RESIDENTS in three areas of York will be encouraged to leave their cars at home as part of a pilot scheme to cut traffic.

Intelligent Travel is a transport project from Perth, Australia, which aims to persuade families to walk, cycle and use buses rather than taking the car.

The project will be piloted in Clifton, Poppleton and Chapelfields and evaluated by the University of York's Stockholm Environment Institute.

Martin Revill, City of York Council's head of transport planning, said: "Every week in the UK we make 30 million car trips of less than a mile and ten million trips every Saturday. We're not telling people to abandon their cars, but consider using the alternatives when they have the opportunity to do so."

The project has been successful in Australia and resulted in 14 per cent cut in car trips.

Mr Revill said: "I believe its success is down to being positive about walking, cycling and travelling by bus rather than being anti-car.

"If the pilot is successful in York we'd have to think seriously about rolling it ouf across the city as part of our second Local Transport Plan."

Updated: 08:18 Wednesday, May 07, 2003