?
.
.
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