We wanted to know how people in the UK feel about moving to trains rather than planes - so we asked them!
As the UK emerges from lockdown, many of us are looking forward to a much-needed holiday. With train travel resulting in up to 90% less emissions than taking a plane, changing how we travel is essential if we want to tackle climate change. As people start thinking about taking a break, we decided that now’s the time to research how the UK public feel about international travel, and how likely they are to opt for more climate-friendly travel options.
What we found:
While people want to see urgent action on the climate crisis, and are open to considering changing their own travel habits, for many the often higher costs of train travel posed a serious barrier. This is partly due to government policies that subsidise air travel to the tune of £7bn per year pre-Covid, while failing to support climate-friendly alternatives such as international rail links.
Cost was a vital factor in people’s decisions when it came to international travel, alongside time and convenience. 40% of people said that it would be ‘essential’ for train travel to be cheaper than flying for them to consider it as a travel option, while an additional 41% said that this would be ‘helpful’.#
Just 7% of people said that travelling abroad for work would be a ‘priority’. Almost three times as many people (38%) said that going on holiday would be their priority, than visiting family overseas (13%).
What next?
With aviation being responsible for 10% of the UK’s carbon emissions, ensuring people can choose affordable and accessible alternatives to plane travel is vital to achieve the UK’s climate goals.
As well as support for climate-friendly alternatives to plane travel, we’re calling for a frequent flyer levy - a progressive tax which increases as someone takes more flights, or flies greater distances, every year. This means that people who save for an annual holiday or family visit won’t be unfairly impacted, but the minority who fly multiple times each year will pay more. This would allow us to tackle climate change in a fair way which reduces inequality, and shares access to flying more equitably.