1. Issues for people living in urban
areas in richer parts of the world
Issue 3 – Traffic
References
B&P pg 161 AQA A pg 202/3 CGP pg 88

2. syllabus
There are aspects of urban living in a
richer part of the world that need careful
planning in order to support the
population and environment of cities and
towns.
Traffic – impact of increased use of road
transport on the environment and
solutions aimed at reducing the impact

3. Lesson Objectives
• All will understand the
problems of traffic in
urban areas in richer
countries.
• Most will understand
some of the strategies
that have been
introduced to deal with
this problem.

4. Problems created by traffic in
MEDC cities
• The most congested part of the
city is the centre.
• Towns developed before the car
was invented, the oldest streets
are therefore often the
narrowest. With little pavement
space the conflicts between the
needs of pedestrians and drivers
are at their greatest.
• Because people demand greater
mobility, flexibility and
accessibility, the number of cars
has increased.

5. • People are more affluent and demand the
convenience that comes with having a car.
Many households (27% in 2002) have more
than one car while 45% have one car.
• Use the following clip and your own knowledge
to write a list of the problems that traffic
congestion creates.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=3wkaHIifTWw&feature=related

6. Problems created by traffic
Air pollution
from vehicles
Unsightly
Noise from
heavy vehiclesBuildings
discoloured
•Impact on health
– respiratory
conditions, asthma
Road
accidents
Traffic jams and
congestion

7. Consider …
How many people are resident in the city?
few
Why do people use the city centre?
Shop, work, entertainment
When are traffic problems at their peak? Why?
Morning and evening rush hours – daily commuters
What issues face commuters?
Long journeys to work, grid locked congestion, crawling
traffic, where to park the car
Are the issues local or global?
Both – poor air pollution causes health problems, fatigue,
headaches, bronchitis, asthma
Discolours buildings
Greenhouse effect

8. Solutions to traffic problems
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9. Solutions to traffic problems
*Congestion charges
*improving public
transport
*urban tram systems
*use of cleaner fuels
– biofuels or natural
gas
*integrated public
transport systems
*one way streets
*increase car parking
charges to dissuade
car usage *park and ride
*priority bus lanes
*traffic lanes for
multiple car
occupancy
*pedestrianised
the city centre
*oyster cards

10. Solutions
• Turn your book onto its side. Copy down the
following table, ready to be filled in.
Scheme Location Advantages Disadvantages Picture

11. Solution 1 – Central London
Congestion Charging Zone
• Since 2003, a charge has been introduced
for motorists who use the central areas of
London. Based on a system of cameras that
photographs and then registers you car
licence plate number in its database. These
cameras are located at all entry points into
the London congestion charge zone and
within the zone itself and actually
photograph both front and rear plates on
entry and exit of the zones.
• The cost of setting up the scheme was £200
million pounds and the cost of running the
scheme is around £115 million pounds a year.
In its first two years the scheme made £70
million pounds and £97 million pounds in
2004/2005.
• Congestion in the zone has fallen by 30%
while the volume of traffic within the zone is
down by 15%. 30% of business's within the
zone reported a drop in trade although 22%
noted an increase. However motorists
continue to complain of being wrongly fined
having paid the charge or not even having
been in the zone at the time the system
registered the number plate.

12. Solution 2 – York Park and Ride
• York park and ride is a park and ride system
operated in the city of York. It was designed and
introduced to relieve York's overcrowded city
centre car parks. The street plan of the historic
core of the city dates from medieval times and is
not suitable for modern traffic. As a consequence
many of the routes inside the city walls are
designated as car free during business hours or
restrict traffic entirely.
• Five bus based park and ride sites operate in York.
The sites are located towards the edge of the
urban area, with easy access from the ring road, and
allow out of town visitors to complete their journey
into the city centre by bus. Many of the car park
developments, bus priority measures and new
vehicles have been part-funded by City of York
Council.
• The scheme is rightly seen as one of the most
successful in the country. Congestion and traffic
pollution have been eradicated completely from York
city centre, and as there is very little traffic on the
roads leading into the centre, passengers have
commented on how fast and efficient the scheme is.

13. Solution 3 – Birmingham Bus
Lanes
• Delays due to traffic congestion in the peak period
can more than treble the time it takes for buses to
travel from the outskirts to any city centre
compared with off-peak times. These delays are
chiefly due to queues which build up at the
approaches to junctions as the traffic flows reach,
and then exceed, the capacity of those junctions.
• As a result of introducing bus lanes, commuting
times for users from the edge of the city have
decreased and levels of pollution in the city centre
have also been reduced.
• However, the installation of bus lanes has required
additional space to either be constructed
(increasing the impact of the road on the
surrounding area, and requiring private land) or
taken from existing lanes, reducing the capacity of
the road for private vehicles.

14. Solution 4 – Edinburgh’s New Tram
System
• Edinburgh Trams is a forthcoming tramway system
which is currently under construction. It will be the first
tram system in Edinburgh since the city’s previous
network, Edinburgh Corporation Tramways, shut down in
1956.
• The electrified tram scheme will bring benefits to the
city by reducing air and noise pollution in the city centre.
It will also cut journey times from outlying areas near
the airport and Leith, the terminuses of the first line.
• There have been many criticisms of the scheme.
Originally budgeted at a cost of £512 million, the tram
system is now anticipated to cost over £600 million and
is likely to be many years behind schedule. Likewise,
Princes Street, the main shopping street in Edinburgh
has been a building site for years, damaging trade for
local shops. And many have argued why the city needs a
tram scheme when the city has always had a
comprehensive bus service.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gZZfpI8vWE&feature=fvw

15. Solution 5 – London Oyster Cards
• The Oyster card is a form of electronic ticketing used on public
transport services within the Greater London area. It is
promoted by Transport for London and is valid on a number of
different travel systems across London. A standard Oyster card
is a blue credit-card-sized card which can hold a variety of
tickets which must be added to the card prior to travel. It is a
contactless smartcard which passengers must touch onto
electronic reader when entering and leaving the transport
system in order to validate it or deduct funds. The cards may be
"recharged" in person from numerous sales points.
• By June 2010 over 34 million cards had been issued of which
around 7 million are in regular use. More than 80% of all tube
journeys and more than 90% of all bus journeys use Oyster.
Queuing times have been reduced at stations and the ease of
travelling in London has been increased. The cost of running
stations has been cut as fewer people need to be employed in
ticket booths.
• Criticisms of the system include erosion of privacy as the
authorities can track every journey made on public transport
systems in London. There have been some technical faults with
cards as well and some criminals have been able to hack the
system to steal from other people’s card balance. At stations
where a large number of people don’t have an oyster card (such
as at national train stations), queues are often very long for the
reduced number of ticket booths.

16. Your Task
Produce a poster to show the good and
bad points of the options available to
solve the environmental impact of
traffic

17. Lesson Objectives
• All will understand the
problems of traffic in
urban areas in richer
countries.
• Most will understand
some of the strategies
that have been
introduced to deal with
this problem.