There are few more frustrating ways of wasting a person’s life than plonking them in a traffic jam. Sadly, for many in York this time-squandering reality is a daily nuisance. Medieval York was not designed for the motor car. We’ve now reached the point where cars – whether powered by fossil fuel or electricity – are increasingly obsolete as our city’s future form of transport.

Thankfully, not all the news is bad. In March, First York and City of York Council announced that twenty-one new, zero-emission and fully electric double decker buses, each with a capacity for 99 passengers and range of more than 150 miles, have been ordered. These vehicles will pull up at bus stops from October 2019.

Nevertheless, sitting on a bus in a traffic jam is remarkably like sitting in one in a car. The aim has to be getting large numbers of cars off the road to speed up journey times. Above all, real change will require widespread discussion and cross-party agreement. Nor can York manage a transport revolution alone: this is as much a national and regional issue as a local one.

So here are a few suggestions to kick start the debate. If some appear radical, stay with me. Once upon a time so was the combustion engine.

First off, why not prioritise the establishment of commuter stations served by frequent ‘tram-trains’ between the satellite villages surrounding York and the city centre? This would have the advantage of using existing train lines and could be swiftly achieved. We could go further and consider a circular rail line shadowing the existing ring road, much as the Circle Line serves the London Underground. What’s seen as logical for cars is surely logical for trains.

While we’re talking about the ring road, instead of wasting money on creating new dual carriageways (which don’t improve congestion in the long run), how about investing in a tram service with the ring road as an outer rim, from which other routes flow into the city like the spokes of a wheel? Trams could speed up all our journeys, especially if they were given absolute priority on the roads.

Another easily implemented initiative would be developing the use of small electric ‘hopper’ buses throughout the suburbs. If people knew the wait between buses was small and the ticket price was subsidised to keep it low, we could anticipate a steady growth in demand.

York’s future transport revolution requires “blue sky”, innovative thinking. And everything should be on the table for cross-party discussions, however bold.

A former Mayor of York, Green councillor Dave Taylor, has suggested we minimise pollution in the upcoming York Central site by building a cable car system that “could ferry workers, residents and tourists from a Park & Glide site north of the city. What’s more, it’s cheap as chips compared to the cost of road-building and could double up as another tourist attraction.”

Personally, I love this idea. Imagine the views of York’s medieval roofscape, city walls and Minster. Such a cable car system could potentially be expanded from York Central to cover both banks of the Ouse.

Or what about the suggestion from York building engineer, Jon Charters-Reid, to build a monorail running through the Ings surrounding the city? “Many cities around the world already use them. They’re pleasing to look at, easy to construct (often alongside or above cycle tracks) and wherever they’ve been installed around the world, they’ve proved to earn their investment back quicker than most ‘conventional’ public transport.”

Of course, some journeys in our future York would inevitably require the use of conventional cars. Whether individuals and families would need to own and maintain such a vehicle is less certain. A profitable revenue-stream for the public purse might be a publicly-owned electric taxi service with good wages, pensions, sick pay and conditions for drivers. Such a service could operate from local hubs to reduce pick-up times.

With investment, imagination and determination, York could become a beacon when it comes to transport systems. One thing is for sure, given our city’s worsening problems with gridlock and air pollution, change cannot come soon enough.