The Seven Ps of Effective Travel

I gave a key note speech at a conference on Scotland's clean air initiatives last week and it got me thinking of the hierarchy of travel options. I have used as my guiding principles the need to reduce both carbon emissions and air pollution, particularly in our cities. I have come up with a travel pecking order of 7 Ps:

1. PEACE. It is always best if we can avoid actually having to travel in the first place, partly because it can waste so much time. Modern technology like video conferencing, skype, face time and conference calls should always be the first option we think about.

2. PEDESTRIAN. I feel a little guilt promoting this one as I have a bad leg which makes it difficult for me to practise what I preach but for our local travel it should always be an option.

3. PEDAL. The second active option we should think about. Every time I go down to London I notice an increase in the number of bikes on the streets. The 'Boris Bikes' have made cycling easy for ad hoc journeys and Londoners are responding.

4. PUBLIC.  If we can't use our own energy to get around then the shared options are the next best. We have to use modern, digital, technology to make public transport easier to use. Apps for journey planning and real time data feeds are obvious steps we need to take. Maybe Edinburgh, with its new tram, can take a lead here. 

5. POOLED. The other shared transport is car pooling or lift sharing. Businesses should give incentives to staff who car share, like reserving the best car park spaces for their cars.

6. PLUGGED. New vehicles are being developed all the time with all electric cars, plug in hybrids, hydrogen buses and LPG fleets having a role to play. These have lower emissions than conventionally fuelled vehicles.

7. PETROL.  Our final choice, the last resort if you like, should be the private car (be it petrol or diesel). All too often, however, it is our first or default choice.

The challenge for policy makers and organisations is to make options 1 to 6 easier to adopt more often and then we will use them more often. If we just hit the car user over the head or in the wallet we will not get the sustainable behaviour change we need.