pwa wrote:Mike Sales wrote:pwa wrote:I know it won't happen, but if a ban on internal combustion engine cars were implemented in Edinburgh and Glasgow within the next 12 months it would free up the streets of those cities for the comfortably off, who could afford the change to electric, and force the poor out of their cars. While I agree there would be environmental benefits I still feel uneasy about that.
A quick search found that 26% of British households do not have a car. Many others are single car households, so that not all members have free use of a car, for instance when one is at work.
I would guess that the poorest people are most likely not to have a car.
Does that help?
A lot of those carless households are carless due to old age. Poorer families with commuters in them often have cheaper cars. Car purchases for them are a big thing. But those on good incomes often change their car for another new one every few years anyway. This change would disproportionately affect lower income families. And although it is not the intention we would see social cleansing of urban roads. The poor would be on bikes or buses and the well off would still have the choice of driving. That is the problem with changing behaviour through cost. It prices out the poor and frees the roads up for those who can afford the extra cost.
We need second hand electric cars to be affordable and widely available before this can be implemented in a socially just way.
Good morning Pete.
What we need is better and cheaper public transport.
Without it poorer people already have to spend a disproportionate share of income on a car.
Many of the carless are single parent families.
Those who cannot afford to live in the suburbs are disproportionately affected by air pollution, at home and as they walk along the stinking streets to school, or wait at the bus stop.
If we cannot choose to ban cars completely for political reasons it is difficult to see any other mechanism than price to improve urban air and cut CO2.
Do you have any suggestions which could improve the air breathed by the poorest?
More people on bikes and buses can only be a good thing. We have to make sure that these modes are not the second class choice.
As Oldjohnw says, electric cars are not a good answer.