Mark Sutton13 November, 2020
The UK Government will today issue the £175 million second tranche of Emergency Active Travel funding.
Further to the MPs and motoring orgs rubbishing active travel efforts, Shapps himself signed off a letter to local authority transport leaders last week with “no one should be in doubt about our support for motorists.”
8 out of 10 people support measures to reduce motor traffic according to Government survey | road.cc
Two-thirds support reallocating road space for cycling and walking
A government survey has found that 65% of people in England support reallocating road space to cycling and walking in their local area, while as many as 78% support measures to reduce road traffic. Separate research also found majority support for the capital’s low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) with only 19% of Londoners opposing them.
How much Active Travel Fund cash did your local authority score in latest tranche? Cycling Industry News
Mark Sutton13 November, 2020
As documented on CIN today, the Department for Transport has today released the second tranche of Active Travel Fund, for which the individual local authority funding can now be seen detailed at the base of this article.Notably there has been a 20% dilution on an earlier promise of £225 million, with just £175 million now divided between combined and local authorities nationwide.For London, more money than anticipated has been allocated, four fold its tranche one allocation at £20 million. Likewise Manchester, lead by Cycling and Walking commissioner Chris Boardman, has scored £15.87 million having put forward ambitious project ideas as part of its bid to the DfT
Greater Manchester to roll out ‘smart’ junctions prioritising cyclists and pedestrians | road.cc
Award-winning AI technology will be installed at 20 junctions across city-region by end of next year
Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) says it is to roll out across the city-region its award-winning ‘smart’ junctions that prioritise cyclists and pedestrians over motor vehicles.
Sensors with artificial intelligence (AI) built into them mean that different groups of road users to be anonymously identified, enabling TfGM to prioritise different modes of transport as needed.
As a result, with greater numbers of people travelling by foot or on bike to avoid public transport due to the coronavirus crisis, those using active modes of travel can be prioritised.
The technology can also be used to improve air quality through reducing emissions by being able to respond to congestion and traffic queues quicker than existing systems can.
Sadiq Khan tells LBC he wants more cycle lanes to reduce congestion in London – LBC
13 November 2020, 13:56 Kate Buck
In the eight years leading to Sadiq Khan becoming Mayor the number of cars in the city sky-rocketed from 60,000 to 120,000.
But as the population increases, so do the vehicles, causing gridlock and mayhem on the city’s roads.
To counteract this, the Mayor wants to introduced more cycle lanes, and told LBC’s James O’Brien: “95% of the roads in our city are controlled by our 32 boroughs and the City of London Corporation and 5% are controlled by TfL,” he said.
“We try and work with the boroughs, the boroughs are trying to do right by their residents, they understand the consequences of air quality and pollution.”
Farage’s anti-cyclist article shows car users fear loss of control | The Guardian
Peter WalkerWed 11 Nov 2020
If you’re a fan of the historical notion that progress doesn’t move as a straight, upward line but tends to be a bit more wiggly, then there was an article about cycling in this week’s Mail on Sunday that very much proved the point.
Anti-cyclist pieces in the Mail are not exactly uncommon, but this one was notable because its key argument was that cyclists should “pay road tax”.
If this blogpost were a film, this would be the moment to insert a sudden, soundtrack-halting needle scratch, with a narrator filling the sudden silence to say: “Yes, road tax.”
You know the one. Abolished in 1937. Replaced by vehicle excise duty (VED), which is, as has been explained countless times, very much not a tax to pay for roads – the money goes into the central pot, as do almost all tax revenues.
VED is also based on exhaust emissions, meaning that even if cyclists were liable for it, bikes would be, as with dozens of electric and hybrid cars, charged precisely £0 a year.
Cycling Is Most Efficient Way To Get Around Says Jab Doctor Worth $24 Billion – Forbes
Carlton Reid Nov 10, 2020
Hammersmith Bridge to stay closed to motor vehicles until 2027 – but people on bike or foot could be allowed back next year | road.cc
Ferry service for cyclists and pedestrians is planned in the meantime, with aim to start service in the spring
Hammersmith Bridge will remain closed to motor vehicles until 2027 – although it may be reopened to cycling and pedestrians as early as next year, with plans for a ferry to enable people to cross the Thames by foot or on bike in the meantime.
The bridge was closed to motor traffic in April last year following concerns about the ability of the 133-year-old structure to bear the weight of the 22,000 vehicles travelling across it from Hammersmith to Barnes each day.
July) Climate change: Road plans will scupper CO2 targets, report says – BBC News
9 July
BBC environment analyst
The vast majority of emissions cuts from electric cars will be wiped out by new road-building, a report says.
The government says vehicle emissions per mile will fall as zero-emissions cars take over Britain’s roads.
But the report says the 80% of the CO2 savings from clean cars will be negated by the £27bn planned roads programme.
It adds that if ministers want a “green recovery” the cash would be better spent on public transport, walking, cycling, and remote-working hubs.
And they point out that the electric cars will continue to increase local air pollution through particles eroding from brakes and tyres.
The calculations have been made by an environmental consultancy, Transport for Quality of Life, using data collected by Highways England.
People plan to drive more post-Covid, climate poll shows | The Guardian
Exclusive: Gap between actions and beliefs threatens green recovery from pandemic
Jonathan Watts
Tue 10 Nov 2020 10.07 GMT
People are planning to drive more in future than they did before the coronavirus pandemic, a survey suggests, even though the overwhelming majority accept human responsibility for the climate crisis.
The apparent disconnect between beliefs and actions raises fears that without strong political intervention, these actions could undermine efforts to meet the targets set in the Paris agreement and hopes of a green recovery from the coronavirus crisis.
Approximately 26,000 people in 25 countries were polled in July and August by the YouGov-Cambridge Globalism Project, in a survey designed with the Guardian.