Future of Urban Mobility

[craigbroadbent]

There is a government call for evidence on the Future of Urban Mobility.
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/future-of-mobility-call-for-evidence/future-of-mobility-call-for-evidence

This call for evidence seeks views and evidence from all those with an interest in the mobility ecosystem. It is split into 2 main parts:

Part 1 seeks views and evidence to inform our Future of Urban Mobility Strategy. It is structured in 3 sections:

- the background against which changes to transport are occurring
- our assessment of the emerging trends that will shape urban mobility in the next couple of decades - this section asks for views on whether we have identified these correctly and on their likely impacts
-consideration of the approach government should take to help cities harness the opportunities and address any challenges presented by these trends

Part 2 looks beyond the urban context to inform our wider work on the Future of Mobility Grand Challenge. It asks how best government can support innovation across the country, with a focus on:

-‘mission-oriented’ policy-making;
-ensuring a regulatory framework that evolves with the times
-resolving barriers to data sharing and use

[Steady rider]

http://trendy-travel.eu/docs/Brochure_t ... ing_EN.pdf

Someone sent me this link. Looks good to me.

[MikeF]

It's a strategy. Councils and governments like producing strategies as they are achievements in their own right.
What a lot of government muddled thinking and a foreword by Chris Grayling, someone who admitted he didn't know how to run a railway and yet can instruct how it should be done.

Little prominence of cycles as low emission vehicles.
Apparently 72% of urban "trips" are under 5 miles, yet forms of 4 wheel motor vehicles seemingly based on current designs are still being considered.

Also CO2 is not counted as a pollutant.

Producing a strategy based on energy requirement figures would be much more relevant than a wishful thinking document. It just hasn't been thought through.

https://www.withouthotair.com would be a good read to start with.

[atlas_shrugged]

@MikeF +1

My only beef with MacKay is that he does not show how good a best practice HPV Cycle is. At the recent Human Power WC2018 the leader in a Peregrine Birk produced this performance:

Power 156W (av)
Vel 56.18 km/h (av)
Time: 3h

That makes 277 Wh per 100km

This is much better than the figure of 1kWh per 100km he quotes for the bicycle on page 119 or 2.4 kWh per 100km on page 258. The HPV has a better figure because of aerodynamics. This would also have shown up in the figures for the EcoCar on page 119 except MacKay probably includes the conversion performance of a petrol engine in the EcoCar whereas he assumes the engine in a human cyclist is 100% efficient. Assuming a human cyclist is 100% efficient as MacKay appears to do is probably reasonable given that humans must have exercise (or they end up like Brits). So a human engine can be considered to come for free.

IMHO we have to hammer home to these dinosaurs who run our country that point to point journey times on continuous direct and segregated cycle lanes is much shorter than all other forms of transport (train, car, bus) for 72% of all journeys.

[The utility cyclist]

My charity whom I volunteer for (Age UK) is currently looking into this as part of getting older people into cycling. I've asked them to get into contact with CUK for what it's worth but there are a few bits of info on how we can improve mobility as well as social integration of groups that are more isolated generally. It also helps with retaining indepedant function and general well being.
That the government (of either of the main parties) does nothing but attack cycling is disgusting and they are directly complicit in the (lack of) health, well being and increased death/harm to our society by doing so.
Increasing cycling is a massively easy thing to do, it's also recognised as being one of if not the most effective means of improving a society for everyone even if you don't cycle, one can only think that those in charge simply have an agenda driven not by the well being of the citizens they supposedly represent as to why the do the square root of naff all!

[Wanlock Dod]

My predictions for the future of urban immobility are that it will be based on various sequential adaptations of current private motorised transportation. In the future we are going to learn how cars can free us from the constraints of 20th century transport systems such as cyclists and congestion. This will be achieved through the introduction of a jaywalking law, which will cyclists and pedestrians from interfering with the proper traffic, and the introduction of better entertainment systems to provide a suitable distraction whilst waiting patiently in traffic (to include a propaganda campaign about how much worse congestion was in the past, when 6 hours each way was considered a pretty short commute). Actual vehicle speeds in urban areas will continue to follow their current trends towards higher travel duration values. Unfortunately the numbers of cars is a natural phenomenon which cannot be controlled by mere humans, and the very fact that cars prefer to live, hunt, and reproduce in urban areas will impose some significant constraints on urban mobility which we will simply have to accept if we wish to continue to live in urban areas.

[DaveGos]

I spent a week in Hull recently , and I have seen the future. It is mobility scooters
You can drive on the road or pavement
Up and down the super market aisles
They dont take up the room of a car
No sweaty effort required and can maintain high speeds even on the pavements

I dont think the future is in doubt

[The utility cyclist]

I spent a week in Hull recently , and I have seen the future. It is mobility scooters
You can drive on the road or pavement
Up and down the super market aisles
They dont take up the room of a car
No sweaty effort required and can maintain high speeds even on the pavements

I dont think the future is in doubt

My city of birth used to have a huge cycling culture, even in the mid to late 80s commuting by bike was stated as 29%
Now although 6% is still higher than national obesity and poor health is a huge problem. And tet the local authority are absolutely pitiful when it comes to restricting motor use and encouraging cycling and walking. City of culture my butt!

[craigbroadbent]

Just read Paul Tuohy Chief Executive at Cycling UK's article on the subject. Doesn't pull too many punches here.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-much-evidence-do-you-need-paul-tuohy/

[pga]

The 1966 Census shows amazingly large numbers still cycling to work. In Hull 28,990 or 24.2 per cent of residents living and working in the area cycled to work. However, this percentage was low compared with Boston 48.9 per cent and the magnificent March 57.0 per cent. Surprisingly the New Towns had low percentages with Stevenage, with the Eric Claxton cycleways, the lowest of all with 11.7 per cent. The New Towns wre designed for the motor car, even Stevenage, and not surprisingly cycle usage fell considerably With the 'never had it so good' generation able to afford motor cars for the first time and looking down on the cloth cap image of cycling. As a mate of mine said to me at the time with some perception 'cycling will only become popular again when it becomes expensive'. He was right there.

A great pity that urban design gave such priority to the motor vehicle at that time leaving us to the situation today. At the same time in the Netherlands they were more forward thinking than Ernie Marples (a CTC member) and Buchanan and gave cycling the priority in urban areas with,for example, direct cycling routes and indirect motoring ones.