Scots are using their cars more than ever

SCOTS are using their cars more than ever before, despite massive efforts aimed at getting motorists on to public transport.

The total number of vehicles on Scotland's roads reached its highest level ever last year, latest government figures have shown, while traffic volumes also hit record highs.

But despite the continued increase in car use, the figures published by the Scottish Government also show rail passenger levels are at their highest for 40 years, with bus travel also increasing.

Stewart Stevenson, the transport minister, welcomed the figures showing increases in public transport use, but warned of the "challenge" of persuading Scots to use their cars less.

Transport experts said the latest figures showed more needed to be done to provide attractive alternatives to car use.

The total number of vehicles on Scotland's roads rose by 2 per cent, to 2.65 million, in 2007 – the highest ever recorded.

The Scottish Government's compendium of transport statistics shows traffic volumes rose by 1 per cent to 27.5 billion vehicle miles, also a record high and a 15 per cent increase on only a decade ago.

Bus travel rose by 1 per cent, rail travel by 5 per cent and the number of passengers passing through Scotland's airports by 3 per cent – to 25.1 million.

Mr Stevenson said: "Public transport can offer a more cost-effective option than the car, is better for the environment and can be a lot less stressful, removing the frustration associated with the daily commute by car.

"We want to see more Scots make the switch – leaving the car at home in favour of rail, bus, cycling and walking.

"We are beginning to see progress, but with today's figures also revealing that there were more vehicles on our roads in 2007, there is a challenge facing us all as we seek to persuade people to consider more sustainable travel choices."

The figures predate the recent surge in fuel prices, which has forced some motorists to make a move towards trains and buses.

Public transport operators say thousands of extra journeys are being made on their services, and figures from the Department for Transport show UK car traffic down 2 per cent in the first three months of 2008, compared with the same period of 2007. But with fuel prices now dropping, that effect might be reversed.

Experts say recent efforts to encourage motorists to cut car use, such as increasing parking charges, investing in bus and rail services and building park-and-ride facilities, have had little real impact on drivers' habits.

With longer commuter journeys and the school run, the morning and early evening rush hours have actually increased by up to 35 per cent since devolution in 1999.

Jon Shaw, a transport expert at Plymouth University, said: "If the governments in London and Edinburgh are serious about tackling car use, then they need to be a lot less timid and bring in measures that lead to traffic management. That means congestion charging, prohibitive car-parking charges, which we know are politically unpopular, and investing hugely in more public transport.

"To be fair, in Scotland, both the old Executive and current Scottish Government have invested in new public transport projects, more than the equivalent south of the Border."

Experts also point out that, unlike many countries in Europe, Scotland and the UK do not have the public transport capacity to cope if drivers were persuaded to change.

They also say the lay-out of communities, combined with house prices, means it is almost impossible for buses and trains to provide the network necessary to replace road travel.

Neil Greig, a director of the Institute of Advanced Motorists, said: "What these figures do is knock on the head once and for all that public transport can replace car journeys.

"The lay-out of our communities, the lack of capacity and the need for people to commute long distances mean that a strategy is needed that works with cars, not replaces them.

"The obvious suggestion is park-and-ride facilities need to be dramatically increased.

"The fact is that people are often unaware of public transport alternatives. They feel comfortable in their car and feel that they have already paid for it, so they want to use it."

Patrick Harvie, a Green MSP and convener of Holyrood's transport committee, said: "Labour and the SNP love to talk about getting people out of their cars, but we have never yet seen a government in London or Edinburgh which has any idea how to support public transport.

"Instead, decades of motorway building and subsidies to the airlines have wasted billions of pounds of taxpayers' money and left us with record levels of traffic on our roads and filled our skies with planes."

Dan Barlow, the head of policy at WWF Scotland, described the statistics as "grim".

He warned that the transport sector made up a large part of Scotland's emissions

and said he was concerned about the 3 per cent increase in air travel from Scotland from 2006 to 2007.

"More driving and more flying can only be bad news for the planet," he said. "The Scottish Government's forthcoming Climate Bill acknowledges the urgent need for Scotland to cut emissions by 80 per cent by 2050. However, government support for new motorways, roads and bridges, and plans to expand airports, makes the job of tackling climate change that much more challenging."

Ways to get people out of their motors

• Introduce congestion charging in Scotland's four biggest cities. It would be extremely unpopular, and an attempt to do this in the capital failed. Leaders of Aberdeen City Council have also said that they will not accept congestion charges. However, the measure has been a success in London where it was introduced by the former mayor, Ken Livingstone, to fund improved public transport. His successor, Boris Johnson, only talks about reforming the charge, not abolishing it.

