The water was clear enough to notice the sun’s rays touch the seabed. Seconds later, the scene was repeated in light piercing the canopy of a beech tree, spotlighting patches of dry earth below. I stared through the salt-smeared window of the train as it raced north on Devon’s famous Riviera line. In the carriage my skin felt weathered and dry. I hadn’t washed my hair for days. Anyone might think I had been to a festival; but having spent the best part of the week on a boat doing research for a project, I felt like the sea, and preferred it. One arm was stretched across my 65-litre rucksack as I faced the window, its bulky weight my temporary home, my office, my explanation.
When I challenged myself to travel by low-carbon routes during the writing of my book on species in Britain affected by climate change, I experienced the best and worst of our lethargic – yet still often charming – transit network. When public transport works, it really works. As a woman in my 20s, travelling long-distance, especially solo by train and bike, is empowering. Personal space, silence and time are street sweepers on the brain. A stillness descends in the wake of a slower pace, and you’ve forgotten how much you needed it. Yes, you tire, but it’s a tiredness that tells me I’ve gone and done something. I’m not in traffic. I don’t need help with my bag. No, I am not lonely. Nothing is wrong.
But in this time of climate emergency, overconsumption and mounting pressure on individual action, low-carbon options still remain an unpopular choice in the UK.
It’s not hard to see why this might be. Outside London, which ranks highly in global offerings, the very term public transport risks oxymoronic status in the UK, as a mode of movement available only to the most tolerant – in wherewithal and wallet. Much of the journey is a gamble. If I dare to plan in advance, I find myself rehearsing mitigating measures for multiple scenarios, which boil down to: can I just cry and hope they’ll let me on anyway?
It doesn’t take many strikes, cancellations, missed connections, soaring ticket prices, refunds and apologetic mini-water-bottles to avoid it altogether. When the average Brit already spends around £3,500 a year on car running costs, it’s no wonder we defer to the driver’s seat - nearly 90% of the time.
Yet when the dedicated bike space isn’t occupied by a suitcase the size of a minivan, your connecting train service doesn’t require a cross-station sprint in 30 seconds, and you can sit in an actual seat and arrive at your destination on time, it truly feels as though the stars have aligned. And dare I say it, even a rail replacement bus service isn’t all bad, if well organised and advertised in advance. Indeed, the wifi can be an improvement on that of the train.
I rediscovered a love for a double-decker bus on a recent trip to the Cairngorms. In spectacular timetable tandem, the Caledonian Sleeper train left me opposite a bus stop, and I had just five minutes to wait in drizzle, before I hopped aboard to the top deck (front row, of course, double seat to myself). I counted three red squirrels from the window. Yes, this mode is slower, but the trade-off gifted me hours of solitude: time to organise my itinerary, and be selfish – without the responsibility of a car.
The knowledge that public transport is better for the environment is a bonus. Recent research shows that UK trains have higher carbon savings than previously thought. For my Scottish journey, had I travelled a similar route from London King’s Cross to Edinburgh Waverley by car, my journey’s emissions would supposedly have increased 10-fold. And it would have been 13-fold by plane.
E-bike rental schemes have also increased across the UK, as has cycling in general, but attitudes will swing in favour of bikes only if they are responsibly ridden, parked and accommodated on roads and within urban centres. Within Exeter city centre, where I live, dedicated bike paths can feel halfhearted. No sooner am I on one than it ends abruptly, and I’m spat back out on to a main road with a van on my tail.
All of this has revealed to me that while the UK’s transport infrastructure is creaking, its potential is significant. We know how effective electrified rail routes can be in decarbonisation, but in 2021–2022 little more than a mile of such track was upgraded across Britain. Centrally funded investment (perhaps reallocating some budget from HS2?) could progress a national low-carbon transformation.
The rest of Europe seems to recognise this. If I were in Austria, I could travel across Vienna by public transport for €1 a day. In Germany I could organise a monthly €49 direct debit for all-inclusive regional commutes via rail, metro, trams and buses. Closer to home, Brighton and Hove boasts the most popular bus network outside London. I have experienced these regular, reliable, clean buses, together with Brighton’s extensive cycle path network with exclusive lanes. Dedicated bike traffic lights allowed me to leave on green a beat ahead of cars. It’s as though the town planners had ridden a bike before.
We must demand a nationalised low-carbon network that motivates, excites and inspires the public to use it, rather than one that exhausts and disappoints. A standardised, centrally funded, consistently supported ecosystem of public transport across the UK could truly change our carbon game. Why delay?
Sophie Pavelle is the author of Forget Me Not: Finding the Forgotten Species of Climate-Change Britain
