Dr. Lynn Sloman:

I thank the Senator for his questions, the first of which was on cycle superhighways like those in London and whether there was an applicable equivalent in more rural areas. There is. Countries like the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark are building cycle superhighways that extend for up to 40 km from their main cities. The capital region of Denmark - Copenhagen and its surrounding municipalities - have a fantastic network. Denmark is planning to build 760 km of high-quality cycleway radiating out great distances from the centre of Copenhagen. People are making journeys of 12 km or 13 km on average on some of Copenhagen's routes and many are using e-bicycles. In continental Europe, e-bicycles are becoming a mainstream mode of mobility. The Netherlands is set to reach the point, if it has not already done so, where more than half of new bicycle sales are of e-bicycles. The kind of cycleway that the Senator experienced in London is applicable to areas outside large metropolitan centres, and when combined with e-bicycles, they make perfect sense.

The Senator's second question was about road user charging and who got to keep, spend or decide on the spending of that ring-fenced income. London's congestion charge dates back to 2003 and its money goes to Transport for London. The local authority - in this case, the regional transport authority, which is Transport for London - makes the decision about how that money is spent. There is a live debate under way about what will happen as people stop paying fuel duties because they will be driving electric cars. In the UK, there are rumblings about the Treasury considering replacing the fuel duty with some sort of road user charge. If it was a national scheme, who would get to keep that money is unclear. That is still to play for. My opinion is that there is a great deal of sense in the money being retained locally, not necessarily at town level, but certainly at sub-regional level because that is the level at which decisions can be made about how to put in place the best possible alternatives. If one had that kind of system, it would be important if there were rules at national level about how that money could be spent so that it was spent in a way that supported sustainable transport. This could be interpreted widely. In Wales, there has been a discussion about whether the money from a road user charge might be spent on keeping rural village schools open, thereby reducing the requirement for people to drive their kids long distances. That is the level at which the discussion should take place.