Sarah Toy
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sarahtoy.bsky.social
Sarah Toy
@sarahtoy.bsky.social
Resilient optimist and travel behaviour change specialist endlessly fascinated by the intersection between people, transport and place. All views my own.
Reposted by Sarah Toy
This is good from James May, he really seems to undetstand cycling these days. Not something I thought I'd ever say about a Top Gear presenter.
www.standard.co.uk/news/transpo...
Cars don't belong in cities, says Top Gear's James May
TV star has idea for Hammersmith bridge - and calls anti-cycling council ‘tw*ts’
www.standard.co.uk
March 24, 2025 at 7:14 PM
Reposted by Sarah Toy
Research Shows More Roads = More Driving - h/t Road Capacity as a Fundamental Determinant of Vehicle Travel
Research Shows More Roads = More Driving - h/t Road Capacity as a Fundamental Determinant of Vehicle Travel
A national study shows, once again, that increasing road supply induces additional vehicle travel, particularly over the long run.
dlvr.it
March 23, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Thanks for sharing! I’ve always understood that #sustainabletransport makes for #resilientcities now we have proof!
Fascinating new study that strengthens case for shift away from car dominated transport systems.

Models city resilience to crises that might be typical in the future.

Finds the more ambitious the transition towards healthier city mobility patterns, the greater the contribution to city resilience.
Future-proofing cities against negative city mobility and public health impacts of impending natural hazards: a system dynamics modelling study - The Lancet Planetary Health www.thelancet.com/journals/lan... @eurosocialsimassoc.bsky.social
March 23, 2025 at 6:57 PM
Paddington to Richmond via central London by bike to day using my 2003 @transportforlondon.bsky.social @londoncycling.bsky.social maps! Fascinating to see these lines on maps being turned into real road space and facilities for cyclists…in some boroughs!
March 20, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Yes please! This could be a game changer for #activetravel in #Bristol
March 17, 2025 at 10:06 PM
Reposted by Sarah Toy
Oxfordshire CC just ran a Citizen’s Assembly on traffic. Key conclusions:

88% support for "Make the city centre car free"; 82% support for "Introduce a graduated Work Place Parking Levy"; 74% for "Implement a congestion charge in addition to the Zero Emission Zone."
March 17, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Reposted by Sarah Toy
“The sound of traffic has the greatest impact on health because so many people are exposed to it.”

How our noisy world is seriously damaging our health

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Noise: The invisible killer in all our lives
The BBC's James Gallagher investigates the invisible killer all around us.
www.bbc.co.uk
March 16, 2025 at 11:01 AM
Car sharing is the Cinderella of #sustainabletransport world often being overlooked but there is evidence that 1 shared car can replace 9 on the street and car sharers walk, cycle and use public transport more than car owners
“Cars spend about 95% of their lives sitting still, while also taking up space worth £172bn in London alone. Car sharing allows those assets to be used more efficiently, getting greater use out of every vehicle and parking space.”

Good piece. UK needs a proper strategy to support more car sharing.
Low mileage, several careful renters … will car-sharing ever really get going?
Services are finding it tough to turn profits, but user numbers are still rising in a shift away from the ‘ownership economy’
www.theguardian.com
March 15, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Reposted by Sarah Toy
Join us Tuesday, March 25th at 12pm for a special lunch time chat with @ianwalker.bsky.social, an Environmental Psychologist who studies motonormativity - the shared bias that prevents us from judging motorized transportation rationally. RSVP: us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
March 12, 2025 at 6:46 PM
A year ago 4000 vehicles/day used Sydney Street as a rat run. Today I gave evidence in favour of the trial modal filter and was proud to witness brave @bathnes.bsky.social Councillors face down motorist opposition and vote to make the trial permanent #Bath #Betterstreets #Peoplefirst
March 13, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Reposted by Sarah Toy
Reposted by Sarah Toy
Such an important finding.

People walking, wheeling and cycling more benefits everyone👇
For the first time, the Norwegian government has calculated the value to society of the health benefits of increased walking and cycling.

🚲 ~€2.8 for each additional km of cycling
🚶‍♀️ ~€4.2 for each additional km of walking
Samfunnet tjener mye på at folk går og sykler!

Nye tall fra Helsedirektoratet viser at vi sparer:

🚲 33 kr for hver km folk sykler
🚶‍♀️ 49 kr for hver km folk går

Det er sammenlignet med at folk ikke er i fysisk aktivitet, f.eks. om de kjører bil.
March 11, 2025 at 10:29 AM
Would love to see Oxford Street become a place instead of a traffic corridor!
March 10, 2025 at 10:34 AM
About time (as a cycle planner who was often confounded by the highways and security teams when working on design of the Olympic Park 😭)
Am v pleased to see the work underway on this key junction in the Olympic Park - making the area safer for people walking & cycling.

… if only it had been designed this way 15 years ago 🤦🏻‍♂️
March 10, 2025 at 10:32 AM
Word of the day “carspreading”
I suspect a few people might find this new collection of "Carspreading" images from @climateoutreach.bsky.social quite useful for illustrating the issues of increasingly large cars in urban areas climatevisuals.org/carspreading/
A new collection of images capturing the reality of ‘carspreading’ - Climate Outreach
climatevisuals.org
March 10, 2025 at 10:25 AM
Reposted by Sarah Toy
Interesting study from London exploring attitudes to shared cars vs private car ownership and use.

A key insight: “… [car-sharing is] more of a supplementary travel mode rather than a primary one… Users often rely on other travel modes, such as public transport, for their main travel needs…”
Qualitative insights into travel behavior change from using private cars to shared cars
Private car-based transport poses a global concern, including greenhouse gas emissions, traffic congestion, and associated health risks. These challenges necessitate a transition to more sustainabl...
www.tandfonline.com
March 7, 2025 at 11:29 AM
Reposted by Sarah Toy
Well this is excellent.

Looking forward to following the work of the @hlth-research.bsky.social in addressing this challenge:

“Historically, CO2e emissions reduction measures have not systemically considered physical and mental health impacts, or inequalities in their distribution.”
Healthy Low-carbon Transport Hub established to explore the health benefits of the transition to net zero
www.ukcric.com
March 7, 2025 at 11:47 AM
Reposted by Sarah Toy
This report from the GLA shows an estimated 80% reduction in people exposed to illegal levels of air pollution amongst communities living near London’s busiest roads.

Tackling poor air quality is essential to improve people’s health and reduce health inequalities.
www.london.gov.uk/programmes-s...
London-wide Ultra Low Emission Zone One Year Report
In this report, we evaluate the impacts of the ULEZ and the LEZ schemes, focusing on one year following the London-wide ULEZ expansion.
www.london.gov.uk
March 7, 2025 at 12:17 PM
Reposted by Sarah Toy
Some in Labour HQ may want to reflect on this - here’s a policy which has drastically improved air quality, benefitting the poorest citizens. But Starmer’s LOTO started criticising it because a couple of Clarkson bigmouths complained in focus groups & they (wrongly imho) blamed it for Uxbridge loss
March 7, 2025 at 8:20 AM
Reposted by Sarah Toy
A million cars have disappeared!

“Congestion pricing [in New York City] began on January 5. One month in, traffic is down, public buses are faster, and transit ridership is up.” Via @fastcompany

No surprise for those of us championing decongestion pricing for a long time. We know it works.
A million cars have disappeared: What NYC is like after one month of congestion pricing
Congestion pricing began on January 5. One month in, traffic is down, public buses are faster, and transit ridership is up.
www.fastcompany.com
February 8, 2025 at 3:47 AM