PEOPLE are being encouraged to leave their cars at home as part of a pilot scheme to reduce traffic volume.

Intelligent Travel is a transport project from Australia that aims to persuade families to walk, cycle and use buses rather than their cars.

The project will be piloted in the Clifton, Poppleton and Chapelfields area of York and assessed by York University.

Head of transport planning Martin Revill said: "Every week in the UK we make 30 million car trips of less than a mile and ten million trips every Saturday.

"We're not telling people to abandon their cars but consider using the alternatives when they have the opportunity to do so."

In Australia, the project resulted in a 14 per cent reduction in the number of trips by car.