The South West’s annual ‘Jam Busting June’ event broke all records this year, with a massive 20% increase on last year’s numbers.

Almost 3,500 people took part in the event, which encourages people in the West of England area to use alternative forms of transport, other than single occupancy cars to get to work.
Commuters who who registered and filled in online diaries about how they travelled to and from work every day had a chance to win prizes donated by local businesses. A prize-draw will take place later this month.

Run by the four local councils of Bath & North East Somerset, Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire, the high participation rate was thought to be due to a number of factors, including the support of major employers and more awareness of sustainable transport.

What this shows is that travel patterns can be changed with encouragement, motivation and support. Instead Conservative controlled B&NES just wants to spend millions on roads that will deliver very little improvement to congestion. Jam Busting June should have a similar campaign for every month of the year.