London Low-Emissions Zone Prompts Shift to Active Modes

Kids in London are walking and biking to school more after the city implemented the world’s largest ‘ultra-low emissions zone’ in the city center.

As Syris Valentine explains in Grist, the data comes from a study conducted by University of Cambridge and Queen Mary University researchers that sought to understand how changes in air quality would impact youth health.

In the first of many papers expected from the study, the researchers found that, a year after the ultra-low emissions zone took effect, 2 out of every 5 London students in the study had switched from ‘passive’ to ‘active’ ways of getting to school. So instead of being chauffeured to school by their parents, the students started walking, biking, scootering, or taking public transit.

According to epidemiologist Alison Macpherson, walking or biking to school “can be calming and conducive to concentration” in addition to providing an opportunity for exercise.  Future studies will look to understand the reasons why parents make the switch. “While developing pedestrian-friendly infrastructure and building out protected bike lanes can encourage a shift in how people travel, Xiao found as she assembled a review of research investigating how to promote shifts to healthier transit, people preferred the stick to the carrot. In other words, discouraging car travel was often more effective than just building infrastructure conducive to active travel.”