Visionary thinking could boost bus and rail prospects

Rupert Fausset looks at the climate and resource challenges we face, and calls for a visionary approach to sustainable mobility

Rupert Fausset, Principal Sustainability Advisor, Forum for the Future

Rupert Fausset, Principal Sustainability Advisor, Forum for the Future

South West Trains is hiring folding bikes to its passengers. Transport operators will benefit from linking their services to other forms of sustainable transport

South West Trains is hiring folding bikes to its passengers. Transport operators will benefit from linking their services to other forms of sustainable transport

We have had the pleasure of powered transport for nearly 200 years now, and of those only the last 60 years have been dominated by explosive growth in car use. In that tiny interval – less than a lifetime - we have managed to increase the CO2 level of the atmosphere by 40%, and burn our way through somewhere between a third and half of global oil reserves, depending on who you believe.

Now, not surprisingly, the rest of the world wants to follow our example and get mobile too. Before...