#BikeIsBest Advocacy Digest No. 102

Hello and where did I leave my bike? That’s the question too many people end up asking upon returning to what has, by now, become the scene of a crime.

ROAD VIOLENCE, CYCLE TO WORK AND MORE LTNS.

It’s another week of highs and lows in the world of BikeIsBest, with two influential debates, thanks to the All Party Parliamentary Group for Cycling and Walking (APPGCW), held in Parliament this week. In their own ways, both have shown us how far we have to go to improve cycling safety, and access to cycling, in the UK, as well as highlighting those who are fighting to improve matters.

MONEY, THEFT AND SUV FIGHTBACK

Hopefully most of us still have our bikes in our possession, but it looks like we might need a boat, or a sledge, this week, as heavy rain and snowfall are forecast. Whatever the weather throws at you, may it find you ready and safe. Right, let’s get to the newsletter part. 

BIG STORIES FOR CYCLING ADVOCACY

SMALL MONEY, SMALL CYCLING. That’s what this report, by the Institute for Public Policy Research, concludes this week. It notes underfunding of active travel in the past decade has hampered UK cycling and walking by failing to make them attractive as modes of travel. £50 per person per year is needed, it says, for the next decade, in both infrastructure and interventions, to fully reap active travel’s economic, health and environmental benefits.  

CYCLE THEFT BITES. There seems to have been a spate of cycle thefts from journalists, most recently from the Guardian’s Zoe Williams. While Williams takes a philosophical stance on the experience - we are merely our bikes’ temporary carers, she concludes - it’s one that still impacts too many people. And, we know, potentially stops them cycling again.

SECURE STORAGE BITES BACK. In the latest episode of Streets Ahead, Laura Laker travels to north London to see possibly the first on-street council-installed cargo cycle parking hangar in the UK. Cargo cycles are expensive and secure parking is a major barrier to uptake. She talks to those backing provision, from cycling and walking commissioner Will Norman, to those who would like secure cargo cycle parking where they live. 

AND PARIS BITES BACK ON SUVS. Larger cars use more space, are more dangerous in collisions, and generate more air pollution, whether they are electric or not. This month Parisiens voted, albeit on a tiny turnout with a fairly narrow margin, to charge SUV drivers more to park in the city, in a bid to crack down on these resource-intensive vehicles. London mayor, Sadiq Khan, notes while good ideas spread, he’s not currently considering following. But Ireland’s Labour party supports the idea.  

BYE BYE BIKE BOOM? We’ve been hearing about the worrying post-pandemic decline in the cycle industry. Sadly, the UK sport is not in much better shape, according to this well-written piece from Jonathan Liew in the Guardian. He eloquently makes the sometimes unfashionable link between the sport and wider cycling participation. The two, after all, do not exist in silos. 

OTHER HEADLINES

STREET RECLAIMING. To leave on a cheery note, this piece from 2020 explores the ways in which people can reclaim streets from traffic for people. As its author, and the author of two books on the topic, notes: “The role of transport in cities is not to move people and freight, but to deliver exchanges—both planned and spontaneous”. His methods of bringing communities together with limited budgets to transform their streets is inspiring.  

INTERESTING GRAPH(IC) OF THE WEEK: 

Vehicles have grown and SUVs are the most obvious examples. This graphic, from the Financial Times, shows these oversized vehicles are taking street space from other road users, not least those cycling. Source: The FT

ACTIVE TRAVEL WORD OF THE WEEK:

Integrated transport. Transport doesn't exist in silos, and England's new-ish cycling minister spoke to an All Party Parliamentary Group meeting yesterday about why it's important his role brings together his dual briefs of roads and active travel - because the two must work together, to be effective.

Until next time,

Adam Tranter

Founder, #BikeIsBest