Editing Transport in the United Kingdom (section)

==Transport trends==
Since 1952 (the earliest date for which comparable figures are available), the United Kingdom saw a growth of car use, which increased its [[modal share]], while the use of buses declined, and railway use has grown.<ref name=transportstats>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/482670/tsgb0101.xls|title=Department for Transport Statistics: Passenger transport: by mode, annual from 1952}}</ref><ref name="ec2">{{cite web
 |url         = http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/energy_transport/figures/pocketbook/
 |title       = EU Transport in Figures; Statistical Pocketbook
 |year        = 2007
 |publisher   = [[European Commission]] Directorate-General for Energy and Transport; [[Eurostat]]
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20080601062236/http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/energy_transport/figures/pocketbook/
 |archive-date = 1 June 2008
}}
</ref><ref name="eddington" /> However, since the 1990s, rail has started increasing its modal share at the expense of cars, increasing from 5% to 10% of passenger-kilometres travelled.<ref name="transportstats" /> This coincided with the [[privatisation of British Rail]]. In 1952, 27% of distance travelled was by car or taxi; with 42% being by bus or coach and 18% by rail. A further 11% was by bicycle and 3% by motorcycle. The distance travelled by air was negligible.

Passenger transport continues to grow strongly. Figures from the [[Department for Transport]] show in 2018 people made 4.8 billion local bus passenger journeys, 58% of all public transport journeys. There were 1.8 billion rail passenger journeys in the United Kingdom. Light rail and tram travel also continued to grow, to the highest level (0.3 million journeys) since comparable records began in 1983. In 2018/19, there was £18.1bn of public expenditure on railways, an increase of 12% (£1.9bn).<ref name=":03">{{Cite web |date=2019 |title=Department for Transport: Transport Statistics Great Britain 2019 |url=https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/870647/tsgb-2019.pdf |website=Department for Transport}} [[File:UKOpenGovernmentLicence.svg|30x30px]] Text was copied from this source, which is available under an [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/ Open Government Licence v3.0]. © Crown copyright.</ref> The average amount of time people wait at a stop or station for public transport in London and Manchester is 10 minutes.<ref>{{cite web |title=London Public Transportation Statistics |url=https://moovitapp.com/insights/en/Moovit_Insights_Public_Transit_Index_United_Kingdom_London_and_South_East-2122 |access-date=19 June 2017 |publisher=Global Public Transit Index by Moovit}} [[File:CC-BY_icon.svg|50x50px]] Material was copied from this source, which is available under a [[creativecommons:by/4.0/|Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence]].</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Manchester Public Transportation Statistics |url=https://moovitapp.com/insights/en/Moovit_Insights_Public_Transit_Index_United_Kingdom_North_West-2105 |access-date=June 19, 2017 |publisher=Global Public Transit Index by Moovit}} [[File:CC-BY_icon.svg|50x50px]] Material was copied from this source, which is available under a [[creativecommons:by/4.0/|Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License]].</ref><ref name="transportstats" />

Freight transport has undergone similar changes, increasing in volume and shifting from railways onto the road. In 1953 89&nbsp;billion tonne kilometres of goods were moved, with rail accounting for 42%, road 36% and water 22%. By 2010 the volume of freight moved had more than doubled to 222&nbsp;billion tonne kilometres, of which 9% was moved by rail, 19% by water, 5% by pipeline and 68% by road.<ref name="dft2011">{{cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/71279/tsgb-2012.pdf|title=Department for Transport statistics |website=Gov.uk}}</ref> Despite the growth in tonne kilometres, the environmental external costs of trucks and lorries in the UK have reportedly decreased. Between 1990 and 2000, there has been a move to heavier goods vehicles due to major changes in the haulage industry including a shift in sales to larger articulated vehicles. A larger than average fleet turnover has ensured a swift introduction of new and cleaner vehicles in the UK.<ref name="AEAT">{{cite journal |author1=L. Int Panis |author2=P. Waktiss |author3=L. De Nocker |author4=R. Torfs | title = A comparative analysis of trends in environmental externalities of road transport (1990–2010) in Belgium and the UK| journal = TERA2K|date=October 2000 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/260748898}}</ref>

The adoption of plug-in electric vehicles is widely supported by the British government through the plug-in car and van grants schemes and other incentives.<ref name="FT112013">{{cite news |author=Henry Foy |date=2013-12-15 |title=Spending to encourage use of electric cars falls flat |work=[[Financial Times]] |url=http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/df62a896-6566-11e3-a27d-00144feabdc0.html?siteedition=intl#axzz2nh6otuJD |url-status=live |access-date=17 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005082408/https://www.ft.com/content/df62a896-6566-11e3-a27d-00144feabdc0?siteedition=intl#axzz2nh6otuJD |archive-date=5 October 2021}}</ref> About 745,000 light-duty [[plug-in electric vehicle]]s had been registered in the UK up until December 2021, consisting of 395,000 all-electric vehicles and 350,000 [[plug-in hybrid]]s.<ref name="UK2021">{{cite web |last=Goodall |first=Olly |date=2022-01-07 |title=2021 sees largest-ever increase in plug-in sales |url=https://www.nextgreencar.com/news/9286/2021-largest-ever-increase-plugin-sales/ |access-date=2022-01-08 |publisher=Next Green Car |quote= |location=UK}}</ref> In 2019, the UK had the second largest European stock of light-duty plug-in vehicles in use after [[Plug-in electric vehicles in Norway|Norway]].<ref name="EVOutlook2020">{{cite web |author=[[International Energy Agency]] (IEA), Clean Energy Ministerial, and Electric Vehicles Initiative (EVI) |date=June 2020 |title=Global EV Outlook 2020: Entering the decade of electric drive? |url=https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2020 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210910135242/https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2020 |archive-date=10 September 2021 |access-date=2020-06-15 |publisher=IEA Publications}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-01-19 |title=Report - Vehicles in use, Europe 2022 |url=https://www.acea.auto/publication/report-vehicles-in-use-europe-2022/ |access-date=2023-10-11 |website=ACEA - European Automobile Manufacturers' Association |language=en-GB}}</ref>

===Greenhouse gas emissions===
A critical issue for the transport sector is its contribution to climate change emissions. Transport became the largest sector of greenhouse gas emissions in 2016.<ref name="Department for Transport">{{cite web |last1=Department for Transport |title=Creating the transport decarbonisation plan |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/creating-the-transport-decarbonisation-plan |publisher=Department for Transport |access-date=2021-04-13}}</ref> Since 1990 carbon dioxide emissions from transport in the UK have reduced by just 4% compared with an economy-wide reduction of 43%.<ref name="Department for Transport"/> Emissions from surface transport accounted for 22% of carbon dioxide emissions in the UK in 2019 with cars being responsible for over half of that.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Sixth Carbon Budget: Surface Transport |url=https://www.theccc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Sector-summary-Surface-transport.pdf |publisher=Committee on Climate Change |access-date=2021-04-13}}</ref> The [[Climate Change Committee]] has suggested that transport will need to cut its emissions to zero by a mix of demand reduction, the adoption of more efficient combustion engine vehicles, changing to non-car based modes and electrification of the fleet.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Sixth Carbon Budget: Surface Transport |url=https://www.theccc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Sector-summary-Surface-transport.pdf |publisher=Committee on Climate Change |access-date=2021-04-13}}</ref>