The transport debate

Written in a lively and engaging style organized around a series of journeys, this book pays attention to the opportunities and strengths of the modern transport system in the UK, while addressing problems related to the inclusive development of more sustainable transport.

The transport debate is something that British citizens experience in their everyday life, for example when making choices about commuting to work, going to school, making a business trip to the London, visiting relatives in the countryside or going abroad on vacations. The book uses a fictitious British family that lives in a detached house in Birmingham and owns two cars to describe these kinds of experiences and their reasoning. It takes these everyday situations as a starting point to contextualize them in theoretical and policy debates, around issues such as pollution, congestion, incentive systems and social exclusion. The emerging economic, social and environmental themes reveal the complex components that shape the current and future performance and perception of British transport.

The UK’s transport spending was on average 40% less than in other European countries between 1960 and 2000; the proportion of children brought to school by car almost doubled in the past 20 years to 43% of all primary school children; 25% of the British are obese and do not get their 2.5 hours of recommended moderate exercise per week. All these indicators are used to point to a complex interplay among the extent of privatization and deregulation; the individualism and feeling of liberation and empowerment that underpins the culture of British car use; and the links between the transport debate and those of public health, economy and the quality of public realms.

The authors highlight many opportunities to learn from other countries, especially France and Germany, to establish more inclusive alternative transport modes and to reconsider the multiple functions of travelling. In sum, this book bridges academic debates, quantitative data relevant for policy making, and the more feeling-oriented components that shape transport choices and experiences in the UK.

Book note prepared by Julia Wesely