Active Travel England - Boardman

Stevek76
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Re: Active Travel England - Boardman

Post by Stevek76 »

Jdsk wrote: 2 Sep 2022, 8:32am Guardian coverage: "Number of people cycling in England falls a year after £2bn plan":
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... r-2bn-plan
That is some atrocious reporting (or at least sub editing) from the granuid. Cycle trips down compared to 2020 is the least surprising thing ever. Looking at the total number of trips vs 2019 is also fairly daft as the overall trip rate has dropped. Indeed as the article itself states, other modes had dropped more vs 2019. The link to the £2bn, of which less than half has been allocated and precious little of that has yet become completed works is shameless clickbait. Not to mention that 2021 was hardly a 'normal' year regarding the various lockdowns.

Plus the NTS is not really going to be a suitable vehicle in which to pick up such localised changes, there are a great many daily trips in the country, even a full £2bn of quality improvements is not going to shift the national mode share significantly, especially when considering that the spend on infrastructure for motor vehicles over the same period is about 15x-20x greater.

Nearholmer wrote: 26 Aug 2022, 1:51pm Sort-of true, but we had a referendum on that too, IIRC.
Well it wasn't, and even if it was it was, frankly, a stupid thing to do and the lib dems were incredibly naive to agree to that, it does appear that they might have learnt their lesson on that one. Always worth considering that no other increase in democracy has ever been handled via referendum and I doubt the various reforms that provided the vote to women, younger adults & non landowners would have passed had they been out to referendums of the then electorates.
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awavey
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Re: Active Travel England - Boardman

Post by awavey »

Stevek76 wrote: 3 Sep 2022, 12:50pm That is some atrocious reporting (or at least sub editing) from the granuid. Cycle trips down compared to 2020 is the least surprising thing ever. Looking at the total number of trips vs 2019 is also fairly daft as the overall trip rate has dropped. Indeed as the article itself states, other modes had dropped more vs 2019. The link to the £2bn, of which less than half has been allocated and precious little of that has yet become completed works is shameless clickbait. Not to mention that 2021 was hardly a 'normal' year regarding the various lockdowns.

Plus the NTS is not really going to be a suitable vehicle in which to pick up such localised changes, there are a great many daily trips in the country, even a full £2bn of quality improvements is not going to shift the national mode share significantly, especially when considering that the spend on infrastructure for motor vehicles over the same period is about 15x-20x greater.
bear in mind these stats will be the ones used in discussions on future funding rounds within government though, so we can debate how accurate they are or what you would expect 2021 to look like, but the drop is there one way or another, and you see that everytime you get on a bike. I remember in 2020 seeing families riding with young children in these protected cycle lanes because they felt safe, you take those lanes out, they stop riding completely just as this grauniad comment piece describes https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... tacks-road

plus I think there were the signs of a drop happening before 2020 which is only starting to be evident in the numbers, and we can also debate whether its useful to ask questions like so what has 2bn of cycling infra given us, and Id like more focus to be put on what was put in, and has been taken away because I really feel thats something thats been overlooked massively and is a key factor in these discussions about shifting mode share.

but the governments target was to hit 1.6billion stages by 2025, 3 years to go and we are sitting at 875million, just 6% more than when they set the target back in 2013. at this rate its going to be 2100ish before we make the target and thats before the new occupier in Downing street who doesnt seem likely to push cycling as an agenda item in goverment in the way the previous one did, sets about deciding what to spend money on
Stevek76
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Re: Active Travel England - Boardman

Post by Stevek76 »

awavey wrote: 4 Sep 2022, 1:37pm But the drop is there one way or another, and you see that everytime you get on a bike.
But the drop isn't there when considering mode share vs 2019. Cycle trips down 7%, car trips down 23%. Of the trips actually being made that's more people cycling, not less. Looking at absolute numbers when the overall trip rate in one year is over 20% lower due to lockdowns is simply stupid

I'm not going to disagree that more needs to be done and that what is presently being done isn't going to hit the targets (not that much at all was done between that target actually being set and Johnson becoming PM) I just have major issues with the gran's reporting which is neither accurate nor helpful.
Last edited by Stevek76 on 4 Sep 2022, 5:29pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Nearholmer
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Re: Active Travel England - Boardman

Post by Nearholmer »

I agree that the report is a muddled mess that fails to paint a proper picture of cycling trends against the broader background. TBH, they’d have been better printing a couple of graphs showing trends by mode over time, absolute numbers of trips, and % share of total, or similar, and letting the reader read them instead.

