Think tank Common Wealth’s report titled 'Away With All Cars’ emphasises the damaging effects of motor traffic in terms of carbon emissions and air pollution, as well as on urban congestion and road safety.

It claims that removing private cars from London’s streets by 2030 would see the capital’s economy billions of pounds better off each year, with swathes of urban space given over to more sustainable transport.

“Deliberate choices by Governments gave us the transport system we have, and they can give us the transport system we need to prosper in the 21st Century too,” writes report author Leo Murray. “But first we need the courage to imagine better – and then to demand it.

“Half measures that nibble away at the edges of traffic’s dominion are no good,” he added. “The city must eliminate the private car from the public realm altogether.”

In a ‘thought exercise’ the report suggests how people would move around a car free London. Rapid build out of the walking and cycling networks and free, widespread electric bus transport would initially help to unlock a transition away from car domination, it suggests.

Dynamic road user pricing, the report adds, would make private car travel an expensive way to get around and all other transport modes could be brought under a single Transport for London app to streamline journey planning. This would include all private hire vehicles.

Trams could also run down major roads using space formerly taken by motor vehicles, it adds, while shared dockless bicycles, e-bikes and e-scooters would become ubiquitous. Ride sharing via on demand minibuses could, it adds, become popular for door to door journeys.

A Transport for London spokesman said: “We need to enable many more people across London to switch their journeys from cars if we are to tackle some of the biggest challenges facing the capital, such as toxic air pollution, the global climate emergency, road danger and obesity.

“This is why we’re investing a record £2.3Bn in creating healthier streets where walking, cycling and public transport are the natural choice for all journeys, and we want 80% of journeys to be made in these ways by 2041.”

(Photograph: Alastair Lloyd)