by Nik Brown, Professor of Science and Technology Studies at the University of York. He lives in York with his partner and two young children.

Lendal Bridge: hand it back? 

Anyone reading that may think it's a call to bring back the cars, repay the fines, abandon the trial and dismantle the signs. It's not.

To see why it's not, we need to think about the kind of spaces our cities have become. We need to think about the way our cities have been divided up between the public and the private. 

These days congested cities have increasingly become private spaces. For many of us they're largely experienced from within the individually personalised, air conditioned, tinted worlds of our cars.

Even when stuck in traffic, these can be nice and cosy places to be. They can feel homely, safe and  protected. But only inside. The world beyond has become an entirely less pleasant space altogether. That’s because so many of us have chosen to move around by car. 

A single person travelling by car enjoys a space of roughly eight square metres. That’s when stationary. Bumper to bumper.

At 20mph, eight square metres increases to around 30 (three car lengths). At 30mph, I can luxuriate in my rightful claim to a space of around 60 square metres. This is space which, for a moment, becomes private. All mine.

A pedestrian inhabits around one square metre. It can be less when two are holding hands. For the cyclist it's roughly four square metres when travelling at a leisurely pace. A bus has an area of around 32 square metres when stationary, but it will seat 35 comfortably and up to 90 a little less comfortably. That’s in a space which usually accommodates only four motorists. 

You can see where this might be going. There is one mode of transport, the car, that has come to dominate urban space, leaving little room for anything else. It’s also worth noting that most of York's car journeys (roughly 70 per cent) are undertaken alone. Only 7% of journeys, of any kind, are undertaken as a passenger in a car. 

Let’s look more closely at Lendal Bridge itself. Before the start of the trial, a survey was undertaken between 10.30 and 17.00. It showed that the most popular way to cross the bridge was to walk it. That’s 9709 pedestrians or 38 per cent of the total number of people crossing the bridge. That’s a lot of walkers jostling one another for space on a narrow pavement at the side of a busy road. 

During that same period 8725 people made their way across by bus. In 349 buses to be exact. That’s a bus every minute. But it took a whopping 3345 cars to take just 5018 people across the bridge. That’s ten times more cars than buses, but carrying 3707 fewer people. Each of those cars will be occupying around 8 or 9 times more space per passenger.

Put it another way, private cars represented 70 per cent of the motorised vehicles crossing the bridge but carrying only 19 per cent of the people. So is it justifiable to dominate public space in this way?

The private car is squeezing the life out of spaces like Lendal Bridge. Most of our cities have gone through a tipping point leaving them growling and groaning with traffic.  In all but a few cities, cycling or walking and strolling is unpleasant and perilous. Public transportation has been brought to a standstill.

What kind of place should York become? A place we'd return to day in and day out? A public place where we can relax, stroll or pedal? A place that’s accessible to all and where public transport moves freely and unimpeded? A place that feeds and nourishes our nerve-jangled modern souls?

Or a place rammed with cars? York best experienced like a safari? From the near-stationary privacy and seclusion of the driving seat?