£2 billion package to create new era for cycling and walking

[whole diary]

[Red Squirrel]

Hundreds sign petition to demand Bristol Bridge traffic closure is reversed

"The decision to close off Bristol Bridge, Baldwin street and some of the access to the city centre is beyond a joke"

Hundreds of people have signed an online petition asking the Mayor of Bristol to reverse the traffic measures introduced in the city centre a month ago.

Almost 700 people signed the online petition set up by Ben Thomas in the past week, with numbers rising every day.

The petition calls for the roads into the Old City part of Bristol to be reopened to private vehicles, and says the decision to close off Bristol Bridge, Baldwin Street and other parts of the city is 'beyond a joke'.
...continues

Source: Bristol Post

700 people doesn't sound a lot of signatures for a petition.

I understand that there is something called 'bikelash', a process in which motorists who are forced to change their habits become very vocal and angry. I've heard reports of people deliberately knocking down the wands that demarcate new cycle lanes, and in Bristol I've seen barriers pushed to the kerb in the same way.

Apparently the deputy mayor of Ghent received death threats a few years ago when he championed the 'circulation plan', which stopped private motorists passing through the middle of the town. Even the Dutch thought the Ghent plan was a bit brave. In 2012 the mode share of cycling there was 22%. When the circulation plan was introduced in 2017, they hoped to raise this share to 35% by 2030. They hit that target in 2019: https://youtu.be/sEOA_Tcq2XA

If you design a city for cars, you get cars. If you design a city for people, you get people.

[TaplowGreen]

Hundreds sign petition to demand Bristol Bridge traffic closure is reversed

"The decision to close off Bristol Bridge, Baldwin street and some of the access to the city centre is beyond a joke"

Hundreds of people have signed an online petition asking the Mayor of Bristol to reverse the traffic measures introduced in the city centre a month ago.

Almost 700 people signed the online petition set up by Ben Thomas in the past week, with numbers rising every day.

The petition calls for the roads into the Old City part of Bristol to be reopened to private vehicles, and says the decision to close off Bristol Bridge, Baldwin Street and other parts of the city is 'beyond a joke'.
...continues

Source: Bristol Post

700 people doesn't sound a lot of signatures for a petition.

I understand that there is something called 'bikelash', a process in which motorists who are forced to change their habits become very vocal and angry. I've heard reports of people deliberately knocking down the wands that demarcate new cycle lanes, and in Bristol I've seen barriers pushed to the kerb in the same way.

Apparently the deputy mayor of Ghent received death threats a few years ago when he championed the 'circulation plan', which stopped private motorists passing through the middle of the town. Even the Dutch thought the Ghent plan was a bit brave. In 2012 the mode share of cycling there was 22%. When the circulation plan was introduced in 2017, they hoped to raise this share to 35% by 2030. They hit that target in 2019: https://youtu.be/sEOA_Tcq2XA

If you design a city for cars, you get cars. If you design a city for people, you get people.

I genuinely believe that the never ending Motorists v Cyclists (with pedestrians somewhere in the middle) standoff makes resolving any of the World's other conflicts a stroll in the park.

[Red Squirrel]

Hundreds sign petition to demand Bristol Bridge traffic closure is reversed

"The decision to close off Bristol Bridge, Baldwin street and some of the access to the city centre is beyond a joke"

Hundreds of people have signed an online petition asking the Mayor of Bristol to reverse the traffic measures introduced in the city centre a month ago.

Almost 700 people signed the online petition set up by Ben Thomas in the past week, with numbers rising every day.

The petition calls for the roads into the Old City part of Bristol to be reopened to private vehicles, and says the decision to close off Bristol Bridge, Baldwin Street and other parts of the city is 'beyond a joke'.
...continues

Source: Bristol Post

700 people doesn't sound a lot of signatures for a petition.

I understand that there is something called 'bikelash', a process in which motorists who are forced to change their habits become very vocal and angry. I've heard reports of people deliberately knocking down the wands that demarcate new cycle lanes, and in Bristol I've seen barriers pushed to the kerb in the same way.

Apparently the deputy mayor of Ghent received death threats a few years ago when he championed the 'circulation plan', which stopped private motorists passing through the middle of the town. Even the Dutch thought the Ghent plan was a bit brave. In 2012 the mode share of cycling there was 22%. When the circulation plan was introduced in 2017, they hoped to raise this share to 35% by 2030. They hit that target in 2019: https://youtu.be/sEOA_Tcq2XA

If you design a city for cars, you get cars. If you design a city for people, you get people.

I genuinely believe that the never ending Motorists v Cyclists (with pedestrians somewhere in the middle) standoff makes resolving any of the World's other conflicts a stroll in the park.

Quite so. What makes it particularly odd is that the vast majority of adult cyclists are also motorists...

According to the answer to a question Cycling UK^▸ (United Kingdom) asked the Department for Transport, in 2018:

Almost a third of people (30%) who held a driving licence also cycled.
Over four-fifths (83%) of people aged 18 years+ who cycled held a driving licence and drove (i.e. they hadn’t given up driving).
Note: this data is derived from the National Travel Survey (NTS), which covers households in England only. ‘People who cycle’ include all those who reported that they cycled more often than “once a year or never”.

