The document said Zack Polanski’s party wanted to tackle the “decrease in walking, cycling and the use of buses and an increase in trips by car and air”.
It said “transport is now seen as one of the public’s major concerns”, adding that “taxes, regulations and legislation on transport infrastructure and operations has mostly favoured the use of cars, road freight and air travel”.
Outlining their key “objectives”, the Greens said they wanted to reduce unsustainable car journeys, promote car-free building developments and place “sustainable” travel from “human muscle power” and “horse-powered transport” at the top of a hierarchy of travel.
Residential streets would see pedestrians prioritised above all other forms of transport, with “speed reducing measures … effectively limiting speeds of vehicles to 10mph”.
Car-free city centres
The party would also “encourage the development of car-free city centres, aiming to make these the norm”.
The paper pledged to “end the use of fossil fuel-burning cars and vans on our roads from 2030”, and threatened to “increase road fuel tax incrementally until the revenue of fuel tax covers a high proportion of road traffic’s external costs”.
Meanwhile, a “vehicle purchase tax” would be imposed on all new car sales “which would be steeply graded according to a vehicle’s pollution level, fuel consumption and type of fuel”.
The party would also make “greater use… of automatic cameras and speed measurement” to “rigorously enforce” road rules.
“Penalties will focus more on limiting the convicted driver’s ability to drive, as well as fines and imprisonment,” it added.