This is something of a continuation of Oscar’s transport section from the start of season 1, which included Electric Vehicles, Planes and Space Travel (perhaps not particularly relevant to urban transport), the equally irrelevant “Global Supply Chains” and the question of hydrogen. In this exciting episode of Fighting Failure, we’re going to investigate how good public transport makes cities better places to be, as well as how inefficient cities are bad for the environment and livelihoods.

Problems with transport in cities

• Dependence on cars to get around leads to:
  • Wider roads etc., the building and use of which incurs carbon emissions
  • Increased use of cars in general, which causes high emissions
  • Health downsides of sedentary lifestyles
  • Consumeristic lifestyle incurred by being ‘out of touch with nature’
• Areas which aren’t walkable or cycle-able have innumerable downsides:
  • As we mentioned in 24 and 25, there are serious downsides for children living in car-dependent suburbia, such as but not limited to:
    • Lack of independence
    • Lack of outdoor play
    • Minimal connection to nature
    • Inability to form more ad-hoc relationships, rather being driven to parent-organised play dates.
  • Car traffic is less likely to stop at the corner store, meaning local businesses get dropped in favour of suburban malls
    • This leads to the conglomeration of the retail space and local businesses are unable to break into the chain-dominated malls
  • Car parking spaces, especially when there are parking minimums, take up huge amounts of useful land away from both residents and nature
• Cars are really inconvenient!
  • Expensive cars lock less affluent individuals and families away from accessible transport
    • They can’t go where they want to go,
    • Potentially locking them in a cycle of poverty?
  • Auto insurance, MOTs, services… etc. are such a pain to deal with

Solutions - how to improve transport in cities

• Disincentivisation of car travel
  • ZEZ / LEZ
  • EV charging points
  • EV tax cuts
  • Park and Ride
• Cycle infrastructure
  • Relatively easy to implement - baby steps - can start with painted bike lanes, improved traffic signalling and traffic quieting
    • For example, the cycle infrastructure in Oxford mostly consists of painted bike lanes (or bike/bus/taxi lanes), car-free streets and minimal dedicated bike paths)
    • This is very cheap and fast to do, but it makes an immediate difference
  • Better cycle infrastructure involves segregated protected bike lanes, protected intersections and crossings, cycle priority, etc.
  • Electric bike schemes, and bike rental schemes encourage citizens to ride bikes.
  • Additionally, negative measures against cars such as taxes, congestion charges, emissions charges and parking fees can help people gravitate towards cycling.
• Public transport
  • Buses
    • These are the most flexible
      • The only prior infrastructure requirement is well-maintained roads
      • The only extra infrastructure that needs to be built are bus stops, which can often just consist of
        • A shelter (optional)
        • A post with information about the routes, timetable and a map
        • A painted yellow box on the road
      • They can go anywhere in a city
    • They can easily be made more convenient than cars by, for example
      • Creating “bus gates”, which are places buses can go through but cars can’t, creating inconvenience for motorists.
      • Bus lanes, which allow buses to go much faster than cars along congested roads.
    • They are easy to implement, an operator can build up stock of buses
    • They are easy to electrify, and this technology is becoming cheaper every year
    • Drivers are easy to train, requiring only a small upgrade from a standard driver’s license, unlike extensive training required for metro, train and tram operators.
  • Trains
    • These are much more expensive to build
      • Train lines and stations need to be constructed
      • If overground, land needs to be bought for construction
        • This is difficult in built-up cities
          • (As London discovered)
      • If underground, tunnel-boring is time-consuming and expensive
    • Stations are often far apart, even with systems like the Tube
    • They are much, much faster than buses as they have dedicated, uninterrupted railways
    • They are almost always electrified, especially within cities
  • Trams
    • These are a perfect hybrid approach, using dedicated railways on already-existing thoroughfares (streets).
      • They can also make use of old railways where available
    • They can stop frequently like a busy, on the side of the street - exactly where people want to be
    • They are always electrified, which is good for the environment
    • However they need pantographs and tram tracks, which are expensive to install and somewhat unsightly
    • They can be encumbered by traffic, if not given a clear way
    • Most cities in Europe and America used to have these, but during the automobile revolution of the 60s and 70s, most cities tore them out, to much regret…
  • Trolley buses
    • I’ve been on one in Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) - quite good 7/10
    • The worst of both worlds though
      • They require the pantograph infrastructure of a tram
      • With the road-going instability of a bus.
    • Zero-emissions thanks to the pantograph
    • I doubt they are very popular though as new-builds.
• Redesigning cities
  • Very difficult to do retroactively, but as cities expand we should strive to make them walkable and include plenty of public transport, as this is the only way to make cities truly sustainable, but also fun to live in.
  • Think of Paris’ “15-minute-city” initiative, trying to make an old city fit for a modern lifestyle
• What can YOU do?
  • Choose to walk/cycle for short journeys
  • Investigate the availability and affordability of public transport in your area
  • Politically and socially encourage the use and improvement of public transport

Conclusion

So, to answer the question we posed in the title, the problem with public transport is not its carbon credentials, or its transportation potential, but its sloppy and underfunded implementation.