Written by: Dr Theresa Nelson, Dr Ian Philips, Dr Noel Cass and Prof. Jillian Anable
Elevate researchers, Prof. Jillian Anable, Dr Ian Philips, and Dr Noel Cass recently attended the Fully Charged: Everything Electric North show this May. If you’ve never heard of Fully Charged, their worldwide events showcase the latest electric vehicles, tools, and home energy technology because changing the way we power our lives from fossil fuels (gas boilers, diesel cars, etc.) to renewable electricity is an essential part of how we address the climate emergency. Fully Charged events aim to educate, promote sustainable living and also hold energy advice zones, electric vehicle test rides, and host and facilitate expert panels. This year, three of our ELEVATE researchers were invited to participate in a few of these expert panels. Although this blog won’t go into every nitty gritty detail of their panels, two entangled themes were clear from our ELEVATE researchers: we must transform our current car-dependent transport infrastructure, and we need a culture shift away from cars.
Ian Philips, on his panel, Micromobility and E-bikes- can they really get the British out of their cars?, emphasised that structurally, our transport infrastructure is not a level playing field; infrastructure and road traffic policies “reduce the faff factor for cars but increase it for things like cycling.” In other words, our current transport system allows for easy access and use of cars, whereas with regards to (e)micromobility (bicycles, e-scooters, e-bikes, e-cargo bikes1), things like parking, safe and secure storage, being able to charge electric bikes or scooters, or jumping between modes of travel (e.g. train-bus-bike) are not made easy or convenient for the public to use2. We see sprawling carparks outside every supermarket, but bike parking is often limited, low quality, and relegated to dark corners with higher theft risk. Moreover, policies cannot focus solely on positive incentives for “good” decarbonisation behaviour but must also include disincentives for car use. In fact, evidence suggests that making it great for cycling doesn’t directly lead to decarbonisation. For example, in the Netherlands, cycling rates are high but so is car use . Ian argued that we must “make it easier for people to eliminate car journeys ”, but we must also understand where this would work best for people3.
In the panel Mainstreaming Micromobility, Noel Cass emphasised Ian’s point, stating that traditional transport planning tackles transport infrastructure issues as “ ‘there are lots of people driving, so we need to build more car space’… If you’re trying to transform the transport system, that really doesn’t make sense.” Instead, Noel argues, “You need to build it so that people will feel more able to use the alternatives and get into town quicker… you need to make it a viable alternative.” Overall, Ian and Noel argued that transport infrastructure must make e-micromobility a viable and legitimate alternative to cars.
However, our ELEVATE researchers all emphasised that infrastructure change alone is not enough: infrastructure change cannot occur without a cultural shift away from our current car-centric system.
In the panel When it comes to energy and transport, what will the world look like in 2035 and 2050? Jillian Anable was asked by David Borlace how society could reduce its “obsession” with cars. She highlighted the need for our transport infrastructure and society to be resilient and adaptive: “We’re going to have more and more disruption as a result of severe weather events… this is something we need to face.” People need to think about proactively changing with the world around them, saying: “Things are going to become more expensive, disruptive, and congested… We will have to invest more and more in adaptation, materials, and waste emissions to become more resilient. We can’t build our way out of the problem; we need to use what we have much more efficiently to become more resilient.”
However, it is essential to note that this culture change does not solely fall on the public’s shoulders. Instead, our ELEVATE researchers argued that governments must support and enact this culture change. The government must enact policies, regulations, and incentives (and yes, even disincentives to car use ) to support the public in conveniently and successfully utilising active travel.
Jillian, for example, during the panel When it comes to energy and transport what will the world look like in 2035 and 2050? discussed that from a behavioural science studies perspective, people do not change without some sort of push. To get people to change their behaviour, we need incentives , and the government must send strong signals to infrastructure through industry, policies, and pricing signals. Ian’s fellow panel member, Caz Conneller, stated that subsidies work in places like the United States, Canada, and other European countries; the UK is behind on subsidising active transport. Ian Philips emphasised that we must enable more people to utilise active travel. Active travel can and should be part of this culture shift away from cars: “The elephant in the room is we have to get people out of their cars to enable more cycling.” To enable more cycling, Noel Cass argued that government funding for public and active transport is peanuts compared to other places4 5; he argued that the UK government needs to seriously consider funnelling money towards active travel and things like electric micromobility.
In their panels, Noel Cass and Jillian Anable argued that policymakers and industry must rethink how people behave. Noel argued that government and industry need to realise that people generally don’t solely think in terms of costs or time: “People aren’t just robots who operate on mathematical models on what is the quickest, easiest, and cheapest way to get somewhere”. Instead, Noel argues, “People do what they did yesterday and what everyone else is doing;” a summary of how ‘behaviour’ is largely habit or social practice rather than active and conscious choice. Jillian stated during thepanel When it comes to energy and transport, what will the world look like in 2035 and 2050?, that “one of the biggest blockers of people changing is the idea of doing something different.” The “I don’t see others changing, so why should I?” mentality is a massive barrier to changing transport behaviours. Instead, our mentality should be that “everybody needs to be doing something,” including governments: regulations, incentives to active travel, and driving disincentives need to happen. Further, Ian emphasised the importance of working with people and communities to overcome active transport barriers. Many of the barriers to utilising active transport, and specifically e-micromobility, “can be overcome by helping people on their journey, whether it be lending cargo bikes, giving training, or advice… we have to work through the issues and barriers with people.”
Overall, aside from testing out swifty scooters, our ELEVATE researchers did a phenomenal job arguing for a revolution of our current car-dependent transport system and for shifting mindsets away from car-centric lifestyles. Hopefully by next year’s Fully Charged Everything Electric North show, we’ve made some strides in e-micromobility.
- If you’d like to know more about e-cargo bikes, check out our blog on them, here ↩︎
- See slide 4 of: Philips, Ian and Anable, Jillian. “Where are we now and where do we need to be?- The role of active travel in decarbonisation.” The West Yorkshire Combained Authority Active Travel Conference. June 2024. ↩︎
- This is one of the primary aims of the ELEVATE project! ↩︎
- https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/apr/30/cuts-to-englands-cycling-and-walking-budget-challenged-in-court ↩︎
- https://transportactionnetwork.org.uk/cuts-to-englands-cycling-and-walking-budget-challenged-in-court/ ↩︎
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