It’s one of those uncomfortable little truths. We inch along roads with perfectly good footpaths, we groan with frustration when the traffic lights change and there's no where to go. Our roads are choked with traffic, chocked with cars, and we are burning through expensive polluting fossil fuel and going nowhere, slow.

We cannot engineer our way out of congestion, more road space encourages more cars to use it.

Called 'Induced Demand', globally it is the phenomenon where increasing a road's capacity, by widening it or adding lanes, just encourages more people to drive on it, make longer journeys on it, or chose to travel at busier times. As more people are attracted to the additional capacity, congestion returns.

Ultimately, the uncomfortable little truth is that if we want less traffic, we need fewer cars making those journeys. Ironically, if we want to get a parking space at work, we have to consider not bringing our car, freeing up spaces in the hope that others are doing the same. Swings and roundabouts!

The Big Ask! This October.

So we are not asking people to give up their cars. For many people, particularly in rural areas, the car is essential. Public transport doesn't reach everywhere, caring responsibilities mean we there are many small trips to make around our commute, and walking or cycling isn't possible for every journey.

But for some of us we can consider that not every journey needs to be a car journey.

That is the thinking behind One Journey Different, our month-long campaign building towards Sustainability Day on 28 October.

We're asking the SWC community to try something deliberately small: leave the car at home for just one journey a week, where practical and accessible.

Walk, wheel, cycle, catch the bus, lift-share or find another way that works for you.

Because if hundreds of us change just one journey, those individual choices add up to a real big change.

CAR CAPTIVITY

Car dependence doesn't necessarily feel like dependence. It can feel like convenience, freedom, choice even status. Until you're stuck in traffic, watching precious time disappear. Until you are filling up and watching the cost climb. Until you realise that our reliance on the car also means reliance on fossil fuels, leaving us exposed to fuel price shocks and energy insecurity, while contributing to air pollution, carbon emissions and less active lives.

What feels like freedom can, in some ways, be a constraint: on our time, our money, our health and wellbeing, and on the places we share.

Why does it Matter?
Because how we travel affects much more than how quickly we get from A to B. Our journeys influence the air around us, traffic and congestion, household and commuting costs, our physical activity and the quality of the places where we live, work and learn.

The good news is that making a difference doesn't require everyone to become a daily cyclist or walk miles to college. It can start much smaller. One bus journey. One lift-share. One walk. One cycle. One day when the car stays on the driveway.

And small changes can become surprisingly significant when a whole community gets involved.

This isn't about giving up the car. It's about having more choices and discovering what might work for us, even occasionally.

So, over the next month, we're asking a simple question:

Could you make just one journey differently?

Choose your journey. Choose your day. Give it a go.

One journey different.