A report from the RAC revealed there were 19 million car owners in 1971, increasing to 31 million in 2008. In the UK, 81% of us have access to a car. The car is so common place the lack of one is more notable than its presence. And many of us aren’t content with one alone.

Two car households now outnumber families with 2 children in the UK, standing at 5.1 million and 3.2 million respectively. When surveyed about the use of their second vehicle, 4 in 10 cited travelling to work as the main reason for its purchase. This twentieth century innovation may have brought us unprecedented levels of automobility but we were still bound by the commute.

Aside from wealth, urban sprawl and the decentralisation of our cities are also partly to blame for our increasing reliance on cars. As suburbs continued to grow, so did the distances commuters had to travel. These longer journeys naturally favoured car ownership over public transport which limited commuters to where and when they could travel to work.

The 2019 Government Office for Science report blames a car centric culture for the decline in public transport use. Fewer people using public transport meant less investment. Less investment led to reduced

services. This shift disproportionately affected women, young people and the elderly who did (and still do) rely on these services more heavily.

Limited public transport services, particularly in rural communities, have exacerbated spatial inequality and increased dependence on private car ownership in these areas. The same report cites 87% of trips are made by car or van in rural localities, compared to 78% in urban areas.

The above examples demonstrate how transport modes are interrelated and the increased use of one naturally results in the reduced use of another. Even for journeys less than 2 miles, 60% will be made by car despite being easily walked or cycled. It has become second nature to jump in the car, much to the detriment of the environment and our own health.

Despite efforts by successive governments to support modal shift, many of our travel behaviours have become embedded over generations and the convenience of the car remains ingrained in our collective psyche. This, coupled with the significant investment in road infrastructure, has made car dependence difficult to reverse – but not impossible.

A blueprint for change?

Amsterdam is renowned the world over in its status as a mobility leader but this wasn’t always the case. In the 1960s, the car was hailed as the ‘transport of the future’ and much of the city was knocked down to accommodate motorised traffic.

Sadly, this resulted in a huge spike in traffic fatalities which galvanised the city’s residents to demand change. Through petition and protest, they successfully reclaimed the streets for the cyclist and pedestrian. Dutch politicians took note, shifting transport policies to make it quicker, easier and safer to travel by bike.

Over the last 50 years, Amsterdam has transformed into the active travel pioneer we recognise today. The Netherlands has 22,000 miles of cycle paths and more than a quarter of all trips are made by bike. This is in stark contrast to the 2% of bike journeys in the UK, despite having a cycle path network of over 16,000 miles. Even when the infrastructure exists, it seems the car still prevails.

Yet change is afoot, albeit gradually. This ‘if you build it, they will come’ mentality has proved effective in London, where 9% of car commuters have switched to other forms of transport over the last decade. Today, London is famously difficult to navigate for car users making other forms of transport the more efficient choice – this was not by accident, but by design.

The Deputy Mayor for Transport, Isabel Dedring, said: