Author name: Steven Edwards

A new study of electric bike use in New Zealand has found that the pedal assistance has acted as an enabler to empower women to bike, but more surprising still, could be the catalyst for bike retail environments becoming more inclusive.
The “Gender and the E-bike: Exploring the Role of Electric Bikes in Increasing Women’s Access to Cycling and Physical Activity” paper was published this month, revealing through interviews an optimism that interest in electric bikes was drawing in demographics that have previously been shown to be wary of bike shops, often seeing them as a male dominated environment. Bike shop managers, e-bike users and city planners formed the interview series.

New data from Transport for London (TfL) and Hounslow Council have revealed 72 per cent growth in the number of people cycling on Chiswick High Road since Cycleway 9 opened last December.
The road has also seen a reduction in road traffic casualties and improved air quality – the latter contrary to claims by opponents of the infrastructure that it leads to more pollution.
The trial cycleway is a revised version of plans for the route that were consulted upon prior to the coronavirus pandemic and which received overwhelming public support, despite opposition from a small but vocal minority led by Conservative councillors in Chiswick, which lies within Labour-controlled Hounslow.

Swapfiets, an Amsterdam-based pioneer of the bike subscription model, has now landed in the UK with a service accessible from only £12.90 per month.
Building on a trend of hire businesses launching into the market, Swapfiets hopes to tap into a customer base that either prefers to hire, or struggles to own a bike due to space constraints. It is a trend that is particularly notable in the younger generations who have become accustomed to subscriptions rather than ownership.

…strong alternatives to private cars should also be put in place by both the City of Paris and the Métropole Grand Paris. These would allow all residents to rely less on their vehicles to move around the city and would give more space to pedestrians, cyclists and public transport. To accelerate this space redistribution, the City of Paris is planning to create a LTZ next year which will restrict the circulation of about 180,000 cars crossing the city centre every day. With the right measures, like improving public transport, incentivising car sharing, widely communicating about the restrictions and seriously enforcing the zone, the LTZ can be a real groundbreaker against air pollution, noise pollution and road accidents.

Brigitte Pellerin Jul 05, 2021

Here’s a fun question to start your summer the right way: Do you believe we should make it easier for people to be happy and safe when they move around town, especially in the busier areas closer to the core? And how much do we want to reduce traffic and carbon emissions while we’re at it? A lot, right?

A fire on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico erupted after a gas leak from an underwater pipeline sparked a blaze, according to Mexico’s state-owned Pemex petrol company.

Footage of the fire – appearing to boil the ocean’s surface with bright orange flames – went viral on 2 July before the fire was extinguished roughly 150 yards from a drilling platform in Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, the company reported.
The company said that “no injuries or evacuations are reported.”
Pemex reported a leak at 5:15am on Friday in the submarine pipeline near its Ku-Maloob-Zaap’s Ku-C satellite platform in the Campeche Sound.