London mayor unveils plan to reduce capital's dependency on cars

Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-22 06:23:00|Editor: yan
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LONDON, June 21 (Xinhua) -- London mayor Sadiq Khan unveiled plans Wednesday that would see 80 percent of journeys in the British capital to be made by public transport, walking or cycling.

The radical plan aims to reduce car journeys in London by 3 million every day.

Khan also set an ambition to ensure for 70 percent of all Londoners live within 400 meters of a high quality, safe cycle route.

New developments in London will also be designed around a "Healthy Streets" initiative to directly promoting walking, cycling and greater use of public transport.

Khan said not having to use a car in London must be the "affordable, safest and most convenient option for residents of the capital."

The proposals are outlined in the first draft of Khan's new Transport Strategy, which sets out bold plans to reduce the capital's dependency on the car.

The mayor's target is to increase the proportion of people walking, cycling and taking public transport to 80 percent of their journeys by 2041. Currently 64 percent of people in London use those modes of transport.

Khan said with London's population set to expand from 8.7 million to 10.5 million over the next 25 years, it will generate more than five million additional trips each day across the transport network.

A key focus of the Mayor' Healthy Streets Approach, aims to see Londoners doing at least the 20 minutes of active travel each day to help them stay healthy.

"Most of the main causes of early death in London are linked to inactivity, including the two biggest killers -- heart disease and cancer," said a spokesman at City Hall.

"Motorised traffic is also overwhelmingly responsible for the greatest environmental challenges we face as a city, with road transport responsible for half of the main air pollutants in London," added the spokesman.

Khan is also keeping London's congestion charge under review, including the introduction of a charging scheme that would see drivers paying for each kilometer they drive.

"We have to be ambitious in changing how our city works. While there will be five million additional journeys being made across our transport network by 2041, at the same time we're setting ourselves a bold target of reducing car journeys by 3 million every day," said the mayor.

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