It's time to ditch politics from cycling, #152

Does transport need to be apolitical, or is it inherently political?

How do we best navigate the complexity, and division, this approach can create? And can we ditch politics from active transport altogether? All the big questions are right here, in this week’s #BikeIsBest.

BIG STORIES FOR CYCLING ADVOCACY

TIME TO DEPOLITICISE CYCLING? This Substack post, by Omer Rafael Bor, eloquently lays out the discrepancy between roadbuilding, seen as a technical solution, and walking and cycling, which have become political. A lack of decent tools to analyse the benefits of active travel, plus the received wisdom of roads, are funneling us into the same old mistakes. We need better messaging to shake the status quo, he argues.

BICYCLES ARE TRAFFIC TOO. On that note, a paper in the Journal of Cycling and Micromobility Research, discusses whether cycling needs reframing as ‘traffic’ too. The idea that bike lanes remove road space for traffic is pervasive and inaccurate - cycle lanes can carry more people than those used for private vehicles. Framing cycle mobility as ‘cycle traffic’ may, researchers suggest, improve support, as may the narrative of ‘traffic conversion’ rather than constriction.

WHO’S KILLING WHOM? It’s gratifying when public health heavyweights enter the transport debate - and few are more heavyweight than the World Health Organisation’s director general. WHO’s Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus argues, along with the UN’s Jean Todt, the world needs to take seriously the vast and preventable toll traffic danger exacts. If a virus killed 1.2m people a year, we would scramble to action, they say - and while we will always make mistakes, the system should absorb those errors in non-fatal ways.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN BIKE LANES BECOME POLITICAL? A cycle lane killed off by 28 responses? That’s what local campaigners have surmised following a Freedom of Information request to North Tyneside council, after the latter announced it was halting plans for a new bike lane between North Shields town centre and a local high school. Street Life in North Tyneside asked the council about the engagement and decision making process around the Preston Road lane and were roundly unimpressed with the response.

AND WHEN CYCLING PLANS GO RIGHT…Oxfordshire County Council is seeking residents’ views on six new walking and cycling routes into Oxford. The ‘greenway’ routes, being developed with Oxford City Council, will link the city with towns and villages within an eight mile radius. The idea is to help people cycle who would otherwise be put off by the prospect of sharing space with motor traffic.

OTHER HEADLINES

WHEN THE COMMUNITY PUSHES FOR CHANGE. A mother started a petition for a Low Traffic Neighbourhood in Newham, east London, after her 3-year-old son was hit by a driver while riding his bike in the area. The driver fled the scene. An LTN was planned for the area two years ago, before, you guessed it, a petition against the proposals. The ‘notorious rat run’ sees 5,022 vehicles a day passing through, many drivers simply taking a shortcut elsewhere.

LOGGING DEMAND... It’s not always straightforward to identify where people are riding - and which routes need improving. Love to Ride is an app that allows users to automatically log bike rides - rather than needing to actively start up a recording each time. The idea is to collect even the short rides to the shops that people might do, to help support advocacy and planning, as app developers put it. They also offer a free ‘Biking Feedback Map’ to help users share good routes and flag barriers.

INSIGHT FROM A COUNCIL LEADER. Council leaders are at the forefront of active travel delivery, and the politicisation of it too. The Moving Up North podcast interviews Trafford Council leader Tom Ross and Executive Member for Climate Change Aidan Williams; it’s an insightful listen for anyone who wants to learn more about how active travel progresses in local authorities.

INTERESTING GRAPH OF THE WEEK: Oxfordshire/Oxford’s greenways plan map. Green are proposed routes (pending funding etc)., and yellow are those already planned. Looks like the beginnings of a network to me. Source: https://letstalk.oxfordshire.gov.uk/oxford-greenways

ACTIVE TRAVEL WORD OF THE WEEK:

Sustainable Development Goals: WHO has a number of SDGs, and 'SDG Target 3.6' is By 2030, halve the number of global deaths and injuries from road traffic collisions.

Until next time,

Adam

Adam Tranter

Founder, #BikeIsBest