green channel

We're all familiar with the three Ss - Sun, Sea and Sand. But isn't there a fourth? No, not that. News from around the world seems to indicate it's probably Smog.

Tourists are fleeing from South-east Asia because of it. A friend of mine visiting Paris last week was choking on it, despite the city's attempt to cut down pollution by banning even-numbered cars on Parisian roads. And our own London Tourist Board is also concerned about pollution levels in our tourist-packed city. How can we deal with this problem? Have an "integrated transport policy", says the London Tourist Board, which this week launched its vision for the year 2010 encouraging the use of public transport.

Other European cities have been taking an organised approach to transport for a while now. In Vienna, the trams whisk you gracefully through the city, and passengers are, incredibly, trusted to buy and stamp their own tickets on every journey.

Not surprisingly, Switzerland's public transport is famous for running like clockwork. And in Copenhagen, tourist maps indicate numerous locations around the city where you can extract a "city bike" from a cycle stand on the pavement for 20 kroner. You can then cycle to your chosen tourist sight, park your bike at the nearest bike stand and retrieve your money. Choose from a bus, a train or another bike to take you back again. Smog, in Copenhagen, is not an issue.