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by TonyR
1 Apr 2016, 7:46am
Forum: The Cycling UK brand refresh
Topic: Why didn’t CTC do this?
Replies: 122
Views: 72573

Re: Why didn’t CTC do this?

AndyK wrote:OK, that sounds more plausible. Sorry, I appreciate your attempt to summarise - unlike some people (naming no names) who would simply cut and paste the whole thing with no formatting or explanation - but the exact wording did matter in this case. I still can't help suspecting that in practice it would come down to "people like us", though.


I think the world has changed post Coop Bank and Kids Company and now there is an implicit if not explicit need to demonstrate that Trustees and Directors, who lets face it in the CTC are responsible for significant sums of members and Government money, are competent to undertake their role. And if what PB has been alleging about the conduct of Councillors and Council were true (voting like sheep, approving untrue minutes etc) then a Governance overhaul would seem both essential and urgent.
by TonyR
31 Mar 2016, 8:11am
Forum: The Cycling UK brand refresh
Topic: Why didn’t CTC do this?
Replies: 122
Views: 72573

Re: Why didn’t CTC do this?

Philip Benstead wrote:So i think I know about the market for cycling orgainization, please tell me what pertage of cyclists in netherland are members of a cycling groups?


The Fietsersbond has 35,000 members or double the membership per capita of the CTC.
by TonyR
31 Mar 2016, 7:56am
Forum: The Cycling UK brand refresh
Topic: Why didn’t CTC do this?
Replies: 122
Views: 72573

Why didn’t CTC do this?

PH wrote:
TonyR wrote:The CTC has moved on and its membership wants different things from it. With probably 3-4,000 MG members across the country it will make little difference to the CTC if the MGs and all their members leave. And on their own they are barely enough to make a viable stand alone national club.

I can't find the reference, but I understand the last survey showed 19% of members participated in MG activities, so somewhere around 13,000 members?


I would be surprised by that figure and its doesn't reconcile with my experience with MGs. For example the most successful MG is Stevenage and North Herts. Their region has a very high per capita CTC membership and a very active programme that goes beyond rides. But they only manage 22% of catchment area CTC members who rode with them more than 5 times last year and 14% who rode once a month.

It depends on what you define though as "participated" and it could be like the national figures that 35% of the population or 21 million people "cycle" once a year or more which we all know does not reflect the true levels of cycling in the UK>

Even so, accepting your figure it still means 81% of CTC members do not participate in MG activities and as HoECC found, very few of those have any interest in participating.
by TonyR
30 Mar 2016, 8:44pm
Forum: The Cycling UK brand refresh
Topic: Why didn’t CTC do this?
Replies: 122
Views: 72573

Re: Why didn’t CTC do this?

Philip Benstead wrote:It has been suggested to me today that HOE left was that increasing fees and decreasing benefits


Nothing at all to do with that although some are trying to spin it that way.

This is the crux of the issue with the CTC rebranding. According to HoECC there were only 50 CTC MG members out of over 1100 CTC members in their catchment area. They represented as an MG less than 5% of their local CTC membership. And their "substantially increased" membership since the change is the addition of 25 non-CTC members - out of how many tens of thousands of cyclists in their catchment area?

The picture is very similar with the MGs I ride with and I suspect is typical across the MGs. As attached as we are to our MGs they no longer represent the vast majority of the CTC membership or their interests.

The CTC has moved on and its membership wants different things from it. With probably 3-4,000 MG members across the country it will make little difference to the CTC if the MGs and all their members leave. And on their own they are barely enough to make a viable stand alone national club.

The real reason the HoECC changed to affliliation is given on their website and is not as some are trying to portray, to do with the changes at the CTC. It just serves to confirm the above and in many ways endorses the move the CTC is making to rebrand and reposition. (my emphasis added below)

More detail on the reasoning:

During the past two and half years we have marketed ourselves to the local 1,100 CTC members extensively. We have had only limited success, recruiting just a handful of new regulars; not enough to cover those who shall inevitably leave us shortly due to their advancing years. The response to the last two broadcast emails we sent to local CTC members, resulted in no new riders attending our Introductory Rides.

We can only conclude that interest from other local CTC Members has now dried up and that we have exhausted that route. From an already low base, the regular ride numbers will inevitably now start to drop further. Meanwhile, the average age of our group riders & volunteers continues to rise.

The Committee feels that, in order to survive as a club in the longer term, we need to have a re-brand and re-focus of the group. We need to make it easier for people to join, do some new activities and market ourselves to the wider cycling community.

It is hoped that the existing fifty or so regular riders will see little change and continue to attend rides and help support the new club. It is also hoped, that the lower cost option of the CTC Affiliated Membership rate, will appeal to the existing riders and the wider group of riders that we should be trying to attract.

http://www.heartofenglandcyclingclub.or ... cling-club
by TonyR
10 Mar 2016, 1:58pm
Forum: The Cycling UK brand refresh
Topic: It's all in the name - Cyclists' TOURING club
Replies: 703
Views: 295841

Re: It's all in the name - Cyclists' TOURING club

Bicycler wrote:Here I don't think we can equate holding an election with representative democracy. What proportion of the membership votes? What proportion of the membership are even aware of the vote? How much information is communicated to your average member about the candidates? Even if elections were to be taken seriously how would we hold our representatives to account for their actions while the collective irresponsibility remains in place?


