:excerptstartLiberty Sheldon17 March, 2021 Spurred on by the coronavirus pandemic, bicycle sales rose 65% in the United States between 2019 and 2020, according to a report in the New York Times. Researchers at the NPD Group, which supplied the findings, also claim that electric bike sales grew by 145% in the same period. :excerpted link to original […]
Calls for government intervention after Kensington and Chelsea leadership team’s decision
Campaigners have called for the government to intervene after a council rebuffed plans to reinstate a flagship cycle lane in central London, reigniting a controversy that has come to exemplify community battles around the country over safe travel amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The lane was installed last year in busy Kensington High Street as part of efforts to boost active travel during the pandemic, and was immediately controversial. Just seven weeks later, despite protests by a local school as well as cyclists who supported the lane, Kensington and Chelsea council took it out again.
Mark Sutton18 March, 2021
Having gathered the views of Labour and Conservative MPs previously, it’s time we gathered the thoughts of what one may assume to be the most natural alignment for the cycling market, The Green Party. CI.N speaks with Peer Jenny Jones on progressing the active travel agenda.
Back in December of 2019 when the Conservative Party, Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party laid out their ‘Cycling Election Manifestos’ at Brompton’s Greenford headquarters three of the four were clearly geared up for a fight on cycling. It had become a genuine policy hot potato; and why not? After all, cycling is directly relevant to everything from the health service, through transport and the economy, not to mention the broader issue of climate change politics.
Damian Carrington
Fri 12 Mar 2021
Pollution from roads affects virtually every part of Britain, with 94% of land having some pollution above background levels, according to research.
Roads, which occupy less than 1% of the country, “form vast, pervasive and growing networks, causing negative environmental impacts”, the scientists said.
The most widespread pollutants are tiny particles, mostly from fossil fuel burning, nitrogen dioxide from diesel vehicles, and noise and light. More than 70% of the country is affected by all of these, with the only land to escape road pollution being almost entirely at high altitudes.
Carlton Reid
14/03/21
There are plans for Grey Street to go greener.
Newcastle City Council
In the 1960s, Newcastle City Council leader T. Dan Smith planned for the city to become the Brasilia of the North, dominated by the automobile. An urban freeway—the Central Motorway—was cut through the beautiful city, with soil from the workings piled up on the green lung of the Town Moor. Citizens were told the spoil would be made into a ski slope.
But Smith’s promise of a “city free and beautiful” fell short: the ski slope never materialized (it was grassed over), a bunch of adjoining freeways never got built, and he was jailed for conspiracy and corruption.
The Biden administration is plugging EV adoption to help the U.S. meet its climate goals, but electrification alone won’t do the job: We need to reduce vehicle use, period.
When President Biden recommitted the U.S. to the Paris Climate Accord on his first day in office, he set into motion what will undoubtedly be an ambitious climate strategy. Already, with his executive order to replace the federal government’s massive vehicle fleet with U.S.-made electric vehicles — quickly followed by a ground-shifting pledge by General Motors to sell EVs only by 2035 — we are witnessing a flurry of actions aimed at reducing emissions across various industries and sectors. After four years of backtracking, the U.S. is on the cusp of a meaningful policy response to climate change.
Simon Kuper
Success of schemes during pandemic has led many cities to plan vastly expanded bike networks
When the coronavirus pandemic led to lockdowns a year ago, hundreds of cities reconfigured their streets to make walking and cycling easier to aid social distancing and reduce air pollution. Now, with an end to the lockdowns in sight, the measures have proved so successful that cities across Europe are betting on the bicycle to lead the recovery.
According to the European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF), the continent’s cities spent €1bn on Covid-related cycling measures in 2020, creating at least 600 miles (1,000km) of cycle lanes, traffic-calming measures and car-free streets.
Mark Sutton8 March, 2021
Freedom of Information requests lodged by climate charity Possible and cycle trade campaign group BikeIsBest have found local authorities demonstrably “unprepared” to deliver boosted cycle to school rates due to shortcomings on cycling and walking infrastructure connecting homes and educational facilities.
The findings quickly follow a Tweet from the Transport Minister Grant Shapps which called upon people to consider easing pressure on public transport by cycling and walking as schools return this week.
Charity maintains report would show current funding insufficient to meet targets to grow cycling and walking
Cycling UK says that the government is suppressing the findings of research into active travel funding from scrutiny by Parliament, maintaining that the data shows that current levels of spend are insufficient to achieve its own targets for growth in cycling and walking.
The claim was made by the national cycling charity’s policy director, Roger Geffen, as he gave evidence to the House of Commons Transport Committee’s inquiry, Reforming public transport after the pandemic.
