Centre for London publish ‘Policy priorities for transport in London’

Centre for London the not-for-profit with the not unambitious determination to improve London, have put together a series of recommendations intended to show candidates in the mayoral and general elections how to set policies which help Londoners to thrive, and London to play its part in a fair and prosperous UK.

Recommendation number one is that the Government give the Mayor and the boroughs new powers to raise funds for improved transport and active travel infrastructure, suggesting that until then they should make more funding available.

For economic benefits, it is suggested that the Government work with TfL to improve the reliability and frequency of public transport in outer London, where twice as many journeys are by car than in inner London.

They also call for the legalisation of  privately own e-scooters and that shared micro-mobility schemes be opened across the whole of London to provide more consistency.

Finally, they suggest that public transport fares be frozen until inflation has returned to its target level.

Addressing the Mayor of London, the report calls for an expansion of the ULEZ scrappage scheme so that ‘it is available to all Londoners on low incomes or disability benefits to dispose of their cars – irrespective of the car emission – and should offer in exchange mobility credits that can be used to pay for public transport and a range of shared mobility providers.’

The mayor is also asked to work with transport operators to integrate payment between shared transport such as e-bikes and car clubs with public transport, to make it easier for people to use mixed modes of shared transport.

A single charging scheme should also be introduced to replace ULEZ, LEZ and the Congestion Charge and designed so that driving a private car remains more expensive than using public transport, even for short distance journeys in lower-emission vehicles. They suggest that this could be done by introducing a minimum charge of at least a single bus fare for any trips driven in a private car.

In terms of the overall transport environment, the Mayor of London needs to examine people’s travel needs in out London, they say,  ‘with more weight given to local journeys that don’t commence or terminate in central London.’  They suggest that such a strategy should be developed in collaboration with local authorities.

Bus routes and other transport infrastructure should be put in place before new developments are completed, so that new residents don’t need to resort to private cars.

Focusing on micro-mobility, the report recommends new kerbside strategies to find space for cycle hangars, shared micromobility schemes, and car club vehicles, while at the same time removing street clutter on London’s streets: banning A-boards and removing redundant telephone boxes.