You briefly mentioned Amsterdam, but I also want to further point out the fact that the incredibly high bicycle usage in the Netherlands is not cultural. In the 80s one of the council areas had put in schemes to redesign all the street vehicle usage and promote bicycle usage and there was a huge uproar and backlash, but it became so successful, that all the councils in the 3 major cities copied it, causing further resistance but now people seem to have forgotten what it was like in car centric cities and embraced it. Their weather is almost the same as the south of the UK too. So you will be looking at a rough 2 decades and then people will have forgotten the old car-centric ways in the city.
@@michaelhiggins9188 You have to admit it's a bit surprising its only been the way it is for such a short amount of time though. If you have ever been there or spoken to anyone below the age of 40, you'd swear it's always been bike centric.
@@Eoin-B Yea, and it is a great example of how, it is not too late for the us or the other car addicted countries to make the switch. It is a rough couple of years, but it is so worth it in the end.
Hell yes! Infrastructure and cultural change was an insightfully deliberate policy choice on the part of dutch lawmakers, which is what has made their cities so successful today.
A narrow sidewalk will gridlock if there's too many people. Widen the sidewalk! Oh hang on, that sounds like induced demand. Build a Metro to city limits! Wait, that's how suburbs can begin. Too many people, but not me, everyone else is wrong and needs to go. My F150 Riese & Muller Saloman mobility tech collab makes me the exception.
I lived in London for 6 years. You don't need a car if you live there, considering how good public transport is. Yet some people are dense enough to think otherwise. Fuck the car. It was so close to being an incredible city.
coming from a medium sized swedish town it astounds me that anyone would drive in london for any reason, it seems like an abjectly miserable experience and i do just fine without a car here, so i see no reason to own one in an actual big city with tons of amenities and amazing public transport.
for some reason anglos are weirdly anti bike. Canada, UK, Australia, and the big daddy of car dependence, the USA. It is so weird. It's not just the Netherlands who loves their bikes. Milan, Germany, Barcelona, Bogota, are all doing great using bikes to transfer away from car dependency. It is super bizarre
I wouldn't go as far as comparing the UK, home of the railway to those three. Yes, there are some very stubborn, backwards, ethnically homogenous suburbs where everyone hates the thought of walking **Ahem Bromley Ahem** but taking the train is a normal part of life and most people commuted to work via public transport before the pandemic.
@@mildlydispleased3221it's not so much the mobility habits writ large that I'm connecting, rather the public attitude specifically towards cycling as a leasure activity vs a form of legitimate transportation
You might be on to something. It's related to immense focus on private property rights and laws in Anglophone society (John Locke's philosophy on property ownership). This means it's really hard to implement mass transit + property models like in Hong Kong, Japan, or Korea.
@@tonysoviet3692 That doesn't make sense though, the UK birthed the railway and the USA once had the best freight AND passenger system in the world. All this backlash to public transport or even the mere idea of sensibly designed cities is a very recent, and in my opinion very artificial attitude people have.
It's actually a misconception that American cities were designed around cars. They were designed mostly as grid-based cities build around the railways, but were bulldozed and demolished in the 50s and 60s. There are not many exceptions to this, but Boston is the best example of a city that grew organically and is a complete nightmare to drive through. The car-centric design never really hit Boston like it hit other cities.
It depends, in the Northeast and Midwest they really weren't as you point out, at least not the actual city centers. You can make the point that the post-WWII American suburbs definitely were designed for cars though, and that's where most Americans live now. Arguably cities like Phoenix and Las Vegas actually were designed for cars since they're of such recent vintage.
'Punishing londoners for driving a car' is an interesting way of phrasing it in the 'how london stops you driving' section. Personally I look at it more as just charging them proportionate to their impact.
Well negative incentives work hand in hand with positive ones to affect behavior. If driving was less of a nuisance, then less people would feel the need to switch to public transit, especially if they already have a sunken-cost car. The phrasing may seem a bit spin-y, but it is not disingenuous.
Yes, people always forget the negative externalities of a personal vehicle, and it's only when in a place that truly prices them according to their real societal cost (road infrastructure, negative health aspects of all sorts) like NYC or London do they complain about the price. People are so used to the innate subsidies built into vehicle ownership like free parking that they complain when they are taken away.
Motorists will constantly bitch about these things, yet they have no solutions to fix any of the problems. If the congestion charge didn't come in to place in 2003, then London would be at a standstill today. London's traffic is still terrible, just imagine how bad it could have been if all these measures were not taken. More people are cycling than ever before, which is really good.
@@garethhenshaw No, we just shouldn't artificially subsidize people who own a car with large amounts of public space and resources. It's much more expensive to support driving in dense cities, so it *should* be more expensive to drive there to support that. The alternative is continuing to subsidize drivers at the expense of the poorest among us, as those are the folks who rely on public transit the most and are affected the most by air pollution.
It’s bizarre how the only place in the country with quality transport options is still overrun with car traffic. If I lived in London I’d never use a car at all the access to public transport is fantastic unfortunately that can’t be said for the rest of the country which is abysmal by comparison
I'd think of it because of Oil business in UK are 'big', and having a lot of influences in country 'bureaucracy' there... might be reason why does London and some UK major cities transportation are somehow be much revolved in private vehicles and either public transportation with oil based fuel.
@@ahsanurr4219 Incredibly, in just two sentences you have shown in three ways that you are a clueless American who has never even been to London. 1. The UK doesn't use dollars as its currency 2. The Underground railway is not called a "subway" that name is used for a footpath that passes under a road. 3. They're not called "Sidewalks" they're called pavements"
I thought this was quite a biased video, with only 10% at the end explaining why you might not want a car. I live in a borough where car ownership is at 20%, and yet the remaining 80% are still impacted by the pollution, the noise and the safety issues.
This wasnt biased. These were just overwhelmingly negative views of REAL Hackney residents who are sick of it but can’t do much about it cos a majority of Hackney is now liberal gentrifiers who need their daily fix of a better self image.
Motorists are some of the most ignorant arrogant straight out nasty entitled inhabitants of this island. Especially urban ones. I live in one of the biggest cities in the country and the amount of people I know who have a car but could easily do without one is just depressing. Don’t even get me started on the claims that less cars will kill city centres.
You’ve just described the vast majority of the adult population as “ignorant, arrogant, straight out nasty, entitled…” which includes most people on this page, most people you know, most of your family, most of your friends. You really sure about that?
So what are people that can’t access public transport? Are disabled people nasty and arrogant? Or people from rural areas where they have no other choice? I agree that we need to move away from car centric cities but you’re the one that sounds ignorant
@@alexcrawford6162Not everyone who drives sees themselves as a "motorist". More often than not when someone calls themself a "motorist" they are heavily invested in being a car driver, like it's an integral part of their identity. And these people do tend to be entitled and think only about themselves, pedestrians and cyclists be damned.
It's hard keeping a cool head when driving. So I try keeping a slow 40 kmh, but there's always incessant honking, then there's pedestrians you need to look out for. It can cause a few mistakes but you definitely need to be on your toes while driving
Meanwhile in the Netherlands, the whole country is connected by a nationwide integrated public transport network (like one big metro system) and there are cycling lanes in between and inside of every city, town or village, connecting everywhere and everyone. They have lively towns, quiet yet buzzing with activity. Very clean and pleasant. Here on the other hand we have to constantly listen to how removing cars from cities is going to kill cities and how the 15 minute neighbourhood is a conspiracy to imprison us all. And they had plenty of those people in the Netherlands as well, but eventually they stopped barking and came to enjoy the new lovely public spaces open for all.
even crazier is that the Netherlands also tried to build for the car and ruined their city , they just realized that it sucked and started building infrastructure for people instead of cars
Something not mentionned is Carshare. IF your city has a good carshare system, you can get around with kids, for cheap, for long distances, without owning a car, for cheaper then renting a car. In montreal, where I'm from, you can use a carshare for like 300$ per year and then pay a fixed 25$ fee per day, which is wayyy cheaper then owning a car if you use it like 3-4 times per month
car drivers don't care about pollution until you tell them they cant drive here, shops do not benefit from car traffic its a big negative to them. cities should be designed like its from Cars the movie but designed like they are for the people who live there not the the 2ton box they own. cars are for rural areas not the a dense urban fabric.
you make it so those people have other options to get to work. unless you mean say like a van for delivery or a plumber in which case those will always be aloud. could also switch to smaller or more friendly to the area vans like ups here does ecargo bike vans sort of things they are thinner and make almost no noise and work better in a city.
Cars aren’t for rural areas either, fed up of my village being over run with them all over the pavement and it sounding like the m6. There is even a railway station here and everyone lives within a 10 minute walk and yet they all still drive to the station in the mornings. I’m the only one who walks
@@alexfullalove9667 oh ya nah that sounds awful I should clarify i meant like cars out in like the farms like the real out there places those places with 1 house on the road and nothing else. but even then a nice bike lane and a ebike would fix that aswell.
This. Drivers do not give a damn about pollution, safety, climate change.. none of it - RIGTH up to the point when you start restricting driving. Then they suddenly care
to be fair, cars sitting around stuck in traffic all the time Do produce more polution than cars that get where they're going quickly, simply because they're Running for more time. It's one of the problems electric cars DO solve (They're not as much of an improvement in many areas as their proponents like to claim, but in This area? yeah, they're a big step up). Of course, the actually good/better solution is to actually get rid of private cars entirely (within cities, at least). To do that effectively, though, you first must ensure that alternatives are actually sufficient to the needs of the population...and that's a Big deal, and often quite difficult (though much of that difficulty is a matter of regulation and culture, both of which can be changed).
They are pointing out the hypocrisy of all this nonsense. You can drive wherever you want as long as you pay a fine or go the long way around, creating more emissions... It has nothing to do with pollution 😅
IKR, try to limit how they drive their cars and all of a sudden they're super-concerned about pollution and Co2 emissions. Also love how their arguments are the same everywhere. US, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, you'll see the same carbon copy arguments, strawmen, misconceptions, and concern trolling. It's kind of amusing, to be honest.
@@alehaim Agree 100%. But how? Just last week the PM caved in to the petrolhead demographic and scrapped lots of progressive policies just to get a few votes.
@@alehaim which is why I’m happy NYC is going to introduce congestion prices. Unfortunately I don’t trust them with building up public transport. If they actually do though then NYC will become a much more pleasant place
@@Ray03595 Hiring some more cleaning staff and restoring the subways would be a good start. Never understood how the biggest city in the richest country has such a depressing metro.
@@Ray03595Don't trains span the entire city? I feel like they're pretty convenient from the times I've been there. Getting across the river is also easy through bus and train
This was an incredibly well done piece! My only nitpick was around your comparison between London and US cities. It made it seem like London's congestion problem was made worse due to its compactness. But in practice that isn't really the case... in fact the opposite is true. Cities like Los Angeles sprawl massively over 500+ square miles. And yet traffic in LA is ABISMAL, some of the worst in the country. Sprawl in US cities has induced demand for more driving since public transit is nonexistent and everything is too far apart to walk/bike. At the same time, it does seem like London has both a path forward and the political willpower to achieve its goal of eliminating car dependency. That currently doesn't exist for US cities. Nearly 100 years of car-centric planning has dug the US into an untenable situation with no good solution any time in the foreseeable future.
Los Angeles has actually more cars per square kilometer than any other city in the world because at the same time it has very high car ownership % and high population density
Public transport and biking lanes give people that cannot drive options due to medical conditions or age more options to stay more active connectivity, and foot traffic into businesses.
As an American, where our public transit is at best a joke and at worst non-existent, when I studied abroad in London I was amazed at being able to use the tube or just walk to places. To me even the worst station and most crowded train car was miles above what I'd grown up with. I would take the tube to random neighborhoods and walk around just because I could, with no need to figure out complicated directions, and then figuring out where I'm even allowed to park and for how long and then having to constantly check the time to see how much I have left. Where I grew up we had to drive 20 minutes just to pick up our mail from the post office, and the grocery store was even further. When I found out I could simply walk less than 10 minutes to get groceries I couldn't believe it. I will gladly take the transit London has over the pathetic garbage we have here.
I live in New Jersey and I think the public transport is pretty good here. The trains usually work well. Getting to New York is usually not a problem, and then it's really easy to get around in that area, both the NJ and NY sides of the river
@@racool911 There are parts of the USA with decent public transport (reaching good when the local government is actually focusing on making and keeping it good, and dropping below acceptable when they're playing silly games with it's funding and such), but they're few and small relative to the country as a whole, or in comparison to the towns and cities without. It is, Very slowly, getting better, mind you.
