3. Greenhouse gases and pollution

It is a basic fact of chemistry that if you burn a fossil fuel such as oil or gas, carbon dioxide will be produced. So there are two choices

1. Use less fossil fuel per mile travelled or
2. Avoid using it all-together.

The new term being used these days is 'de-carbonising' transport.

The first point is all about efficiency. In general, it takes less fuel to carry 10 people in a bus or train than it does for 10 people to use individual cars. The graph below shows how we move around at the moment:

We use cars much more than public transport. So one approach is to make car journeys as efficient as possible. ICT technologies to help with this include:

Advanced engine management systems

The driver will carry on using the same controls - steering wheel, throttle, brakes but they no longer control the car directly. Instead, driver demand for speed or braking are inputs into powerful computer controlled systems under the bonnet. The computers control the car so it safely speeds up and slows down using as little fuel as possible.

Also automatic stop-start systems are appearing that will switch off the engine if the car is standing still, then switch it on again as soon as the driver presses the throttle. This is said to improve fuel economy by about 20% in cities where jams are common.

Real-time, intelligent road networks

Most journeys happen along the major 'A' roads and motorways between cities. A major problem is traffic jams. They cause frustration and use a lot of extra fuel.

Systems will be put in place that monitor the flow of traffic, and if a road accident or problem occurs, then speed limit warnings, set up on gantries, will slow down approaching traffic or warn people if they need to divert. Average speed cameras and automated vehicle number recognition systems will make sure people follow the current limit.

Trials are already underway on motorways

Satellite with real time route guidance systems

We have had satellite navigation systems on cars for some years. But now they are being combined with commercial real-time traffic warning networks.

You pay a subscription to get a real-time traffic feed into the car navigation system, warning you of problems ahead. The system will then offer to re-calculate a route to avoid the area.

Pay-as-you-drive systems

At the moment we pay for using the road in the form of an annual car or lorry tax.

An alternative being developed is to charge people for how much they drive and where they drive.

For example the London congestion charge. The way it works is that a network of cameras reads vehicle number plates as they enter, drive around and leave the zone.

The car number plate is matched against a database of those who have paid or are exempt from the charge. If a match is found, then the photograph is automatically deleted to ensure citizen privacy.

If a car is found not to have paid then a fixed penalty charge is sent to the registered owner of the car.

This scheme may be rolled out to other cities as well.

Another method of paying is at toll roads. The slower way is to collect the fee manually at the toll gate, but a much faster way is to use an automated toll collection system. This uses a short range transponder within the car that is detected as it passes the toll gate. The car is checked against a database to see if it has paid in a very similar way to the congestion charge system.