Transport and Health Science Group

A bright yellowy green background with orange electrical tape. The number 38% is on the tape in bold black numbers, and a series of orange arrows point to it. The text beneath reads Only 38% of disabled people who are eligible have a Blue Badge

A Blue Badge is more than a parking permit. It’s a lifeline for independence and can be life changing. But only 38% of eligible disabled people have one. Find out more: https://bit.ly/4pLFjb4

We'd love to hear your experiences. Use #UnlockTransportAccess to share your story.

Drumroll please! 🥁

We are now Walk Wheel Cycle Trust 🚶‍♀️ 👩‍🦽 🚴‍♀️

For our health our wellbeing and our world 🌍

#HealthWellbeingWorld #ActiveTravel #SustainableTransport #Walking #Wheeling #Cycling #NationalCycleNetwork #FreshAir #Nature #Community #ConnectingCommunities

This Wed (8th Oct), I will be contributing to a webinar about how the Government's #planning and #devolution reforms could support #LowTrafficHomes, with safe streets, great public transport, homes close to schools / shops / etc, and attractive outdoor space. To register, visit tinyurl.com/2yh3cux6.

For principles, see summary and full guides at lowtrafficfuture.org.uk/portfolio-it...

For best practice in target-setting, see lowtrafficfuture.org.uk/challenge/

We're contacting groups with upcoming LTP consultations to offer support. For an invitation, please email hello@lowtrafficfuture.org.uk

Mum says 'just don't' as she warns parents of three problems on school run Chelmsley Wood mum opens up on her son's health issues as she urged parents to be aware of 'toxic air' amid struggles walking to school

Over 24,000 children in Birmingham are living with #Asthma. The Clean Air Zone has reduced #AirPollution by 17%, but the toxic air in #Birmingham is still having a "devastating impact" on communities.

Letter and sticker promoting a new book Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile

Being a @thewaroncars.bsky.social Patreon subscriber has its perks. Great marketing strategy for the book too!

Layla leading Kidical Mass from the front with kids all over!

Want to know the story behind the UK's biggest @kidicalmass.bsky.social?

Layla Siebert shares her story on how she started Kidical Mass in our latest podcast 👇🏻

Anatomy of the Swiss Revolution How Switzerland Engineered Itself into Becoming the World's Greatest Transit Nation

Switzerland is “rich in something vanishingly rare in the rest of the world: common sense. This is most apparent in the way the Swiss get around…a model of sensible, sustainable — and yes, even enjoyable — transit. It’s simply the best transportation system in the world.” Via @taras-grescoe.com

Government launches £1 million competition to take active travel innovation to the next level Organisations and businesses can bid for a share of £1 million funding to help them deliver initiatives that enable more people to walk, wheel or cycle.

Excellent news!
www.gov.uk/government/n...

Two protesters holding up a sign saying “pedestrianise the M6”

Say hello to literally the only protesters outside Tory conference this year

"Effectively decriminalising bike thefts": Bikes stolen from train stations that were left for more than two hours will not be investigated, says British Transport Police CCTV footage will not be looked at outside a two-hour timeframe — as British Cycling accuses policy of "letting cyclists down across the country and providing further barriers to people riding a bike"

"Effectively decriminalising bike thefts": Bikes stolen from train stations that were left for more than two hours will not be investigated, says British Transport Police road.cc/content/news...

'Buy one, get one free' deals for unhealthy food banned in supermarkets Crisps, sweets, chocolate and fizzy drinks will be covered by restrictions starting in England.

@felly500.bsky.social said there needed to be a tightening of restrictions on sponsorship of sporting and leisure events, as well as wider society investment to promote active travel and improve the quality of food in schools. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

publications.aap.org/pediatrics/a...

Turns out that social media influencer promotion of food affects children’s food intake

A recent survey showed:

✅ 74% of bikehangar members cycle 🚲 more since having a space

✅ 77% have either reduced their 🚘 use, sold their 🚘, or chosen not to own a 🚘

✅ 90% say since having access to secure bike 🚲storage, it’s made it easier to choose cycling 🚲

On Sunday, #Zürich residents voted 52.8% in favor of increasing parking fees for cars according to weight.

The owner of a BMW X2 (Diesel), which weighs 1,675 kilograms, will now pay equivalent of €717 Euros per year to park on a public street. (Before, about €321.)

