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• A few stats from @BobFromAccounts to start off: “Contrary to popular belief, London has fewer than 200km of separated cycle lanes on 15,000 kms of road. That's 1.3%. Contrary to popular belief, it's not cyclists or cycle lanes holding you up; it's other drivers.
• Cycling infrastructure has been quietly introduced in the US, despite the current administration’s myopic view of cycling for transport. Chicago built 31 miles of protected bike lanes & greenways in 2024, while Detroit, is creating a 28-mile greenway, to connect 23 neighbourhoods, three nearby cities, and integrating marginalised communities.
• The @nytimes finds that the recent New York CCZ is already doing a fabulous job––in every respect.
• Transportation Alternatives, who fought for the CCZ, published their Bicycle Blueprint 30 years ago; the update aims for a million daily bike trips by 2030, The New Bicycle Blueprint: A Plan to Make New York a World-Class Bicycling City. To learn more sign up for Thursday's webinar – May 29, 6:30 pm (US).
• Nearer to home, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo’s aim for a “second Amsterdam” is gaining recognition as Paris overtakes the pioneering Dutch capital of urban mobility to come top in the Clean Cities grading of 36 European cities for child-friendly cycling infrastructure.
Paris has built 112 miles (180km) of cycling lanes and in 2021, installed a 30km/h speed limit.
London leads in school streets (scoring 42%), having built more than 500 school streets in under 10 years.
• Anne Hidalgo will be joined in Paris this summer, by Canadian Urbanist @BrentToderian, to co-curate an exhibition, on bold urban transformation worldwide. Look out for details!
• Amsterdam––notable for longstanding & ongoing progress, celebrates its 750 year anniversary, opening 15 kms of ring road for citizens writes @fietsprofessor.
With cultural events offered, greening initiatives & social events. (Demand for the 280.000 free tickets led to digital gridlock!)
• In Germany, @domwhiting drew 4,000-5,000 people for Drum & Bass On The Bike Berlin, his biggest ride to date.
• Back at home, Greater Manchester's Active Travel Commissioner, Dame Sarah Storey has announced a target for 60 School Streets by next year, as Bradford city centre takes strides to welcome pedestrians & people riding bicycles. “Incredible! Changing perceptions of place, driving investment, fostering civic pride and creating attractive, accessible spaces” @jordanbhx.
• Further north, Edinburgh is achieving higher levels of cycle commuting than Cambridge, at 10%. “Is this the new Copenhagen?” asks the Times. (Paywall issues? Never mind; the article also more typically sides with the motorist abusers that drove Jeremy Vine to end his superb cycling-video-reports)…
• …which reminds us, isn't it about time for a through-traffic-free Central London? As Phineas Harper writes, “banning cars in city centres has worked around the world. Why isn’t London’s Oxford Street pedestrianised yet?”. (CCC support the changes, providing that alternatives for cycling are created).
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