Carfree London: Why Not?

How is it possible to improve the quality of life in the capital, reducing pollution, congestion, the number of people killed and seriously injured in road crashes, and make London a better place for its residents, workers and visitors? There’s a campaign run by Rosalind Redhead at banprivatecarsinlondon.com, or if you prefer to take the streets, there is a 'National funeral for the unknown victim of traffic violence,' a symbolic funeral march from Bedford Square to Marble Arch, on Saturday 15^th November from 12:00 - 15:00.

Things You Don’t See from a Car: Hove goes global

Spotted in a shop window in Hove Brighton..

“Why is Britain such a dangerous place for walkers?”

Worth reading: Nick Cohen’s article in yesterday’s Observer. The hook for the article is last week’s Greater London Assembly report about rising deaths among pedestrians in London – and what can be done to stop it.

The article is about the raw deal suffered by urban walkers (aka people on foot). Even compared with walkers in the countryside. And especially compared with all the other self-identifying interest groups, whether people in cars (aka “motorists”) or even people on bikes (aka “cyclists”).
A pity that Nick hasn’t heard of Living Streets, the national charity that stands up for pedestrians, but the gist of the article is pretty unarguable.

GLA says “20 is Plenty” for more of London

The Greater London Assembly Transport Committee has released Feet First – Improving Pedestrian Safety in London.  



This is in response to the risks and challenges for pedestrian safety in the capital: after years of decline, the numbers of pedestrians killed and injured in London is rising - 69 pedestrian deaths and 1,054 seriously injured in London in 2012.



The report (with its Abbey Road lookalike cover shown above) states that a key policy option is to reduce speed limits from 30mph to 20mph to create a fairer balance between people and motor vehicles, with proposed actions including investigations to consider increasing the percentage of London’s road network that is covered by 20mph limits (from the current level of 19%) to 50% by 2016. More on this at 20’s Plenty.

Another chance to walk on water in London

After the previous post about the new foot and cycle bridge at Shoreham, here’s another footbridge post, only this time it’s a new bridge for London. Whatever you think of George Osborne’s Autumn Statement,  it reportedly includes some good news for pedestrians - a £30m Treasury contribution towards the planned Thomas Heatherwick Garden Bridge over the River Thames. There have been comments about the high cost of the bridge, reportedly around £150 million - but I wonder how much a road bridge in the same location would cost. And how much fuss would be made about that?



Those who doubt the value of pedestrian bridges should take a look at the Millennium (aka Wobbly) Bridge which links St Pauls/the City with Tate Modern/the South Bank – a brilliant new way for walkers to cross the river. These bridges, dedicated to pedestrians are not so much living streets as freshwater piers, providing great place for dawdling, taking in the views, and forging new connections – the very best kind of active travel.
(Photo: Arup)

BBC on LBC: Boris Baits Clegg on the London Broadcasting Corporation

Seems like Boris Johnson wasn’t too impressed by yesterday’s story about a minister jumping in the car for a 100 metre journey. He has weighed in with a phone call to Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg’s radio phone-in, urging politicians to use public transport. Seems only fair that they do, given that they make some of the key decisions that affect the rest of us – same goes for the health service, education etc.

And despite the absence of a Boris transport policy for London (see the post on London Reconnections  for 10^th December 2012),  he does use his bike to get around. And black cabs (expensive public transport) – he once beat me to a taxi at Canary Wharf. (photos: 24heuresactu.com and mirror.co.uk)

Quote of the Week

“Ever since the invention of the automobile, transport planners have failed to distinguish between mobility and accessibility. People do not move around for the sake of it — rather, they travel because they want to reach things or places, whether it is shops, offices or simply to visit friends and relatives.”

Christian Wolmar, who has put his name forward for the Labour nomination for the next London mayoral election. It will be interesting to see if Wolmar’s radical ideas for improving London and its transport prove too much for the focus-group timidities of Nu Labour.

Climbing The Shard

Respect to Bradley Garrett of the London Consolidation Crew, The Man Who Climbed The Shard. (picture from The Guardian). Not just because it’s an awesome (really) and scary thing to do – at 309 metres, the tallest building in Europe and all that - but because there was a philosophy behind it. Listen to what he says about public and private space in the city, and on the necessity for us to be “citizens not inhabitants.” When it comes to seizing the commanding heights, the more vertiginous might  prefer to stick to the theory.

A Tale of Two Cities: Carfree in Paris and London

Last week saw two pieces of news which show some key differences between how things are done in two cities which, although only a couple of hundred miles apart, happen to be in different countries: London and Paris. London saw the “topping out” of the central core of the Shard of Glass. The Shard became the UK’s tallest building at 244 metres, compared with One Canada Square, the Canary Wharf tower, which is just 235 metres high. When finished, the Shard will be Europe’s tallest commercial building, at 310 sky scraping metres, or 72 storeys. The Shard sits practically on top of London Bridge station, and, with its hotel, viewing floors, apartments and offices, will generate thousands of new journeys – like the other megabuildings that are now popping up all over central London. The irony is that the Shard is scheduled to be finished in 2012, but the improvements to the Thameslink rail line that runs next to it through London Bridge Station, have just been postponed until 2018. (See previous post).  Compare and contrast with Paris. Here, RER rail lines cross the city as Thameslink does and Crossrail will. And then last week came even more down to earth news: a contract has now been let to provide the four seater electric Autolib, a four wheeled version of Paris’s popular Velib pedal-powered bike hire scheme. The scheme will be launched in Autumn 2011, and means that it will be even easier to be carfree in Paris, as locals will be able to rent an electric vehicle from a fleet of 3,000 whenever they want to.

According to the US National Public Radio, “Paris' pedestrians and cyclists have had a lot to celebrate in a decade of pro-green policies. Since 2001, traffic in the city has dropped nearly 25 percent because of better public transport and restrictions on automobiles.” Whilst electric cars are quieter and less polluting than their fossil fuel equivalents they do not have a zero carbon footprint (see previous post). But this scheme will be another piece in the jigsaw of integrated transport, while London continues to pursue policies where supply always lags demand.   So, London, which eventually caught up with Paris and many other cities which now run bike hire schemes, with the Barclays Bike Hire scheme, has again been overtaken by Paris. Note to Mayor of London Boris Johnson: Are You Listening, Boris?