Impact on Environment and Infrastructure
In the West Midlands, of those expressing an opinion, 65% felt the bus operators’ response to Covid-19 had been excellent/good. 61% held a similar opinion in respect of rail operators and 59% in respect of Metro. 43% of public transport users are extremely concerned about using public transport post lockdown. Increased cleaning patrols (88%), social distancing when queuing (82%) and when travelling (72%) are essential in renewing passenger confidence.
The top-3 things respondents wanted to see change/ learn lessons from were cleaner air(81%) and reduced traffic on roads/ reduced car use (75%), followed by a better work/life balance (67%).
The two things people are most likely to do when lockdown restrictions are lifted are walk more(47%) and working from home more(39%) –albeit not everybody is able to do this. The thing they are most like to do less of is use public transport(36%). Transport for West Midlands data shows that there were roughly c200,000 daily Swift Card commercial journeys being made in the region in early March, compared to just c15,000 in early May.
36% of respondents to the Covid-19 travel change survey said they were less likely to use public transport post lockdown. Cycling has increased and 17% of respondents to the Covid-19 travel change survey said they are likely to cycle more post lockdown and 47% intend to do more walking.Train station concourse dwelling area capacity could reduce by approximately 86% from 1 person per m. because of social distancing.
Building sites across the UK have closed during lockdown (but are are now opening). This brought work on 220,000 new homes to a standstill this is in line with qualitative information which suggests that80% of building sites were closed in lockdown, with those remaining open running at approx. 20-30% capacity due to distancing and supply chain issues. 51% say they have noticed cleaner air, and 27% more wildlife, since the lockdown began. Daily carbon emissions in the UK to drop by 36% under the current lockdown measures. Regionally levels of road traffic have dramatically reduced, the key source of NO2 in urban centres across the West Midlands –were roughly 30% of normal levels in early April. Nationally Covid-19 lockdown has seen Britain become overrun with tonnes of rubbish as the closure of tips leads to a 300 per cent fly-tipping increase. However more than 19m (38%) say they are cooking more from scratch and 17m are throwing away less food (33%).
Nationally 27% of environmental charities surveyed say they are either at high risk of becoming financially unviable in the coming months or financial reserves sufficient for four months or less. Almost half of those surveyed (47%) say their financial reserves are sufficient for six months or less. Of those that were able to provide details of expected financial losses the expected loss for just 23 organisations is £88m
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200k swift card journeys in March dropped to 15k in May
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80% of building sites were closed in lockdown
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65% think bus operators have responded well
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Levels of NO2 have reduced by 30%in urban centres