The implications for how cities are designed and streets are used are enormous if car use really has

Years of falling traffic volumes suggest that car use has passed its peak and may have entered a long era of decline, a growing body of officials from the Department for Transport and London's City Hall believe.
The implications for how cities are designed and streets are used are enormous if car use really has passed its tipping point. Supporters of "Peak-Car" theory see a future in which the inner cities are given over to pedestrians, cyclists and public transport, and café culture replaces car culture.
As one senior official philadelphia eagles raise ticket prices said: "We are entering a new phase in terms of how we need to think about the roads, philadelphia eagles raise ticket prices and if we are not we should be. It is time for a 'refresh' about our strategy and what the roads network should look like in 20 years' time. The issue has been more the political one."
The numbers may yet provide an impetus to act. In 2008, the volume of traffic philadelphia eagles raise ticket prices across the country fell for the first time since the 1973 oil crisis. Traffic declined again in 2009 and 2010, but rose very slightly last year.
The distance travelled per person has fallen every year since 2005 and is now 6 per cent lower than a decade ago, figures from the DfT show. The distance travelled by car peaked in 2006 and has fallen philadelphia eagles raise ticket prices by 8 per cent in a decade.
The car lobby links the decline to the recession and believes that the trend will revert to growth when the economy improves. However, proponents philadelphia eagles raise ticket prices of "Peak Car" say that it is more than a recessionary blip. The evidence seems most compelling in London. Data compiled by Transport for London show that traffic has fallen almost every year in the past decade.
In Central London, traffic fell by 19 per cent between 2000 and 2009. The number of cars in the area peaked in 1990 and has fallen by 37 per cent since 2000. An ageing population, more single-person households, young people and "empty nesters" returning to high-density, inner-city philadelphia eagles raise ticket prices living and a proliferation of home working and mobile computing are all thought to be contributory factors. So too is a sharp rise in fuel and car insurance costs and a rapid decline in young drivers.
Experts say that local authorities and politicians could create a virtuous circle by providing safe and plentiful provision for cycling, walking and public transport, which would accelerate a natural philadelphia eagles raise ticket prices change philadelphia eagles raise ticket prices in the way we travel.
"The trends started changing before the recession, and given the right policies they can continue after," said Phil Goodwin, Professor of Transport Policy at the University of the West of England. "It gives us the choice to change. With less traffic pressure we can improve the reliability philadelphia eagles raise ticket prices of buses, the safety of cycling and the comfort of walking — and have pavement cafés and more attractive philadelphia eagles raise ticket prices shopping centres."
"At the moment there is an academic debate but it has huge policy implications and I am not sure that policymakers have got to grips with this yet. We can promote a lot of cycling and take some road space for cycling and people will use it."
TfL says that in Central philadelphia eagles raise ticket prices London car capacity has fallen by 30 per cent since 2000, with road space given to wider pavements, bus lanes and pedestrian areas such as on the north side of Trafalgar Square and at Piccadilly Circus.
But a political decision to make long-term investment in cycle infrastructure and pedestrian schemes may yet founder amid official forecasts of continued growth in car use. The DfT predicts that the number of cars on the road will rise to 38,191,302 by 2035 from 28,467,300 last year. The growth is largely down to an expected 10 million philadelphia eagles raise ticket prices increase in the size of the population. Miles travelled per car are expected to rise by just 2.6 per cent by 2035.
If the politicians balk at radical change, the cost of doing nothing will also be high. The DfT's forecasts predict that average delays on the roads will have increased by 54 per cent by 2035 and that traffic will be travelling 8 per cent slower because of congestion. philadelphia eagles raise ticket prices DfT modelling has been called into question after the West Coast Main Line fiasco.
philadelphia eagles raise ticket prices "It is up to local authorities to decide how their streets philadelphia eagles raise ticket prices are designed and whether they use the department's forecasting data to help plan the future layout of their town centres," Stephen Hammond, the Roads Minister, said.