As petrol and fuel prices soar people in Liverpool are using alternative travel options

With workers heading back to the office following two years of remote working and petrol prices in the UK soaring, it appears many professionals are rejecting the status quo and opting for a more active mode of transport instead.

The cost of filling the fuel tank of an average family car with petrol has hit £100 for the first time and prices at the pumps are fast approaching £2 a litre.

The average Brit is now spending over £1,600 per year on petrol, and with commuters feeling the pinch, some are starting to look for cheaper alternatives.

‘I get the bus’

Paul said he rarely uses the car to get into Liverpool: “Sometimes it doesn’t seem worth it with fuel costs and parking. So, most of the time, I just get the bus, which is probably a good thing actually.”

Alternative travel options boom

A survey by Liverpool’s e-scooter operator Voi showed that 42% of users have replaced short car journeys with the electric vehicles.

While sports retailer, Decathlon, have seen a 50% increase in e-bike sales.

Battery and hybrid electric vehicles now make up more than half of all new cars sold, and fully electric car sales have risen by 70% in the last year, now representing 1 in 6 new vehicles joining UK roads.

Drivers benefit from significantly lower running and refuelling costs – as low as 2p per mile.

DfT plug-in car grant has been scrapped

Amid the high fuel prices, the Department for Transport has just announced that the plug-in car grant has been scrapped, removing the £1,500 saving that buyers of electric vehicles under £32,000 could previously get.

The Government has removed the grant for cars in order to 'refocus' funding toward charging infrastructure while supporting the purchase of other road vehicles 'where the switch to electric requires further development'.

Electric car drivers will continue to benefit from generous incentives, including zero road tax, and the Government say all existing applications for the grant will continue to be honoured.