We are launching an exciting initiative which:

• will save you money when you buy a new bike,
• will mobilise Londoners to improve cycling conditions,
• will give you the opportunity to use your skills and channel your frustration with present conditions into making something constructive.

Here is how it works:

• You decide to buy a new bicycle at our shop,
• Velorution offers you a ten percent discount on the bike, if you commit to a number of hours of voluntary work for a cause, which you can select from a portfolio we have prepared,
• you choose the project; we will forward your details to the project manager; it is expected you volunteer a minimum of one hour per £10 discount received,
• London will be a better place to live, thanks to your contribution.

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To start off the initiative we have teamed up with Sustrans and the London Cycling Campaign. Both organisations have a “Champions Programme”. See below details of Sustrans’ “Active Travel Champion” programme. The LCC has a “Go Dutch” Champion Programme.

We welcome proposals by other organisations or individuals of other projects and activities that will benefit from the eclectic and high-level skillset of our customer base.

What are Sustrans Active Travel Champions?

Active Travel Champions are people who like walking or cycling and can help other people
make more of their everyday journeys by foot or bike. They volunteer from their community,
workplace or university to highlight opportunities for people to travel actively
e.g. letting people know about good cycle routes; and/ or create new active travel
opportunities for people e.g. organising a group bike ride.

Why be a Champion?

There are loads of good reasons why it’s a good use of your time but here are the top ones:

• Learn new skills: The Active Travel Champions programme is supported by a whole
  training programme. This includes training on how to organise a group bike ride and
  running a travel clinic.
• Be part of the Olympic & Paralympic Games- ok so it’s not in a stadium BUT our
  project has been awarded the ‘Inspired By’ Olympics mark. This mark is for a few
  selected projects that will help to create a buzzing and active city and assist with
  achieving the London 2012 legacy of a sustainable and active London.
• Join Sustrans, the UK’s leading sustainable transport charity
• Feel warm inside: help people become healthier and happier whilst tackling climate
  change.

Champions’ Activities

As a champion you can select which volunteering activities you organise or take part in.

These activities include:

• Holding an information stand
• Organising group rides or walks
• Creating an information display
• Arranging travel advice clinics
• Giving talks
• Setting up bike user groups or walking groups

Or, if you have your own ideas for activities the champions’ support team can work
with you to develop them.

Image via La stazione delle biciclette

And then ask yourself: “Do I want to be swindled and cheated by Johnson for four more years?”

In essence, the redesign of the Blackfriars Bridge junction was sold as required ” to accommodate the [expectation of] hugely increased pedestrian flows.”

If you don’t know this junction, note that there used to be a pedestrian crossing where you see all the people dodging cars. Of the four sides of the junction it was probably the most used one, because that is where people want to go to. What TfL has done, is to remove the pedestrian crossing where there was demand for it, and reconfigured the junction forcing people to follow a circuitous route. Note how few people walk on the far pavement by the green hoarding, the TfL preferred route.

Sooner or later, someone will be injured, and TfL will blame the pedestrian and maybe erect barriers. Is this the city you want to live in?

TfL and Johnson are not stupid. They will lie and risk people’s lives just to implement their agenda.

The crossing of York Way / Pentonville Road should be a “Manslaughter Scene”. One young lady has died because of the negligence of Transport for London and Boris Johnson.

According to TfL’s own London Cycling Design Standards, the section of road above, narrow, narrowing and bending, requires special treatment to protect people on bikes:

Chicanes and pinch-points 3.6.4
It is important to ensure that the feature is designed in such a way that cyclists are neither squeezed nor intimidated. Options include:
• raising driver-awareness of cyclists with an advisory cycle lane (with or without coloured surfacing) and cycle-symbol road markings through the pinch point
• providing a clear one-way width in accordance with figure 3.1
• a cycle bypass that allows cyclists to travel past the obstruction without losing priority or having to ‘give way’.

TfL is disregarding its own safety guidelines, refusing to install any of the above features because of the effect it fears they may have on traffic flow.

Please read this excellent article by William Perrin (the photo above is by him), describing in detail the wickedness of TfL.

Danny draws the conclusion that this criminal neglect of safety standards has been masterminded by Boris Johnson.

What a waste! Danny takes Ranger to task: More than £2m per mile to paint parking places blue?

Please don’t forget the photograph above, come election time in May.

Like London, Berlin also had a black year for cycle deaths: 11 in total, compared to 6 the year before. Berlin has half the population of London but probably three times the modal share (except when there is a lot of snow).

Like in London, the biggest cause of fatal crashes are left or right turning vehicles. Kalle has the full breakdown.

The map above is from the Telegraph and it shows all incidents in London in the twelve months from August 10 and July 11.

Actor James Kenward photographed by Duncan Harris.

Amsterdam has installed these saddle seats over bridges. A brilliant idea; they should come with simple instructions:

“If you are in a hurry, stop and sit down. Count ten deep breaths. You can now go: you will be one minute late but five years younger”

If you have more time, turn them around and enjoy watching the Dutch girls riding over the bridge:

Images by Sandra Hoj

When TfL favours “smoothing [motor]traffic flow” and thus discourages people from cycling, it causes more deaths, through lack of exercise and pollution, than just the poor souls killed on the roads.

Two micro guerilla gardening interventions in Milan, part of the “piante volanti” project.

Via Milano Fixed

Both the Dutch and the English were faced with the same choice in 1970. Allow the car dominate the streetscape, or put people first.

It is not coincidence that by all measures of welfare, the Dutch are better-off nowadays, having chosen Opton B(icycle).

Thanks to Pedestrianise London for the link.

Here is an intervention we did last night. It is Russell Square where the segregated cycle lane has been removed. From Montague Place, bicycles are allowed to turn right but are then confronted by drivers (like the taxi in the picture), who still think that the street is one way. Some idiots even want to make a point and try to run you over. Sick of this, I have used several cones by the side of the road to erect a protective barrier. The blue sign came in handy.

The European Cycle Federation has some data:

• Growth in cycling did not come at the expense of public transport which increased over the last 3 years from 21 to 22.8 %.
• Car use decreased from 29 % in 2002 to a remarkably low 22.9 % in 2011. (To put this into perspective, Brussels has around a 65 % car split). [These figures imply that walking, scooters and helicopters went down to 37%]
• So how much did all this cost? Well, the budget for cycling is about €10 million annually: 95 % infrastructure, 5 % campaigning, known in Germany as “Radlhauptstadt”. This is remarkably low, especially considering that building 1 km of freeway costs somewhere between €5-10 million.

All it takes is a challenging goal, a clear strategy, the willingness to carry it through and the occasional bold move:

The modest budget also suggests that there is great demand for urban cycling, and if the money is well spent, thousands of people will start riding their bikes regularly.