Support for concept of reducing the number of car trips

Published Date: 27 February 2009
By Alastair Dalton

THREE in four people plan to reduce car journeys because of concerns over climate change, according to a UK government survey.
The news coincided with Glasgow Airport's announcement that improved bus links are planned to cut the large number of "kiss and fly" journeys, where passengers are dropped off and picked up in cars.In the survey, those who said they were likely to reduce their car journeys planned to walk instead on short trips or to make fewer non-essential journeys.However, the respondents backed efforts to encourage people to make fewer car trips through public transport improvements, rather than by increasing motoring taxes. Nearly half of those polled also said air travel should be curbed to protect the environment.Officials at BAA Scotland, which runs Glasgow Airport, say "kiss and fly" trips posed a "significant challenge" to reducing emissions as they accounted for nearly a third of journeys to and from the airport.A statement said: "This is considered to be the most environmentally damaging form of accessing the airport, because it involves four car journeys."Officials plan to investigate why this practice is so popular before targets are set to reduce it prior to the planned opening of the airport's rail link scheduled for 2013. Overall the airport hopes to increase the proportion of airport journeys by public transport from 11 per cent to 15 per cent within three years, with solution such as new bus routes and bus and taxi lanes.