Took a few photos in Amsterdam this weekend. 🧵

Teenagers laughing this hard is a sign young people feel safe. /1 Bike use is an all-age activity in the Netherlands.

Women over the age of 65 use bikes more than men and incredibly use bikes for a higher percentage of journeys than 20 - 30 year old men! /2

ELECTION NEWS: Wandsworth council that recklessly ripped out LTNs and have fought 🚲 lanes, against the advice of local hospitals,…… a historic Tory Loss. THREAD ELECTION NEWS : @CamdenLabour ‘s unswerving support for better conditions for those who🚶🏿‍♀️🦽🛴🚲 has been rewarded.

A thumping endorsement of @AdamDKHarrison & @Georgia_Gould ’s unswerving leadership for more socially just streets.

Which contrasts with neighbouring….

/2

Islington Labour has delivered great progress on many fronts.

However ….the progress on active travel on @RowChampion’s watch, supported by @RichardWatts01, @KayaJunction & everyone in @IslingtonLabour, has been exceptional.

Let’s get the vote out tomorrow. 🗳 🌹 Islington Tories are against social justice on our roads , against children having independence & against taking action on short 🚗 journeys as the planet🔥.

Progressive politics involves leadership, imagination & a focus on delivery. @IslingtonLabour have shown it in spades

Camden Parkway.

Watching the street for 2 mins today was a great reminder why we need a mayor in London willing to accelerate the journey to a fairer, more just, streets.

Focus on the parked @MercedesBenz for one moment... and the SUV behind it.

Thread 1/7 When a the local bus tries to pull in.... guess what, the @MercedesBenz is blocking it’s path.

Parking is allowed on both sides of this street. 2/7

City Road, London.

I challenge you.

What do you see?

Go on. Open the photo and check it out BEFORE reading this THREAD. Did you spot how many times the kerb drops in one block to allow cars to park in drive ways?

‘War on cars?’

The Spectator’s editor owns a Range Rover in London, uses it to get to a second home & appears to think that anyone who is not in a car is a drug dealer….

The privilege, prejudice & casual disregard for evidence are staggering & worth exploring. THREAD/

https://twitter.com/spectator/status/1367423119586131968

Mary talks about the ‘elderly’.

Car ownership in London is low & declines as people hit 60, especially for women.

Councils like @IslingtonBC are making roads less threatening & making 🚶🏾crossing-times longer to improve life for vulnerable road users.

Protected bike lanes on Liverpool Road and Penton Street are working.

Without protected lanes on main roads, the majority of people will not use a bike in London. Thread/ Older members of the community are using them.

Some observations from Highbury’s people friendly streets..... /Thread with photos.... Mobility scooters are using the road as predicted. Less motor traffic means both wheelchairs & mobility scooters are more likely to use the road over the pavement.

Ellmore Street, Canonbury

3 degrees Celsius

A child (5 yr old) is being cycled to childcare.

This is a street that makes walking & cycling possible for the many. Well done Islington.

This is such sloppy work. Expected from the Express not @thetimes

Highest house prices in London are in @RBKC & @CityWestminster. They are not introducing LTNs.

90%+ of the £ disadvantaged live on minor roads.

🚗 ownership is profoundly linked to wealth.

Thread/

https://twitter.com/andrewellson/status/1362160447902920705

In the last week @andrewellson has

1) Bragged about analysis that would fail GCSE maths
2) Ignored the fact that 90%of economic disadvantaged live on minor roads
3) Been offensively sloppy about the welfare of a colleague

All to fight for his right to drive in Hackney. 2/3

This is really poor journalism from @TheTimes. The article alleges that LTNs push traffic onto the roads where poorer people live.

A couple of anecdotal quotes linked to some estate agent data do not an argument make. THREAD/

thetimes.co.uk/article/low-tr… 1. Low traffic neighbourhoods simply do NOT result in any meaningful increase in traffic on main roads. That does not mean that there will not be some issues in the first few weeks, but they settle.

The jams on the specific road cited have been around for a decade.

x: LTNs or road pricing?
me: We need both.
x But isn’t road pricing fairer?
me: Quite the opposite. Road pricing is effective but not really progressive. If you have money you continue to drive.
x: How are LTNs different?
THREAD 1/9 me: An LTN works as a time-tax on 🚘 trips. It specifically impacts short 🚘 journeys making them proportionally longer.
x: So if you are doing a long trip, the time added is negligible but if you are doing a short trip, it’s more significant
Me: Bingo
X: Is that fairer? 2/9

The scale of changes in travel when lockdown eases will be much greater than anyone is discussing.

The modelled drop in public transport usage is enoumous. Secondary-school pupils going to school will likely overwhelm any space on socially-distanced buses. THREAD 1/ Some councils are starting to put emergency plans together. However pavement widening in a few locations will not be enough. Emergency bike lanes around hospitals is better than nothing, but again is not enough to match the scale of challenge. 2/

1/ Barnstorming speech by Clyde Loakes @Labourstone at #HealthyStreets2018 - ‘I have been a councillor for a long time, since I was 27…I’ve spent more time dabbling in bins than anyone should and I have the scars from looking into car parking schemes.’ 2/ ‘I spent years talking about encouraging a shift to bikes and walking without actually doing the things that make a difference. If I am honest - I was tinkering with parking schemes and pandering to car owners. I was not delivering for our community.’

1/ Adding cycling to walking QUADRUPLES the number of people who can get to their local shops and community resources in less than 20 minutes. And critically 15 - 20 minutes is about how far most people will actively travel without getting in a car / bus. 2/ When councils don’t enable getting to the local high street by bike they are excluding large groups of people from their daily dose of excercise - particularly the elderly.