The vacancies on Council are advertised in Cycle and you have a month to get together the five member signatures to qualify to go on the election list. If the number of applicants is equal to or less than the number of vacancies, the applicants are appointed to Council. Otherwise it goes to a vote of the regional membership through a voting form included in the next issue of Cycle. Candidates can submit a 500 word personal statement to tell members about themselves.

So there is no reason the membership should not be aware of the vote and who the candidates are. If they choose not to vote that is exercising a democratic right that should be respected. What is not acceptable is not voting and then complaining about the outcome.

As for holding them to account, then very simply they sign up to a Code of Conduct when appointed that inter alia says

1.7. I will seek to be accountable for my actions as a trustee and Councillor of CTC and will submit myself to whatever scrutiny is appropriate.


So asking appropriate questions of your Councillors is the way to hold them to account (although be prepared for quite a few people on here taking exception to you doing so)
by TonyR
10 Mar 2016, 9:31am
Forum: Campaigning & Public Policy
Topic: The German take on the cycle super highway...
Replies: 75
Views: 4834

Re: The German take on the cycle super highway...

RickH wrote:Not sure which way the camera is facing but you can view the camera at the Milbank junction here. It is static & appears to update every 5 minutes (A video feed would, of course, be better). There seem to be a few people using the cycle track at this time of the evening. Whether or not is shows anything different at peak times can be found simply by watching at the right time. :)

Rick.


I've done a series of photos from that webcam around the peak time this morning. Not exactly heaving with cyclists.

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by TonyR
9 Mar 2016, 6:52pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Gravitational waves
Replies: 191
Views: 7134

Re: Gravitational waves

Psamathe wrote:And your "If you don't want to discuss it and learn in the process then posting to a forum is really not a good idea." quite unnecessary. Of course I want to learn (from people whose opinions and knowledge I trust). However, just posting a link with a bit of background on what it was about seems to have invoked "I know better", "old stuff known about for years". Maybe you'd be better off telling the researchers that their Feb 2016 paper was "known about for years".


But that's not what I said. Naked singularities and their implications for General Relativity have been known about for decades. There is a good review of the history of naked singularities in Scientific American in 2013 (three years before the paper you highlighted). The classical route to a naked singularity is a rotating collapse in the four dimensions of space-time. What this new paper has explored is what-if scenarios of collapses in higher dimensions than four and it found there is a scenario that can create naked singularities if the collapse takes place in 5 or higher dimensions. Whether there is any reality to that scenario is, unlike rotating collapses, unknown because we don't know whether there are more dimensions than four although string and M-theories do propose there are. The probable resolution of the issue will most likely come when someone manages to successfully merge General Relativity with Quantum Mechanics for which Loop Quantum Gravity is the leading contender.

Of course I and Scientific American could be arrogantly talking out of our backsides but there is the possibility we both do know what we are talking about that you might like to consider.
by TonyR
9 Mar 2016, 6:07pm
Forum: The Cycling UK brand refresh
Topic: DEMAND FOR A POLL OF THE WHOLE CLUB
Replies: 249
Views: 86982

Re: DEMAND FOR A POLL OF THE WHOLE CLUB

Karen Sutton wrote:So it would seem that concerns were raised about going ahead with the name change with no mention of it to the membership, but it was not concerning enough for the Board to pause things and consult. Those councillors who originally agreed with investigating a change of name should be forgiven for not expecting the name change to be pushed through in the way it has been; with councillors being worn to secrecy about it.


Well no actually. Councils intention to make the decision on a name and branding change itself was published two years ago in Cycle and no-one raised any objection in the intervening two years.

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by TonyR
9 Mar 2016, 5:59pm
Forum: Campaigning & Public Policy
Topic: The German take on the cycle super highway...
Replies: 75
Views: 4834

Re: The German take on the cycle super highway...

mjr wrote:
mjr wrote:That doesn't look like the Vauxhall Bridge that I remember - lack of river, for one!

The position of the MI6 building and some Googling suggests it's Harleyford Road, on the other side of Vauxhall station, near the Oval, and by which point cyclists crossing the bridge can have gone off in about a dozen different directions. Responding to traffic numbers with a picture of an empty road half a mile away is pretty misleading. When someone claims the M1 is busy, would anyone accept a picture of an empty Forest Road Hartwell as disproving it?


That is Cycle Superhighway 5, a segregated route from the Oval along Harleyford Road through the Vauxhall gyratory over Vauxhall Bridge to Vauxhall Bridge Road. Its equivalent in your analogy to another bit of the M1 half a mile up the road. That's the route. It doesn't go anywhere else except north of Vauxhall Bridge where you can join CS8 along the Embankment. But if you want a Vauxhall Bridge picture here's one of my own taken when I last went that way. Not that it looks any different. And sorry if my picture didn't capture the river either.

