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.

Should we stop talking about “pedestrians”?

And start talking about “people on foot” or “people who walk”? In the light of the debate about grim cycling statistics, there’s a great blog post on the subject Can Saying "People on Bikes" Instead of "Cyclists" Make Biking Safer? Obviously, there’s a need for proper infrastructure for people who choose to get around under their own steam on two wheels (sometimes called cyclists - there, I nearly did it). But this post goes beyond issues of the physical (design) to the psychology (the way we think about other road users), and holds that it would be better to replace the term “cyclists” with “people on bikes.” Because whether we are on a bike, in a car, on a bus or a train or on foot – we are all people. Whatever our mode of transport, we are people on our living streets.

So we need to formulate a new taxonomy of street users – and reframe the way we use the roads. Because most journeys are multi-modal: even a car journey starts with a walk. So does it help to call us pedestrians? Surely we are people who walk. Or people on foot.

Quote of the week

"A street outlives all of the buildings along it."

Architect Terry Farrell, speaking on The Politics of Architecture on BBC Radio 4.