By Dan Phillips,
On 21st September a small team of INFUZE researchers descended on Horsforth Hall Park to join a day of climate action festivities with everyone from the orchestra of objects (making music with found things) to repair cafes, bike fixers and apple pickers.
We met hundreds of people walking their dogs, taking their kids for a stroll or simply enjoying the sunny day. Sixty people shared their ideas around living (and potentially thriving) without needing to own a car. Around 40 were currently living with a car, 6 were sharing or wanting to get rid of a car, 10 were living without a car and 20 aspired to a car-free life if the conditions were right.
What we learned in Horsforth
People said the toughest journeys without a car were those between suburbs and out into the countryside – from Horsforth to Chapel Allerton, for example, or to rural places for work, forest school or visits to friends and family. Many found it hard to manage shopping trips, caring responsibilities and travelling with children or heavy things. Public transport just doesn’t reach where they need to go, especially outside the city centre.
Some wanted simple and affordable ways to share or hire cars when needed and mentioned better insurance rules to make car sharing easier. Creative ideas included driverless neighbourhood shuttles, buses that carry bikes, a parking certificate system like in Japan and community cars for shared journeys and deliveries.
They told us that the best ways to reduce car ownership are to make public transport cheaper, more reliable and run more often, especially between suburbs and at night. Cycling needs to be safer, with separate lanes and places to park or use bikes and e-bikes. Neighbourhoods should be easier to walk around, with local shops and green routes. Having a dog made walking feel safer especially for women travelling alone.
Overall, the message from Horsforth was pretty strong. If we really create a safe, affordable and well connected transport system that’s designed with kids, families, carers, cyclists and older people – not just drivers – then many would be happy to live a car-lite lifestyle and even consider ditching their car keys for good.
Experiment with car lite living
We’re now running our first experiment with people across Leeds to test different ways of sharing or hiring a part time community car and we’ll be running creative workshops with citizens to plan our first large scale rehearsal in May. If you’re interested in trying out alternative futures and want to shape the future of transport in Leeds do get in touch.