Most Londoners have cars as a status symbol and I believe it's increasingly becoming generational. Younger gens are less likely to care about a private car. I remember the amount of social pressure I got from my parents and grandparents who treated my refusal to buying a car like a declaration of war. They still can't understand. Bus, trams, trains and bikes is the way!
Yeah but new migrants don't care (and there are many of them). 1st thing they do when they make some decent money is buy a car, like most other people do around the world.
Well look who drives the Audis and the Beamers. Not exactly old people... And the boy racers in their ridiculous Subarus... In large parts of the demographics it is still considered an important symbol of masculinity and status to have a car.
Train services need to be improved significantly and made cheaper. Last year when I was commuting to Farringdon I logged my rail commutes and 80% of them were delayed at least 10 minutes which is enough to screw up evening plans. The seemingly infinitely long indutstrial action is hitting rail reliability this year. A lack of decent connections, poor and/or slow service in places often makes rail less practical or at best a slog. As for cost, for me to do a 500 mile round trip to visit my family, it costs around £75 by car or £117 by train because I can never get cheap advance tickets any more. Buses are good in places but in an urban area, I'd rather use my bike as it is quicker and more flexible. Whilst driving has the annoyance of traffic congestion, it is still more comfortable/pleasant for the majority than the alternatives.
I live in south east London. I drive to sixth form college. If I took public transport, it would take me 30-50 minutes. Driving it takes me 10. I am a big cyclist, and would happily cycle if it were safe to do so. I’d also take public transport if it were quick and convenient. This is why many still drive.
That's the issue for many people I believe. I don't think people enjoy having to drive everywhere the go, but many English City's infrastructure simply does not allow for any other alternative...
Big on the safety. I agree with making people less dependent on cars and car sharing, however, this is the city where people break lime bikes and steal the one you own. Also, especially as a young woman travelling as it gets darker in the cold winter, that's low-key another reason added to the list. Not to mention commuters into london, and the strikes alongside increasing rail prices.
Really interesting to know that Hackney is 70% LTNs. I moved here last year and always tell people about how nice and quiet it is in my neighbourhood and now I know why!
When Tom says he has only one or two route options nowadays - that is entirely the point - cars should have their thoroughfares without affecting neighbourhoods. The dutch have a word like 'untangling' for creating space for different transport modes
Andy, thank you so much for producing such an illuminating piece that shares the plight of Londoners and people who come to work in London! A pleasure to be help contribute to this comprehensive and extensively researched work!
Thanks for being involved Tom and taking us arounds the city. Everyone reading this go sub to Tom to find out more what it's like to be a Black cab driver in London ✌️
@@K1989Lcars gives us freedom to to whatever place we need to be at our own preferred time it's called freedom of movement. Anything else is nothing but bullsh*,t.
@@lewis6565that's a lie, I live in Redditch which is the other town built and designed the same time as mk and I can tell you for free there's far too many petrol boxes on the road and the roundabouts don't help at all.
Great to hear from the cab driver that options for cars have been reduced. This is the only way to reclaim some of the wasted resources and address some of the damage cars do. Driving should be super expensive, not only in money, but also in inconvenience and time.
As long as the alternatives are good. Would be pretty stupid to harm car users if the public transport is super crowded and if there isn't enough bike infrastructure yet.
@@racool911 yup They're going to make it prohibitively expensive to own a car Which only affects the poor If you have a little pocket change, the experience will be enhanced🥂 Like Singapore where it costs $9500 PER YEAR to register a car😭🤣 So poor people all take the bus, cycle and walk🤣
Holy moly, cars make people entitled and psychotic. And everyone's insistence on cars demonstrates a hyper-individualist mindset that disregards the larger picture and how everyone could be made better off with far fewer of these space-wasting machines.
Yup, car obsession just feeds into hyper-individuality and egotism here in the US. Truly a living hell dealing with people around here. Good on London for punishing motorists. Meanwhile the US just keeps expanding more and more highways because lobbyists stuff money into our politicians pockets. Our gov is not concerned with improving quality of life for its citizens. Only enriching themselves and funding wars
@veodebouevthere's as much phones in Africa as anywhere else in the world. Have you never heard that China produces phones, and that they are far cheaper than anything made in western countries?
As someone who's been gentrified out of central London and wanted to maintain a certain comfort in my home, I can assure you that there are ,many areas where a car is needed to live comfortably. I can think of a few houses in Edmonton I've visited where the nearest supermarket was miles away on the North Circular. South London fares far worse, especially the south east. The outer zones are massive suburban sprawls where getting somewhere by public transportation will turn into a massive expanse and loss of time. Cycling from Zone 4 to Zone 1 isn't something everyone can do. This is the sad part of gentrification people don't see. There is also a difference between cycling friendly and motoring hostile cities. Amsterdam has smart traffic lights that, while giving away priority to pedestrians and cyclists, also do make sure you're never stopped at a red light if there's no traffic coming. Hence why Dutch drivers are happier with their infrastructure. There are two choices when trying to induce a change of behaviour. The carrot or the stick. And London is particularly stick happy...
I agree with you. People think that all of London is served by public transport and everyone has the same travelling privileges. In some areas you will need a car to live comfortably. Some people want no cars at all which makes the whole point of urban sprawl pointless. They don't get that some people are more car reliant so all of these Ltns and cameras are like an attack. But people think that they are selfish and only care about themselves. Another thing as well is that cars are not even a problem in London for pedestrians in general it isn't like America where you feel like you are going to be hit any minute.
@@JohnFromAccounting of course that's the dream, but what this person is referring to is that you dont need a car to get around london when that's just not feasible for disabled people with london's current public transport
@@lauraqueentint The argument isn't that disabled people shouldn't use cars. The point is that those who are able-bodied (99+ percent) use cars even though most don't need to.
One of my main reasons for never bothering to get my license to drive. London has two things: Bad Traffic & Hefty fines Real long living Londoners know that those back road blocks were put there to help clueless police from losing criminals who drive and know back roads like the back of their hand... It had Nothing to do with pollution. Now, all there is is traffic all throughout the day on the high roads, constant road works which only make traffic that much sweeter, and buses still with no AC during the summer or heating during winter but we All pay out the arse to keep these poorly things running. I'm buying a skateboard or Rollerblades
Anyone else noticed that younger people were overall positive even when they were inconvenienced at times, while older people were usually more negative about the changes?
Many of the discussions about car infrastructure focus on those people most impacted by reduced car infrastructure, as they deliver strong arguments against restricting car traffic (people who need cars for their work for example) yet I'd be more interested how many people on the roads are taking trips that could actually be replaced by public transport, bikes or walking. They are the ones that need to be incentivized most, either by making the car less attractive or alternatives more attractive (or in the best case, both). A big part of this discussion that some politicians tend to ignore is to not only to make the car unattractive, but to make public transport and cycling infrastructure more attractive. This can be challenging when so much space is still granted to the car, making cycle routes and buses less attractive in the process because you have to cross busy roads or the buses get stuck in traffic. Even if there is perfect cycling infrastructure along a route, I'd still get frustrated every time I have to cross a big, busy road. London's approach of financial incentives to get people to stop using the car is impacting low income families and people a lot more than those who can just afford the charges, forcing those with less money off the roads and those who can afford it onto them. The charges need to be income-based to equally impact everyone, with special regulations around businesses that need vehicles to operate.
They need to raise the congestion pricing to $30 per entry. Electric cars are unsustainable. Invest more in more underground lines, bike lanes and wide pavements
It's funny that they want to charge £15 just to drive inside. When it comes to an EV, they don't charge it at all. It's more like they want people to get an EV instead of reducing number of cars in London.
Unfortunately london transport isn’t the best - it can be very unreliable and expensive and bus services get cut all the time and if you start work at 4am your only option may be to drive
The only unfair thing about the congestion fee is its high. if you on minimum wage, it’s basically no-go zone for you. If you’re rich banker, it’s nothing for you. The congestion fee should be strictly correlated to your - eg literally your hourly wage (equivalent to 1/2000 of your annual income)
You have also missed the point. Those charges affect people that are on low income more than the wealthy, is poverty taxation. The rich will still use the car regardless, even for the most mundane thing, the poorest won't even use it for essential journeys. Percentual charge works, just look at Switzerland using it for speeding fines. You charge £1000 to a guy on 80k p/a for speeding and he brushes it off (you even see it here, the Lamborghinis speeding past speeding cameras, no fucks given). If you charge the same to someone on 21k p/a that's it, they're ruined for months. It doesn't matter that it's not a pay-to-use service, it's about proportional taxation according to people's income. Carpet-blank taxation always affects the little people dramatically, never the wealthy. What wealthy person gives a fuck about £12.50 a day? He'll keep using his Audi A7 without a care in the world. @@RubbishGimpy
Ah, so you accept and endorse poverty taxation? Essentially what you are saying is that if you are on minimum wage you are not allowed the same mobility and agency allowed to wealthier individuals or groups. I'm really glad you're not writing policy. And don't give me the "it's just how it is" bollocks because that's just a cynical approach.@@mats7492
one problem of the current times is people buying bigger cars. if everyone in London drove smaller cars it would solve a lot of the issues. You're right, London is designed for smaller vehicles, so why do people drive in London with Chelsea tractors and massive Saloons. I also feel a reliance on mini cabs of the current generation has massively increased the issues, how many times have you had a to wait for someone doing a three point turn or just straight up ignoring give ways. Finally the M25 has just migrated the traffic problem, as someone who uses the A3 and A217 regularly the amount of excess traffic because of people avoiding the M25 is unreal, Rush hour has become a 2 hour affair.
Having moved to London from the Netherlands, the cycling infrastructure is so far behind. Some motorists purposely leave no space between you and them and make you feel unsafe. Back at home I wouldnt hesitate to cycle 5km to work. Where I live in London this is unthinkable.
Old reply but 100% this, I was very lucky in that at one point my commute could be done 90% via canal paths and a small section of segregated cycle lane. The last 10% was having to share the road or in a bus lane. That last 10% felt so unsafe I just went back to getting the train. My borough 'invested' into some cycle highway projects along some main roads. Great! But pretty much completely useless because as soon as you needed to anywhere else have fun sharing the road with every impatient london driver who treats you as a target and not a person. Basically the lanes were useless to me because they didn't go anywhere I'd ever need to go. Same goes for public transport, it's great for getting me to the centre for work. I need to go anywhere else, it's going to be multiple slow bus rides. People don't realise that outer london is incredibly underserved for cycle infra and public transport. I'd love to live in inner London but it's completely unaffordable, rather than outer londons cripplingly unaffordable.
Motorcycles are and will always be the answer to Londons congestion. Here in Northern Ireland we ride all year round free parking. Its too dangerous to use a bicycle in Northern Ireland.
Should note that most of the older large "carcentric" US cities "designed that way" were not exactly actually designed that way as they were already around before cars were even a thing. They were effectively *destroyed* to make room for the car (conveniently separating and isolating marginalized population as well as primarily destroying *their* homes to make room for those high ways in the process was *definitely totally* just an accidental side effect)
This is basically a zone 1-3 vs 3-6 issue. Living in zone 1-2 you can live without a car fairly easily. Zome 3 hit and miss, zone 4-6 you need a car tbh. Also radial routes vs non radial routes etc
I only know a couple of people who have a car in inner London. Once you get to outer London it's just as car centric as anywhere else in the UK. Places are just so far away. When I first came to London I brought my car with me but found it stayed parked most of the time. I used it mainly night time for going out. I think since then night bus and night tubes have got better (though still far from perfect). I do notice, outside London bus services tend to wind down after 6PM but here they are still fairly frequent till 11 or so. After that you might have to wait 15 minutes or so for the night service, some routes even 30 mins.
The section on health and ULEZ is incorrect. The air pollution levels in London are above the legal pollution thresholds with the worst air pollution being at tube stations. This can be ascertained using a hand held meter or at the fixed air pollution monitors next to roads. That's probably why its referred to as ultra low. Asthma cases have being getting markedly worse but at a time when air pollution levels have been improving so contrary to common sense its negatively correlated. The study suggesting 9000 deaths is a correlation between death rates and home address but relative wealth could also directly lead to the same conclusion. There aren't 9000 deaths with air pollution given as the primary cause of death and after the introduction of ULEZ you won't be able to identify anyone who has been saved by it. Its quite probable that no statistical effect will be found. A study by Imperial College suggested the effect of the introduction of the first ULEZ had been minimal. Moral think for yourself, understand the reasoning and don't pass off political views as scientific which is the fashion these days.
