Findings
Goodman, Anna, Scott Urban, and Rachel Aldred. 2020. “The Impact of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and Other Active Travel Interventions on Vehicle Ownership: Findings from the Outer London Mini-Holland Programme.” Findings, December. https://doi.org/10.32866/001c.18200.
Abstract We use vehicle registration data to examine whether active travel interventions in Outer London between 2015-2019 affected motor vehicle ownership, compared to other neighbourhoods. We find statistically significant reductions in car/van ownership in areas introducing ‘low traffic neighbourhoods’ (-6%, or 23 cars/vans per 1000 adults, after two years). We also find statistically significant but smaller reductions in areas introducing other infrastructure such as cycle tracks (-2%, or 7 cars/vans per 1000 adults, after 2 years). These effects increased after adjusting for the changing age profile of the intervention areas. Our findings indicate that active travel interventions can reduce motor-vehicle ownership, particularly interventions involving low traffic neighbourhoods.
City of London set to replace car park spaces with last-mile cargo bike delivery hub | road.cc
SIMON_MACMICHAEL TUE, DEC 08, 2020
A report from the City of London Corporation’s Department of the Built Environment (see Agenda Item 6 at page 491 here) recommends that the proposal be adopted by the Planning and Transportation Committee when it meets next Tuesday.
The report, flagged up on Twitter by user always last, notes that repurposing the car parking spaces is in line with the Corporation’s 25-year Transport Strategy, adopted in May last year, and which “provides a strong mandate to deliver a radical freight programme.”
The car parking spaces concerned are in the London Wall Car Park at the south west corner of the Barbican Estate, with the report saying that “Last mile logistics hubs facilitate deliveries by cargo cycles and pedestrian porters, removing large numbers of delivery vehicles from City streets.
‘I’m often faster’: Milan’s bicycling bookseller takes on the online giants | The Guardian
Angela Giuffrida 9 Dec 2020
Luca Santini took his fight against Amazon and others to the streets after having to close his bookshop
Luca Ambrogio Santini is considered to be something of a knight-errant as he cycles around parts of Milan on his red cargo bike delivering books to people’s homes, so much so he is affectionately called the “Don Quixote of booksellers”.
“Quixote went to fight against the windmills,” Santini said of the protagonist in the classic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. “My windmills are the online retailers from those monster multinationals … which for us independent booksellers are unnameable.”
The former bookstore owner sighs before uttering a name: “Obviously, Amazon––I practically do what they do, and often I’m faster than them.”
August) Tackling The Main Roads – The Ranty Highwayman
The post had a few comments (I’ve published all received) and unfortunately a few have kind of reinforced the point I was making. There were people projecting onto others with the usual tropes of why nobody is thinking of elderly people, disabled people and NHS workers (home visits). There was a comment about the schemes pushing traffic from where wealthy car owners live onto the main roads where less well-off people live. There was also a comment about going the extra mile (yes I smiled) to listen to concerns which I cannot disagree with.
Then we had a description of the idea as being draconian, the idea that international experience can just be dismissed and that apparently LTNs will make it difficult to access places of worship so people will have to stop practicing their religion. Actually, none of these comments are new to me, I have literally heard it all before.
It’s not just speed that kills. New research recognises the danger of all traffic on our streets. – Action Vision Zero
by Jeremy Leach and Emma Griffin
The news that not one pedestrian or person cycling died on Oslo’s streets in 2019 came as a jolt to the countries and cities struggling to meet Vision Zero targets.
Last year, 130 people died on London’s streets including 71 pedestrians and five cyclists, according to TfL’s provisional figures. This January, in Peckham alone, three people were killed in road collisions. The UK was also one of only three European nations where pedestrian casualties rose in last decade, according to European Transport Safety Council.
So what is Oslo (and Norway that adopted Vision Zero in 1999) doing that’s so different? Is there a link between Oslo’s commitment to go car free and this fall in fatalities?
New research suggests there is. Action Vision Zero has been exploring a report by Todd Litman, from the Victoria Transport Policy Institute, that concludes that all motor traffic exposes people to danger. This means that road safety policies must do more than tackle dangerous driving and include actions for traffic reduction, such as road pricing. In doing so, Vision Zero is not just about solving road danger, but also our air quality, climate change and inactivity crises.
Climate change: Lower Thames Crossing CO2 impact figures revealed – BBC News
11 hours ago
By Roger Harrabin BBC environment analyst
Estimates say building the Lower Thames Crossing (LTC), a flagship project in the UK’s roads programme, will emit 2 million tonnes of the greenhouse gas.
Meanwhile, traffic created by the road is expected to generate another 3.2 million tonnes over 60 years.
Environmentalists say the statistics make a mockery of the prime minister’s claim to lead on climate change.
A government report published in March provisionally estimated the UK’s net carbon emissions in 2019 to be 351.5 million tonnes.
The Thames crossing is said to be the UK’s biggest roads project since the M25.
Ministers say the scheme, supported by the CBI and the AA, will bring a huge economic boost on both sides of the river and relieve congestion on the orbital motorway.
But the emissions figures, obtained through a Freedom of Information request after Highways England initially declined to release them, have angered environmentalists.
MP’s view: Ruth Cadbury on cycling advocacy and accessibility for all – Cycle Industry News
Mark Sutton 3 December, 2020
There is a sense that political will toward cycling is changing in Westminster. In what will hopefully become a CI.N exclusive series with each edition we will invite MPs from across the political spectrum to share their vision for cycling. Kicking us off, Ruth Cadbury, co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group talks policy, advocacy and transport…
For co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group the role is one that has been grown into over time, though from speaking with the Brentwood and Isleworth Labour MP you could easily believe Ruth Cadbury has been on the front line of cycling advocacy for decades.
Good Cycling Facility of the Week: 3rd December 2020 | Cycling Embassy of Great Britain
This week’s Good Cycling Faciltiy is a cycle-only exit from a residential street in the Dutch city of Delft.
This street is effectively a dead-end for motor traffic, as the exit here only opens out onto a cycleway(link is external), with no access onto a road for motor traffic. As a consequence, the residential street is quiet and safe, both for residents, and for people walking and cycling along it. In addition, walking and cycling has an advantage over driving, with direct access to areas at the end of this street that involve a circuitous route for anyone driving.
Comment: The case for more countryside bike access – Cycle Industry News
Mark Sutton 30 November, 2020
This article comes courtesy of electricbikereport.com contributor Richard Peace, who in today’s long read explores the often fraught issue of rights access for bike and e-Bike riders in the countryside.
The Lost Miles
What did the Romans ever do for us? So goes the famous refrain in Monty Python’s Life of Brian film, quoted a million times since. As it happened they pioneered good quality roads throughout much of the country and began a long history of laying down horse (and often cart) friendly rights of way in the pre-motor vehicle era, that could help provide a 21st century revolution in access for those on two wheels.
Petition –– Direct TfL to take control of arterial roads in Kensington and Chelsea – change.org
RBKC controls key east-west routes linking west London to the city centre, including Holland Park Avenue and Kensington High Street. These roads have a high potential for cycling, but conditions are currently too dangerous for many people to consider cycling along them.
RBKC has just announced that it intends to remove a temporary cycle lane which had been installed on Kensington High Street, on the grounds that it harms local business, yet it has produced no evidence to support this claim and the decision appears to be based on political pressure, not facts. In its 7 weeks of existence, the bike lane saw a tripling of people cycling along the High Street, along with reduced traffic congestion – a clear demonstration of demand for safe cycling routes and of their efficiency in moving people across London.