Reducing emissions from transport

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1495 Londoners have responded | 24/02/2022 - 27/03/2022

Art  mural by renowned 3D pavement artist, Julian  Beever. It shows parts of London flooded, with trees and a red bus.

How can we do more to reduce transport emissions?

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In 2019, air pollution contributed to the premature deaths of more than 4,000 Londoners. Last year, we saw the impact of the climate emergency first-hand with soaring temperatures and flash floods in the capital.

Did you know that since the start of the pandemic, more Londoners are using cars and fewer are using public transport? The cost of congestion rose to over £5 billion last year and the cost of air pollution to the NHS and care system until 2050 is estimated to be more than £10 billion. More people driving means more congested roads and more pollution.

Transport for London (TfL) has been assessing a number of approaches to encourage Londoners and those who drive within London to shift from polluting cars to electric vehicles, public transport and active travel – such as walking and cycling. This is in order to address the triple challenges of toxic air pollution, the climate emergency and congestion.

Given the urgency of the climate crisis and the damaging impact of toxic air pollution, the Mayor believes it’s time to speed up action. That’s why he has asked TfL to consult on proposals to extend the Ultra Low Emission Zone beyond the North and South Circular roads to cover almost all of Greater London. The extension will use the current emission standards to tackle more of the dirtiest vehicles.

We will let you know when this consultation launches. In the meantime, we’re keen to understand how we can all do more to reduce air pollution from transport.

More than a third of car trips in London could be made in under 25 minutes by walking, and two-thirds could be cycled in less than 20 minutes. Read more about the challenges and impact of air pollution caused by vehicles.

Join the discussion and tell us:
  • How can we do more to tackle transport emissions?
  • Have you already made changes to the way you travel around London? Will you be making some in the future?
  • In 2019, Transport for London introduced a scrappage scheme to help low-income and disabled Londoners, as well as small businesses and charities, ditch their older, more polluting vehicles and switch to cleaner models, ahead of the Ultra Low Emission Zone. Did you use the scheme when it was open? How did the scrappage payment help you prepare for ULEZ?

The discussion ran from 04 March 2022 - 27 March 2022

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Comments (720)

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The GLARING inconsistency in TfL's climate policy is the Silvertown Tunnel. Building more traffic lanes and using up thousands of tonnes of concrete in their construction is leading us in completely the wrong direction. It makes all...

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The GLARING inconsistency in TfL's climate policy is the Silvertown Tunnel. Building more traffic lanes and using up thousands of tonnes of concrete in their construction is leading us in completely the wrong direction. It makes all statements about decarbonisation hypocritical. JUST CANCEL THE DAMN THING!

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Owing an electric vehicle would be great, but... there are few important issues. 1. Parking. Electric vehicles are inefficient when it comes to long driving, I.e. driving to Poland to see family is impossible unless someone can travel 1...

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Owing an electric vehicle would be great, but... there are few important issues. 1. Parking. Electric vehicles are inefficient when it comes to long driving, I.e. driving to Poland to see family is impossible unless someone can travel 1 week one way. Not efficient, not doable. Planes or trains are also not a great solution. Trains are too expensive, planes pollute and for both you need covid pass, which means that some are forced to use a car. Nonesense policy. I'd love to have two vehicles, one electric for city driving, second, diesel for regular trips abroad. That in current time is the most sensible option, but I have only one parking space. We need to think of more parking places, underground garages with affordable long term parking fees. 2. Charging. Living in block of flats off street charging is ALWAYS much more expensive than petrol. I oww plug in hybrid so I have lots of experience. It is not economically viable to use chargers. Charging at home works, but building management objects to cables hanging from windows. 3. Electric vehicles are really badly performing in cold weather, under weigh, in very hot weather. Ok, for a city driving only if you can have second car for longer trips and only if you have your own drive.

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Avatar for - Staghorn coral
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Huge stress from schemes keeping traffic off roads for peak hours, cannot continue voluntary work without the car.

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Extend the ULEZ zone to M25 and get polluting vehicles off our roads.

Avatar for - Rhino
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As usual you aren’t considering those with disabilities, visible and invisible on how they get around London.
Personally we have a family of autism, adhd, and some mobility issues. We HAVE to use cars. We cannot cycle, it’s overwhelming...