The way the Netherlands fixed this issue is by making good rules for new roads being built. Roads need to be maintained every x amount of years, if you just make sure the thing you build back works well for cyclist, pedestrians, public transport and a bit of cars, you will slowly solve the issue withou crazy extra investment needed, right?
Also, I find it amusing that almost all the people that Andy interviewed that said that LTNs are a bad idea, in the end said that their neighbourhoods became much nicer without cars. It's like people know that cars are bad for cities, they just don't want to acknowledge it.
I was like this before but I used to be a delivery driver so it's a pain for anyone who does that job. I think the only people who should be allowed to own vehicles are those who work with them including hiring.
8:03 The Westway was actually planned as part of the infamous London Ringways project (where it would be designated Ringway 1). There were four Ringways planned. Ringway 1 - Inner orbital route in London's congested areas (Not all built) Ringway 2 - Outer orbital route which half of it is occupied by the North Circular Road Ringway 3 - Orbital route outside Greater London which makes up one half of the M25 Motorway Ringway 4 - Another orbital route for those who want to avoid London altogether which makes up the other half of the M25 Motorway. The "Unfinished London" series documents the Ringways project in greater detail
'You will own nothing and be happy'. Whether you believe the people who say that or not, you have to admit, you are proving them correct. It's a grim future for young people you picture. Car renting will just become a cash cow to milk young people, just like renting housing. It's not progress.
Like those are cheap! You have distance limits and you have to be wary of potential scams. It also depends how long you need the car for. It can seriously add up every single day you need it for. Plus, if you are a young driver with a clean driving record you cannot even get one, so road trip is over. Have a train trip instead. Actually, the only alternative really is your parents drive you with your mates or take a train. Some are quicker but quite expensive. I'm saying a private car is actually necessary for getting around for different peoples situations. I do not get why people are generalising everyone who chooses to drive is someone who wants everyone to die sooner. If people want to drive its their choice it is already expensive anyway.
I think you guys made a good call people may hate it at first because of the adjustment and change they have to make but they're already getting used to it. Its working and they're already understanding and enjoying the benefits despite the friction they experieced at first.
Car free cities are fine until you need to go somewhere outside of the city. The rest of the UK laughs with and at London. Okay, you can get most places without a car, but anywhere in the UK outside of London, if you don't have a car your life is much, much harder. Everywhere is much further away, and when you get there you will be sweaty, hot, uncomfortable and late.
Why did you mostly interview car drivers? It feels like they are personally attacked. There is so much more that goes into these decisions made by urban planners. Proportional use of space, other external costs like accidents, induced demand, ...
Oh my god. As a Londoner born and bred we are absolute joke. WHY DO WE LIVE IN THE PAST. we need to modernise roads. Widen where we can, get rid of the major because people , especially young professionals and those with kids are leaving. I love driving and we are one of the worst countries for driving.
You do realise public transport is WAY more effective? Widening roads will attract cars, which will stop any progress. Public transport actually gets rids of the cars, the reason traffic exists in the first place
It can hardly be called "skyrocketing", considering it was at 216,000 offences in 2018, and is now at 242,000. It's an increase for sure, but nothing that would make it such a significant factor.
Its not "Skyrocketing" 5 MILLION use public transport every day.. its safe! Your chances of dying in a car crash are vastly higher than becoming a victim of a crime on public transport
@@Ruzzky_Bly4t Compare it to 50 years ago instead of 5 years ago. And no, I'm not talking about overall crime that includes harmless things like retail theft, I'm talking specifically about violent crime.
@GusM- I guess I got spoiled by the Moscow metro. Can't expect as much from the richest country on Earth. Although "fine" might be the right word. It's just not "good", that's the problem.
Nice that you forgot to mention that electric skateboards are illegal in UK and you will get 6 points on your licence and 1000£ fine if you are unlucky enough to get caught
Invest in Light rail trams (Not a 'Subway") and bikes aren't that late for London city i guess, Mid-Dense neighborhoods and has lot of people there fits the requirements, converts some road into a pedestrian pathes with designated bikes or trams (could either both for moderate sized road/avenue) could help ease congestion, encourage more people to take mass transits or bikes and reduce pollutions.
There are already sorta light rail trams (Tram Link) in South London which are mostly separated from the road in a separated track from the street that is shared with passenger trains except for some stretches of track in busy town centre.
@@Tigerman303 I know that but I interpreted the commenter as saying that there aren't any light rail trams currently so I responded. I agree though that it would be quite hard to implement a light rail system in central London excluding the Docklands Light Railway
@@Tigerman303 There was a potential scheme to build a monorail in Oxford Circus but it got scrapped and monorail aren't a good solution to London's current urban planning situation
When I moved to London 20 years ago my car sat idle so much that it wouldn't start so I got rid of it. Only last year I bought a car again because I now leave the city a lot and have a disabled friend who I taxi around a lot. I bought an EV so don't get hit with charges too much but it's a really slow way to get around the city and there's traps, like the no motor vehicle signs shown, and making the Westway, a raised segregated duel carriageway with no cyclists never mind pedestrians into a 20 mph zone. Encouraging cycling and public transport over driving is sensible and I will choose those over driving if it's just me. Not everyone can drive without clogging the streets. Drivers blaming anyone else for traffic is just so entitled and self unaware it's almost funny. Blocking off back roads to force it all down a few key streets makes things very brittle to any problems if those key roads get blocked too. In Hackney the through road will often be the ones with shops and pedestrians which seems the wrong way round. Oxford Street makes more sense with cars being forced down alternative less pedestrian-busy back streets but buses still allowed and access only at night/early morning. Once batteries in scooters are safe enough to let them back onto tubes that will help too, especially for those not within a easy walk of a station. The joined up system of walkable neighbourhoods, transit and person mobility that the Netherlands has pioneered is the best plan for cities.
I live in the UK (not in london) and this is kind of an issue with the rest of the country. The roads just aren’t built for modern traffic and they were designed on past systems.
I think with a lot of these dramatic policies there's a serious gap in nuance, and particularly in understanding how the cities that have reversed car usage have done it so well. Amsterdam in particular has focused WAY less on punitive measures and more on physical changing the urban landscape to encourage and discourage certain types of journeys and behaviours associated with cars - all through thoughtful design and not enforced rules that just make more normies really angry from what could be a totally preventable cause.
Due to ULEZ, CC, ridiculous speed limits, endless amounts of cameras and signs all over trying to fine motorists in London. I have decided to never drive my car anywhere near Central London ever again (so that's anything closer than Putney/Chiswick) added to that I am not going to support any business, events, restaurants, etc within any area closer than Putney......wish all people would do the same and turn the place into a ghost town. Its got ridiculous. I go elsewhere now....South or West into the countryside.
Great video, thanks! Apart from what others have said in the comments, I was also surprised by the claim about London having less space than eg us cities, though It really is true what they say - they were not primarily "built" for the car but bulldozed for them... luckily London and most of Europe in general didn't go quite as far (Also, why no mention of induced traffic/traffic evaporation? ...judging from the answers you got, not enough people seem to know about the main reasons for congestion in the 1st place)
As someone who has now had a car in London for just over a year I personally think that in zone 1-3 you would be mad to buy a car but if you live in zone 4-6 it becomes more and more persuasive. For a start it’s often cheaper the same cost as getting public transport to drive somewhere if your journey is from suburb to suburb and hours faster. It takes me 40 minutes to drive to Brent Cross and two hours by bus if everything goes perfectly. It is an 8 mile journey. Secondly once you have a car you realise that there were many shops and services in your area that were built with the idea that they would be driven to. The second point isn’t a deal breaker but the first is.
The way I see it, I think there are 4 ways you can resolve living in London with your daughter's needs. Of course, none of them will be perfect: 1. Use public transit exclusively, even when going out of London. If you can get her to tolerate it early on, it will help lots in the future. 2. Use the tube in London but go to the suburbs and rent a car when going out. Good bit more expensive but the comfort might be worth it. 3. Move to the suburbs, buy a car and commute in by bus. Most comfortable, but your car will be sat there collecting snow most of the time. 4. Get a new job outside of London and move out. Hard to do and will probably slash your salary in half but you get to drive your car comfortably.
Number 1 not possible in some areas public transport doesn't cover everywhere and some places have to rely on cars to get around. Number 2. The most realistic, but renting a car is not cheap especially in Europe. Alternative would be to instead of renting a car is taking a train and then using a taxi to leave the station. Number 3 is a faff housing market is not looking good. Number 4 is no way. He chose to move to London he wouldn't want to leave. Also a lot of people have to live in London with certain occupations.
@@danieltesfaye8517 Yup. I won't deny they're all hard. This is a difficult problem to solve. Personally, I wouldn't even consider options 3 and 4 but I mentioned them as plausible
take the American route of minimum lot sizes, no neighbourhood shops allowed, work from home culture, etc and you get the same result as if you allow mixed uses, super blocks, untangling of traffic types, etc both results have low vehicle volume but one you spend your time in private spaces and the other you have more social opportunities.
I lived in London all my life and I was honestly surprised when I found out that roads outside of London are normally a 40 mph zone (in London majority of roads are 20 zones)
Most american cities were not build for the car, they were bullodozed for it, in the most racialy discriminating way possible. London's problem is underinvestment in public transportation and regional connexions. Also, neoliberalism Just compare the Paris region to the London Region, it is painful to look at. I live in a small city 350 km from Paris but with a high speed rail station at 15 minutes walk from my home, I can get to the capital in just '1:30 and go basically anywhere without even feeling I miss out by not owning a car. And why would I be ?😂 Paris is a nightmare to drive through!
This video is pretty decently put together. However I think London is reaching a fairly decent equilibrium between car centrism and public transport. The public transport system is a world best, there’s no doubt about it, but on a per-journey basis it can get fairly costly (not as much as a car if you’re strictly on urban use). There’s also a big difference in the driving experience within the A406 (2019-2021 ULEZ) vs outside of it. I would argue that driving within the A406, especially as a resident is a complete waste of money. This is what many would consider “inner London”. In “outer London” or A406 to the M25, there’s a stronger case to be made for cars not to be given up so easily: you’re 15-30 minutes from the countryside, avoid extortionate national rail costs, can get between suburbs on a lower per-journey cost and save hours doing it. I know there are many places in the outer parts where people could drive 10-15 minutes or take 45-90 minutes via bus or train to reach their destination. A good hypothetical example is say you live in Hounslow and you want to get to Arnos Grove to visit a friend or family. You can take the Piccadilly Line end to end (including walking to and from the station) is all in all a 75-105 minute journey. Driving it can easily take 30-45 minutes door to door. The point around fines is also slightly over exposed in this video. It’s fairly easy to avoid them if you do a bit of background research before your journey. Plenty of places to park (for free even) and LTNs are more of a local driving issue (council by council). I would argue if your journey is more than 10 miles you may as well drive (depending on the exact course naturally). I’m not defending cars at all, I will be clear. I think the less of them there are on the roads, the better - however it’s a balancing act between cars and transport I would say. Transport has a huge way to go even in big old London, not to beat cars, but to serve the people in the way it’s intended to.
I live in the US Suburbs. My town doesn't have sidewalks, biking lanes, or public transportation. Although my town is one of the more affordable areas we have long commutes to work. My co-worker drives 50 miles/2 hours to work. Our car taxes are $100 a year, but my new car loan is $50 higher than my mortgage. If I had public transportation I wouldn't have a car.
that is intentional and by design. american cities go out of their way to be aggresively hostile to pedestrians/cyclists and anyone not in a car to the point where most americans just automatiaclly default to driving a car because its simply too dangerous to travel any other way.
Born and bred Londoner. Loved my car. Now totally hate cars and traffic. Car drivers blame everything else but the fact is it is THEM that cause traffic. I live in a LTN, yes my husband is a builder and needs a van, but totally does not mind the extension in time to drive anywhere as Hackney is now so plesant and car free. I cycle, he walks if not working. Stop car sales, ban fossil fuels, improve transport.... there will be a period of pain for these people, like coming off addiction, but in the future they will forget it when you have trees, grass, seating, children playing, neighbours talking , all in the road!
Can we stop calling public transit systems good, just because they are better than other transit systems, a good system is one where there are more rail lines than roads.
