#BikeIsBest Advocacy Digest - Edition No. 139
It's the newsletter edition that can't decide if it's Halloween or Budget themed. Perhaps both.
Hello and welcome to this special, spooky edition of your favourite newsletter, where woooohooo-wheels and p-p-p-pedal power are best. It’s also Budget Day in the UK; which you might think is scary, depending on your outlook.
DEFEATING HORROR LORRIES, FLOODED TUNNELS AND THE GHOST OF HARD CASH
Was it trick or treat for active travel?
BIG STORIES FOR CYCLING ADVOCACY
£100M FOR ACTIVE TRAVEL IN 25/26 BUDGET. £100 million is considerably more than the amount allocated following cuts from the Sunak government. But it’s also considerably less than the £400m or so spent in one year on the “Active Travel Fund” under Boris Johnson.
Transport Secretary Louise Haigh pulled it out as a particular highlight for the budget: “We’re also providing an additional £100m to support cycling and walking: almost *tripling* investment in active travel compared to last year,” Haigh tweeted. “This will help revitalise our high streets, deliver better air quality and improve public health.”
The fact that the government is no longer hostile to active travel is a huge positive. But we should remember the benefits it brings when done at scale; active travel is the only form of transport that helps us build health back into streets in a way that’ll genuinely reduce the burden on the NHS. It also speaks to so many of the Government’s stated missions. Investment, therefore, needs to match the size of the prize, in my opinion.
IT’S NOT WHAT CAMPAIGNERS WANTED. 18 organisations urged the government to invest in walking and cycling. Among the usual suspects, Cycling UK etc., are the Centre for Mental Health and the Association of Directors of Public Health, plus academics. They wanted 10% of the transport budget for active travel, an investment they say will return up to £38bn in benefits each year.
DRIVERS FEEL “IGNORED” IN BUDGET DESPITE £3BN TAX CUT. GB News says “Drivers ignored by Rachel Reeves in Budget,” citing the lack of reference to car insurance prices (despite a dedicated taskforce being announced just a week ago on this topic). I’m not sure how anyone can say drivers are being ignored with a straight face following a £3bn tax cut in the shape of a fuel duty freeze. It’s your regular reminder that however much you subsidise driving, you’ll get the same complaints.
MAJOR CYCLE ROUTE SLOWLY BEING DRAINED. No, not of blood - the Two Tunnels route near Bath has been flooded for some months, after a very wet year. The impact of climate change is being seen on the cycle network and it’s taken months for the council to get a pump running to drain it. Community-minded locals are keeping people updated here. They say the route will be closed throughout November as mitigation works continue.
LESS LORRY HORROR FOR LONDON. The horror of huge vehicles being driven around cities with vast blind spots is receding in London, as new standards were introduced this week. Lorries over 12 tonnes operating in Greater London now must have at least a three-star ‘direct vision’ rating, or updated safety features. However, there’s been criticism over extensions for some operators, while many London boroughs are lagging badly behind.
STRETFORD HIGH STREET SHAPESHIFTS. A brand-new bike lane complete with new trees and widened pavements, will now greet visitors to Stretford High Street after a transformation. Funded by the Future High Streets award, improvements also include new play areas, sustainable drainage, or SuDS, and some sun loungers. Most road investment in England goes to large trunk roads but, as this scheme shows, with focused local roads investment, we could transform local centres and communities.
(POSSIBLY SPOOKY) STUFF! As the nights have officially drawn in, and the temperature is starting to drop for some of us, it’s nice to see the Guardian’s new consumer section, ‘The Filter’, share some season-appropriate cycling stuff for readers. From heated gloves to commuter jackets, these are Simon Usborne’s “11 winter cycling essentials to keep you safe and cosy”.
OTHER HEADLINES
MAN BRIDGES ‘FUN DEFICIT’. Road signs aren’t often the cause of mirth - other than the ‘toads crossing’, or ‘ducks crossing’. OK, maybe they are. Still, one man in Chichester is on a mission to bridge the ‘fun deficit’ as he sees it. Calling himself the Chichester Anti-Recreation Partnership (Carp), his cable-tied signs not only poke fun at ‘overregulation’ of public space, but social issues, like a lack of activities for young people.
INTERESTING GRAPH OF THE WEEK:
Transport costs - the reality. Public transport (which we need a lot more people to take to reduce congestion, improve air quality and decarbonise transport) costs are rising above inflation, but motoring (which we need less of) manages to continue to escape inflation. Make it make sense.
This graph comparing transport costs between 2011 and 2021 shows the disparity amongst modes.
Source: https://www.statista.com/chart/24962/change-in-costs-of-uk-public-transport-and-motoring/
ACTIVE TRAVEL WORD OF THE WEEK:
SMIDSY. Sorry Mate, I Didn’t See You. The fact is, we cannot make ourselves invisible…yet - and still it’s used as an excuse. As the clocks go back, and daylight fades, traffic fatalities have a horrible habit of spiking. It might help cut crashes if car manufacturers stopped fitting cars with huge brightly-lit dash-mounted screens, featuring touch-screen drop-down menus for even basics like windscreen wipers. It’s a zombie-level no-brainer if you ask me.
Until next time,
Adam Tranter
Founder, #BikeIsBest