Government U-Turn against M1 Car Share lane
08/03/2008

On the same day as Ruth Kelly, the Transport Secretary, announced that car-sharing lanes were a key part of her transport blueprint, she revealed that their flagship motorway car-sharing scheme has been scrapped. 


The plans for a high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane on the M1 north of London have been abandoned. The reasons were covered by just two paragraphs in an 81-page document put out on the Department for Transport's website on Tuesday. 

The M1 scheme was planned for the outside lane between junctions seven and 10. However, a feasibility study said it "could lead to an increase in accidents". (This study seems to be unavailable for scrutiny)  

Ali Clabburn, founder of Liftshare.com, was very sad to hear the news and angry by the way it had been hidden away in this document: 

"Our Government promised to make this lane a flagship HOV lane. They therefore received very little objection from the green campaigners. How can they think that building this extra lane without locking in any traffic reducing benefits will be good for our planet." 

The UK could cut its CO2 emissions by 9 million tonnes a year simply by increasing the average car occupancy levels from 1.7 to 2 people per car. Over half of the car trips in the UK are already shared so this small increase is very achievable. Let us hope that the DfT realise that there are better, cheaper, greener ways to keep Britain moving.  

The M1 has a price tab of £5.125 billion, latest estimated cost, 117 miles = £44 million a mile. liftshare estimates that if £44 million was spent on promoting car sharing 1 million cars could be taken off the road. 


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