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As usual you aren’t considering those with disabilities, visible and invisible on how they get around London.
Personally we have a family of autism, adhd, and some mobility issues. We HAVE to use cars. We cannot cycle, it’s overwhelming and dangerous for us to use. Closing roads is creating chaos and unfair to disabled people needing to get around as we deserve freedom in the same way others have.

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Disappointed that this survey fails to address the issue of how to encourage greater take up of electric vehicles. Many people in London still need to use private vehicles for various reasons - particularly those who use them for work...

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Disappointed that this survey fails to address the issue of how to encourage greater take up of electric vehicles. Many people in London still need to use private vehicles for various reasons - particularly those who use them for work related purposes. Although the Mayor of London has, with justification, applied the “stick’ in terms of measures to discourage use of non-electric cars he appears to have done nothing when it comes to the “carrot” of encouraging and supporting greater take up of electric cars. Schemes such as the Scottish Government's interest free loans for purchasing new or second-hand electric vehicles should be considered. Improving the infrastructure for electric vehicle charging should also be considered - especially in a place like London where many people live in flats and are unable to charge in driveways.

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There's a reason for that

1 the National Grid couldn't cope
2 not enough parking spaces
3 they don't want cables trailing in the streets
4 Electric vehicle production isnt sustainable long term because of the elements required for the...

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There's a reason for that

1 the National Grid couldn't cope
2 not enough parking spaces
3 they don't want cables trailing in the streets
4 Electric vehicle production isnt sustainable long term because of the elements required for the batteries

As usual its demonise the car regardless of the need

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Avatar for - Sea turtle
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All measures such as ULEZ and blocking roads have made the emissions worse. Travelling on buses due to the blocking of roads and ULEZ have made it worse. Walking around the streets is worse due to the ULEZ and blocking of roads. All traffic...

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All measures such as ULEZ and blocking roads have made the emissions worse. Travelling on buses due to the blocking of roads and ULEZ have made it worse. Walking around the streets is worse due to the ULEZ and blocking of roads. All traffic concentrated therefore making the emissions excessive. Roads where all cars are forced to go we’re not made for the new volume of traffic, therefore there are more road works which then impacts on traffic and causes traffic jams causing more emissions.
Well done for making it worse for pedestrians and bus users.

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In your initial email to me about this survey, you wrote the following: "In 2019, air pollution contributed to the premature deaths of more than 4,000 Londoners. And last year, we saw the impact of the climate emergency first-hand with...

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In your initial email to me about this survey, you wrote the following: "In 2019, air pollution contributed to the premature deaths of more than 4,000 Londoners. And last year, we saw the impact of the climate emergency first-hand with soaring temperatures and flash floods in the capital. Given the urgency of the climate crisis and the damaging impact of toxic air pollution, the Mayor believes it’s time to speed up action."

The Mayor doesn't believe this. If he did, there is no way that the Silvertown Tunnel would be going ahead. This level of hypocrisy is offensive. Do you think Londoners are idiots?

We are in a climate emergency. It's great that you appear to be acknowledging this in your messaging, but if there's no substance behind it, all you are doing is taking advantage of deeply concerned and innocent people. I would like you to take climate change seriously, or not bother at all. To pretend is cruel.

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Charging drivers more is NOT the answer, why don't you tackle the manufacturers more to sort the problem? just as you did with leaded petrol and phase it out. You should be doing the same with petrol and diesel vehicles not slapping drivers...

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Charging drivers more is NOT the answer, why don't you tackle the manufacturers more to sort the problem? just as you did with leaded petrol and phase it out. You should be doing the same with petrol and diesel vehicles not slapping drivers with stealth taxes. Narrowing and closing roads is also NOT the answer by doing this you, in fact, make the emissions worse as now the vehicles are stuck in traffic jams throwing out pollution? You should be getting vehicles moving for fewer emissions. I'm all for cleaner air but to continually charge drivers more will end up making London a place that no-one can afford

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Teach London bus drivers how to drive properly and then enforce that teaching. They often do not use the switch to turn the engine off at stops and red lights, and regularly brake and accelerate far too fiercely.

