First meeting of new Transport group: Thursday 21st June, 7:30pm, Friends Meeting House on Jesus Lane in the Aldren Wright Room

Cambridge Future Transport Visions - How will we get around?

7th June 2012

We had a great turnout for the Transition Cambridge Transport Workshop on Thursday 7th June, despite the cold, the wind and the wet. We were looking at how we might get around in 2030 - post Peak Oil style. When the price of road fuel might be ……£5.00/litre? Five short snappy presentations from businesses, from advocacy and campaign groups and a community partnership; followed by tea and biscuits and, this being Transition, rounding off with an Open Space discussion! What else!! And all on a shoe-string budget.

We saw how cargo bikes are already making deliveries in the City. How Smart Travel interventions deliver better returns for the tax-payer than big infrastructure. How employers can help wean people off car-based commuting. How a small number of people cycling instead of driving can make a huge difference to congestion and – one for the future – how buses might offer an almost door to door service.

You can download and look at Sian Berry's presentation (Campaign for Better Transport here) (650 kb pdf). It shows what has been achieved in other cities, describes what has been happening in Cambridgeshire and ends with lots of useful links for information.

Here too is Jim Chisholme's presentation (Cambridge Cycling Campaign) (100 kb pdf). It includes some startling facts about how congestion can be reduced by quite small reductions in traffic flow (and conversely how small increases in traffic massively worsen congestion) which are explained in more detail here.

Notes from the evening

The aim of this event was to bring together our ideas and enthusiasm and start to build a vision of where we want to be. We took the following question as our theme for the evening: “What can we do to promote sustinable transport and travel for Cambridge?”

Here are some of the notes from the discussions at the end of the evening - they are the ideas of the people who came, and are yet to be discussed by the new transport group (they don't represent either the group's or TC's opinions about future transport in Cambridge!).

Topics that people called out for discussion:

• Encouraging bus travel
• Fuel taxation to add economic incentive to public transport
• Persuading the county council to pursue a bus network vision
• Rail and bus
• Delivery / Unloading
• Social media to bring Cambridge together
• Encouraging bus travel
• Fuel taxation to add economic incentive to public transport
• Persuading the county council to pursue a bus network vision
• Rail and bus
• How can we stop people using taxis?
• Focus on distance to work/destination rather than means of transportation

The notes that people made during the discussions

• Change fuel duty rules to include demand responsive transport
• Encourage culture of transport sharing
• Transport calculator
• Urban planning
• Mixed-zoning development – move away from spatial segregation of residential/retail/business/industry (California zoning)
• Issues of equity
• Concentrate development around transport nodes – Northstowe etc
• Re-nationalise and/or “forced” integration of rail and bus
• Shared taxis
• Better bus system
• Integrated transport
• Smartphone apps

Car parking (including Park and Ride to bicycle)

• Problem: The good people driving to Babraham Road P+R to cycle from there to Addenbrookes will have to pay for parking space.
• Ideas: Exit fee per car £2. Bus passengers get £1 token. OR Charge for cycle parking?

Social media

• See photograph of their notes to the right

Thanks to everyone who came along!

St. Lukes Church Community Centre
Victoria Road, CB4 3DZ
Thursday 7th June 7.00-9.30pm

Program:

Stands:

• Electric Bike Sales
• School Run Centre
• Outspoken Delivery

Speakers:

• Gary Armstrong from Outspoken Delivery
• Sian Berry from Campaign for Better Transport
• Mark Webb of Travel for Work
• Jim Chisholm of Cambridge Cycling Campaign