A new report has highlighted how the UK’s largest cities – Birmingham, London and Manchester – are ranked the worst in Europe for public transport affordability.
The Clean Cities: Benchmarking European cities on creating the right conditions for zero-emission mobility report, ranked 36 European cities by how much progress they are making toward achieving net zero mobility by 2030, based on measures ranging from more space for walking and cycling to road safety and policies to phase out polluting cars.
When ranked by affordability of public transport, London came 36th, followed by Manchester (35th) and Birmingham (34th). The three cities are bottom of the table with residents being asked to pay 8-10% of their household budget on monthly travel costs.
By contrast, in Oslo, which came top overall in the report, passengers spend just 2% of their household budget on public transport fares.
When ranking overall progress toward achieving zero emission mobility, London came 12th in the overall rankings with a score of 55.8%. Birmingham was 16th with a score of 52.8% and Manchester was 30th with a score of 42.1%.
Oliver Lord, UK head of Clean Cities Campaign, which produced the report, said: “The only way to address our air pollution and climate crisis is to ensure public transport is a cheap, reliable and accessible alternative to the car.
“Our new report shows that UK cities have the least affordable public transport in Europe, which will inevitably get worse given this government’s decision to increase fares in a cost of living crisis. This government should be helping, not hindering, our cities to play their role in meeting the UK’s clean air and climate goals.”
