£2 billion package to create new era for cycling and walking

[whole diary]

[CyclingSid]

The details of the cycling and walking announcement can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/2-billion-package-to-create-new-era-for-cycling-and-walking

Some snippets


    largest ever boost for cyclists and pedestrians
    emergency bike lanes and streets will help support transport network
    trials of rental e-scooters to be brought forward to increase green transport options
    government working with leading tech developers to reduce crowding on public transport

Pop-up bike lanes with protected space for cycling, wider pavements, safer junctions, and cycle and bus-only corridors will be created in England within weeks as part of a £250 million emergency active travel fund - the first stage of a £2 billion investment, as part of the £5 billion in new funding announced for cycling and buses in February. [So it is not new money]

Generally welcomed by Edmund King, President of the AA.

Chris Boardman, cycling lead for Greater Manchester, thought temporary infrastructure was a good start, and at the end of the period people might want to keep it. [Don't want to scare the horses at this stage]

My concern with the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) report/ SoS was that it was said that money would be now but the design standards would not be available until June.

Be interesting to see more details.

[Marlburian]

A few comments on the latest speculation.

Not much point in people wearing masks if they fiddle around with them, putting their fingers and thumbs close to their mouths and noses and then touching surfaces - or vice versa.

I was once a very keen cyclist and have never been keen on unnecessary motoring, but as someone who now walks a lot - and may do so to get into the town centre, rather than use buses and trains - I wince at the thought of nervous novice cyclists riding along on pavements. The other day a woman rider whizzed past me downhill along a pavement, even though the road was devoid of vehicles.

And there's also talk of e-scooters being encouraged - on roads, on pavements, or both? Sharing cycle lanes may seem a good idea, but cyclists won't like that. A friend of mine who cycles everywhere in London has already complained bitterly by being cut up by people on e-bikes.

[rogerw]

The use of escooters will require legislation. At present it is an offence to use them in a public place/highway

[TonyN]

May need to open shoe shops before expecting people to walk.
See attached
My shoes after a lot more walking recently.

[Surrey 455]

May need to open shoe shops before expecting people to walk.
See attached
My shoes after a lot more walking recently.

They look very similar to the Mountain Warehouse trainers I had a few years back which wore out at an angle on the heel. I had them less than a year.

[Bob_Blakey]

A significant increase in walking and, more pertinent from my perspective, cycling in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) (England?) will end badly unless the authorities deliver the appropriate behavioural messages at the same time, e.g. cycling on pavements is prohibited, because it is (potentially) extremely dangerous, unless there are signs / markings to indicate shared use.

Two incidents from my daily exercise bike ride yesterday to illustrate some other issues: a male/female couple using a shared unsegregated footway/cycleway cycling towards me one on either side of the path. It is, I think, accepted by all cyclists who know what they are about that we travel on the left-hand side in the direction of travel of all thoroughfares.
A little later I had great difficulty passing a cyclist travelling much more slowly in the same direction as me on a narrow, but pretty quiet, road because they were swerving from side-to-side. Surprise, surprise (not) as I eventually 'undertook' saw one mitt on the handlebars and the other fiddling with a 'phone. Using a mobile when cycling is both dangerous & illegal. 

[grahame]

With such major changes to "last mile" travel (if we characterise it as that, though it's more than a mile), is it time for an overview look at all current and foreseen ways people wish to get around locally, whether or not they are legal at the moment:

- Walking
- Wheelchair / pram / pushchair users
- Jogging and running
- Pedal cycles
- Scooters (unpowered)
- Skateboards
- Walking frames
- Spring legs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5V356k-9a8) - see image below

- Horses, donkeys and unicorns
- Dog carts - (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBAT9S4sYjY) - see image below

- Electrically assisted bicycles
- eScooters and Segways
- Mobility scooters [as used mainly by senior and disable people]

[CyclingSid]

I think you will find it is a chicken and egg situation. The roads have to be seen to be safer before people will be happy to use them, especially new users. Another group are those who have been cycling on the pavement for years, and still do when there is no traffic.

On the cycling on the left I wholeheartedly agree. But I have seen in the cycling press in the past, those who think enforcing it is an infringement of their civil liberties.

Cyclists like motorists include a range of individuals with different behaviours, some more considerate of others than others. I think it was said in the media discussion yesterday, it takes time to change behaviours.

[Red Squirrel]

The use of escooters will require legislation. At present it is an offence to use them in a public place/highway

True, though this country is unusual in this.