@@Ruzzky_Bly4t I never said it exists, but you can have a standard for something even if that something doesn't yet exist at the highest level or rating. I wouldn't be surprised if some areas of the netherlands had more square footage dedicated to rail lines than roadways.
@MegaLokopo You're mixing up "perfect" and "good". "Good" and "bad" are relative terms that depend on the context. That's like saying that a clean, modern, and quiet train that goes 200 mph isn't good, because unlike a potential maglev, it's not traveling at 500 mph and it still has some minimal vibration from the rails and some noise. No, it's good, just not perfect.
@@Ruzzky_Bly4t The way it is used in daily language good and perfect can be synonyms to most people, even if they don't realize it. That is why you have people arguing over how good a system is and how good a system would have to be for them to consider investing in it. My point is simply if we stop calling current systems good, then people will be more likely to support them in the future because we are making it clear that there is a ton of room for improvement, if we call current systems good when in reality they are all awful, people won't focus on what could be and will only focus on what is. And getting them to vote for more transit will be much harder.
@MegaLokopo I see your point. If you say that public transport is "good enough as it is", it will prevent it from evolving. But it's a double-edged sword. If you stop calling good systems good, people would see investment into public transportation as futile. Why bother if decades of hard work haven't resulted in anything good happening, even in places with the right policies and a lot of money? Your all or nothing approach would present public transport in a bad light, and car users would likely use the opportunity to highlight how good the roads are or something. It seems much more sensible to me to point out good examples of public transportation and show people that with enough effort, it can be a convenient and reliable way to move around, instead of relying on a car. Of course, the flaws and ways to improve it should always be mentioned as well. Saying that "all public transport systems in the world are awful" will only gain support from the ultra wealthy and avid car users, who think that it can never be as good as their vehicle.
I'm happy to see a lot more tube stations you've filmed having those barriers in front of the side of the platform, there were like 2 or 3 last I went there and in only a few weeks, I was stuck in a tube for over an hour twice because of people dying from falling (or jumping ) from a platform. So much life and time is wasted and Heathrow only came up with a solution not so many years ago. I always thought the solution was so simple, especially seeing as all the trains have auto braking (which is why you see the guys in a middle carriage driving the train with a key going either forward or reverse. rather than somebody out in front. Except at night) Also I don't understand his problem with the tube. I'ts the cleanest and most quiet and polite rides I've ever been in compared to Paris and the filthy freakshow that is the new york subway. It's as well silent and well behaved as an elevator. The buses are another story though.
@@mildlydispleased3221 Oh okay, it was just him filming the nicer ones then. But that's a lot more than when I was there. I was so torn up about the 2 death-related delays in a couple of weeks and everyone on the train's reaction to it hit me. If I was a Londoner, I would have started a charity to build them. Seriously, for the price of repaving a few streets (about 1mil per mile, way more if there are water and gas lines), they could put those barriers up everywhere. I know you can't stop suicides, but just like netting, you can help stop people's temporary impulses that everyone gets. And drunks falling onto the tracks. I talked to a couple conductors about it, and that is how I found out about the auto braking, ensuring the train always lines up in the exact same place and the reason you only see drivers up front in the conductors seat at night. That's literally to look out for drunks and pull the emergency brake. Apparently it's too expensive to have 2 people operating the train at once during the day as people are only more likely to die from 8 until 3(?) and don't think its worth it to monitor the front of the train the entire 20hrs(?) it runs. (This is the general opinion I've gotten from like 3 conductors a few years ago though)
@eoinburke I've driven a tube train, I work in the industry, all drivers need to do on most lines is open and close the doors, the problem is, that these doors would be ludicrously expensive to retrofit, I'm talking billions, especially on platforms that serve trains of multiple sizes, as well as causing major disruption. I know you can't put a price on a human life but it would just be impractical. They are however, doing things like putting suicide helpline posters on platforms to encourage people to rethink their decision. All new ststions have the doors because it is much easier go design the platforms around the doors rather putting them in hundred year-old tunnels.
I was just told about the automatic braking systems on all trains which ensured they stop at the exact place each on every platform. I may be misinformed about the innerworkings, and maybe my 2 experiences so close togeter was a fluke, but even the loss in GDP due to the delays of multiple tubes at once caused by them would also justify the cost. But the fact that a few stations have done the switch is good news. I'm not from a place where we have an underground, so theese deaths and delays caused by them got to me in a weird way.@@mildlydispleased3221
The only way to get people out of cars is to get rid of car access. No parking, no roads. Vehicles were mainly used for goods transit, back when producing and selling was all done in the same workshop in town. Now, industries moved out and their trucks got replaced by individual cars, instead of just freeing the space for city services that actually need motorized vehicles. Yes, it's possible to get around without cars, at all, even with a child. It's just much more difficult when there's cars everywhere, making every street deadly.
The restrictions are frustrating for drivers but they improve the quality of life of the local residents, cyclists and pedestrians so much! As we see in America, even AI can not design a grid that accommodates everyone driving a car. It just turns into a big parking lot.
Its the ULEZ effect. There is absolute uproar when it's firstly implemented, then it dies down, and people start releasing that it was probably for the best. How many news articles do you see about ULEZ today compared to last year?
Hate to be a bummer but you really shouldn’t promote not wearing a helmet and using headphones while utilizing micro mobile tech. My (very experienced, very athletic, very coordinated) older brother died from a TBI when he fell from his onewheel about a year ago. Cool people wear helmets!! Safe micromobility might be a good vid topic in the field of urbanism.
Ya know, I was about to call you out on this one but... yeah, you're right! I've seen the bloodied head of someone who took a dive over the handlebars of an electric scooter because of bad pavement. He had one shot with the helmet on but really, given the speed he was traveling and being in traffic, it would have been way cooler for him to set that example. *Especially* as a father who needs to be there for his daughter.
It’s a shame hey. Through many demonstrations, Vienna people finally took back all the busy centres from cars, now you have a situation where streets like Mariahilfe Strasse has more than 70 000 foot traffic a day, making the businesses make revenue they never dreamed of, simply because they narrows the road, grew trees, made it shared walking, cycling and residence-and-delivery-only-driving space where it used to be a busy car road with little foot traffic. They are now slowly closing many more roads to cars, but never fast enough sadly because the lobbyists are lobbying.
Ultimately people need to drive. These restrictions dont remove polution, they just move it and increase it due to increased traffic. This is not a battle with pollution, its a tax on the poor. Also just the fact that the underground which is proposed as a cleaner travel alternative has 100x worse air quality than the streets. Cycle lanes increase traffic, congestion zones increase traffic, pedestrian zones increase traffic. Traffic increases pollution. This isnt solving any problems.
This video was annoying. Ultimately you ended up on the pro-transit side (which is the factually correct side), but your "understanding of problems drivers face" is pitying people who do not need pity and shying away from advocating for expanding public transit and increasing its accessibility for the disabled. The "it hurts the laborer" excuse is an absurd narrative because the cost of using a vehicle then becomes a business expense as it should always be for those businesses. Roads are not free to maintain and not every person on them is paying the taxes that would fund them. So then, why exactly are they getting to use those roads without being charged by the owners/maintainers of them?
Since when is exploring both sides bad? Good for him to show a balanced perspective instead of pretending like his opinion is the only "factually correct" one. I'm in support of fewer cars and more transit, but the way you present our opinion is no different from those car fanatics who don't even want to consider using alternatives.
Having lived in London for 25 years, you can get away with not having a car. However there are places outside of London that I often go to where it is impossible to quickly get around without a one
Why would you want to drive in the first place? I have never understood it. I'm embarrassed to see people in cars. It's like watching toddlers in their _Little Tykes Cosy Coupe._ Not just in London, either. There are so many brilliant options to get about in the UK Do you know how cool trains and trams are? Imagine if you were part of the committee that got to design their liveries every year! That's some council engagement! Now if only we could finally imprison the Tories for the crimes, especially Rishi Sunak...
I'm sorry mate, have you ever left London? Are you seriously bringing up trains? UK trains? Arguably the worst and most prohibitively expensive train network in Europe (including Eastern). That one?
I live in zone 1 and can get everywhere by tube, bus and taxi where needed. The worst for me are the extremely loud super cars and tuned chav cars as well as motorcycles which drive around day and night. Noise pollution is a major problem, especially when the council doesn’t allow you to replace your windows
You briefly mentioned Amsterdam, but I also want to further point out the fact that the incredibly high bicycle usage in the Netherlands is not cultural. In the 80s one of the council areas had put in schemes to redesign all the street vehicle usage and promote bicycle usage and there was a huge uproar and backlash, but it became so successful, that all the councils in the 3 major cities copied it, causing further resistance but now people seem to have forgotten what it was like in car centric cities and embraced it. Their weather is almost the same as the south of the UK too. So you will be looking at a rough 2 decades and then people will have forgotten the old car-centric ways in the city.
It's cultural now! That's how culture happens.
@@michaelhiggins9188 You have to admit it's a bit surprising its only been the way it is for such a short amount of time though. If you have ever been there or spoken to anyone below the age of 40, you'd swear it's always been bike centric.
@@Eoin-B Yea, and it is a great example of how, it is not too late for the us or the other car addicted countries to make the switch. It is a rough couple of years, but it is so worth it in the end.
Hell yes! Infrastructure and cultural change was an insightfully deliberate policy choice on the part of dutch lawmakers, which is what has made their cities so successful today.
Just look at Paris! Definitely not cycle culture at the mo, but they’re on their way there
It is always funny to hear car owners blaming infrastructures when they are stuck in traffic. And not the cars themselves. :)
Yea, and then they complain about public transit not paying for the infrastructure. When cars don't either.
the one guy saying LTNs are forcing more cars on to the main roads where there's not enough space, was so close to getting it
A narrow sidewalk will gridlock if there's too many people. Widen the sidewalk! Oh hang on, that sounds like induced demand. Build a Metro to city limits! Wait, that's how suburbs can begin. Too many people, but not me, everyone else is wrong and needs to go. My F150 Riese & Muller Saloman mobility tech collab makes me the exception.
@@delftfietser some types of induced demand are good actually
Either way, people don't gridlock cars do
Ever been in a crowded store? Too many people for the space.
I lived in London for 6 years. You don't need a car if you live there, considering how good public transport is. Yet some people are dense enough to think otherwise. Fuck the car. It was so close to being an incredible city.
Totally agree.
It is quite hard, but not impossible to live in zones 5 and 6 without a car. Especially in Tory, carbrain boroughs like Bromley.
coming from a medium sized swedish town it astounds me that anyone would drive in london for any reason, it seems like an abjectly miserable experience and i do just fine without a car here, so i see no reason to own one in an actual big city with tons of amenities and amazing public transport.
that's because you're not disabled.
@@lauraqueentint everyone in London who drives is disabled?
for some reason anglos are weirdly anti bike. Canada, UK, Australia, and the big daddy of car dependence, the USA. It is so weird. It's not just the Netherlands who loves their bikes. Milan, Germany, Barcelona, Bogota, are all doing great using bikes to transfer away from car dependency. It is super bizarre
I wouldn't go as far as comparing the UK, home of the railway to those three. Yes, there are some very stubborn, backwards, ethnically homogenous suburbs where everyone hates the thought of walking **Ahem Bromley Ahem** but taking the train is a normal part of life and most people commuted to work via public transport before the pandemic.
@@mildlydispleased3221it's not so much the mobility habits writ large that I'm connecting, rather the public attitude specifically towards cycling as a leasure activity vs a form of legitimate transportation
You might be on to something. It's related to immense focus on private property rights and laws in Anglophone society (John Locke's philosophy on property ownership). This means it's really hard to implement mass transit + property models like in Hong Kong, Japan, or Korea.
As a colombiana living in Spain and who has never driven a car, I felt that 😁
@@tonysoviet3692 That doesn't make sense though, the UK birthed the railway and the USA once had the best freight AND passenger system in the world. All this backlash to public transport or even the mere idea of sensibly designed cities is a very recent, and in my opinion very artificial attitude people have.
It's actually a misconception that American cities were designed around cars. They were designed mostly as grid-based cities build around the railways, but were bulldozed and demolished in the 50s and 60s. There are not many exceptions to this, but Boston is the best example of a city that grew organically and is a complete nightmare to drive through. The car-centric design never really hit Boston like it hit other cities.