Source:Cycling UK

[TaplowGreen]

Hundreds sign petition to demand Bristol Bridge traffic closure is reversed

"The decision to close off Bristol Bridge, Baldwin street and some of the access to the city centre is beyond a joke"

Hundreds of people have signed an online petition asking the Mayor of Bristol to reverse the traffic measures introduced in the city centre a month ago.

Almost 700 people signed the online petition set up by Ben Thomas in the past week, with numbers rising every day.

The petition calls for the roads into the Old City part of Bristol to be reopened to private vehicles, and says the decision to close off Bristol Bridge, Baldwin Street and other parts of the city is 'beyond a joke'.
...continues

Source: Bristol Post

700 people doesn't sound a lot of signatures for a petition.

I understand that there is something called 'bikelash', a process in which motorists who are forced to change their habits become very vocal and angry. I've heard reports of people deliberately knocking down the wands that demarcate new cycle lanes, and in Bristol I've seen barriers pushed to the kerb in the same way.

Apparently the deputy mayor of Ghent received death threats a few years ago when he championed the 'circulation plan', which stopped private motorists passing through the middle of the town. Even the Dutch thought the Ghent plan was a bit brave. In 2012 the mode share of cycling there was 22%. When the circulation plan was introduced in 2017, they hoped to raise this share to 35% by 2030. They hit that target in 2019: https://youtu.be/sEOA_Tcq2XA

If you design a city for cars, you get cars. If you design a city for people, you get people.

I genuinely believe that the never ending Motorists v Cyclists (with pedestrians somewhere in the middle) standoff makes resolving any of the World's other conflicts a stroll in the park.

Quite so. What makes it particularly odd is that the vast majority of adult cyclists are also motorists...

According to the answer to a question Cycling UK^▸ (United Kingdom) asked the Department for Transport, in 2018:

Almost a third of people (30%) who held a driving licence also cycled.
Over four-fifths (83%) of people aged 18 years+ who cycled held a driving licence and drove (i.e. they hadn’t given up driving).
Note: this data is derived from the National Travel Survey (NTS), which covers households in England only. ‘People who cycle’ include all those who reported that they cycled more often than “once a year or never”.

Source:Cycling UK

The more unreasonable of them share two other similarities, an insurmountable amount of self righteousness matched only by a sense of absolute entitlement.

[IndustryInsider]

#pressreplynotquote

[Richard Fairhurst]

The more unreasonable of them share two other similarities, an insurmountable amount of self righteousness matched only by a sense of absolute entitlement.

Not an accusation, of course, that could ever be levelled at rail enthusiasts.

[mjones]

The more unreasonable of them share two other similarities, an insurmountable amount of self righteousness matched only by a sense of absolute entitlement.

Because they also have in common that they are members of the human race.

[Bmblbzzz]

Apparently the deputy mayor of Ghent received death threats a few years ago when he championed the 'circulation plan', which stopped private motorists passing through the middle of the town. Even the Dutch thought the Ghent plan was a bit brave. In 2012 the mode share of cycling there was 22%. When the circulation plan was introduced in 2017, they hoped to raise this share to 35% by 2030. They hit that target in 2019: https://youtu.be/sEOA_Tcq2XA

If you design a city for cars, you get cars. If you design a city for people, you get people.

Circulation zones, modal filtering; it's not rocket science and it's not new. Most of all though, I'm imagining the Frome opened up and flowing...

[Red Squirrel]

...Most of all though, I'm imagining the Frome opened up and flowing...

Madness. Mankind is not capable of such things... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fePpwYCs_JM

[Bmblbzzz]

I spy a railway in one phase of the construction! 

[Red Squirrel]

Out of interest, from time to time I check to see if Google Maps is still directing motorists across Bristol Bridge.

At the time of writing, it was. Yesterday I tried to notify them of this - after all, anyone following their directions in a car risks a fine. They replied that my suggested edit could not be verified. Which is fair enough; the only information I gave them was a press release from Bristol City Council.

Anyone else fancy having a go? You need to be logged on to your Google account; click on the roads (Bristol Bridge and Baldwin St where it crosses The Centre) and then, using the 'burger menu' (top left) select Send Feedback -> Wrong Information and follow your nose. Maybe you'll have more luck than I did!

[CyclingSid]

The StreetView car was in Reading this week (possibly recording Reading's hopeless cycling additions?). Need to get it re-directed to Bristol.

[Red Squirrel]

Looking at cycling infrastructure in the Netherlands, it's easy to forget that their cities were once car-dominated just like ours. They didn't get where they are today without a fight. This  video from Amsterdam, which I came across today, shows that bikelash is nothing new: https://twitter.com/i/status/1145299484546621440

[CyclingSid]

Its about having politicians who are willing to have that "fight", unfortunately not common in this country.
https://road.cc/content/news/grant-shapps-backtracks-cycling-and-walking-pledge-278071

[Richard Fairhurst]

Meanwhile, here in Oxfordshire, the county council's "cycling champion" (Suzanne Bartington, the excellent councillor for Witney North and a rail advocate too) has just resigned, citing a lack of support from her Cabinet.