Drivers need to be freed from “burden and tyranny” of owning cars, cycling campaigner tells Labour Party conference London Cycling Campaign’s Ashok Sinha also told the fringe event that cuts to Transport for London’s budget were “bonkers” cycling
London’s motorists need to be freed from the “burden” of car usage through improvements to active travel schemes, public transport, and the introduction of road charging measures, says the London Cycling Campaign’s Chief Executive Ashok Sinha.
The London Cycling Campaign CEO criticised the cuts to Transport for London’s budget – a result of the body’s precarious financial situation and current reliance on short-term government bailouts – as “bonkers” and told attendees that a major expansion of public transport in the capital was essential if people are to be encouraged to ditch their cars,“We need to free people from the burden and tyranny of owning tons of metal that sits unused 90 percent of the time,” he said.
Sinha also argued that initiatives such as Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and potential smart road user charging methods are important “tactical solutions” to discouraging car use.The cycling campaigner has long been an advocate for road pricing for cars in the capital, though he has insisted that people on bikes should be exempt from any charge.
“There are many of us who sit back and think, well, hasn’t the time now come for road pricing? Not for everyone, because when you look at cycling as being part of the solution, it’s [about] incentivising a shift to cycling,”“We’re trying to disincentivise excessive motor traffic use and shifting people out of those vehicles onto bikes, so it doesn’t make sense to apply that road charge to cycling.
At this week’s Labour conference, Sinha said: “It’s very difficult but we need to look at the demand side, with smart and fair road user charging. I can’t see a way of reaching net zero targets without it. It’s a massive political battle… It’s a toxic issue.”
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