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Teach London bus drivers how to drive properly and then enforce that teaching. They often do not use the switch to turn the engine off at stops and red lights, and regularly brake and accelerate far too fiercely.

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Plus all bus stops should be off the lane to allow other traffic to pass. There's nothing that slows traffic more than a bus stopping every 2-3 hundred yards in the middle of the road.

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A big problem is the traffic does no flow in London because of all the bicycle lanes and traffic lights. A journey in Central London and Westminster that use to take 5 minutes now takes 20 to 30 minutes. It is very badly designed now.

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Remove high speed humps to stop slow down speed up of cars which increases pollution rather than traveling at constant speed.
Improve traffic light time to stop traffic standing still for long periods. Increase fleet of low emission Buses...

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Remove high speed humps to stop slow down speed up of cars which increases pollution rather than traveling at constant speed.
Improve traffic light time to stop traffic standing still for long periods. Increase fleet of low emission Buses. Remove cycle lanes from roads and to allow increase traffic flow.

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If the administration is serious about reducing air pollution caused by vehicular traffic then it must introduce a compulsory reduction in vehicular traffic. It could start by a ban on all privately owned non-electric vehicles, taxis and...

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If the administration is serious about reducing air pollution caused by vehicular traffic then it must introduce a compulsory reduction in vehicular traffic. It could start by a ban on all privately owned non-electric vehicles, taxis and delivery vehicles using the congestion charge area on Mondays and Fridays 07:00 to 19:00. Extend this after a one year to include Wednesdays.

This will have a duel impact. First, a significant reduction in air pollution. Second, the reduction in vehicles making the road safer for cycles and scooters thus rendering the further development of cycle highways unnecessary thereby saving money.

At the same time as the reduction in non-electric vehicles TfL should revise the bus service, improving frequency and reliability of the existing services and introducing new routes to service areas currently without or with a poor service.

Finally, after a period of consolidation, extend the scheme to the whole ULEZ area

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Lucky you can select days to travel

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all that does it tax anyone who is disabled or who cannot have an electric vehicle because they have nowhere to charge one,

The nearest public charging point to me is a mile away and has a 4 hour time limit

I'm disabled would you expect...

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all that does it tax anyone who is disabled or who cannot have an electric vehicle because they have nowhere to charge one,

The nearest public charging point to me is a mile away and has a 4 hour time limit

I'm disabled would you expect me to drive to an oversubscribed public charge pint and wait hours for the opportunity to charge and whilst charging?

They tried increasing electric charging points (I think it was in Guildford) and blew the electric supply for hundreds of shops and houses because the national grid can only supply a limited number of charging points.

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I have just returned from Turin in north Italy where over the last 4 years they have made the traffic lights pedestrian friendly so we dont' have to wait in the middle of every road, pedestrianised most of the city centre, and changed the...

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I have just returned from Turin in north Italy where over the last 4 years they have made the traffic lights pedestrian friendly so we dont' have to wait in the middle of every road, pedestrianised most of the city centre, and changed the lights at many junctions to flashing amber with pedestrians having precedence
They have stopped the beautiful squares being carparks and developed many underground carparks and subways.
This has had a dramatic effect on the amount of cars on the roads thus reducing emissions and making it a much more pleasant place

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I dislike the survey, the question is how should I change, not what do I think needs to change to make my life greener. I already use public transport for most journeys that are amenable to it, and the mode I use varies by convenience. I...

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I dislike the survey, the question is how should I change, not what do I think needs to change to make my life greener. I already use public transport for most journeys that are amenable to it, and the mode I use varies by convenience. I LIKE walking for 20 min, but I don't have time in my day to do it for an hour, if a vehicle journey can do it in 10 - that's the limiting factor.

Current policy appears to be to strangle users off cars and buses, while causing increased congestion and pollution (primary and secondary) due to this. Far fewer journeys are amenable to simple replacement in the outer zones to the inner. IMHO, the biggest issue is uncoordinated delivery vehicles, not private journeys.

Any sudden further introduction of the ULEZ is likely to cause huge economic impact (both in costs and traders giving up), while increasing secondary pollution by car and small van replacement - this at a time when the economy is likely to be at its worst for decades.