Very true
yes that point sat poorly with me as well
It depends, in the Northeast and Midwest they really weren't as you point out, at least not the actual city centers. You can make the point that the post-WWII American suburbs definitely were designed for cars though, and that's where most Americans live now. Arguably cities like Phoenix and Las Vegas actually were designed for cars since they're of such recent vintage.
Yea it's the American suburbs that were designed around the car
They also had extensive streetcar networks.
'Punishing londoners for driving a car' is an interesting way of phrasing it in the 'how london stops you driving' section. Personally I look at it more as just charging them proportionate to their impact.
Well negative incentives work hand in hand with positive ones to affect behavior. If driving was less of a nuisance, then less people would feel the need to switch to public transit, especially if they already have a sunken-cost car. The phrasing may seem a bit spin-y, but it is not disingenuous.
@@serebii666 Oh yeah, course. Just the phrasing I find interesting!
Yes, people always forget the negative externalities of a personal vehicle, and it's only when in a place that truly prices them according to their real societal cost (road infrastructure, negative health aspects of all sorts) like NYC or London do they complain about the price. People are so used to the innate subsidies built into vehicle ownership like free parking that they complain when they are taken away.
Motorists will constantly bitch about these things, yet they have no solutions to fix any of the problems. If the congestion charge didn't come in to place in 2003, then London would be at a standstill today. London's traffic is still terrible, just imagine how bad it could have been if all these measures were not taken.
More people are cycling than ever before, which is really good.
@@garethhenshaw No, we just shouldn't artificially subsidize people who own a car with large amounts of public space and resources. It's much more expensive to support driving in dense cities, so it *should* be more expensive to drive there to support that.
The alternative is continuing to subsidize drivers at the expense of the poorest among us, as those are the folks who rely on public transit the most and are affected the most by air pollution.
It’s bizarre how the only place in the country with quality transport options is still overrun with car traffic. If I lived in London I’d never use a car at all the access to public transport is fantastic unfortunately that can’t be said for the rest of the country which is abysmal by comparison
I'd think of it because of Oil business in UK are 'big', and having a lot of influences in country 'bureaucracy' there... might be reason why does London and some UK major cities transportation are somehow be much revolved in private vehicles and either public transportation with oil based fuel.
Coming from america i wouldn't call public transport outside of London abysmal
Public transport in some parts of South London is pretty abysmal.
Blame the conservatives after thatcher . She was against privatization and was for investment in the rail network 😊
@@ahsanurr4219 Incredibly, in just two sentences you have shown in three ways that you are a clueless American who has never even been to London.
1. The UK doesn't use dollars as its currency
2. The Underground railway is not called a "subway" that name is used for a footpath that passes under a road.
3. They're not called "Sidewalks" they're called pavements"
I thought this was quite a biased video, with only 10% at the end explaining why you might not want a car.
I live in a borough where car ownership is at 20%, and yet the remaining 80% are still impacted by the pollution, the noise and the safety issues.
Thank you, I was thinking this the whole way through!
One word 'hackney'
@@Gunzyibo Tower Hamlets is worse sadly
This wasnt biased. These were just overwhelmingly negative views of REAL Hackney residents who are sick of it but can’t do much about it cos a majority of Hackney is now liberal gentrifiers who need their daily fix of a better self image.
Motorists are some of the most ignorant arrogant straight out nasty entitled inhabitants of this island. Especially urban ones. I live in one of the biggest cities in the country and the amount of people I know who have a car but could easily do without one is just depressing. Don’t even get me started on the claims that less cars will kill city centres.
They are nothing compared to the people in the comments section. You don't need a car to be an ass. Everyone has that capability. (edited)
You’ve just described the vast majority of the adult population as “ignorant, arrogant, straight out nasty, entitled…” which includes most people on this page, most people you know, most of your family, most of your friends. You really sure about that?
So what are people that can’t access public transport? Are disabled people nasty and arrogant? Or people from rural areas where they have no other choice? I agree that we need to move away from car centric cities but you’re the one that sounds ignorant
@@alexcrawford6162Not everyone who drives sees themselves as a "motorist". More often than not when someone calls themself a "motorist" they are heavily invested in being a car driver, like it's an integral part of their identity. And these people do tend to be entitled and think only about themselves, pedestrians and cyclists be damned.
It's hard keeping a cool head when driving. So I try keeping a slow 40 kmh, but there's always incessant honking, then there's pedestrians you need to look out for. It can cause a few mistakes but you definitely need to be on your toes while driving
Meanwhile in the Netherlands, the whole country is connected by a nationwide integrated public transport network (like one big metro system) and there are cycling lanes in between and inside of every city, town or village, connecting everywhere and everyone. They have lively towns, quiet yet buzzing with activity. Very clean and pleasant.
Here on the other hand we have to constantly listen to how removing cars from cities is going to kill cities and how the 15 minute neighbourhood is a conspiracy to imprison us all. And they had plenty of those people in the Netherlands as well, but eventually they stopped barking and came to enjoy the new lovely public spaces open for all.
The nation wide metro thing is a bit misleading because 80% of the Netherlands population is in a area the size of nyc
even crazier is that the Netherlands also tried to build for the car and ruined their city , they just realized that it sucked and started building infrastructure for people instead of cars
i mean all true but that public transit is to expensive tho
@@coenlammerts8816too expensive? How much exactly?
@@elisfsharri is study in rotterdam and a one way tickets would be 15 euro so 30 euro’s each day
Something not mentionned is Carshare. IF your city has a good carshare system, you can get around with kids, for cheap, for long distances, without owning a car, for cheaper then renting a car.
In montreal, where I'm from, you can use a carshare for like 300$ per year and then pay a fixed 25$ fee per day, which is wayyy cheaper then owning a car if you use it like 3-4 times per month
He mentions car-sharing at the end of the video.
Having moved to Montreal I am now car-share pilled
You can have kids take public transit by themselves, so long as they are respectful, public transit is very safe for kids.
London has good rail accessibility for out of town access
i think he said renting, which is slightly different in my opinion. @@gabrielgarcia7554
car drivers don't care about pollution until you tell them they cant drive here, shops do not benefit from car traffic its a big negative to them. cities should be designed like its from Cars the movie but designed like they are for the people who live there not the the 2ton box they own. cars are for rural areas not the a dense urban fabric.
No argument there. I long for that future but the problem is who pays. They should look after people who are using their vehicles to earn a living.
you make it so those people have other options to get to work. unless you mean say like a van for delivery or a plumber in which case those will always be aloud. could also switch to smaller or more friendly to the area vans like ups here does ecargo bike vans sort of things they are thinner and make almost no noise and work better in a city.
Cars aren’t for rural areas either, fed up of my village being over run with them all over the pavement and it sounding like the m6. There is even a railway station here and everyone lives within a 10 minute walk and yet they all still drive to the station in the mornings. I’m the only one who walks
@@alexfullalove9667 oh ya nah that sounds awful I should clarify i meant like cars out in like the farms like the real out there places those places with 1 house on the road and nothing else. but even then a nice bike lane and a ebike would fix that aswell.
This. Drivers do not give a damn about pollution, safety, climate change.. none of it - RIGTH up to the point when you start restricting driving. Then they suddenly care
Love how drivers are suddenly all concerned about the pollution only after they were denied going wherever and whenever they want.
to be fair, cars sitting around stuck in traffic all the time Do produce more polution than cars that get where they're going quickly, simply because they're Running for more time. It's one of the problems electric cars DO solve (They're not as much of an improvement in many areas as their proponents like to claim, but in This area? yeah, they're a big step up).
Of course, the actually good/better solution is to actually get rid of private cars entirely (within cities, at least). To do that effectively, though, you first must ensure that alternatives are actually sufficient to the needs of the population...and that's a Big deal, and often quite difficult (though much of that difficulty is a matter of regulation and culture, both of which can be changed).
@georgewashington6565 Yes! This makes me shake my phone in rage when they say stuff like this
They are pointing out the hypocrisy of all this nonsense. You can drive wherever you want as long as you pay a fine or go the long way around, creating more emissions... It has nothing to do with pollution 😅
@@RHauto you seem to be missing an option or two. Keep trying. It'll dawn on you.
IKR, try to limit how they drive their cars and all of a sudden they're super-concerned about pollution and Co2 emissions.
Also love how their arguments are the same everywhere. US, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, you'll see the same carbon copy arguments, strawmen, misconceptions, and concern trolling. It's kind of amusing, to be honest.
It's a combination of laziness, stubbornness and resistance to change. There's no easy way to persuade people not to use cars.
Basically you need to make driving hurt so much that they will consider the alternatives, while simutlaneously providing those alternatives
@@alehaim Agree 100%. But how? Just last week the PM caved in to the petrolhead demographic and scrapped lots of progressive policies just to get a few votes.
@@alehaim which is why I’m happy NYC is going to introduce congestion prices. Unfortunately I don’t trust them with building up public transport. If they actually do though then NYC will become a much more pleasant place
@@Ray03595 Hiring some more cleaning staff and restoring the subways would be a good start. Never understood how the biggest city in the richest country has such a depressing metro.
@@Ray03595Don't trains span the entire city? I feel like they're pretty convenient from the times I've been there. Getting across the river is also easy through bus and train
This was an incredibly well done piece! My only nitpick was around your comparison between London and US cities. It made it seem like London's congestion problem was made worse due to its compactness. But in practice that isn't really the case... in fact the opposite is true. Cities like Los Angeles sprawl massively over 500+ square miles. And yet traffic in LA is ABISMAL, some of the worst in the country. Sprawl in US cities has induced demand for more driving since public transit is nonexistent and everything is too far apart to walk/bike.
At the same time, it does seem like London has both a path forward and the political willpower to achieve its goal of eliminating car dependency. That currently doesn't exist for US cities. Nearly 100 years of car-centric planning has dug the US into an untenable situation with no good solution any time in the foreseeable future.
Los Angeles has actually more cars per square kilometer than any other city in the world because at the same time it has very high car ownership % and high population density
Public transport and biking lanes give people that cannot drive options due to medical conditions or age more options to stay more active connectivity, and foot traffic into businesses.
As an American, where our public transit is at best a joke and at worst non-existent, when I studied abroad in London I was amazed at being able to use the tube or just walk to places. To me even the worst station and most crowded train car was miles above what I'd grown up with. I would take the tube to random neighborhoods and walk around just because I could, with no need to figure out complicated directions, and then figuring out where I'm even allowed to park and for how long and then having to constantly check the time to see how much I have left. Where I grew up we had to drive 20 minutes just to pick up our mail from the post office, and the grocery store was even further. When I found out I could simply walk less than 10 minutes to get groceries I couldn't believe it. I will gladly take the transit London has over the pathetic garbage we have here.
I live in New Jersey and I think the public transport is pretty good here. The trains usually work well. Getting to New York is usually not a problem, and then it's really easy to get around in that area, both the NJ and NY sides of the river
@@racool911 There are parts of the USA with decent public transport (reaching good when the local government is actually focusing on making and keeping it good, and dropping below acceptable when they're playing silly games with it's funding and such), but they're few and small relative to the country as a whole, or in comparison to the towns and cities without.
It is, Very slowly, getting better, mind you.
Most Londoners have cars as a status symbol and I believe it's increasingly becoming generational. Younger gens are less likely to care about a private car. I remember the amount of social pressure I got from my parents and grandparents who treated my refusal to buying a car like a declaration of war. They still can't understand. Bus, trams, trains and bikes is the way!
same here..
they could just NOT grasp the concept of simply NOT wanting to own a car..
Yeah but new migrants don't care (and there are many of them). 1st thing they do when they make some decent money is buy a car, like most other people do around the world.
Well look who drives the Audis and the Beamers. Not exactly old people... And the boy racers in their ridiculous Subarus... In large parts of the demographics it is still considered an important symbol of masculinity and status to have a car.
Train services need to be improved significantly and made cheaper. Last year when I was commuting to Farringdon I logged my rail commutes and 80% of them were delayed at least 10 minutes which is enough to screw up evening plans. The seemingly infinitely long indutstrial action is hitting rail reliability this year. A lack of decent connections, poor and/or slow service in places often makes rail less practical or at best a slog. As for cost, for me to do a 500 mile round trip to visit my family, it costs around £75 by car or £117 by train because I can never get cheap advance tickets any more. Buses are good in places but in an urban area, I'd rather use my bike as it is quicker and more flexible.