Direct democracy!

Some good news.

London is meeting legal limits for toxic NO2 pollution for the first time – almost 200 years earlier than predicted – following the Mayor’s "world leading air pollution policies," City Hall announces.

The Ultra Low Emissions Zone - and similar policies - really do work.

“Private car use also exacerbates inequity, with most of the benefits accruing to car users and most of the harms falling on others, particularly the most disadvantaged.”

Cars as commercial determinants of health Transport is important for health.

Car advertisements are as unrealistic as cigarette advertisements were, glamorous aspirational scenarios that users cannot achieve, showcasing cars driving through empty cities. Congestion, air pollution, noise, crashes, & impacts of climate change do not feature. www.fph.org.uk/blog/cars-as...

Cars as commercial determinants of health Transport is important for health.

www.fph.org.uk/blog/cars-as... Private car use exacerbates inequity. Benefits accruing to car users and most of the harms falling on others, particularly the disadvantaged. Politicians, many transport and spatial planners, and people in moto-normative societies seem addicted to cars as default mode

Cars as commercial determinants of health Transport is important for health.

www.fph.org.uk/blog/cars-as... Cars act as determinants of health by shaping environments and the behaviours that contribute to individual and community well-being - even described as the new tobacco; vectors of disease that produce pollution, cause collisions, and encourage sedentary lifestyles

Cars as commercial determinants of health Transport is important for health.

The harms from transport are due to private cars/vans and lorries - Cacophony (noise), Carbon emissions, Casualties from collisions, Community severance, Concern and social isolation, Congestion, Contamination (of air and ground), Conurbation design and Couch potatoes www.fph.org.uk/blog/cars-as...

Opinion: The idea that cars give us freedom is a myth sold by advertisers Car makers peddle the idea that cars signify freedom, but they really aren’t the solution to our transport problems, writes Ciaran Brennan.

Too often, drivers find themselves stuck in traffic, nose to tail with other vehicles, stressed to the verge of road rage. This isn’t the image we bombarded with in car ads. That’s because they are selling an illusion, a myth.
www.thejournal.ie/readme/idea-...

And our last clip from the event for now: Ray (@nerd4cities.bsky.social) elegantly explains the high cost of car-ownership, but how people don't notice what it costs them - not just in money, but in health and community.

In the aftermath of tube strike chaos, 28% of Londoners say they are now more likely to cycle in future Bike hire firms admit spike in cycle traffic "exceeded expectations", as campaigners urge politicians to deliver on cycling's "huge untapped potential as a safe, healthy transport mode"

More than a quarter of Londoners say they are now more likely to cycle following the recent Tube strike disruption

Book talk - 'Roadkill : Unveiling The True Cost Of Our Toxic… In this Oxford Martin School event, clean tech entrepreneur Arthur Kay and global prosperity theorist Professor Dame Henrietta L. To watch live online on…

Coming up: 'Roadkill : Unveiling The True Cost Of Our Toxic Relationship With Cars'
www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/events/roadk...

Donald Trump cancels grants for bike lanes because they're "hostile to motor vehicles" US President's administration insists bike lanes go against their "priority of preserving or increasing roadway capacity for motor vehicles"

Good news for everyone who thinks roads are for cars.

200 years ago, the Stockton & Darlington Railway opened - the first public railway with steam-hauled trains for fare-paying passengers. railway200.co.uk

For drivers and transit users, job access in nearly all major US cities is on the decline A new report states that between 2022 and 2023, job access via car and transit declined across most large U.S. cities; walking and biking saw modest gains.

"Access to job opportunities by driving and transit declined between 2022 and 2023 in most large U.S. cities, but it improved by walking and biking, according to new research from CTS’s Accessibility Observatory (AO)."

💭 What does true inclusion & equality look like?

🗣️ “It’s enabling disabled people to make the journeys they want, in the way they want. When people can access that, that’s true inclusion & equality.” – James, ICE Programme Manager

🔗 cyclinguk.org/ice-impact-report

Activists build benches for Nashville bus stops - Nashville Banner A small movement in Nashville is building wooden benches and placing them at bus stops without seating, providing a simple solution for the elderly, unhoused and others.

A small but growing movement has sprung up in Nashville that is radical in its simplicity: People are building wooden benches and placing them at bus stops where there is no other place to sit. nashvillebanner.com/2025/09/22/g...