Well done London Cycling Campaign. Here is a well researched and well packaged proposal of how a Londoners friendly Blackfriars would look like. This WILL be London in a few years; so Boris, why not make it sooner rather than later? P.S. Yes, that is our Christiania in the picture.
Blue van, blue line and blue administration. It is subtle*, but the video above symbolises what is wrong with this city: 1. An administration that does not protect vulnerable people; note how the continuous white line disappears at the junction, when it is most needed. That is so, of course, to “smooth traffic flow”. 2. A driving public who is very selfish and does not consider other people. It is inconceivable that the van driver was unaware of the bicycle on his left. 3. A [...]
If you care about London, there is only one person to vote for next year. Here is Jenny Jones exposing how fake Boris is: 2011 was the third year of mayoral press releases claiming ‘record levels of investment in cycling’ and the third year of delivering less than promised. I have discovered that Boris has under-spent his annual cycling budgets so far, by £80m. However, I can guarantee that we won’t get a fourth press release claiming a ‘record level’ of spending on cycling, as [...]
The video above is part of Kensington and Chelsea’s BikeMinded initiative, organised by Kathryn King, the Borough’s Safety Officer/Travel Planner. Here is she below advertising the forthcoming Cake and Coffee Cruise (report by Lady Velo here): One of the heroins of London’s velorution.
Excellent post by Carlton Reid: Speed is still important. But not in the sweat-fest sort of way, all head down and Lycra. One of cycling’s key advertised advantages, from the 1890s to today, is the ability to go door to door, swiftly. Cycle routes which steer away from the fastest A to B routes may direct cyclists away from busy, motorised traffic but it’s not just sport cyclists who want to follow ‘desire lines’, the shortest and more desirable routes. We have always been uneasy [...]
This is what our vision of London looks like: children safely riding to school by themselves. Just one goal that requires everything to be in place for fun, safe, fast riding for everyone. More here. Only then will UK children rise from the bottom of the league of well-being. Image by Stabiliser
Here is a nugget from the Sack Boris website, which quotes this article by Guardian columnist Dave Hill: The cycle hire scheme has cost London a lot more than Boris’s manifesto anticipated: “We will broker a deal with a private company to bring thousands of bikes to the capital at no cost to the taxpayer.” (page 32). The total budget for the scheme turned out to be £140 million and the Barclays contribution to it and the superhighways combined is to be just £25 million, [...]
As the Dutch in Dublin asks, “Are they breaking the rule?” Image by Birger Hoppe
We have posted this video before, but it is worth doing it again, after reading this report from Cyclists in the City: Using simple common sense, if you dismount here, in the middle of the carriageway, where exactly are you supposed to go? Are you supposed to walk along the carriageway? … TfL response: Date: Tue, 13 Sep 2011 16:03:53 +0100 From: TfL Thank you for your email. We’ve investigated and I’m now in a position to reply. The information contained in the Cyclists in [...]
Strictly for nerds: A navigation system through headphones, with no voice: It uses music played back through the user’s headphones as a beacon for navigation. The source of music is artificially shifted in the direction of the desired destination, so the user’s sense of orientation is employed to give a clue about the direction. It obviously has the advantage that one doesn’t have to look at a screen on the handlebar, especially near junctions when one is most vulnerable. Note the very Dutch way the [...]