Whilst driving has the annoyance of traffic congestion, it is still more comfortable/pleasant for the majority than the alternatives.
if you have a small d/low self esteem you probably feel the need to own a car@@stefansoder6903
I live in south east London. I drive to sixth form college. If I took public transport, it would take me 30-50 minutes. Driving it takes me 10. I am a big cyclist, and would happily cycle if it were safe to do so. I’d also take public transport if it were quick and convenient. This is why many still drive.
That's the issue for many people I believe. I don't think people enjoy having to drive everywhere the go, but many English City's infrastructure simply does not allow for any other alternative...
Big on the safety. I agree with making people less dependent on cars and car sharing, however, this is the city where people break lime bikes and steal the one you own. Also, especially as a young woman travelling as it gets darker in the cold winter, that's low-key another reason added to the list. Not to mention commuters into london, and the strikes alongside increasing rail prices.
@@kim9126 For sure. On the route that exists now to my college I have seen people get kicked off of their bikes by groups of youths.
@apexjailor9349 yeah, something really needs to be done about crime and stimulating more positive youth culture
@@kim9126 I think it's a bit of a vicious cycle. If I had to live in the squalor that many youths do I can't imagine I'd be a very fulfilled person.
Really interesting to know that Hackney is 70% LTNs. I moved here last year and always tell people about how nice and quiet it is in my neighbourhood and now I know why!
When Tom says he has only one or two route options nowadays - that is entirely the point - cars should have their thoroughfares without affecting neighbourhoods. The dutch have a word like 'untangling' for creating space for different transport modes
Andy, thank you so much for producing such an illuminating piece that shares the plight of Londoners and people who come to work in London! A pleasure to be help contribute to this comprehensive and extensively researched work!
Thanks for being involved Tom and taking us arounds the city. Everyone reading this go sub to Tom to find out more what it's like to be a Black cab driver in London ✌️
@@Faultlinevideos Tom's channel is great! I love his "ride along with me on a shift" videos... I can feel like I'm visiting London again.
It's not just London. It's literally every city. London gets it worse than anywhere else, but the automobile has been our great failure worldwide.
Mankinds biggest mistake.
@@K1989Lcars gives us freedom to to whatever place we need to be at our own preferred time it's called freedom of movement. Anything else is nothing but bullsh*,t.
Not really, like city's that were designed more recently like Milton Keynes are fine to drive around and you don't get stuck in much traffic
What about Tokyo?
@@lewis6565that's a lie, I live in Redditch which is the other town built and designed the same time as mk and I can tell you for free there's far too many petrol boxes on the road and the roundabouts don't help at all.
Great to hear from the cab driver that options for cars have been reduced. This is the only way to reclaim some of the wasted resources and address some of the damage cars do. Driving should be super expensive, not only in money, but also in inconvenience and time.
As long as the alternatives are good. Would be pretty stupid to harm car users if the public transport is super crowded and if there isn't enough bike infrastructure yet.
@@Ruzzky_Bly4t The buses don't get as crowded as the tube.
As long as it makes driving also a better experience, I'm all for it.
@@racool911 yup
They're going to make it prohibitively expensive to own a car
Which only affects the poor
If you have a little pocket change, the experience will be enhanced🥂
Like Singapore where it costs $9500 PER YEAR to register a car😭🤣
So poor people all take the bus, cycle and walk🤣
Holy moly, cars make people entitled and psychotic. And everyone's insistence on cars demonstrates a hyper-individualist mindset that disregards the larger picture and how everyone could be made better off with far fewer of these space-wasting machines.
I notice how none of the car owners consider sacrificing their own car usage for a better car experience for those who actually need cars.
Yup, car obsession just feeds into hyper-individuality and egotism here in the US. Truly a living hell dealing with people around here. Good on London for punishing motorists. Meanwhile the US just keeps expanding more and more highways because lobbyists stuff money into our politicians pockets. Our gov is not concerned with improving quality of life for its citizens. Only enriching themselves and funding wars
@veodebouev obvious troll is obvious
@veodebouevthere's as much phones in Africa as anywhere else in the world. Have you never heard that China produces phones, and that they are far cheaper than anything made in western countries?
Wow being able to afford a car and a child in London, someone is doing well!😅
Also great to see Tom on this, fantastic youtuber.
As someone who's been gentrified out of central London and wanted to maintain a certain comfort in my home, I can assure you that there are ,many areas where a car is needed to live comfortably. I can think of a few houses in Edmonton I've visited where the nearest supermarket was miles away on the North Circular. South London fares far worse, especially the south east. The outer zones are massive suburban sprawls where getting somewhere by public transportation will turn into a massive expanse and loss of time. Cycling from Zone 4 to Zone 1 isn't something everyone can do.
This is the sad part of gentrification people don't see.
There is also a difference between cycling friendly and motoring hostile cities. Amsterdam has smart traffic lights that, while giving away priority to pedestrians and cyclists, also do make sure you're never stopped at a red light if there's no traffic coming. Hence why Dutch drivers are happier with their infrastructure. There are two choices when trying to induce a change of behaviour. The carrot or the stick. And London is particularly stick happy...
I agree with you. People think that all of London is served by public transport and everyone has the same travelling privileges. In some areas you will need a car to live comfortably. Some people want no cars at all which makes the whole point of urban sprawl pointless. They don't get that some people are more car reliant so all of these Ltns and cameras are like an attack. But people think that they are selfish and only care about themselves.
Another thing as well is that cars are not even a problem in London for pedestrians in general it isn't like America where you feel like you are going to be hit any minute.
It's weird b/c you really don't need a car to get around London
yeah, if you're able bodied.
Yes, but people are stupid
@@lauraqueentint If unnecessary traffic is removed, then it would be even easier for the disabled to get around in their exempt vehicles.
@@JohnFromAccounting of course that's the dream, but what this person is referring to is that you dont need a car to get around london when that's just not feasible for disabled people with london's current public transport
@@lauraqueentint The argument isn't that disabled people shouldn't use cars. The point is that those who are able-bodied (99+ percent) use cars even though most don't need to.
I hope this trend will come to my city as soon as possible. Cars are destroying our cities and have to be thrown out with few necessary exceptions.
One of my main reasons for never bothering to get my license to drive.
London has two things:
Bad Traffic & Hefty fines
Real long living Londoners know that those back road blocks were put there to help clueless police from losing criminals who drive and know back roads like the back of their hand... It had Nothing to do with pollution.
Now, all there is is traffic all throughout the day on the high roads, constant road works which only make traffic that much sweeter, and buses still with no AC during the summer or heating during winter but we All pay out the arse to keep these poorly things running.
I'm buying a skateboard or Rollerblades
Anyone else noticed that younger people were overall positive even when they were inconvenienced at times, while older people were usually more negative about the changes?
Young people are poor
So they just can't afford it
I'm 29 so I'm old generation, it's funny to see students walking abt the city🤣😭🥂
Many of the discussions about car infrastructure focus on those people most impacted by reduced car infrastructure, as they deliver strong arguments against restricting car traffic (people who need cars for their work for example) yet I'd be more interested how many people on the roads are taking trips that could actually be replaced by public transport, bikes or walking. They are the ones that need to be incentivized most, either by making the car less attractive or alternatives more attractive (or in the best case, both).
A big part of this discussion that some politicians tend to ignore is to not only to make the car unattractive, but to make public transport and cycling infrastructure more attractive. This can be challenging when so much space is still granted to the car, making cycle routes and buses less attractive in the process because you have to cross busy roads or the buses get stuck in traffic. Even if there is perfect cycling infrastructure along a route, I'd still get frustrated every time I have to cross a big, busy road.
London's approach of financial incentives to get people to stop using the car is impacting low income families and people a lot more than those who can just afford the charges, forcing those with less money off the roads and those who can afford it onto them. The charges need to be income-based to equally impact everyone, with special regulations around businesses that need vehicles to operate.
They need to raise the congestion pricing to $30 per entry. Electric cars are unsustainable. Invest more in more underground lines, bike lanes and wide pavements
THIS
and make TfL tickets cheaper
Nah. Make public transport free for Londoners.
That would be perfect..@@TheJase8566
It's funny that they want to charge £15 just to drive inside. When it comes to an EV, they don't charge it at all. It's more like they want people to get an EV instead of reducing number of cars in London.
Fumes aren't the only problem. Brake dust and tire particulate matter as well are huge pollutants
And noise pollution
Unfortunately london transport isn’t the best - it can be very unreliable and expensive and bus services get cut all the time and if you start work at 4am your only option may be to drive
The only unfair thing about the congestion fee is its high.
if you on minimum wage, it’s basically no-go zone for you. If you’re rich banker, it’s nothing for you.
The congestion fee should be strictly correlated to your - eg literally your hourly wage (equivalent to 1/2000 of your annual income)
You have missed the point. The congestion charge isn't designed as a pay to use service, its designed to keep cars out of London.
You have also missed the point. Those charges affect people that are on low income more than the wealthy, is poverty taxation. The rich will still use the car regardless, even for the most mundane thing, the poorest won't even use it for essential journeys. Percentual charge works, just look at Switzerland using it for speeding fines. You charge £1000 to a guy on 80k p/a for speeding and he brushes it off (you even see it here, the Lamborghinis speeding past speeding cameras, no fucks given). If you charge the same to someone on 21k p/a that's it, they're ruined for months. It doesn't matter that it's not a pay-to-use service, it's about proportional taxation according to people's income. Carpet-blank taxation always affects the little people dramatically, never the wealthy. What wealthy person gives a fuck about £12.50 a day? He'll keep using his Audi A7 without a care in the world. @@RubbishGimpy
if youre on minimum wage, use the tube or bus and get a monthly pass... Thats the whole point!
Ah, so you accept and endorse poverty taxation? Essentially what you are saying is that if you are on minimum wage you are not allowed the same mobility and agency allowed to wealthier individuals or groups. I'm really glad you're not writing policy. And don't give me the "it's just how it is" bollocks because that's just a cynical approach.@@mats7492
@@mats7492 yup privacy is a luxury rhe poors can ill afford
one problem of the current times is people buying bigger cars. if everyone in London drove smaller cars it would solve a lot of the issues. You're right, London is designed for smaller vehicles, so why do people drive in London with Chelsea tractors and massive Saloons.
I also feel a reliance on mini cabs of the current generation has massively increased the issues, how many times have you had a to wait for someone doing a three point turn or just straight up ignoring give ways. Finally the M25 has just migrated the traffic problem, as someone who uses the A3 and A217 regularly the amount of excess traffic because of people avoiding the M25 is unreal, Rush hour has become a 2 hour affair.
Having moved to London from the Netherlands, the cycling infrastructure is so far behind. Some motorists purposely leave no space between you and them and make you feel unsafe. Back at home I wouldnt hesitate to cycle 5km to work. Where I live in London this is unthinkable.
Old reply but 100% this, I was very lucky in that at one point my commute could be done 90% via canal paths and a small section of segregated cycle lane. The last 10% was having to share the road or in a bus lane. That last 10% felt so unsafe I just went back to getting the train. My borough 'invested' into some cycle highway projects along some main roads. Great! But pretty much completely useless because as soon as you needed to anywhere else have fun sharing the road with every impatient london driver who treats you as a target and not a person. Basically the lanes were useless to me because they didn't go anywhere I'd ever need to go.
Same goes for public transport, it's great for getting me to the centre for work. I need to go anywhere else, it's going to be multiple slow bus rides. People don't realise that outer london is incredibly underserved for cycle infra and public transport.
I'd love to live in inner London but it's completely unaffordable, rather than outer londons cripplingly unaffordable.
Motorcycles are and will always be the answer to Londons congestion.
Here in Northern Ireland we ride all year round free parking.
Its too dangerous to use a bicycle in Northern Ireland.
Should note that most of the older large "carcentric" US cities "designed that way" were not exactly actually designed that way as they were already around before cars were even a thing. They were effectively *destroyed* to make room for the car (conveniently separating and isolating marginalized population as well as primarily destroying *their* homes to make room for those high ways in the process was *definitely totally* just an accidental side effect)
This is basically a zone 1-3 vs 3-6 issue. Living in zone 1-2 you can live without a car fairly easily. Zome 3 hit and miss, zone 4-6 you need a car tbh. Also radial routes vs non radial routes etc
I only know a couple of people who have a car in inner London. Once you get to outer London it's just as car centric as anywhere else in the UK. Places are just so far away.
When I first came to London I brought my car with me but found it stayed parked most of the time. I used it mainly night time for going out. I think since then night bus and night tubes have got better (though still far from perfect). I do notice, outside London bus services tend to wind down after 6PM but here they are still fairly frequent till 11 or so. After that you might have to wait 15 minutes or so for the night service, some routes even 30 mins.
