Good day my good friend.

While the reaction on social media to London planning to expand the Ultra-Low Emission Zone has been somewhat mixed. But from some commentators, it appears that many do not want to live in a polluted city, and so are seeking greener pastures elsewhere. Which will result in more long distance travel. And long distance travel is a problem.

If you have any suggestions for interesting news items or bits of research to include in this newsletter, you can email me.

James

How the long commute is killing us

Probably the single most effective thing that we can do as transport planners to reduce emissions, improve people’s quality of life, and significantly benefit our economies and cities is to reduce the average commute distance. As I referred to the other day, whereas the average number of trips and travel time over the years has not changed, the number of miles that the average person travels has increased. With disasterous consequences.

The impact of the long commute is well documented. Recent research from Chile has shown a strong correlation between commute distance and the amount of sick leave taken. Long distance travelling can account for up to 50% of all personal greenhouse gas emissions from travel. Couples of which one person commutes long distance are more likely to seperate. But it does affect men and women differently, strangely.

An easily, and lazily, cited solution is to increase working from home. But there are plenty of un-intended consequences of this, ranging from more local trips and different choices of vehicle being made. There is evidence that some degree of enhanced working from home will stick, if only because its good for companies that we continue to work from home.

The reality is that this is where the complex interface between economics, land use planning, and transport planning exists. This challenge is a mix of economic, place, and transport challenges – people commute far because they cannot afford to live close to work, there is little suitable housing close to work, and the express train allows them to live with a big house in the country. So do we facilitate that choice, or encourage people to make the choice that is the best for them? Answers on a postcard, please!

Graph of the week

Is this the new normal for bus passenger numbers in the UK? Since the onset of COVID-19, there has been much speculation as to how public transport would recover. Data on local bus passenger journeys in the UK shows that bus use in Scotland and Wales is in fact up compared to pre-pandemic levels, and in the metropolitan areas of England (read: every major city outside of London), bus use is back to what it was. But in London, bus use has cratered to 20% below pre-pandemic levels. Dragging down England’s figures with it.

Something else interesting

What happened when the biggest YouTuber built a city in Minecraft? Ok, not quite that, its more when MrBeast took a look around his city being built in Project Earth, a Minecraft project that is literally building the Earth.