Right now, there is nowhere in the UK where someone who doesn’t want to cycle will be forced onto a bike because they have no other safe option to get where they need to be.
The same can’t be said about driving.
All over the country there are places where individuals and families who don’t want to drive are left with no other option. Cycling feels too dangerous. Walking isn’t possible. Many are forced to buy cars they can’t afford just to keep a job.
You don’t want to cycle? That’s fine! You don’t have to. But imagine for a second how mad and disempowered you’d feel if that became your only choice.
It’d be shit, right?
That’s why #StreetspaceLDN and other similar campaigns across the country are so important.
They’ll never force you to travel in a way you don’t want to. They’ll just make sure others can break free of that exact situation.
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Active travel like walking and cycling is a gendered issue. Don't believe me? I'll prove it to you.
First up, most of the time men are more likely to have access to private cars than women. Meaning any design that benefits cars over other modes of transport disproportionately benefits them
And men's journeys tend to be much simpler than women's. Mostly they go to work and then go home again. Whereas women may drop the kids off on the way to the office, and then pick up the shopping on the way home. This is called trip chaining.
A year ago I was too scared to ride a bike in London. Now I’m one of @WeAreCyclingUK’s 100 Women in Cycling for 2021.
So if you’re out there telling yourself cycling isn’t for you: I urge you to reconsider. Because cycling is for everyone.
Here are my tips for beginners:
1. Rent before you buy: it’s easy to think you can’t start cycling until you have a bike. It’s also easy to say you can’t buy a bike until you know you’ll ride it.
Luckily, you can avoid this issue entirely: by making use of cycle hire schemes.
There are SO many bicycle hire options in cities, and increasingly mor e-bike hire options too.
Then there are organisations like @Wheels4Well and @peddlemywheels let you try all kinds of different cycles before making a permanent investment. Also they’re *lovely* people.
This week, I asked folks to name an idea in urbanism that they wish got more attention.
One caught my eye more than any other: induced demand.
It’s got perhaps the least sexy name ever, but it’s vital in understanding how our roads work.
So, here’s a thread explaining it.
Have you ever been driving somewhere, stuck in extremely annoying traffic, looked around at the space around you and thought: if they just built more bloody lanes I wouldn’t be trapped here right now?
Well, you’re not alone.
For generations, the folks who built roads felt the exact same way.
So they kept building lanes.
And when those lanes got too congested they’d build more. And more. And more. Until some of the world’s roads literally started looking like this:
I just turned down a journalist request on low traffic neighbourhoods for the first time since I started advocating for them 9 months ago.
I want to explain why.
The request came from a journalist I've worked with joyfully before, from a publication I respect, and that was one of the things that made turning it down even harder.
The request was for a "debate between neighbours" who live in the same LTN but have differeing views on whether they're good or bad for the community.
From the minute I got the request, something didn't feel right.
Excited to be listening in to @centreforlondon's panel session on the future of London's red routes.
We need to reduce congestion on every road in London and red routes are a key part of that.
@centreforlondon What's clear already is that red routes aren't achieving all of their goals.
Despite looking to achieve everything listed in this list, participants have their doubts as to how effective they are at doing so.
@centreforlondon The future of red routes is also the future of our high streets. So often, local high streets sit on red routes and feel the consequences of the fact that red routes are no longer fit for purpose.
Earlier this week, I was walking on a quiet back-street and enjoying the sunshine. On the pavement across from me was a dad with his three children doing the exact same thing.
The youngest of his children was out of his stroller, toddling alongside it and holding on to its side. The middle child was riding one of those plastic ride-on cars you push along with your feet and LOVING it. The eldest was asking questions and chatting with his dad.
The middle child, whilst having a great time, wasn't quite keeping up with the pack. So dad stopped and called back to him telling him to speed up.
But when he turned around, his youngest child had let go of the stroller and run off straight towards an intersection.