Get Off the Bus, Gus…

…and walk a bit. And then get on another bus. Get off. And walk some more! Great to see Brighton and Hove Buses supporting active travel, with this bus spotted in Portland Road, Hove.

RIP Heathcote Williams

Sad to read of the death of Heathcote Williams, author of, among other things, the epic anti-car poem Autogeddon, some of which you can read here. 

Hard not to love a work that contains the line “Exile on Maim Street.”

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.

Only in America

No, not Donald Trump, but, on a related topic, this t-shirt, seen in the lounge car of the California Zephyr westbound from Chicago this summer. Not only has the National Rifle Association appropriated the great British ‘Keep Calm’ meme, but they have transformed it into a gun-supporting slogan. And then, as if that wasn’t enough, not just carry a gun, but guns, plural. How many guns can each of us carry? And how can there ever be enough? Keep calm? I don’t think so….

“The Revolution…Will Not Be Driverless”

Amid all the hype about autonomous/self-driving cars, here’s a corrective from Christian Wolmar, writing in the New Statesmen. As Wolmar says, the danger is that seeing driver-free cars as a panacea risks diverting attention from the urgent task of improving public transport…and getting people out of their cars. Which would be better for all of us.

RIP David Bowie: Rock’s Only Genius

I’d always thought that if David Bowie had a spiritual home town in the UK it would be Brighton. He only played here twice, both times during the hectic Ziggy Stardust period – he landed at Brighton Dome on 14^th February 1972 and 23^rd May 1973. Brighton is the place in the UK that seems to be about the closest you’ll get to what Bowie stood for – fluidity, tolerance, eclecticism, quirkiness, hedonism, iconoclasm. So I’ve been surprised by the apparent lack of visible reaction to his death. Maybe it’s the youth of the population? Maybe you had to have been there - the 70s – to really get what he meant. Maybe we take it all for granted nowadays. Anyhow, here’s the only tribute I have spotted, in a bookshop window in the North Laine. And here’s a (not very good) photo I took at the Station to Station gig at Wembley. Post-Ziggy, but equally memorable. David Bowie: Brixton, 8.1.1947 to New York, 10.1.2016. The Thin White Duke has gone but he will not be forgotten.