Zack Polanski AM: The Route to Cutting Carbon

In the past year we Londoners saw huge changes in levels of traffic. Lockdown orders meant most of us stayed at home, and started to appreciate quieter residential streets. We enjoyed fewer cars and vans on our roads as we took more local journeys on foot and by bike. The reduction in traffic not only made roads feel safer but also led to unprecedented cuts in pollution, and in climate-change causing emissions as well. Emissions from transport make up 26 per cent of London’s greenhouse gases, most from vehicles on roads.

We have to decarbonise our transport network, and an easy way to do this is to switch to sustainable modes – like bikes – for our everyday, local journeys. Londoners need to get around our city, but the Mayor must help us do so in a way that we all – including the planet – can afford. As a new member of the London Assembly I am keen to explore how we can use solutions that already exist to tackle the climate crisis. Using bikes to get around is increasing in popularity, but even after two decades and three Mayors trying to grow cycling, it remains an option many feel unable to try.

Cycling depends upon safe places to cycle, and recent investment in Streetspace schemes has shown that rapid delivery of that space is possible. However, I do think that other indicators from the past year, particularly how cycle hire in London continues to smash record after record in ridership, point to another key element. If Londoners are going to cycle, they are going to need bikes. Not every Londoner can afford to buy a bike, and many don’t have somewhere to store them. London needs high levels of investment and not just into new cycle lanes. For some, London is a city that is only their home for a short time. This is where the availability of a hire scheme is so important.

The Transport for London (TfL) website says that: “We've got London covered” which is simply not true. Cycle hire stations only exist in eleven of London’s 33 boroughs. The model for successful expansion of cycle hire into outer London will not be the same as central London, for example docks may be further apart, if they are used at all. Lighter or electric bikes may be needed for the steeper areas of London.

But it is important that the Mayor acts now to extend the offer of cycle hire – in whatever form – throughout London. I hope that the points in this report can influence the Mayor to expand cycle hire as a core part of decarbonising London’s transport.