News from Elsewhere

A new road tunnel in London – due to start being built within months – will be “devastating” for a local borough that is “already the most polluted” in the UK, according to campaigners. 
They urged the mayor to scrap plans for the Silvertown Tunnel, claiming it will be incompatible with targets to reduce traffic in the capital and worsen air quality.
The call came after a meeting with Seb Dance, the city’s deputy mayor for transport, on Tuesday – the anniversary of the death of nine-year-old Ella Kissi-Debrah from south London, for which air pollution was a contributing factor. 

Ross Lydall 
Residents living near one of London’s historic town centres are campaigning to save their low-traffic neighbourhood (LTN) to avoid having their homes deluged by rat-running commuters.
In an unusual twist to often vocal opposition against LTNs, people living in west Greenwich want councillors to keep the scheme in place to avoid a return to the narrow streets being used as “race tracks”.
More than a third of the 163 LTNs across the capital that were funded by Transport for London have been axed after protests from some motorists, leaving 106 in place, though 22 more schemes are in the pipeline.
Other footage shows schoolgirls having to wait more than a minute before motorists were prepared to stop at a zebra crossing to enable them to cross the road

:excerptstartLaura Laker16 February, 2022 Levels of cycling and walking in London reached 42% of all journeys in 2021, with record usage of London cycle hire schemes, both official and hosted, plus rapid people-friendly changes to hundreds of kilometres of streets, including new and improved cycle lanes – but is the capital on the cusp of European levels of active travel?According to

by Ryan Mallon Wed, Feb 09, 2022 15:01 12
A recent academic study from the University of Westminster has found that car drivers,
cyclists and pedestrians are depicted differently in newspaper reports of road traffic collisions.

T.P. Yeatts
Culdesac, a startup with the lofty ambition of building America’s first car-free city, hauled in $30 million in Series A funding.
Surveys suggest a majority of Americans want to live in walkable neighborhoods, but don’t. Tempe, Arizona-based Culdesac is betting that it can help them take that leap.
“With record increases in congestion, loneliness, traffic fatalities, and global warming, building a new option for the way we live has never been more important,” the company said while announcing its Series A Thursday.
The funding will help the startup raise its first $2 billion in debt and realize its vision beyond its first “post-car neighborhood,” Culdesac Tempe, which will open in a few months. Khosla Ventures led the round, with participation from Founders Fund, Byers Capital, Zigg Capital, Initialized Capital and homebuilder Lennar’s venture arm, LENx.
Residential real estate has been fertile ground for proptech investment and innovation during the pandemic, but much of it has focused on improving existing models — making homes and neighborhoods smarter and more efficient, not necessarily more idyllic. Culdesac, which describes itself as a company at the intersection of technology, real estate and culture, wants to rewrite the blueprint.

Rhodri Clark 14 February 2022
Pedal bikes are allowed on Caledonian Sleeper but not e-bikes
A train operating company’s decision to ban e-bikes is not based on evidence but on perceptions skewed by battery safety issues on illegal e-scooters, according to Cycling UK. The charity also says Caledonian Sleeper’s ban brings further inconsistency to the rules around carriage of bikes on trains.
Caledonian Sleeper continues to accept ordinary bicycles but not electrically-assisted pedal bikes. The operator of sleeper trains between London and Scotland said the ban was introduced…

The motorist was reported for driving without due care and attention for cutting up the officer, who was participating in a close pass operation in Malvern

Peter Plisner 31 January 2022
Policy
The LTP seeks to encourage more people to ride rather than drive
The board of the West Midlands Combined Authority has approved a draft of the core strategy for the region’s fifth Local Transport Plan (LTP). The document, being put together by Transport for West Midlands (TfWM), sets out the overall aims, vision and approach that will map out the development and delivery of transport policies until the end of 2041. 
The plan seeks to address what it terms the ‘challenges and opportunities’ currently facing the region’s transport system. After decades of under investment, the document states, the region is beginning to turn things around. But that significant challenges remain in “tackling the defining issues of our time”, such as climate change, air quality, health issues and the recovery from the pandemic.

Cycling Professor @fietsprofessor
‘Get yourself a car, you loser… who do you think you are! …..AAAAARGH!’ By
@Ruvsjonvarp
: Icelandic Lampoon show 2019

cprelondon.org.uk 10th February 2022