Adam Becket
London’s bike hire scheme keeps breaking its own records, with Santander Cycles being hired more than ever before for each of the last six months.
Data released by Transport for London on Friday shows that for each month since September, the number of hires has broken the previous record for that month.
In February, 750,000 hires were made across the capital, which works out at average of almost 27,000 per day. January was also a record month for the scheme, with 748,000 hires, or 24,000 per day, despite the inclement weather.
The London bike hire scheme also had its record year in 2021, with figures showing that 11 million bikes were hired out last year.
Last stop, underwater: the Spanish railway line being devoured by the sea | Coastlines | The Guardian
Stephen Burgen
The sea sparkles and laps against the shore of the Maresme coast, north of Barcelona, as the train runs alongside it, passing the few hopeful spring sunbathers and surfers. At points, Spain’s oldest train line runs so close to the shore it feels as if you’re travelling on the sea itself.
Last Sunday, that could well have happened. Heavy waves took a giant bite out of the coast, threatening a section of the track with collapse and forcing the train company to lay on a bus service between La Pineda and Malgrat de Mar.
China shuts up shop with Shanghai lockdown, China Cycle cancels – Cycle Industry News
Mark Sutton 31 March, 2022
The latest and quickly record breaking wave of Covid-19 has prompted the full lockdown of key business hub Shanghai and the mandatory closure of key trade events, for which China Cycle has now confirmed it is one.
“Due to the Covid-19 Pandemic and the control policy in China, the 31st China International Bicycle Fair (China Cycle 2022), scheduled on May 6th to 9th, 2022, has been postponed. We apologise for the inconvenience brought to you,” wrote the organisers in a statement to potential visitors of the key eastern trade fair.
Globally, there is greater attention as to what is happening at the ports in the face of various restrictions present in the country. Specialist shipping sites have in the past week reported “surging” congestion where not so long ago the situation had been improving; it was, in fact, the West more proportionately to blame for holding up global shipping.
EU Parliament Backs ‘Urgent’ Calls to Address Climate Disinformation – DeSmog
Phoebe Cooke
The EU has become the first ever policymaking body to officially acknowledge the urgency of defining and tackling climate disinformation.
Lawmakers at the EU Parliament overwhelmingly backed a report last week calling on the EU to “prepare better to fight off foreign interference and disinformation” including from “malicious and authoritarian countries such as Russia and China”.
The report further urged MEPs to “urgently address climate mis- and disinformation” and to implement a “global code of conduct”. Misinformation refers to the accidental sharing of false information, whereas disinformation implies malicious intent.
The evidence: low traffic neighbourhoods – Westminster Healthy Streets
Much has been written recently about low traffic neighbourhoods and how they do or don’t benefit our local communities. A large amount of this has been based on anecdotal evidence and people’s opinions. But what do objective evidence and credible studies show?
Is there even a problem?
Our side roads have always been open; indeed, “knowing the shortcuts” has been a much-vaunted skill, so why the sudden need to close-off these roads? The reason is the huge increase in traffic now using these roads, due largely to the use of satellite navigation apps such as Waze and Google maps. The graph below shows (in yellow) the increase in vehicle miles on residentials streets, whilst the traffic on main roads has actually decreased slightly.
Transport authorities reluctant to heed DfT calls to reconsider road schemes s review of SRN principles called for ahead of RIS3 – Transport Xtra
28 March 2022
The MRN Review comes as work gets under way at the DfT and National Highways on project plans for the Strategic Road Network and the RIS3 Road Investment Strategy. Writing for LTT this week, Professor David Metz said drawing up a list of schemes was premature and an overarching review of the principles on which the RIS was essential first, to reflect five major strategic challenges. These are: achieving net zero; embracing the levelling up agenda; resolving doubts over smart motorways,…
Opinion: The drive to collect data could lead automakers down a dangerous path – The Globe and Mail
Peter D. Norton
Peter Norton is associate professor of history in the Department of Engineering and Society at the University of Virginia, and the author of Autonorama: The Illusory Promise of High-Tech Driving.
Big-time investors like to say that “data is the new oil.” Google, Facebook and other companies have drilled the digital oil fields of personal data, achieving rates of growth 20th-century oil barons would have envied.
But to collect personal data, such companies have to present themselves as something else. Google is a data-collection company that offers internet search and other services; Facebook is a data-collection company that offers a social-media platform. To these companies, the services they provide are means to an end – and if the means and the end diverge, the end must prevail.
Dire warning on climate change ‘is being ignored’ amid war and economic turmoil | Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) | The Guardian
The third segment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report is being overshadowed, just like the previous one
Fiona Harvey
Scientists fear that their last-ditch climate warnings are going unheeded amid international turmoil caused by the war in Ukraine, and soaring energy prices.
The third segment of the landmark scientific report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – which could be the last comprehensive assessment of climate science to be published while there is still time to avoid the worst ravages of climate breakdown – will be published on Monday, warning that the world is not shifting quickly enough to a low-carbon economy.
Fundraising for Wheels for Wellbeing, Transport for All, and Disabled People Against Cuts, in memory of Richard and to keep his work going.
I’m Doug Paulley, and I am fundraising in memory of Richard – the Heavy Metal Handcyclist / @CrippledCyclist.
Richard very sadly died on Monday night. (21st March 2022).
Richard was the most amazing, kind-hearted guy. He was a great campaigner for disability rights and justice, particularly for rights of access to cycling infrastructure. He was a skills-multiplier; so many people have gained skills and confidence to challenge injustice because of his encouragement and empowerment. He was so generous with his time and expertise that there is a phalanx of disabled people, particularly cyclists, who can better challenge inaccessible infrastructure and services because of him. His accessible infrastructure Freedom of Information template is just one example of the multitude of ways in which he made such a difference.
Cars take up way too much space in cities. New technology could change that. | The new new economy – vox.com
Timothy B. Lee
When we talk about the problems associated with cars and transportation, we often focus on fatal accidents, or air pollution, or traffic jams.
We less frequently consider how much sheer space cars take up in America’s cities. But let’s pause to give this some thought.
There’s the space the cars themselves occupy. The average car, two hulking tons of steel, is 80 percent empty when it’s being driven by a single person. And most of the day, cars are totally empty, sitting unused. That, of course, requires space for parking: There are a billion parking spots across the United States, four for every car in existence. Plus, there are all the paved roads crissc
![](https://camdencyclists.org.uk/wp-content/themes/dynamik-gen/images/content-filler.png)