More positive news

[newfhouse]

Really?
Scotland's population is approximately 5.5 million.
We have 3 big cities, Glasgow (population 600,000), Edinburgh (500,000) and Aberdeen (210,000).
So from a total of 5.5 million, 1,310,000 live in the 3 largest cities. Over 4 million don't.

Fair enough, but within the UK I think that’s probably an unusual population distribution.
I confess that my direct experience is of working in London, which is less of a city and more an agglomeration of towns that probably account for about a quarter of the (English) total. My substantive point is that active travel may not suit everyone, but it could be made to work for many, so let’s start there.

 

[HMS_Dave]

Really?
Scotland's population is approximately 5.5 million.
We have 3 big cities, Glasgow (population 600,000), Edinburgh (500,000) and Aberdeen (210,000).
So from a total of 5.5 million, 1,310,000 live in the 3 largest cities. Over 4 million don't.

Indeed, but that doesn't mean 4 million live out in the sticks in a 'last of the summer wine' scenario...

Large towns would make up the bulk of most situations in many developed countries.

Like i say, moving with your job is possible and many still do, but im not saying i would expect people to do that either, as you rightly point out, job security is a mitigating factor.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

I confess that my direct experience is of working in London,

Yep I figured that, eventually you will realise that London is not the be-all & end-all of the UK or even England, you live in a bubble which contains 15% of England & bears no relevance to what the other 85% do.

 

[Brooks]

I live in London and I've just heard the minister on the radio saying 50% of all journeys in London are 3 miles or under. So there's massive untapped room to get more people walking and cycling, I think a lot of people will be wary of getting back on public transport. Fingers crossed they can get this right as its a once in a lifetime opportunity to make some valuable changes.

 

[Brooks]

Yep I figured that, eventually you will realise that London is not the be-all & end-all of the UK or even England, you live in a bubble which contains 15% of England & bears no relevance to what the other 85% do.

But if we can lead by example in London other towns and cities would follow the lead. We can only hope for meaningful improvement all round.

 

[Slick]

I live in London and I've just heard the minister on the radio saying 50% of all journeys in London are 3 miles or under. So there's massive untapped room to get more people walking and cycling, I think a lot of people will be wary of getting back on public transport. Fingers crossed they can get this right as its a once in a lifetime opportunity to make some valuable changes.

He didn't say London, that stat was UK wide.

 

[dodgy]

I worry that the government delivers on its promise for more active travel money, but in return we'll get a load of Local Authority road paint, ill thought out plans, bad practices ultimately being a complete and utter waste of time. OK if you have someone like Chris Boardman in Manchester as a figurehead to bang heads on it.

 

[Brandane]

I've just been listening to some of the Government plans for cycling. All good IMHO, but I feel they should be more brutal and tell the public that they are going to be actively discouraging private car use, rather than just coming across as pro cycling. Tell them it's going to be much more expensive and inconvenient to drive, and they might just sit up and listen.

 

[tom73]

I've just been listening to some of the Government plans for cycling. All good IMHO, but I feel they should be more brutal and tell the public that they are going to be actively discouraging private car use, rather than just coming across as pro cycling. Tell them it's going to be much more expensive and inconvenient to drive, and they might just sit up and listen.

Don't want to frighted the horses just yet go all out now and we may end up. Going backwards in what ever gains we can get out this situation.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

https://www.smmt.co.uk/industry-topics/uk-automotive/ this is the reason it's not as simple as we would like to think,

The UK automotive industry is a vital part of the UK economy worth more than £82 billion turnover and adding £18.6 billion value to the UK economy.

With some 168,000 people employed directly in manufacturing and in excess of 823,000 across the wider automotive industry, it accounts for 14.4% of total UK export of goods, worth £44 billion, and invests £3.75 billion each year in automotive R&D.

 

[newfhouse]

Yep I figured that, eventually you will realise that London is not the be-all & end-all of the UK or even England, you live in a bubble which contains 15% of England & bears no relevance to what the other 85% do.

I already know it’s not the whole country, thanks, but I think pretending that we don’t have anything in common is unhelpful. I believe there are other well populated towns and cities that would benefit from increased active travel too. I‘d be surprised if we didn’t agree about that.

Like it or not, the area inside the M25 accounts for a substantial fraction of the working population. Arguing whether it is 15 or 20% misses the point. London is very well suited to cycle commuting yet has arguably some of the worst traffic congestion and car derived pollution in the country. There are ways to at least partly fix that.

 

[matticus]

https://www.smmt.co.uk/industry-topics/uk-automotive/ this is the reason it's not as simple as we would like to think,

Of course no-one else knew that the motor industry was a big thing. Thanks for your input 👍

 

[snorri]

I've just been listening to some of the Government plans for cycling.

That'll be the plans for cycling in England, I suspect.
The sooner England gets its own parliament the better, it would clear up a lot of things.

 

[Slick]

That'll be the plans for cycling in England, I suspect.
The sooner England gets its own parliament the better, it would clear up a lot of things.

Definitely, they made that clear from the outset. Hopefully it will put a bit of pressure on the Scottish government to come up with something similar. We can but hope.

 

[snorri]

Definitely, they made that clear from the outset. Hopefully it will put a bit of pressure on the Scottish government to come up with something similar. We can but hope.

They came up with it last month.