Dundee is the ideal city to lead the way in greener, eco-friendly transport, campaigners have said.
This week Greenpeace Dundee hosted an online discussion to explore what improvements could be made to make sure the city recovers from the coronavirus pandemic in a green way.
The discussion focused on how to introduce zero carbon public transport, cycling in the city, and the role electric vehicles will have in the future.
Speakers included Chris Jardine from Greenpeace, Russell Pepper from Dundee Cycling Forum, Keith Bradbury from Ember which has just introduced a new electric coach service between Dundee and Edinburgh, and a number of local politicians.
Russell Pepper spoke at the meeting about cycling in the city and said the number of people getting on their bikes doubled during lockdown, while four out of five people in the city surveyed said they would like to see proper cycle lanes built to keep them safe.
He also stated 82% of journeys in the city are under three miles long, and could therefore have been done on a bike.
Meanwhile Keith Bradbury spoke about his company Ember’s mission to make a zero carbon world a reality by starting off with an electric coach service between Dundee and the capital.
He also said although governments all over the world agree there is a climate crisis, little progress has been made in reducing transport emissions.
Finally Councillor Mark Flynn, convener of city development at Dundee City Council, spoke about the long-term vision for the city to become a sustainable city and the desire to see Dundee playing a leading role in achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in Scotland by 2045 or sooner.
Lauren Urquhart, volunteer events coordinator at Greenpeace Dundee, said: “I’m ecstatic that our event had such a great turnout.
“The main aim of the event was to demonstrate that there is a strong local support for sustainable transport.
“The event made clear that there is a need for a much more joined up approach to our transport network, and vitally we were able to connect key people across multiple local authority areas who will now work to make this happen.
“A strong investment in sustainable transport will help Scotland towards achieving its net-zero emissions target by sooner than 2045.”
