Yes, Mr Mayor

The Mayor of London has just published his Transport Strategy: Draft for Public Consultation. It’s a document from which any town or city in the UK, and many further afield, could draw lessons. 

As an example, here’s an extract from the Mayor’s Foreword where I have removed the word ‘London’, so that you can substitute the name of your own town or city where the following appears ******. Remove the word "tube" to make it even more applicable.

“Car dependency has contributed to an increase in poor public health across our city. Streets can often be polluted, congested and dangerous – unwelcoming places to walk or cycle. Tube, rail and bus services can be overcrowded and sometimes unreliable and indirect, meaning there is no appealing alternative to car use for many. And some parts of ****** have been planned around car use for so long that there are no decent alternatives.

To begin to resolve these problems, ****** must become a city where walking, cycling and green public transport become the most appealing and practical choices for many more journeys. These active and sustainable transport choices not only support the health and wellbeing of ******ers, but also the city as a whole by reducing congestion and providing the most efficient use of valuable street space.”

Use the link above to get to a summary report, or download the whole thing.

“Cities that actively promote physical activities” (that’s walking and cycling, folks) “enjoy an economic advantage”

That’s the BBC headline covering a new report on “Active Cities”, a meta-study based on research findings from 17 countries. One of the key findings is that, based on studies that assessed the economic benefits of walking and cycling interventions, the average return was £13 for every £1 invested. In the UK, the return was shown to be as high as £19. Here’s a link to the executive summary of the study.

And here’s a snip from the report, covering the wide range of benefits that are generated for cities where physical activity is more attractive and convenient. Including the economic benefits.

Source:Making the Case for Designing Active Cities (2015) Report prepared by James F. Sallis, PhD, Active Living Research, University of California, San Diego Chad Spoon, MRP, Active Living Research, University of California, San Diego

Quote of the Week

“If just five minutes of the average 36 minutes a day people spend in cars was used for cycling the NHS would see a 5% fall in inactivity-related illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes and strokes.”

Report by British Cycling, published today

New Year’s Resolution…

…for traffic engineers, planners, councillors, architects, developers, urban regenerators and anyone wanting to improve equity, prosperity, sustainability, walk-ability, bike-abilty, child-friendliness, and liveability for people who work in, live in, travel in or visit our towns and cities.

 

GIVE UP

TAKE UP

Graphic adapted from: @copenhagenize

A new bridge in Shoreham for pedestrians and cyclists

Just along the coast, but often overlooked by residents of Brighton and Hove, sits the town of Shoreham - where a new bridge now links Shoreham town with Shoreham Beach, a replacement for the ugly old footbridge which spanned the River Adur.

The new bridge is an attractive structure, particularly at night, when innovative lighting shines from the handrails. The bridge is a boon for people on foot and for people on bikes – no cars on this bridge! Bridges can play an important role in economic regeneration, and this one will no doubt be a boon for the locals, and a stimulus for businesses on both sides.

The bridge is part of a Sustrans cycle route but it isn’t a bridleway – locals apparently got upset when some horses crossed over and left their calling cards on the pristine new surface. Presumably, good news for local rose growers.

As the photos show, It’s a pretty bridge. But it’s not quite in the same category as this pedestrian bridge designed by NEXT architects and destined for China (the Changsha-Meixi lake crossing) pictured in the current edition of EG Magazine. Would a design like this have been a bridge too far for Shoreham?

Photos: Mabeybridge Ltd, EGmagazine, NEXT architects, Adur & Worthing Council

The Paradox of Bikes in Britain

There’s an interesting article by Anthony Young on the European bicycle market in the latest edition of Bricycles magazine, the magazine for Brighton and Hove’s cycle enthusiasts. It comments on the latest statistics on the European bicycle market and I’ve taken the liberty of extracting a chunk.


“The UK…. has easily the highest bike sales of the big five nations – well ahead of cycling-mad France, and twice as high as Italy, traditional centre of the bike world. UK bike sales, over 3.5m p.a., or 58/1,000 people, are over 40% higher than the European average. This isn’t a Bradley Wiggins Olympics phenomenon – the figures are for 2011 and the UK’s lead in bike sales has been like this for many years. Nobody knows how many usable bikes there are in the UK, but it must be around twenty million. That would mean over 30% of Britons has a bike, even though apparently less than 3% ride their bike regularly. Perhaps that’s the link that squares the circle. Britons have more bikes than anyone else, but use them less. Is this to be explained by a lack of safe opportunities to cycle in the UK? Cycle facilities here are much poorer than continental countries, where they actually have fewer bikes.


This portrays cycling as a huge unrealised opportunity for the UK. We’re perfectly capable of riding our bikes. If facilities were better and if those millions of bikes (which have car driving owners) were used as they are in Europe, we would make huge savings on petrol and our roads and hospital wards would be far less crowded. We just need to get people who own bikes to see themselves as cyclists, those who don’t own bikes to see that they’d be better off if more people rode bikes rather than driving cars, and public authorities to see that it would be in the national interest to give equal priority to cycle facilities.”

Well said, Anthony.

Quote of the Week

“Cycling needs to be seen as an enhanced form of walking.”

Lord Hoffman of Get Britain Cycling, an all-party parliamentary enquiry set up by the parliamentary cycling group in an attempt to capitalise on general enthusiasm for cycling following the London Olympics. Hoffman said that 'cycling requires a long-term commitment from government' and the cycling culture needs to be seen as an everyday thing. Just like walking….