The section on health and ULEZ is incorrect. The air pollution levels in London are above the legal pollution thresholds with the worst air pollution being at tube stations. This can be ascertained using a hand held meter or at the fixed air pollution monitors next to roads. That's probably why its referred to as ultra low. Asthma cases have being getting markedly worse but at a time when air pollution levels have been improving so contrary to common sense its negatively correlated. The study suggesting 9000 deaths is a correlation between death rates and home address but relative wealth could also directly lead to the same conclusion. There aren't 9000 deaths with air pollution given as the primary cause of death and after the introduction of ULEZ you won't be able to identify anyone who has been saved by it. Its quite probable that no statistical effect will be found. A study by Imperial College suggested the effect of the introduction of the first ULEZ had been minimal. Moral think for yourself, understand the reasoning and don't pass off political views as scientific which is the fashion these days.
You absolutely do not need a car. Take trains for longer trips, the tube for local, and buy a cargo bike for anything under 10k
The way the Netherlands fixed this issue is by making good rules for new roads being built. Roads need to be maintained every x amount of years, if you just make sure the thing you build back works well for cyclist, pedestrians, public transport and a bit of cars, you will slowly solve the issue withou crazy extra investment needed, right?
Also, I find it amusing that almost all the people that Andy interviewed that said that LTNs are a bad idea, in the end said that their neighbourhoods became much nicer without cars. It's like people know that cars are bad for cities, they just don't want to acknowledge it.
I think what their mind refuses to see is that their own car is also a part of the problem. They can only see the problems with all the other cars.
I was like this before but I used to be a delivery driver so it's a pain for anyone who does that job. I think the only people who should be allowed to own vehicles are those who work with them including hiring.
8:03 The Westway was actually planned as part of the infamous London Ringways project (where it would be designated Ringway 1).
There were four Ringways planned.
Ringway 1 - Inner orbital route in London's congested areas (Not all built)
Ringway 2 - Outer orbital route which half of it is occupied by the North Circular Road
Ringway 3 - Orbital route outside Greater London which makes up one half of the M25 Motorway
Ringway 4 - Another orbital route for those who want to avoid London altogether which makes up the other half of the M25 Motorway.
The "Unfinished London" series documents the Ringways project in greater detail
If you need to travel outside of London or just want to go on a road trip across UK or Europe just rent a car 🤷🏾♂️
'You will own nothing and be happy'. Whether you believe the people who say that or not, you have to admit, you are proving them correct. It's a grim future for young people you picture. Car renting will just become a cash cow to milk young people, just like renting housing. It's not progress.
Like those are cheap! You have distance limits and you have to be wary of potential scams. It also depends how long you need the car for. It can seriously add up every single day you need it for. Plus, if you are a young driver with a clean driving record you cannot even get one, so road trip is over. Have a train trip instead. Actually, the only alternative really is your parents drive you with your mates or take a train. Some are quicker but quite expensive. I'm saying a private car is actually necessary for getting around for different peoples situations. I do not get why people are generalising everyone who chooses to drive is someone who wants everyone to die sooner. If people want to drive its their choice it is already expensive anyway.
As a Londoner, I have a car for one reason only - To be able to leave London at weekends!
I think you guys made a good call people may hate it at first because of the adjustment and change they have to make but they're already getting used to it. Its working and they're already understanding and enjoying the benefits despite the friction they experieced at first.
Car free cities are fine until you need to go somewhere outside of the city. The rest of the UK laughs with and at London. Okay, you can get most places without a car, but anywhere in the UK outside of London, if you don't have a car your life is much, much harder. Everywhere is much further away, and when you get there you will be sweaty, hot, uncomfortable and late.
Why did you mostly interview car drivers? It feels like they are personally attacked. There is so much more that goes into these decisions made by urban planners. Proportional use of space, other external costs like accidents, induced demand, ...
Oh my god. As a Londoner born and bred we are absolute joke. WHY DO WE LIVE IN THE PAST. we need to modernise roads. Widen where we can, get rid of the major because people , especially young professionals and those with kids are leaving. I love driving and we are one of the worst countries for driving.
You do realise public transport is WAY more effective? Widening roads will attract cars, which will stop any progress. Public transport actually gets rids of the cars, the reason traffic exists in the first place
Given the skyrocketing violent crime rates, it is absolutely understandable why no one wants to walk or take public transport anymore.
It can hardly be called "skyrocketing", considering it was at 216,000 offences in 2018, and is now at 242,000. It's an increase for sure, but nothing that would make it such a significant factor.
Its not "Skyrocketing"
5 MILLION use public transport every day..
its safe!
Your chances of dying in a car crash are vastly higher than becoming a victim of a crime on public transport
Source for crime rates?
@@Ruzzky_Bly4t Compare it to 50 years ago instead of 5 years ago. And no, I'm not talking about overall crime that includes harmless things like retail theft, I'm talking specifically about violent crime.
@@mats7492 That doesn't justify anything. It's absolutely not safe anymore.
Public transport is too expensive in London. Melbourne has really cheap public transport. If it was affordable, I would use it more.
With a few exceptions if you drive a car in London or NYC, you are a dunce. If the city isnt built for the car, dont drive a car.
Idk, considering the depressing state of subways in NYC, I wouldn't want to use that system myself. And it's the biggest city in the richest country.
@@Ruzzky_Bly4t the nyc subway is fine, could use a bit of cleaning but still runs a good schedule
@GusM- I guess I got spoiled by the Moscow metro. Can't expect as much from the richest country on Earth. Although "fine" might be the right word. It's just not "good", that's the problem.
If it wasn’t built for cars there wouldn’t be roads
Into central London getting into London is fine but from suburbs to suburbs it is really time consuming
Nice that you forgot to mention that electric skateboards are illegal in UK and you will get 6 points on your licence and 1000£ fine if you are unlucky enough to get caught
Invest in Light rail trams (Not a 'Subway") and bikes aren't that late for London city i guess, Mid-Dense neighborhoods and has lot of people there fits the requirements, converts some road into a pedestrian pathes with designated bikes or trams (could either both for moderate sized road/avenue) could help ease congestion, encourage more people to take mass transits or bikes and reduce pollutions.
There are already sorta light rail trams (Tram Link) in South London which are mostly separated from the road in a separated track from the street that is shared with passenger trains except for some stretches of track in busy town centre.
Light Rail in the UK normally refers to the light rail act 1896 which limits rail vechiles to 25mph and 12.5 ton axle weight.
@@thetravellingwokthey would need to be expanded outside of Croydon and Wimbledon though.
@@Tigerman303 I know that but I interpreted the commenter as saying that there aren't any light rail trams currently so I responded. I agree though that it would be quite hard to implement a light rail system in central London excluding the Docklands Light Railway
@@Tigerman303 There was a potential scheme to build a monorail in Oxford Circus but it got scrapped and monorail aren't a good solution to London's current urban planning situation
I understand why the ULEZ was put in place but it was the complete wrong way to to go a bout it. There should be incentives not punishments.
When I moved to London 20 years ago my car sat idle so much that it wouldn't start so I got rid of it. Only last year I bought a car again because I now leave the city a lot and have a disabled friend who I taxi around a lot. I bought an EV so don't get hit with charges too much but it's a really slow way to get around the city and there's traps, like the no motor vehicle signs shown, and making the Westway, a raised segregated duel carriageway with no cyclists never mind pedestrians into a 20 mph zone.
Encouraging cycling and public transport over driving is sensible and I will choose those over driving if it's just me. Not everyone can drive without clogging the streets. Drivers blaming anyone else for traffic is just so entitled and self unaware it's almost funny.
Blocking off back roads to force it all down a few key streets makes things very brittle to any problems if those key roads get blocked too. In Hackney the through road will often be the ones with shops and pedestrians which seems the wrong way round. Oxford Street makes more sense with cars being forced down alternative less pedestrian-busy back streets but buses still allowed and access only at night/early morning.
Once batteries in scooters are safe enough to let them back onto tubes that will help too, especially for those not within a easy walk of a station. The joined up system of walkable neighbourhoods, transit and person mobility that the Netherlands has pioneered is the best plan for cities.
I live in the UK (not in london) and this is kind of an issue with the rest of the country. The roads just aren’t built for modern traffic and they were designed on past systems.
I think with a lot of these dramatic policies there's a serious gap in nuance, and particularly in understanding how the cities that have reversed car usage have done it so well. Amsterdam in particular has focused WAY less on punitive measures and more on physical changing the urban landscape to encourage and discourage certain types of journeys and behaviours associated with cars - all through thoughtful design and not enforced rules that just make more normies really angry from what could be a totally preventable cause.
Due to ULEZ, CC, ridiculous speed limits, endless amounts of cameras and signs all over trying to fine motorists in London. I have decided to never drive my car anywhere near Central London ever again (so that's anything closer than Putney/Chiswick) added to that I am not going to support any business, events, restaurants, etc within any area closer than Putney......wish all people would do the same and turn the place into a ghost town. Its got ridiculous. I go elsewhere now....South or West into the countryside.
Great video, thanks!
Apart from what others have said in the comments, I was also surprised by the claim about London having less space than eg us cities, though
It really is true what they say - they were not primarily "built" for the car but bulldozed for them...
luckily London and most of Europe in general didn't go quite as far
(Also, why no mention of induced traffic/traffic evaporation?
...judging from the answers you got, not enough people seem to know about the main reasons for congestion in the 1st place)
As someone who has now had a car in London for just over a year I personally think that in zone 1-3 you would be mad to buy a car but if you live in zone 4-6 it becomes more and more persuasive.
For a start it’s often cheaper the same cost as getting public transport to drive somewhere if your journey is from suburb to suburb and hours faster. It takes me 40 minutes to drive to Brent Cross and two hours by bus if everything goes perfectly. It is an 8 mile journey. Secondly once you have a car you realise that there were many shops and services in your area that were built with the idea that they would be driven to.
The second point isn’t a deal breaker but the first is.
You don’t need a car in London. Sorry. Even with a child. You can survive. You can visit friends via public transport too.
Car marketing is powerful eh
Why sorry? That's the conclusion he made himself, you're just restating it.
Trams, London, darling, TRAMS! Trust me, they'll save your soul. Coming from a humble Varsovian.
The way I see it, I think there are 4 ways you can resolve living in London with your daughter's needs. Of course, none of them will be perfect:
1. Use public transit exclusively, even when going out of London. If you can get her to tolerate it early on, it will help lots in the future.
2. Use the tube in London but go to the suburbs and rent a car when going out. Good bit more expensive but the comfort might be worth it.
3. Move to the suburbs, buy a car and commute in by bus. Most comfortable, but your car will be sat there collecting snow most of the time.
4. Get a new job outside of London and move out. Hard to do and will probably slash your salary in half but you get to drive your car comfortably.
Number 1 not possible in some areas public transport doesn't cover everywhere and some places have to rely on cars to get around. Number 2. The most realistic, but renting a car is not cheap especially in Europe. Alternative would be to instead of renting a car is taking a train and then using a taxi to leave the station. Number 3 is a faff housing market is not looking good. Number 4 is no way. He chose to move to London he wouldn't want to leave. Also a lot of people have to live in London with certain occupations.
@@danieltesfaye8517 Yup. I won't deny they're all hard. This is a difficult problem to solve. Personally, I wouldn't even consider options 3 and 4 but I mentioned them as plausible
take the American route of minimum lot sizes, no neighbourhood shops allowed, work from home culture, etc and you get the same result as if you allow mixed uses, super blocks, untangling of traffic types, etc both results have low vehicle volume but one you spend your time in private spaces and the other you have more social opportunities.
Congestion isnt caused by the narrow streets, they have worse comgestion in the U.S...
Yeah, that's a typical misunderstanding. Similar to the "one more line is going to fix traffic" fallacy.
This was a really good dive into the matter! Great job
Looks like London is going to become public transit and bike friendly like Paris and Brussels
I lived in London all my life and I was honestly surprised when I found out that roads outside of London are normally a 40 mph zone (in London majority of roads are 20 zones)
Most american cities were not build for the car, they were bullodozed for it, in the most racialy discriminating way possible. London's problem is underinvestment in public transportation and regional connexions. Also, neoliberalism
Just compare the Paris region to the London Region, it is painful to look at.
