#BikeIsBest Advocacy Digest - Edition No. 110
Hello and welcome to #BikeIsBest, where spring has well and truly sprung and bicycles with suspension are bounding across the fields like lambs in April.
UK TRANSPORT ISN’T WORKING (AND NOR ARE THE CULTURE WARS)
That’s the message from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) this week, while in Europe, people living in cycling cities are happier with their public space and, in science, cycling boosts our happy hormones. Meanwhile, the culture wars rage on, and NYC is seeing some worrying cycling safety trends.
BIG STORIES FOR CYCLING ADVOCACY
DITCH THE CULTURE WARS ON TRANSPORT. The IPPR has polled 2041 British people and more than half of them think public transport to and from work is essential (53%), compared with one in five who consider a car the same. Referencing the futility of the ‘war on motorists’ and Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs), the research found 38% of people wanted to walk, cycle or wheel more than they do now.
CYCLING CITIES ARE SATISFIED CITIES. That’s the research from the European Cyclists’ Federation, which logged cycling rates and cycle infrastructure against perceived quality of life. There was a correlation between cycle routes and satisfaction surveys from different EU cities, the research found, though with caveats, while people liked their cities’ public space better with more cycle routes. What was clear was that more cycle routes equaled more cycling.
CYCLING BOOSTS ‘LOVE HORMONES’. According to new research, cycling boosts oxytocin, a hormone associated with love and bonding. Scientists already knew exercise boosts the chemical, known as the love hormone, or cuddle hormone, but this study, reported by GCN, was specific to cycling. Importantly, the hormone is also associated with general happiness, ergo cycling makes you happier.
ITALIAN MPS ACCUSED OF ‘ANTI-GREEN’ AGENDA. A transport culture war is being waged in Italy too, it seems. A proposed new law will prevent mayors, who have led the way on active travel so far, installing new cycle infrastructure, or speed cameras on streets with speed limits less than 50km/h and from ‘filtering’ streets to certain users, such as cyclists or buses. 40 cities, 350 mobility experts and 30 European civil society organisations have expressed formal objections so far.
NYC E-BIKE FATALITIES RISE AS PEDESTRIAN DEATHS FALL. Bloomberg’s Justin Fox attempts to unpick the sad trend that more e-bike riders are dying on New York city streets, as pedestrian and regular cyclist deaths fall. E-bikes were legalised in NYC in 2020; is it their growing numbers, or some kind of risk compensation? Long story short, it’s unclear. Let’s hope this sad trend is addressed soon.
INTERESTING GRAPH OF THE WEEK:
People want investment in transport choices - including walking, cycling and wheeling. Source: IPPR
ACTIVE TRAVEL WORD OF THE WEEK:
Culture war. A cultural conflict between different groups attempting to politically impose their own ideologies (beliefs, virtues, practices) upon society, says Wikipedia. According to the Policy Institute, most culture wars are ‘either overblown or manufactured - if they exist at all’.
Until next time,
Miles
Miles Baker-Clarke
#BikeIsBest