Carlton Reid
The new Swytch battery is little larger than a (large) iPhone.
Swytch Technology of London is soon to launch an e-bike battery little larger than a (large) iPhone and — with the addition of an included wheel kit — this can turn any bike into an electric bike. 

Juliana O’Rourke – 14 April 2022
Journey times for the 38 km cycleway should be about 2.5 hours – as fast as cars but saving 1,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year
Berlin has announced plans for a new high-speed bicycle route from Hönow to Spandau through the city centre.
It claims that bicycles should be able to reach their destination from east to west across the city as quickly as cars on the new cycle route, which covers 38.3 kilometres right across Berlin. The journey time from one end to the other should be about 2.5 hours.
We’ll be showcasing great cycling networks and other infrastructure at Cycle City Active City 2022 in Sheffield on 5-6 July: join us!
The state-owned cycle planning company Infravelo, said that total costs for the two parts of the route are estimated at around €58m. The planning approval procedure for the west route will start at the end of 2023 and for the east route at the beginning of 2024.

(((Matthew Lewis))) 1 billion Cal students @mateosfo · Apr 5
A quick list of the carbon-intensive sectors whose climate pollution can be largely attributed to car culture: 
1. Steel: 8% of global emissions; car industry consumes 15% of that directly, indeterminate amount indirectly for road infrastructure (construction).
2. Concrete: 8% of global emissions, indeterminate amount attributable to cars.
Most car infrastructure is made of concrete and steel. 
3. Oil: 34% of global emissions. 50% of oil is consumed by cars.
4. Buildings: 30% of global emissions. The sprawl-style development that is necessary to maintain robust car sales increases building energy use by at least 2x and increases embodied carbon (steel, concrete) from the need for more materials than denser/infill development.
Taken altogether, there is no other driver of climate destruction that comes close to car culture. And so there is no way to solve climate without ending car dominance of our cities.

Olympians Etienne Stott and Laura Baldwin among those who climbed on oil tanker, while others hung banner from Marble Arch

Melissa & Chris Bruntlett Retweeted
Aldrin Pelicano@aldrinpelicano
“… Dutch engineers consider the existence of a stop sign a design failure … raised intersections, continuous foothpaths, and lane narrowing, moving within these spaces increases vigilance and awareness, making a stop sign entirely redundant.” –
@modacitylife (Curbing Traffic)

The amount that road users pay through [fuel] taxes now accounts for less than half of what’s spent to maintain and expand the road system.
A report published earlier this year confirms, in tremendous detail, a very basic fact of transportation that’s widely disbelieved: Drivers don’t come close to paying for the costs of the roads they use.
Eric Thayer / Reuters October 25, 2015
The Cumulative Difference Between Public Spending on Highways and How Much Drivers Pay to Use Them
The Frontier Group/U.S. PIRG
There are good reasons to believe that the methodology of “Who Pays for Roads?” if anything considerably understates the subsidies to private vehicle operation. It doesn’t examine the hidden subsidies associated with the free public provision of on-street parking, or the costs imposed by nearly universal off-street parking requirements, which drive up the price of commercial and residential development.

Deniz Huseyin 11 April 2022 20mph road markings act as a `clear reminder` to drivers Kensington & Chelsea council is to make 20mph the default speed limit across all its roads in the borough after positive public feedback to pilot schemes. An initial pilot in two wards in 2019 “generally received widescale support, with few objections and several requests for expanding the 20mph speed limit to other streets and areas”, said the council. The results of some early ‘after’ monitoring at ten sites in February 2020. :excerptend link to original article

Deniz Huseyin – 12 April 2022
West Sussex County Council prematurely removed the temporary cycle lane in Shoreham-by-Sea, says the DfT
Local authorities that fail to deliver good quality active travel schemes should expect funding to be withheld, the DfT has warned. This follows the announcement that the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead would not now receive the indicative funding it had been allocated.
A DfT spokesman told LTT: “We have always made clear that local authorities’ performance and quality of bids would be taken into consideration for determining future funding.

Councillors have rejected plans for a major bypass linking the M60 and A6 on environmental grounds.
The scheme was slated for inclusion within the final version of the Stockport Economic Strategy, however was pulled after councillors voted against it.
The proposed £500M bypass would have created a ring road around Stockport and was aimed at alleviating congestion problems in the area.
Stockport Council’s previous attempts to get funding from the government for the bypass failed in 2016, 2018 and 2019.
The Labour-run council has now had a change of heart towards the scheme and has rejected it over concerns about its impact on wildlife.
Labour leader Elise Wilson said the road was an “old world solution”. Conservative councillor Oliver Johnstone said the decision was “very frustrating”, while Liberal Democrat councillor Mark Hunter described the decision as a “major surprise”.

Adrienne So
In a time of multiple global crises—like the coronavirus pandemic, climate change, and the threat of nuclear war—it’s hard not to feel helpless. If you’re a grown-up who can’t quite think of what to do to make anything better, I have a simple suggestion: Hop on a bike. And whether they rented one from a bike share or bought their own, millions of Americans agree. 
For years, electric bicycles were bulky, inconvenient, expensive machines with limited battery life. Slowly, that has changed. Ebikes are now lighter, more attractive, and more powerful than ever. You don’t need to be physically fit to ride one. They get you outside, reduce traffic congestion, and shrink your carbon footprint. And they’re fun!