Pledge to use sustainable transport (and get an all-over tan)

Paul Garner, a self-proclaimed 'Naked Cyclist', has pledged to use sustainable transport for all local journeys (say under 3 miles), but only if 20 people in South East London will do the same. Click here for more info or to sign the pledge. You don't have to ride naked, but if that's your kind of thing you can join the World Naked Bike Ride on 9th June 2007. The Objectives of the World Naked Bike Ride are to:-
1. Protest against the global dependency on oil
2. Curb Car Culture
3. Obtain real rights for cyclists
4. Demonstrate the vulnerability of cyclists on city streets
5. Celebrate body Freedom

Start your own pledge and see how many other people in your local area are willing to do the same.

Pay-As-You-Go Road-Pricing: For or Against?

The Transport Secretary is quoted as saying that the proposed road-pricing scheme would be scrapped unless it attracted public support, but added that doing nothing was not an option. He has accused the anti-road charging pettion of spreading 'myths' about the plans. The Daily Mail explained how so many signatures were collected: "A series of round robin e-mails - mutating as they were sent - led to thousands more signatures." The emails originated from the Association of British Drivers, which makes the following claim: "...increasingly vicious, and increasingly silly, anti-car policies at national level are 'justified' by futile attempts to avert non-existent man-made global warming."

Tony Blair is now replying to all 1.8m anti road-pricing campaigners. We submitted their e-petition to the incredible 'EnBW Spamrecycler'.

Click here to create your own art from spam.

Even highly-respected, pro-environmental motoring groups can foresee potential flaws in the scheme, calling it "the millennium-dome of transport."

Petition against road-pricing: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/traveltax/
Deadline: 20.02.07.

Petition in support of road-pricing: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/proroad-pricing/
Deadline: 17.01.08.

Economists have long advocated Road Pricing. According to the Department For Transport's feasability study: "A carefully structured road pricing scheme could potentially make a valuable contribution to promoting social inclusion and accessibility by:

• Freeing up road space to improve bus journey time and reliability.
• Minimising the impact of traffic and new infrastructure provision through better use of the existing network.
• Reducing the relatively high cost of motoring in less congested areas e.g. some rural areas.
• Using any revenue raised to provide demand-responsive transport systems and improve local amenities."

Summary of the report ¦ More case studies ¦ Road-Pricing in the Netherlands

We like CUTE buses!

Following on from the success of the major EU-assisted project: CUTE (Clean Urban Transport for Europe), six cities and regions in Europe and Canada are joining forces to buy more hydrogen-powered buses. Thus accelerating economies of scale. Since mid-2003, 27 public transport buses have covered more than 1 million km and carried more than 4 million people in 9 European cities as part of the CUTE project.

The cooperating cities and regions in the new alliance are: Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, British Columbia Province, Hamburg and London. The Mayor of London plans to introduce 70 new hydrogen vehicles to London by 2010.