Glasgow’s new Low Emission Zone has been created to ‘reduce levels of harmful vehicle emissions in our city centre’. I’m sure we all agree this is for the good.
It is the same reason why London launched its zone 15 years ago, why many European cities followed, and it’s the spark that’s firing up the debate for a zone in America’s emissions capital city – gas-guzzling New York.
But, cynically, the biggest reason cities introduce emission zones is money. A small example of just how lucrative these zones are, London is proposing (yet another) expansion to the map and, if it gets the go-ahead, the mayor’s office estimates it could rake in an extra £1.7 million. Per day.
But at what cost to the heart of a community? City centres are magnets that draw us all – from locals popping in to pick up a pizza, to tourists injecting cash into hotels, restaurants and every independent shop. We need them to be easily accessible.
My recent fact-finding visit to New York reiterated how essential it is to have traffic running through a city.
Hustle and bustle of city life
The sound of tyres, the movement of vehicles as they load and unload, and the packs of pedestrians waiting to cross at lights – they are the hustle and bustle of city life.
I last visited the Big Apple a couple of decades ago when the infamous yellow taxis were big saloon cars and the lorries were so vast they made ours look like Tonka Toys.
Gone are those iconic long bonnets and boots of old, and in come… European motors, and hybrids!
This time around though, there were just as many motors on those multi-lane streets that criss-cross the city in perfect parallels, but the machines had changed. A lot.
You can now ride a bicycle along purpose-built segments, and you can hire them too, just like the scheme in Aberdeen. This is a huge shift for a place where everything is supersized.
Another shock is the taxi. Gone are those iconic long bonnets and boots of old, and in come… European motors, and hybrids! Even the NY Police Department is running some electric Mustang Mach-Es.
The greater good
However, one element of the city’s earnest plan to be greener and cleaner made me anxious that we could all be throwing the baby out with the bath water.
Every trip in a New York taxi has around $3 added to the fare, which the taxi driver then hands over to the Metropolitan Transport Authority to promote its bus services in the city.
And in Glasgow, the Low Emission Zone coincided with a plan to massively reduce car park spaces at the Royal Infirmary hospital, which borders the new zone.
Greed, and the greater good, should never mix.
You Tube: The CAR Girl Vicki Butler-Henderson
Twitter: @vb_h
Instagram: vickibutlerhenderson
Vicki Butler-Henderson: Is it time to supersize our parking spaces?
Conversation