Climate Crisis: Filling Cities With EVs Is Not Going To Make Things Better; Public Transport Is The Right Answer

London's new Ultra Low Emissions Zone has come into being, charging drivers an emissions levy for using an older vehicle in the capital. Londoners are now reported to be replacing their vehicles at a much faster rate than the rest of the country.

That's not great news. A city full of electric cars is just as congested and unpleasant to live in as one clogged full of polluting cars. The only difference is the air is nicer to breathe whilst you're stuck in the traffic jam. It isn't as if an EV is pollution-free either. Be it the manufacturing emissions of the battery, the microplastics worn from tyres as a result of the heavier load they have to carry, or the emissions from the dirty power plants which still produce some of the UK's electricity. Better, but not actually good.

London, of all the cities in the world, should be doing better than this. 

It has the most comprehensive transport system in the world, with bus, rail and underground able to accommodate the vast majority of all Londoners journeys. Rather than replacing their cars with cleaner ones, Londoners should be getting rid of their cars entirely.

There are other things which the Mayor's office needs to deal with before this can happen. It's all well and good introducing new charges for car drivers, but a system which is all stick and no carrot doesn't get to the root of the problem and will not encourage the kind of changes we should be expecting of a modern city and its residents.

Making public transport pricing more tolerable would be a good first step. This will require a reversal of government policy which requires public transport to be run subsidy free, or as close as practically possible. Reducing overcrowding on services and improving the number and visibility of staff and transport police across all regions makes those services more attractive for all cross sections of the community. 

Public transport needs to be a cheaper, nicer and more secure way of travelling than a car if it is to replace one. This should be the goal of local authorities, not just in London, but in every sizable city in the world. Unfortunately, anyone who has had the pleasure of regularly commuting in London will tell you this mostly isn't the case.

If the Mayor of London can't leverage centuries of public transport leadership in the capital to create a service where people want to abandon the car, then no other city in the world can do it. Given that, as people with a concern for the environment, this is the outcome we would like to see, success in London is imperative and its position as an exemplar or public transport is just as important. Right now, I'd argue that many other cities - especially Paris - are making a much better job of this.

As it is, introducing an ULEV zone just prompts people to replace older cars with newer ones, kicking the problem down the road. This may be an improvement - but it's far from a solution.