Not their finest hour.
Bmblbzzz
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Re: Active Travel England - Boardman

Post by Bmblbzzz »

mjr wrote: 2 Sep 2022, 9:17pm
mattheus wrote: 2 Sep 2022, 3:34pm
Jdsk wrote: 2 Sep 2022, 2:36pm Shawlands Bike Bus:
https://techalogic.co.uk/shawlands-bike ... y-council/

"‘It’s a bit of freedom’: traffic-stopping tech helps Glasgow school’s bike bus on its way":
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyl ... pping-tech

Jonathan

Image
I hope their school has checked their insurance :evil:
Why else would so many ugly coats and jauntily -angled hats be on show? 🙄
To attract media attention? In which case, it's worked!
awavey
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Re: Active Travel England - Boardman

Post by awavey »

Stevek76 wrote: 4 Sep 2022, 1:51pm
awavey wrote: 4 Sep 2022, 1:37pm But the drop is there one way or another, and you see that everytime you get on a bike.
But the drop isn't there when considering mode share vs 2019. Cycle trips down 7%, car trips down 23%. Of the trips actually being made that's more people cycling, not less. Looking at absolute numbers when the overall trip rate in one year is over 20% lower due to lockdowns is simply stupid

I'm not going to disagree that more needs to be done and that what is presently being done isn't going to hit the targets (not that much at all was done between that target actually being set and Johnson becoming PM) I just have major issues with the gran's reporting which is neither accurate nor helpful.
one of the things they acknowledged in the session with the transport committee is they need to get better at these numbers and how they source them for accuracy, though relying on Google data might not be the best solution.

and I dont know how to explain their numbers, vs what I feel I was experiencing on the roads in 2021, which was car traffic was easily back to 2019 levels even if people werent driving to offices at that time much, they were driving somewhere in numbers, whilst most of the cyclists I had been seeing on the roads in 2020 when I was getting out on my daily exercise routine had vanished, which coincided with the vanishing popup lanes that theyd been using and the increased traffic.
Nearholmer
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Re: Active Travel England - Boardman

Post by Nearholmer »

Definitely impressed by Mr Boardman on that showing.

Let’s hope he can bring the new Secretary of State ‘on side’.
Jdsk
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Re: Active Travel England - Boardman

Post by Jdsk »

Thanks for the heads-up.

I've watched about a third, and will read the rest when it's available.

It's always interesting to watch people at the top of their game. And especially when it's about something important that I care about.

It also showed one of the aspects of British politics that has improved and is working well. No jeering and braying, simply elected representatives trying to be better informed. And open to the public. And I'm expecting the usual clear non-partisan report.

Jonathan
Last edited by Jdsk on 25 Sep 2022, 1:20pm, edited 1 time in total.
Jdsk
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Active Travel France

Post by Jdsk »

"The French government said on Tuesday it would boost state support for cycling in 2023, hoping to promote the use of bicycles for transport in rural areas, improve citizens’ health, and use them in the energy transition."
"French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne told reporters a new 250 million euro ($249 million) cycling fund will boost bike infrastructure and finance cycling lessons for 800,000 school children."
https://www.reuters.com/article/france- ... FKBN2QL1OF

Jonathan
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mjr
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Re: Active Travel France

Post by mjr »

Jdsk wrote: 25 Sep 2022, 10:53am "The French government said on Tuesday it would boost state support for cycling in 2023, hoping to promote the use of bicycles for transport in rural areas, improve citizens’ health, and use them in the energy transition."
"French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne told reporters a new 250 million euro ($249 million) cycling fund will boost bike infrastructure and finance cycling lessons for 800,000 school children."
https://www.reuters.com/article/france- ... FKBN2QL1OF
€250m sounds less than the £2bn per parliament pledged for England by Johnson /Shapps ( and not yet revoked by Truss/ Trevelyan AFAIK).
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk
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Jdsk
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Active Travel

Post by Jdsk »

"Bloomberg Philanthropies Launches New Initiative to Build Ambitious Cycling Infrastructure Projects Around the World":
https://www.bloomberg.org/press/bloombe ... the-world/

Guardian coverage:
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2022 ... ycle-lanes

Jonathan
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mjr
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Re: Active Travel

Post by mjr »

Jdsk wrote: 10 Oct 2022, 11:24am "Bloomberg Philanthropies Launches New Initiative to Build Ambitious Cycling Infrastructure Projects Around the World":
https://www.bloomberg.org/press/bloombe ... the-world/

Guardian coverage:
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2022 ... ycle-lanes

Jonathan
Is this funding going to Boardman's agency, or is that post off-topic?
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ChrisButch
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Re: Active Travel England - Boardman

Post by ChrisButch »

Definitely not off-topic was a piece in the Guardian a couple of days ago about the 'pro-growth' planning system reforms now likely. One of them was the slimming down of the 'statutory consultee' involvement in planning applications. And the specific example quoted was, guess what, ATE. This before it's even started. What a surprise.
mattheus
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Re: Active Travel England - Boardman

Post by mattheus »

ChrisButch wrote: 11 Oct 2022, 11:55am Definitely not off-topic was a piece in the Guardian a couple of days ago about the 'pro-growth' planning system reforms now likely. One of them was the slimming down of the 'statutory consultee' involvement in planning applications. And the specific example quoted was, guess what, ATE. This before it's even started. What a surprise.
Chris, I do hope you're not part of the evil Anti-Growth Coalition.
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