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by TonyR
9 Mar 2016, 5:37pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Gravitational waves
Replies: 191
Views: 7134

Re: Gravitational waves

Psamathe wrote:
TonyR wrote:
Psamathe wrote:Sorry, I'll shut up as there seems no pleasing some people. I try and it's all get such hard work.

Given up

Ian


Its called having a discussion. If you don't want a discussion you want a blog not a forum.

I tried. Through it was interesting (for some). But oh no, "it's old news", "I knew this years ago", "this is just ..." ...

So I just can't be bothered if people are reacting like that. You try and discuss but others keep having their digs. So I just can't be bothered any more. I find something interesting great for me but sharing has just got to much of an effort.


Happens all the time that someone posts something new bicycle wise only to be informed that its nothing new at all. Do you consider discussing that too much of an effort too? If you don't want to discuss it and learn in the process then posting to a forum is really not a good idea. Forums are for dialogues, not monologues.
by TonyR
9 Mar 2016, 1:49pm
Forum: Campaigning & Public Policy
Topic: The German take on the cycle super highway...
Replies: 75
Views: 4834

Re: The German take on the cycle super highway...

pjclinch wrote:Can we take it you'll remember what you've just said the next time you lecture us on infrastructure the other side of the North Sea that you don't appear to have used in person?


I am happy to hear your personal report of your experience cycling the new Cycle Autobahn. Grass houses and stowing thrones?
by TonyR
9 Mar 2016, 1:45pm
Forum: The Cycling UK brand refresh
Topic: It's all in the name - Cyclists' TOURING club
Replies: 703
Views: 295841

Re: It's all in the name - Cyclists' TOURING club

honesty wrote:Virgin is actually not great as an example of what is being suggested here, as everything is unmistakably branded with Virgin everywhere. A better example would be Unilever. Have a look at how many trading names that company has!


Very different situations. Virgin is a brand, Unilever isn't. Virgin want you to associate their generally perceived image with all their companies. Unilever want to hide themselves so you will quite happily consider two apparently competing brands of washing powder without realising they are both made by Unilever so not in competition at all.
by TonyR
9 Mar 2016, 1:35pm
Forum: Campaigning & Public Policy
Topic: The German take on the cycle super highway...
Replies: 75
Views: 4834

Re: The German take on the cycle super highway...

reohn2 wrote:I've posted on here many times how UK's many rivers and canals could be a great leisure and utility resource for cycling,but it needs serious investment and not the poor examples I see and ride regularly.
That said,'serious investment' is only a small fraction of the amount of money ploughed into road projects that successive governments have spent in an effort to slake an insatiable thirst for motor travel over short sub 5mile distances.


Sustrans gets £40m p.a to produce crap like the Transpennine Trail. That sounds like the sort of serious investment you are talking about.
by TonyR
9 Mar 2016, 1:27pm
Forum: Campaigning & Public Policy
Topic: The German take on the cycle super highway...
Replies: 75
Views: 4834

Re: The German take on the cycle super highway...

pjclinch wrote:
TonyR wrote:But also see the response of another London cyclist to the tweet:

@TfL dates times please don't fiddle the data not from one sunny spring day or a cycling Sunday event sorry but u hav history


Maybe I'm being unreasonable in thinking that a single tweet from "another London cyclist" doesn't constitute damning proof of book-cooking, but OTOH maybe I'm not. As you have something of a track record in cherry-picking yourself these days I think you'll need to do a bit better.


Maybe you are being unreasonable in trying to talk knowledgeably about infrastructure that is 500 miles away from you and that you have never visited or used. I would be very reluctant to gainsay you on Dundee cycling infrastructure because I know a lot less about it than you as a local would. It seems you do not have the same reluctance in the reverse direction.

Quite a lot more tweets on there now questioning TfL's figures and pointing to very low usage as did the Guardian article. And to illustrate the issue of timing being everything, here are the automatic counter flow figures for the TLRN

TLRN cycle usage.jpg


There are big changes in flows from one month to the next and from one year to the next with nothing changing on the ground

And here's a picture of those 3,394 cyclists using it at peak time

Image
by TonyR
9 Mar 2016, 9:15am
Forum: The Cycling UK brand refresh
Topic: It's all in the name - Cyclists' TOURING club
Replies: 703
Views: 295841

Re: It's all in the name - Cyclists' TOURING club

Vorpal wrote:Lots of companies maintain multiple brands, and logos. This often work better when they are associated with particular products / models / activities / subsidiaries. I don't see any reason that that Winged Wheel can't be used by & for member groups, or CTC Holidays, whilst the Cycling UK is used for campaigning and promotion.

Some companies own thousands of logos and brands; this doesn't seem to cause their customers to be confused.


The Virgin Brand is an excellent example of how you can have diversity of logos and brands within an overall brand architecture that is unmistakeably Virgin.

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