BBC News14 hours ago
An official council role campaigning for cyclists Oxfordshire will be abolished after the position’s previous holder resigned from her post.
Suzanne Bartington said it was “impossible to enact positive change” in the county without a “portfolio or budget” when she quit her role as cycling champion in October.
The post will be replaced by a cross-party advisory group of councillors.
Councillor Arash Fatemian said a “diversity of approach” was needed.
In his motion proposing the change, Mr Fatemian said different areas of Oxfordshire needed different kinds of cycling infrastructure, and a one-size fits all approach was not working, the Local Democracy Reporting Service reported.
He said: “What works in cycling and walking for Banbury and its hilly surrounds will not necessarily suit the comparatively flatter and better-established commuter routes between Oxford, Abingdon and the Culham science park.”
The city of Oxford is known for being a popular cycling city, along with other areas of the county.
Campaigning for inclusive cycling – Wheels for Wellbeing
As 2020 comes to an end, we explain how Christmas came very early for us at Wheels for Wellbeing this year and yet how much work remains for us to do.
This week we unveil the latest edition of our Guide to Inclusive Cycling. Now in its fourth edition, the guide was first published in 2017 to bring together our experience and expertise of all things inclusive cycling. While the fourth edition builds upon the work of the previous three, the circumstances during which it has been published mark the achievement of a significant milestone for the charity and our stakeholders.
The price of mass car ownership – Ban Private Cars In London
by vreadhead 2 minutes
Hammersmith bridge closure was over-cautious and it could be reopened within weeks to pedestrians and cyclists, reports reveal | Evening Standard
Ross Lydall12 minutes ago
The closure of Hammersmith bridge was over-cautious and it could be reopened within weeks to pedestrians and cyclists, a bombshell Government analysis has revealed.
Two expert reports said Hammersmith and Fulham council adopted a “conservative” approach to assessing the safety of the 133-year-old bridge when deciding to close it to vehicles in April last year and then to walkers and cyclists this August.
One expert commissioned by the Department for Transport said it was “unlikely” the bridge would suffer a complete collapse.
As a result, the council was urged on Thursday to “look again” at partially reopening the bridge early next year and allowing river traffic to pass underneath.
However plans to launch a ferry service from around Easter are continuing in case the damage to the bridge’s cast iron structure is worse than feared, or in the event it has to be closed again at short notice.
Lambeth LTNs: ‘Rain fails to wash away cycling boom in Brixton’ claims local study – Brixton Buzz
:excerptstartWed 9th December, 2020 – by Contributor – Weeks of soggy weather are failing to dampen the rising enthusiasm for cycling in one of the Brixton’s new low traffic neighbourhoods, according to the latest in a series of resident-powered traffic surveys.Their findings discovered that despite a rainy November, the number of people on bikes travelling up and down Railton Road… [Read More]
Paramedics on electric bikes will deliver Covid care and flu jabs in London trial | Evening Standard
Ross Lydall 25 November 2020
A dozen London Ambulance Service medics are taking part in the pilot in Merton, and are dispatched from GP surgeries to deliver care in the community.
This includes treating patients with long-term conditions, including those who have contracted covid, and others who require follow-up checks after being discharged from hospital.
The Impact of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and Other Active Travel Interventions on Vehicle Ownership: Findings from the Outer London Mini-Holland Programme | Published in Findings
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.
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