Improving Transport
Britain's transport systems are broken. Away from the major commuter routes, buses, trams and trains are so infrequent and expensive that cars are essentially made a necessity.
This in turn has made air pollution - mostly caused by cars - one of the biggest causes of preventable illness in the UK, causing at least 40,000 premature deaths a year and costing the NHS £15 billion.
And surface transport is now the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the UK, with almost no progress in reducing them since 1990. The UK's share of international aviation and shipping emissions has risen by almost 80 per cent since 1990.
Liberal Democrats will meet this challenge by:
- Investing in public transport, buses, trams and railways to enable people to travel more easily while reducing their impact on the environment.
- Placing a far higher priority on encouraging walking and cycling - the healthiest forms of transport.
- Accelerating the transition to ultra-low-emission transport - cars, buses and trains - through taxation, subsidy and regulation.
Together these steps will tackle the clean air crisis, meet the challenge of climate change, improve people's health, stimulate local and regional prosperity and develop British zero-carbon industries, with benefits for jobs, growth and exports.