Car right, right car
Do You Need a Car? Rethinking private transport for a thriving city - story 13
A former boss—very much a ‘product bro’—once used a version of this phrase that has stuck with me.
It’s a simple but powerful test, one that helps clarify my views on transport, particularly private cars.
I have been clear that the next generation of The Bridge should prioritise people who walk and wheel—excluding private vehicles entirely. But that alone won’t be enough to create a thriving Barnes. More radical changes are needed, including a significant reduction in the number of vehicles on our roads. The question is: which ones?
‘Car right’ test
The first question we should ask is whether a car is the right mode of transport for the journey in question.
Emergency services, buses, taxis, commercial vehicles—these are essential. But private cars? For many journeys, they are not.
A staggering number of private car journeys are for less than three miles, so many for less than one. The vast majority of these trips could and should be made by public transport, walking or cycling.
‘Right car’ test
Even if you do need a car there’s options other than a private car. Taxis, private hire or car clubs. .
A recent trip to Berlin showed me the potential of car-sharing at scale. My friend and I used car club vehicles for every journey - at least one in a very high-end Mercedes. One thing struck me immediately: we moved. Unlike London, where we inch through the thirty two boroughs, central Berlin felt faster and freer.
Car clubs aren’t a silver bullet, but they demonstrate that change is possible.
Easy to write, so difficult to achieve
There is an underlying model in place already to manage our road use. Congestion Charging and ULEZ are the two locally managed parts of this process. I want to return to the lessons from implementing and managing these. They do point to the fact that systems can be put in place that can reward or punish different sorts of vehicles. Carrot and stick, if you will.
None of this easy. That should not stop us asking for every journey, ‘Car right? Right car?’