London as a role model for mobility researchers "A question of political and social will"
Rhein-Sieg-Kreis · Why do we find it so difficult to do without our car? For decades, mobility researchers have been calling for a rethink in transport policy and suggesting the creation of behavioural barriers. The UK capital London could be a role model.
"The traffic turnaround is not just a question of technology, but a question of political and social will," is how Professor Alexander Boden puts it. The researcher from the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences (H-BRS) and his team from the Institute for Consumer Informatics (IVI) are working on the topic of mobility in several research projects. "As soon as someone makes a suggestion, there is someone who explains why exactly that won't work." There are many good ideas around on how to shift away from the car towards a system more focused on public transport, sharing and decentralisation, he said. "We have to tackle the mobility turnaround now. I hope that we will then realise that all the problems we are always talking about are not so huge."
"I'm in love with my car," one student exclaimed during a recent discussion at ant H-BRS Mobility Day. According to a survey by TÜV Nord last year, one in three car owners refers to their vehicle as an "old friend". This speaks volumes about our attitude towards our cars. For many of us, it is more than just a means of transport.
"At the height of the pandemic, your own car was the safest place to be," traffic psychologist Jens Schade explained in a recent interview with radio station WDR5. Schade's research at the Technical University of Dresden includes topics such as road safety and mobility behaviour. For instance, even if you’re stuck in a traffic jam for ages, as soon as you’re in your car, you have the feeling that it’s an extension of your private time.
Cars are much more than just a means of transport
"We learn to live with the car at a very early age. The spaces in which we operate are defined by the car," says Schade. On the other hand, many things have changed in local neighbourhoods over the past decades. Small shops in the immediate vicinity of our homes have almost completely disappeared. The shift of services to the outskirts or the centre of cities has led to a certain dependence on the car.
Schade is one of the mobility researchers who for decades have been calling for the creation of behavioural barriers. These include getting rid of parking spaces and raising parking fees in city centres - simply making it more difficult to use your car to drive to the city centre. This is where there is great potential for influencing mobility behaviour.
The fact is that roads take up a lot of room. Between 40 and 60 percent of urban space is used for cars. In the 1960s, urban planners already realised that this is too much. "Traffic in Towns" was the title of an influential 1963 report on urban and transport planning policy written for the British Department for Transport by a team led by the architect, civil engineer and planner Colin Buchanan. The authors warned 60 years ago of the potential damage that would be caused by the car and made recommendations for action, some of which were radical. As a result, not only were pedestrian zones created in London, but also plans for a massive expansion of the motorway ring road were scuppered.
Traffic turnaround in London already in the 1960s
Urban planners in London quickly realised that increasing capacity could not be the solution, but rather that roads had to be used more efficiently. In the 1990s, bus lanes were optimised and expanded, and so-called Low Traffic Neighbourhoods were created. Today, lanes for individual traffic are still being reduced, and more Low Traffic Neighbourhoods are being established, for example by simply closing off streets with large planters.
In 2003, the London Congestion Charge was introduced. This means that you have to pay 17 pounds and 50 pence (15 pounds if you register online) to drive into the city centre. Cameras check compliance with the charge. Transport for London (TfL), which is responsible for the public transport system, oversees the toll. Mobility researchers see the organisation and efficiency of TfL as a major reason why local transport in the British capital functions so well. It has been coordinating the entire transport system in London since 2001 and reports directly to the Lord Mayor. TfL is responsible for all transport systems: the Underground, rail links, buses and all so-called surface transport. This includes maintenance of the main roads, pedestrian areas and the development of the goods transport plan. Anyone who has ever travelled in London cannot fail to be fascinated by how well the transport system works.
Car-free Sundays in Paris
Other major European cities are also trying to make driving less attractive. For example, Copenhagen is reducing the number of parking spaces by one percent per year. Since May 2016, Paris’s Champs-Elysées has been closed to cars on the first Sunday of every month. At the end of September, there will be another day added on which no motorised vehicles are allowed in large parts of the centre of Paris. The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, is going even further: the inner four arrondissements and parts of the fifth, sixth and seventh arrondissements north of the Boulevard Saint-Germain will be declared a permanent no-driving zone, where only buses, taxis as well as delivery traffic and vehicles of tradespeople working there will be allowed.
Why has this strategy never been pursued in Germany? Rainer Bohnet, chairman of the VCD Bonn/Rhein-Sieg, gives two reasons: "Firstly, because the decision-makers were in a collective deep sleep. There are enough researchers in Germany pointing out the erroneous developments in transport policy. And secondly: because the car-fixated German society simply don’t want to hear."
