Letter: Our Transport Choice is Not Simply, Car or Not Car

Published on: 9 Sep, 2026
Updated on: 9 Sep, 2026

From Bethan Moore

In response to: ULEZ Should Be Seen As a War on Lung Disease

If politicians keep framing the ULEZ issue as any sort of a “war”, it will, sadly, lead to many casualties on either side of the debate both from the restrictions to road safety improvements and the countless dangers to our health.

I’d like to see much more effort put into the alternatives to driving cars, especially for children and their families. On the bike bus I run in Guildford, I see the benefits to the children’s and parents’ wellbeing first hand every week. Most of the families sometimes drive.

This argument is always framed as a binary choice: cars or not cars. But real life is much more complex for most people. Real transport choice will mean that restricting highly polluting vehicles will be less of an issue.

In fifty years’ time having fossil fuel-powered cars and wood burning stoves in towns will seem as irresponsible to us as people smoking in planes and workplaces.

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