There were already moves afoot to start tentatively relaxing this prohibition before the present crisis. It is very likely that the law will change sooner now.

[Marlburian]

Several comments on recent posts. OK, I've done a lot of walking in the past 20 years, but I've had to return under year-long warranties nearly all the boots that I've purchased. My very first pair survived for three years, another pair lasted 15 months (and luckily by signing up for marketing emails I'd extended the warranty on those). I replaced my last pair in February and hopefully the new ones will last until personal shopping becomes feasible.

The increase in cycling was being discussed on the radio on Friday, and one listener trotted out the usual anti-cyclist line and called for cyclists to display registration numbers - whether on tabards or on their bikes he didn't specify. On bikes they would be very vulnerable to theft - motor-cyclists and scooter-riders used to find that road-fund discs on their machines were liable to be stolen. And tabards are readily transferable and easily faked.

Nor was anything said about enforcement. The police do seize many uninsured cars, but there are still said to be a million on the roads and I would rather they dealt with more of these than struggle to enforce a cyclist-registration scheme. As it is, very little indeed is done to prevent cyclists illegally riding.

And there's a consultation going on about cars parked on pavements (which I think we've discussed before). Who would enforce a ban? There's already such a ban on my road, which has eased anti-social parking, but there are still residents who ignore it - including the idiot who sometimes leaves his SUV half on the pavement, half on the road, too close to that sharp bend in Oak Tree Road, Tilehurst (that some of you will know).

[Robin Summerhill]

The increase in cycling was being discussed on the radio on Friday, and one listener trotted out the usual anti-cyclist line and called for cyclists to display registration numbers

The matter that these folk are unable to grapple with is that cycling is not age-restricted. Anybody from a toddler to an octeganarian is allowed to ride a bike. At the yonger end of that range you have individuals who are below the age of criminal responsibility. Are you going to put a "number plate" (or the other old chestnut - insurance) on that? And if they then come back with an age-related argument you can then point out how hard it is to tell a kid's age (unless you are still one yourself)

And there's a consultation going on about cars parked on pavements (which I think we've discussed before). Who would enforce a ban? There's already such a ban on my road, which has eased anti-social parking, but there are still residents who ignore it - including the idiot who sometimes leaves his SUV half on the pavement, half on the road, too close to that sharp bend in Oak Tree Roiad, Tilehurst (that some of you will know).

I wonder if its the same people who park on the pavement also complain about cyclists?

That is one of the failings of the human species in a civilised society. They want laws rigorously enforced that they are not going to be breaking, but want a more relaxed attitude taken about laws they are likely to break...

[TaplowGreen]

As a motorist and a cyclist I can acknowledge that both groups are capable of behaviour or accidents causing injury or death, no matter how each tries to take the moral high ground.

I don't think number plates are the answer for bikes, but I do think cyclists should be insured.

They are polarised groups, but perhaps motorists need to be a little less selfish, and cyclists a little less defiant and self righteous, in order to bring them a little closer together.

Pedestrians remain in peril from both!!!

[Bmblbzzz]

Has there been any clue as to what form these "pop up" cycle lanes are supposed to take? And to why they're to be temporary rather than permanent? If we end up with a load of "shared use" pavements, that's worse than nothing, for everyone apart from drivers. Painted lanes on otherwise unaltered roads can be okay, if they're wide enough, for those who are already reasonably brave; but in practice they very rarely are wide enough.

[Richard Fairhurst]

It's expressly meant to be "reallocat[ing] road space to people walking and cycling". In other words, taking space from the main carriageway, not from pavements. It also says "Facilities should be segregated as far as possible, i.e. with physical measures separating cyclists and other traffic. Lanes indicated by road markings only are very unlikely to be sufficient to deliver the level of change needed, especially in the longer term."

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reallocating-road-space-in-response-to-covid-19-statutory-guidance-for-local-authorities/traffic-management-act-2004-network-management-in-response-to-covid-19

[Red Squirrel]

Mayor’s bold new Streetspace plan will overhaul London’s streets
06 May 2020

• Transformation of London’s roads to be fast-tracked, giving space to new cycle lanes and wider pavements to enable social distancing
• Landmark locations to benefit from temporary bike routes and more space for walking to reduce pressure on Tube and buses
• Clean, green and sustainable travel to be at the heart of London’s recovery
• Cycling could increase 10-fold and walking five-fold post-lockdown

...continues

Source Mayor of London/London Assembly