Looking at the much longer term (2035?), self driving cars will produce a convergence between car clubs and taxis, with much lower personal ownership. But that's outside your planning

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Mandate year on year reductions in on street parking. Replace on street parking with bike parking, paklets, SUDs, and expanded car sharing. Increase parking rates to match market rates (with sliding rates by income, similar to council tax)...

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Mandate year on year reductions in on street parking. Replace on street parking with bike parking, paklets, SUDs, and expanded car sharing. Increase parking rates to match market rates (with sliding rates by income, similar to council tax). Institute road user charging that takes into account time of day, area, size of vehicle and emissions. No exemptions for electric vehicles, but slightly lower rate due to lower emissions (but not zero, as tyre and brake wear cause a significant amount of PM2.5).

Build out protected cycle lanes on all major roads, including protected junctions where danger is the greatest.

Introduce a Ghent style zone system in the area of the present congestion charge zone ( https://stad.gent/en/mobility-ghent/circulation-plan ) The centre of the zone could be a pedestrian/ cycle only zone centred around Covent Garden (with off hours loading). The central zone would be surrounded by pie shaped zones. Each zone would be accessible by motor vehicle from the edge of the CC zone, but you could not drive from one zone to another. Buses and cycles could cross the zones.

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Several of the questions in the survey are 'leading questions', which do not permit the respondent to answer with what they think and understand, instead forcing them to give answers that run contrary to their understanding of the situation...

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Several of the questions in the survey are 'leading questions', which do not permit the respondent to answer with what they think and understand, instead forcing them to give answers that run contrary to their understanding of the situation. This survey is therefore not a fair one, and should not have been put out in this manner.

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The increase in facilities for walkers and cyclists has had an impact on buses. Many people cannot walk far or cycle and are dependent upon buses which are now seriously delayed with large swathes of the road unused outside peak times. Also...

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The increase in facilities for walkers and cyclists has had an impact on buses. Many people cannot walk far or cycle and are dependent upon buses which are now seriously delayed with large swathes of the road unused outside peak times. Also, buses now block roads when stopped at bus stops because the roads have been narrowed to create cycle paths and pedestrians accessing bus stops have to cross the cycle paths where they have no guarantee of safe crossing.

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Anyone with any sense knows we need to reduce car use dramatically everywhere and particularly in London. We have an unhealthy, overweight and obese population who would desperately benefit from walking and cycling much more. Why should...

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Anyone with any sense knows we need to reduce car use dramatically everywhere and particularly in London. We have an unhealthy, overweight and obese population who would desperately benefit from walking and cycling much more. Why should people think they have a right to force feed toxic chemicals down our throats? There is a simple solution: make public transport MUCH cheaper, make driving a car much more expensive, develop a road infrastructure that makes walking and cycling or using the bus the obvious sensible and right thing to do and driving an obscenely polluting gas-guzzler a perverse and anti-social activity. Most car journeys in London are very short and could be accomplished in a healthy fashion for all by a change in mentality, partly driven by cost.

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We also have a population which includes older or less able people who are otherwise healthy but are not capable of walking and cycling everywhere and rely on their cars to get out and about in safety and comfort in order to retain...

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We also have a population which includes older or less able people who are otherwise healthy but are not capable of walking and cycling everywhere and rely on their cars to get out and about in safety and comfort in order to retain independence and usefulness in society. Sadly this aspect appears to be ignored in any discussions on the subject of car use.

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Agree that public transport should be much cheaper. As I have said above the cost of commuting should be tax deductible. Don't agree with raising the cost of private motoring, improving public transport should be enough.

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Public transport in Greater London is extremely poor. Unless you want to travel to Central London, public transport does not exist.
It would take 3 times longer to get to work on public transport than by car.
I'm 20 minutes walk from the...

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Public transport in Greater London is extremely poor. Unless you want to travel to Central London, public transport does not exist.
It would take 3 times longer to get to work on public transport than by car.
I'm 20 minutes walk from the nearest bus stop and a 35 minute walk from the nearest shop - it isn't practical to walk to do the weekly shop. I ride a bike for fitness at weekends only - our roads are rammed with HGVs and it is far too dangerous to cycle in the week, let alone the practicality of cycling in a business suit.

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