Promoting the bicycle

[Jdsk]

No brickbats from me.

People are going to buy and use car-like objects for the foreseeable future. We need to make sure that they pay the externalities. And we need better public transport. And we need policies that encourage walking and cycling. And we need to reduce damage to the environment.

Jonathan

[reohn2]

Another aspect to the promotion of cycling was raised in a column on today's Graun. which is security and the way it's dealt with. The journo who writes for Cycling Weekly, makes the point that it's not taken seriously.

This easy crime, and the fear of it happening, is compounded by lack of action by the police. Analysis by the Liberal Democrats, released earlier this week, shows that 90% of all bicycle theft cases reported to police in England and Wales over the past year were closed without a suspect even being identified, and just 1.7% resulted in someone being charged.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... heft-crime

That problem is the result of reactive rather than proactive policing brought about by a running down of the police service,and ready market for stolen goods by,would you believe it,cyclists!

[al_yrpal]

I think we saw 'peak bike' in the height of the pandemic as a result of people wanting freedom to exercise. Hopefully some of those new cyclists will have stuck it. We now have £1 anywhere in the town bus fares a pretty good disincentive to cycle anywhere. Very well served with cycleways hereabouts.

Al

[mattheus]

No brickbats from me.

People are going to buy and use car-like objects for the foreseeable future. We need to make sure that they pay the externalities. And we need better public transport. And we need policies that encourage walking and cycling. And we need to reduce damage to the environment.

Jonathan

I thiknk the Dutch acknowledged this when they started their changes in the 1970s. The evidence is that NED currently has quite similar numbers of car-miles to the rest of Europe: BUT

they keep cars out of the nice bits of towns, and the bits of the countryside people want to walk and cycle across. And this reduces death/harm from motor vehicles.

All these crazy "war on motorists" preachers would have a fit going to most towns in NED, Germany, Belgium etc ..... but actually no, they don't because they realise - without knowing it! - that they are Very Nice Places, and not difficult to get about. (which is why the locals don't moan about the War On Motorists either. Funny that ... )

[Bmblbzzz]

From the motoring pioneers in the 1890s it took till the 1930s for the conditions to be right for mass motoring to take off. Similarly the decline of mass motoring is not going to be accomplished in one decade.

[simonineaston]

I came across this, earlier today - I've no idea what it's for but it sounds grand! The Propensity To Cycle Tool...
https://www.pct.bike

[Bmblbzzz]

Interesting. I seem to recognize the name from somewhere but not sure where. Interesting that areas with high (eg 15-20%) or even very high (30% +) cycle use for commuting, still have 40+% car use; whereas some areas with much lower cycling have much lower car use. And further that the highest cycling is not in the very centre of a city but in the, so to speak, 'outer core' immediately surrounding that. Leading me to wonder if some factors, such as short distances, ease of walking, abundance of buses, suppress both driving and cycling.