1930s Cycleways in Britain
A period Ministry of Transport note located in National Archives says there were 500+ miles of these 1930s-era Dutch-style cycleways built. I have identified 113 schemes so far. This map is indicative rather than definitive. I have period sources for all of the schemes identified so far, but need to research the exact locations in question. PLUS: Back the campaign’s research efforts: http://www.bikeboom.info/1930s/
6.7% of workers now commuting by bike, says SMS – Cycle Industry News
Mark Sutton13 August, 2021
Fresh Sports Marketing Surveys data suggests that 6.7% of the UK’s working population is now commuting by bike, while the broader modal share appears to have hit 3%.
Compared to 2020, the number of people cycling to work has held up strongly. In week one of the study, back in mid-June of 2020, just 1.3% of people overall, and 4.5% of all those working said they were commuting by bike (though it should be noted working from home rates and use of furlough schemes were high at the time). Just over one year on, as the UK emerged from lockdown in July 2021, the figure stands at 3% of the overall population and 6.7% of those working.
Decarbonising Transport – Streets Ahead | Acast – Ned Boulting,Laura Laker, Adam Tranter
July saw the publishing of the UK Government’s Transport Decarbonisation plan, followed by the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report, which didn’t make for pretty reading.
In the UK surface transport is the single largest contributor of greenhouse gases, producing 23% of our emissions, and we’ve made no significant in-roads to cutting that contribution, in a decade. So what needs to change, and are we (and our policymakers) capable of doing it?
Customised bike carriages for Highlands route – transportxtra
10 August 2021
There is space on the carriages for rucksacks and ski bags, limited space for tandems, as well as an e-bike charging socket. Each carriage has a total of 20 bike racks, as well as designated seating for 24 people.
The bike-friendly carriages have been introduced to encourage people to make car-free trips out to the countryside, said Scot-Rail.
Electric car club plan for Welsh communities – TransportXtra
By Rhodri Clark10 August 2021
The Welsh Government is exploring making electric car clubs available in all communities, including rural areas.
Deputy climate change minister Lee Waters told LTT that the government aims to balance behaviour change incentives and disincentives, initially focusing on incentives. “For example, we’re looking at how we can roll out electric car clubs to every community.”
Rural areas were part of the aspiration, despite the potentially long distances between a club.
Pandemic ‘huge blow’ for modal shift – transportxtra
West Midlands mayor Andy Street has described the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic as a “huge blow” to efforts to persuade people out of their cars and onto public transport. Prior to the crisis modal shift was happening in the West Midlands with rail, tram and even bus patronage rising. In an exclusive interview with LTT, Street maintained that “real progress” was being made.
Don’t Despair Over Climate Report’s Horrors, There Are Fixes — But Electric Cars Not One Of Them – forbes
Carlton Reid
[UPDATED August 9, 2021] The Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change (IPCC) has released its much-anticipated peer-reviewed tub-thumper of a report, and it is bursting with existential horrors. Our planet is expected to hit the critical threshold of 1.5°C warming due to human-caused climate change within the next 20 years, whether or not greenhouse gas emissions are reduced.
Humanity’s role in driving climate change was “unequivocal,” said the report agreed by experts from 195 countries, who were not paid for their work.
“Climate change is not a problem of the future, it’s here and now, and affecting every region of the world,” stated Friederike Otto of the University of Oxford, one of the IPCC experts.
How Dutch Cities Are Creating More Green Space – Bloomberg
Removing the Netherlands’ ubiquitous tiles from front gardens is part of a broader initiative to expand green space in several cities.
Diederik BaazilJanuary 5, 2021
Walk down a block in any neighborhood of Rotterdam and chances are it will look greener than just a few months ago. Tiles that once lined the front gardens of many apartment buildings, homes and offices have been ripped out and replaced with plants, bushes and trees.
It’s a small but notable shift to the streetscape in a country with an affinity for tiled gardens. And it’s no coincidence this change came en masse. It was part of a green initiative that channeled an age-old rivalry between two Dutch cities.
We are now facing two alternative futures (plus an untenable one) – Transport Xtra
Phil Goodwin and Jillian Anable discuss the role of transport decarbonisation in addressing the impacts of climate change
Phil Goodwin 10 August 2021
My column this week, written with Professor Jillian Anable, is a summary of our forthcoming paper 1 on ‘Two Futures’. It has required rethinking some of our previous work, including our two unsuccessful witness statements in Court. It affects assessment of the DfT’s Decarbonising Transport2 report, and CCC’s work on ‘adaptation’ to climate change.
The speed of climate change is now faster than the implementation of measures to limit it. It follows that we are now faced with two real alternative futures.
Highways England locked in yet another bridge infilling row | New Civil Engineer
Rob Horgan
Engineers, transport planners and the local authority have all hit out at Highways England’s proposal to infill a 156-year-old disused rail bridge in the South Downs National Park.
The chief executive of the South Downs National Park Authority (SDNPA) labelled the plans to infill Stoke Road bridge as “vandalism”, while a spokesperson for the HRE Group accused Highways England of acting like “cowboys and bullies”.
In April 2020, the SDNPA ordered Highways England to apply for planning permission for the work.
However, the roads body subsequently decided that it would carry out the infilling under permitted development rights; which allows temporary works to be carried out without planning permission in emergency situations presenting a serious threat of death or injury.