I live in a small city 350 km from Paris but with a high speed rail station at 15 minutes walk from my home, I can get to the capital in just '1:30 and go basically anywhere without even feeling I miss out by not owning a car. And why would I be ?😂 Paris is a nightmare to drive through!
This video is pretty decently put together. However I think London is reaching a fairly decent equilibrium between car centrism and public transport.
The public transport system is a world best, there’s no doubt about it, but on a per-journey basis it can get fairly costly (not as much as a car if you’re strictly on urban use).
There’s also a big difference in the driving experience within the A406 (2019-2021 ULEZ) vs outside of it. I would argue that driving within the A406, especially as a resident is a complete waste of money. This is what many would consider “inner London”.
In “outer London” or A406 to the M25, there’s a stronger case to be made for cars not to be given up so easily: you’re 15-30 minutes from the countryside, avoid extortionate national rail costs, can get between suburbs on a lower per-journey cost and save hours doing it.
I know there are many places in the outer parts where people could drive 10-15 minutes or take 45-90 minutes via bus or train to reach their destination.
A good hypothetical example is say you live in Hounslow and you want to get to Arnos Grove to visit a friend or family. You can take the Piccadilly Line end to end (including walking to and from the station) is all in all a 75-105 minute journey. Driving it can easily take 30-45 minutes door to door.
The point around fines is also slightly over exposed in this video. It’s fairly easy to avoid them if you do a bit of background research before your journey. Plenty of places to park (for free even) and LTNs are more of a local driving issue (council by council). I would argue if your journey is more than 10 miles you may as well drive (depending on the exact course naturally).
I’m not defending cars at all, I will be clear. I think the less of them there are on the roads, the better - however it’s a balancing act between cars and transport I would say. Transport has a huge way to go even in big old London, not to beat cars, but to serve the people in the way it’s intended to.
You can always do a car share? This way you just get a car on demand and cargobike for getting the kid around London.
I live in the US Suburbs. My town doesn't have sidewalks, biking lanes, or public transportation. Although my town is one of the more affordable areas we have long commutes to work. My co-worker drives 50 miles/2 hours to work. Our car taxes are $100 a year, but my new car loan is $50 higher than my mortgage. If I had public transportation I wouldn't have a car.
that is intentional and by design. american cities go out of their way to be aggresively hostile to pedestrians/cyclists and anyone not in a car to the point where most americans just automatiaclly default to driving a car because its simply too dangerous to travel any other way.
Each additional MILE of road makes every mile MORE useful.
Each additional CAR on the road makes every car LESS useful.
It’s simple network effects.
Born and bred Londoner. Loved my car. Now totally hate cars and traffic. Car drivers blame everything else but the fact is it is THEM that cause traffic. I live in a LTN, yes my husband is a builder and needs a van, but totally does not mind the extension in time to drive anywhere as Hackney is now so plesant and car free. I cycle, he walks if not working. Stop car sales, ban fossil fuels, improve transport.... there will be a period of pain for these people, like coming off addiction, but in the future they will forget it when you have trees, grass, seating, children playing, neighbours talking , all in the road!
Exactly
Can we stop calling public transit systems good, just because they are better than other transit systems, a good system is one where there are more rail lines than roads.
And where is that?
@@Ruzzky_Bly4t I never said it exists, but you can have a standard for something even if that something doesn't yet exist at the highest level or rating. I wouldn't be surprised if some areas of the netherlands had more square footage dedicated to rail lines than roadways.
@MegaLokopo You're mixing up "perfect" and "good". "Good" and "bad" are relative terms that depend on the context. That's like saying that a clean, modern, and quiet train that goes 200 mph isn't good, because unlike a potential maglev, it's not traveling at 500 mph and it still has some minimal vibration from the rails and some noise. No, it's good, just not perfect.
@@Ruzzky_Bly4t The way it is used in daily language good and perfect can be synonyms to most people, even if they don't realize it. That is why you have people arguing over how good a system is and how good a system would have to be for them to consider investing in it.
My point is simply if we stop calling current systems good, then people will be more likely to support them in the future because we are making it clear that there is a ton of room for improvement, if we call current systems good when in reality they are all awful, people won't focus on what could be and will only focus on what is. And getting them to vote for more transit will be much harder.
@MegaLokopo I see your point. If you say that public transport is "good enough as it is", it will prevent it from evolving. But it's a double-edged sword. If you stop calling good systems good, people would see investment into public transportation as futile. Why bother if decades of hard work haven't resulted in anything good happening, even in places with the right policies and a lot of money? Your all or nothing approach would present public transport in a bad light, and car users would likely use the opportunity to highlight how good the roads are or something. It seems much more sensible to me to point out good examples of public transportation and show people that with enough effort, it can be a convenient and reliable way to move around, instead of relying on a car. Of course, the flaws and ways to improve it should always be mentioned as well. Saying that "all public transport systems in the world are awful" will only gain support from the ultra wealthy and avid car users, who think that it can never be as good as their vehicle.
The editing on this was so class. 10/10
Thanks Evan, glad you enjoyed it
The transition will be hard, but it will be well worth it in the long run.
Ok why I'm late for this awesome videos!!!!
I'm happy to see a lot more tube stations you've filmed having those barriers in front of the side of the platform, there were like 2 or 3 last I went there and in only a few weeks, I was stuck in a tube for over an hour twice because of people dying from falling (or jumping ) from a platform. So much life and time is wasted and Heathrow only came up with a solution not so many years ago.
I always thought the solution was so simple, especially seeing as all the trains have auto braking (which is why you see the guys in a middle carriage driving the train with a key going either forward or reverse. rather than somebody out in front. Except at night)
Also I don't understand his problem with the tube. I'ts the cleanest and most quiet and polite rides I've ever been in compared to Paris and the filthy freakshow that is the new york subway. It's as well silent and well behaved as an elevator. The buses are another story though.
The only stations with barriers are those on the Jubilee line extension and new Elizabeth line stations, 95% of stations have no barriers.
@@mildlydispleased3221 Oh okay, it was just him filming the nicer ones then. But that's a lot more than when I was there. I was so torn up about the 2 death-related delays in a couple of weeks and everyone on the train's reaction to it hit me.
If I was a Londoner, I would have started a charity to build them. Seriously, for the price of repaving a few streets (about 1mil per mile, way more if there are water and gas lines), they could put those barriers up everywhere. I know you can't stop suicides, but just like netting, you can help stop people's temporary impulses that everyone gets. And drunks falling onto the tracks.
I talked to a couple conductors about it, and that is how I found out about the auto braking, ensuring the train always lines up in the exact same place and the reason you only see drivers up front in the conductors seat at night. That's literally to look out for drunks and pull the emergency brake. Apparently it's too expensive to have 2 people operating the train at once during the day as people are only more likely to die from 8 until 3(?) and don't think its worth it to monitor the front of the train the entire 20hrs(?) it runs.
(This is the general opinion I've gotten from like 3 conductors a few years ago though)
@eoinburke I've driven a tube train, I work in the industry, all drivers need to do on most lines is open and close the doors, the problem is, that these doors would be ludicrously expensive to retrofit, I'm talking billions, especially on platforms that serve trains of multiple sizes, as well as causing major disruption. I know you can't put a price on a human life but it would just be impractical.
They are however, doing things like putting suicide helpline posters on platforms to encourage people to rethink their decision. All new ststions have the doors because it is much easier go design the platforms around the doors rather putting them in hundred year-old tunnels.
I was just told about the automatic braking systems on all trains which ensured they stop at the exact place each on every platform. I may be misinformed about the innerworkings, and maybe my 2 experiences so close togeter was a fluke, but even the loss in GDP due to the delays of multiple tubes at once caused by them would also justify the cost. But the fact that a few stations have done the switch is good news. I'm not from a place where we have an underground, so theese deaths and delays caused by them got to me in a weird way.@@mildlydispleased3221
If you own a van or truck for commercial activities, no fines should payed. They are helping communities grow and help
The only way to get people out of cars is to get rid of car access. No parking, no roads. Vehicles were mainly used for goods transit, back when producing and selling was all done in the same workshop in town. Now, industries moved out and their trucks got replaced by individual cars, instead of just freeing the space for city services that actually need motorized vehicles.
Yes, it's possible to get around without cars, at all, even with a child. It's just much more difficult when there's cars everywhere, making every street deadly.
The restrictions are frustrating for drivers but they improve the quality of life of the local residents, cyclists and pedestrians so much! As we see in America, even AI can not design a grid that accommodates everyone driving a car. It just turns into a big parking lot.
Random taxi driver is a UA-camr.
Pretty obvious from the way the cameras are positioned in the car, and how freely he speaks for the audience.
Its the ULEZ effect. There is absolute uproar when it's firstly implemented, then it dies down, and people start releasing that it was probably for the best. How many news articles do you see about ULEZ today compared to last year?
Hate to be a bummer but you really shouldn’t promote not wearing a helmet and using headphones while utilizing micro mobile tech. My (very experienced, very athletic, very coordinated) older brother died from a TBI when he fell from his onewheel about a year ago. Cool people wear helmets!! Safe micromobility might be a good vid topic in the field of urbanism.
Ya know, I was about to call you out on this one but... yeah, you're right! I've seen the bloodied head of someone who took a dive over the handlebars of an electric scooter because of bad pavement. He had one shot with the helmet on but really, given the speed he was traveling and being in traffic, it would have been way cooler for him to set that example. *Especially* as a father who needs to be there for his daughter.
It’s a shame hey. Through many demonstrations, Vienna people finally took back all the busy centres from cars, now you have a situation where streets like Mariahilfe Strasse has more than 70 000 foot traffic a day, making the businesses make revenue they never dreamed of, simply because they narrows the road, grew trees, made it shared walking, cycling and residence-and-delivery-only-driving space where it used to be a busy car road with little foot traffic.
They are now slowly closing many more roads to cars, but never fast enough sadly because the lobbyists are lobbying.
Ultimately people need to drive. These restrictions dont remove polution, they just move it and increase it due to increased traffic.
This is not a battle with pollution, its a tax on the poor.
Also just the fact that the underground which is proposed as a cleaner travel alternative has 100x worse air quality than the streets.
Cycle lanes increase traffic, congestion zones increase traffic, pedestrian zones increase traffic. Traffic increases pollution.
This isnt solving any problems.
Except the more of these measures you take, the fewer people will drive in the first place.
@@Coffeepanda294 hence it balances out and nothing really changes except the councils coffers
South-East London's hills make Underground impossible, bikes a mission, and Overground comes way too infrequent; total nightmare!!!
This video was annoying. Ultimately you ended up on the pro-transit side (which is the factually correct side), but your "understanding of problems drivers face" is pitying people who do not need pity and shying away from advocating for expanding public transit and increasing its accessibility for the disabled. The "it hurts the laborer" excuse is an absurd narrative because the cost of using a vehicle then becomes a business expense as it should always be for those businesses. Roads are not free to maintain and not every person on them is paying the taxes that would fund them. So then, why exactly are they getting to use those roads without being charged by the owners/maintainers of them?
Since when is exploring both sides bad? Good for him to show a balanced perspective instead of pretending like his opinion is the only "factually correct" one. I'm in support of fewer cars and more transit, but the way you present our opinion is no different from those car fanatics who don't even want to consider using alternatives.
Having lived in London for 25 years, you can get away with not having a car. However there are places outside of London that I often go to where it is impossible to quickly get around without a one
All the wingey car drivers need to wake and grow up
the collab we never thought we needed but are happy we got 10:05
Why would you want to drive in the first place? I have never understood it. I'm embarrassed to see people in cars. It's like watching toddlers in their _Little Tykes Cosy Coupe._ Not just in London, either. There are so many brilliant options to get about in the UK
Do you know how cool trains and trams are? Imagine if you were part of the committee that got to design their liveries every year! That's some council engagement! Now if only we could finally imprison the Tories for the crimes, especially Rishi Sunak...
I'm sorry mate, have you ever left London? Are you seriously bringing up trains? UK trains? Arguably the worst and most prohibitively expensive train network in Europe (including Eastern). That one?
I live in zone 1 and can get everywhere by tube, bus and taxi where needed. The worst for me are the extremely loud super cars and tuned chav cars as well as motorcycles which drive around day and night. Noise pollution is a major problem, especially when the council doesn’t allow you to replace your windows
This is london, if you don’t want noise, move to the country side
@@Aaron-zh7qm high quality answer 👏🏻
Lots of cities in Europe are much quieter and more enjoyable for people living there.