• Make parking charges prohibitively expensive. This has been the preferred method across the UK. Critics argue out that charges are never prohibitive enough to make people seek alternatives. Transport expert Dr Jon Shaw of Plymouth University has argued that if councils really wanted to discourage cars they would have to set rates of £3.50 or £5 an hour in city centres.

• Increase park and ride facilities. If parking in city centres is to be limited or heavily priced, then people travelling in from rural areas need places to leave their cars. There is an argument put forward by the Institute of Advanced Motorists that the Central Belt does not have enough park and ride facilities to support the number of car spaces that would be potentially needed.

• Make public transport free. This was introduced in parts of Belgium, where it increased public transport use by 60 per cent.

• Increase the frequency of public transport. The public transport infrastructure is not big enough to take on the load if many people gave up their cars. Trams are on the way in Edinburgh, there are plans for Crossrail schemes in Glasgow and Aberdeen, and new rail lines, but much more needs to be done to increase capacity.

• Increase road and fuel tax and vehicle excise. Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, has been forced to change plans for increasing vehicle excise. He has also had to put off increases in fuel duty.

Hybrid engines and efficiency slash environmental impact of motoring

TWENTY years ago a car belching out fumes in the street would have attracted scowls, but the driver could plead engine trouble and roar off into the distance.

Nowadays, innovation in green car technology has made certain car engines "hip", with Hollywood stars such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz and Harrison Ford driving around in the latest Toyota Prius models with hybrid engines.

A hybrid uses a petrol or diesel engine and electrical power from a battery to lower emissions and boost fuel efficiency.

Toyota has sold more than a million of its hybrids since 1997, with demand now outstripping supply. Motorists in the UK face up to a 20-week wait for a hybrid car, the most popular being the Toyota Prius and the Honda Civic Hybrid. Car dealerships in Scotland report one inquiry a day.

Today's traditionally-powered cars, meanwhile, are a lot cleaner and more fuel efficient than those of just 20 years ago. It would take more than 40 of today's new models to match the tailpipe emissions of just one model of similar size and performance in 1988.

Pioneered by BMW but also being rolled out by Volkswagen, Ford and the rest, these models feature engines whose performance has been optimised from the start for maximum fuel economy and minimum emissions.

The really clever stuff is in the electrics, including regenerative braking, which charges the battery more efficiently and means the car can operate with a much smaller alternator, requiring less fuel to power it.

This is complemented by an automatic management system which stops the engine as soon as the car stops in traffic, then restarts it as soon as the driver prepares to move off.

The result, even for some high-performance cars capable of 140mph, is fuel economy and tailpipe emissions within touching distance of the hybrids.

There is a premium to be paid for the technology such as VW's Bluemotion, but even an extra £1,000 is a lot less than the added cost of a hybrid, never mind a fuel cell car.

But the innovation does not stop there. Earlier this year, Toyota, the world's biggest car maker, threw down the gauntlet to its cash-strapped American rivals by accelerating plans to develop mass-market cars powered by biofuels and by plug-in electric batteries.

The Japanese company wants to open up an environmental gap with its competitors.

"I believe we will all remember 2007 as the year that the world responded to a wake-up call too long ignored," said Toyota's president, Katsuaki Watanabe, at the Detroit motor show.

Mr Watanabe said roads, as well as cars, would need to change to meet green concerns. "We foresee mixed mobility, combining intelligent highways and mass transit, bike paths and short-cut walking routes, recharging kiosks and hydrogen fuel stations."

Toyota is expanding its joint venture electronics factory with Panasonic, adding an assembly line for state-of-the-art lithium batteries in readiness for selling "significant fleets" of plug-in vehicles globally by 2010.

JIM DUNN

Iceni's 2,000 miles on a tankful

IN AN innovation for economic sports cars, a small Norwich-based manufacturer has developed a two-seater convertible that can travel 2,000 miles on one tank of diesel.

The Trident Iceni has a 6.6 litre V8 engine and can go from 0-60 in 3.9 seconds.

It runs on either regular diesel or biodiesel and has a top speed of 200 miles per hour.

The secret? Torque multiplication – a form of technology that slows the pistons in the four-stroke engine and multiplies the torque allowing the car to do 70mph at 980rpm – considerably less than your average performance car.

The eight-speed gearbox is in the rear of the car, helping with the weight distribution. And with a stainless steel chassis the Trident Iceni is a car for life. But at £60,000 it will set you back a pretty packet.

"This technology has been around for nearly 50 years, but no-one has bothered to try and use it," said Phil Bevan, the man behind the Iceni.

"In September we are testing it in a drive from Norwich to Monaco, and then to Newcastle upon Tyne.

"That is a distance of 2,000 miles and the car will do it on one tank of diesel."

Spokesman Kelly Bevan said: "It's like having a Lamborghini without the cost or the damage to the environment."

BEN BAILEY