Large urban areas across England are being given the chance to bid to become the country's first Sustainable Travel City, Transport Minister Paul Clark announced recently.

Up to £29 million over the next 3 years will be invested in at least one of England's largest cities to encourage greener travel choices. These could include plans to support walking, cycling and initiatives to improve public transport.

This follows the success of the Transport Department's three Sustainable Travels Towns who, over the last five years, have seen car use fall by up to 9%, walking increase by up to 14%, and cycling increase at least 12%.

Transport Minister Paul Clark said;
"Our Sustainable Travel Towns have proved that with the right information and improved facilities we can make a real difference to how people travel.
"Giving people a real alternative to the car not only reduces congestion and carbon emissions but also increases the amount of exercise they take.
"The opportunity to become England's first Sustainable Travel City will be a chance to see these benefits on a much larger scale and I look forward to seeing the bids coming in."

The aim of the Sustainable Travel City is to ease congestion, reduce carbon dioxide emissions and increase levels of physical activity in the local area. By achieving this, the City will provide a model for others to follow. The chosen city will introduce innovative new strategies and build on existing work to achieve this, such as;

- Work or school travel planning;
- Cycle training;
- Personalised travel planning;
- Online journey planning;
- Car share and club schemes;
- Dedicated bus routes;
- Improved bus stops and shelter;
- Cycling / pedestrian routes;
- 20 mph zones;
- Consideration of parking provision.

The major urban areas eligible to apply suffer from the worst congestion in the country. The 9 areas are; Greater Manchester, West Midlands, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Tyne and Wear, Merseyside, West of England (Bristol), Nottingham and Leicester. The government is also announcing up to £3 million of funding to smaller local authority areas to help them develop their own green travel initiatives.

This is a step in the right direction for reducing the number of cars on UK roads however what is really needed is a national, regional and local integrated transport system. In its present form the UK transport system renders the car as king; for attitudes to change on a mass scale buses and trains will need to be upgraded to deliver efficient journey times and provide a high level of service. In addition the options of High Speed Rail, SuperTram and TramTrain need to be explored as useful additions.

The UK has been lagging behind other European countries for years on public transport and the government is finally waking up to realisation that the transport system may start to hinder economic growth in the not so distant future, limiting our global competitiveness.