by Elena Alyavina
Our ‘Call to Action’ survey has now reached over 400 Leeds residents! The survey includes a variety of open-ended questions including: “What journeys would you find most difficult without a car?” This question lies close to the core objectives of INFUZE. So far 356 respondents used the opportunity to voice their opinions on the matter. Let’s have a look at what they have to say.
1 in 4 find it difficult to travel peripherally
“Radial journeys in and out of the city centre are easy. Anything vaguely circumferential is impossible unless you go into the city and out again.”
All roads lead to Rome! This modern working of the medieval expression seems to prove right for Leeds. Whether from Pudsey, Yeadon, or Rothwell, the public transport routes, at least, lead to a “Rome” that lies somewhere between the Inner Ring Road and the River Aire. Perhaps, this is why a quarter of our respondents consider peripheral journeys across city districts to be most difficult without a private car.
These journeys are not only complex but also time-consuming and often unreliable, even without a transfer. “It takes 5 minutes to get to Otley in the car and 45 on a bus – which is usually cancelled” reads one of the responses concerning travel to a nearby suburb. When driving guarantees getting there and it’s at least twice as fast, what should one choose?
1 in 10 believe a car is necessary for work-related travel
“I work in Seacroft. I could take bus 16 but that takes over an hour and I don’t have that time.”
Leeds features a radial transport system, optimised for commuting to a single economic and social centre. Leeds, however, is polycentric and forms a part of a wider city region that is also polycentric. This means that a considerable proportion of commuting journeys become peripheral and even cross-border. Radial transport systems complicate and prolong cross-commuting. A tenth of our respondents believe that commute as well as other work-related journeys are the most challenging without a car.
Nevertheless, it’s not all down to the layout of the transport system. Some say they spend “a lot of time collecting and distributing items”; others have to “travel a lot for work, and the sites down in Bristol are uniquely annoying” or often need “to meet someone reliably and not wet or sweaty”. With such reasons at the table, what are the alternatives?
1 in 5 identify shopping trips as the most challenging
“Getting to a local supermarket is most difficult, be that in Rothwell, Middleton or Hunslet.”
Shopping has been long recognised as a car dependent practice and Leeds is no exception. One in five respondents refer to shopping trips as the most difficult without a car. The respondent above talks about another instance of the difficulties of peripheral travel, this time to shopping facilities. Some say they struggle to shop in the city centre as “buses don’t tie directly with trains to and from Leeds”, others like a “choice of foodstuffs, which requires visiting numerous outlets”.
Deviating from movement-related complexities, one of the responses attributes car dependency to the need for shops so big that it’s the driving member of the household who has to deal with the matter. The “big shop”, interestingly, is the most prominent reason for shopping-related car dependency among our respondents and emphasises the so called ‘cargo-function’ of a car, difficult to fulfil by alternatives. For Leeds, this ‘cargo-function’ is not only important for shopping…
1 in 10 would struggle moving bulky items without a car
“I play the harp and need an estate car to transport the instrument to rehearsals and concerts.”
The harp, but what else? If it weren’t for the car, it would be impossible to help “student daughter move house” or “bring equipment for work”; it would be impossible to “carry large parcels”, to go “camping or on holiday” with “a significant amount of kit” …and the list goes on, with a tenth of our respondents finding it difficult to move bulky items without a car.
Waste disposal is an interesting case. Whether due to inaccessibility of the recycling centres or the irregular features of items being moved, this activity is the most car-intensive in the UK. Leeds City Council, however, allows access to recycling centres by bicycle as well as car and, offers four unwanted item collections per household per year, with one of those at no cost. Yet, one of the responses reads, “as walking or the bus is impossible, we just don’t recycle a lot of our trash”. Perhaps, without a car it’s not as easy as it seems?
1 in 7 think most, and even all, journeys are difficult
“I don’t drive. They are all difficult. Waiting at a bus stop in the cold and the dark without even a shelter is horrible.”
Close to 15% of our respondents find all or almost all journeys difficult without a car. Sadly, among them are people who don’t drive at all. And it’s not just the journeys, listed above. With slightly under 10% in each category, our respondents also find it challenging to access healthcare facilities, travel to nature reserves, or escort children and the elderly. Other smaller, yet important, categories, include uphill journeys as well as journeys in bad weather and late at night, long distance journeys, and journeys with pets.
One respondent says “All of them. I like my car! I don’t want any leftie snowflakes telling me I can’t!” Even the most seamless system of transport alternatives may not convince this one…
Only 1 in 50 can find car-free ‘solutions’ for most or all of their travel needs
“I gave up having a car more than 20 years ago and have found solutions to most of my travel needs. There are some places I don’t go to anymore. My biggest ‘gripe’ is dealing with difficult waste items: I now bundle clear out activities and book a skip.”
Moving away from car ownership and reducing car use requires ‘thinking big and out of the box’. It requires distinguishing ‘difficult’ from ‘impossible’ and altering at least some of the car-dependent practices. It requires challenging ‘Car ‘All or Nothing’ Thinking’. It also requires a range of alternatives to car ownership that still allow access to a car when truly necessary. It requires accepting that the ‘unfettered freedom’ will fade but this will be offset by economic, social, and environmental gains for individuals and the wider community. It is a troublesome change; thus, it is no surprise that only one in fifty of our respondents have been able to embrace lifestyles independent of personal cars.
If we at INFUZE co-design the futures that make at least some of the most difficult journeys more enjoyable, will more of Leeds follow the one in fifty and steer towards a lifestyle that is less car-dependent and free of car ownership? We have another four years to find out.