Newsletter - Cycling News | July
Sent: Fri, Aug 1st 2008, 07:01
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Welcome to the July edition of the electronic newsletter from Life Cycle UK, the cycle promotion charity. In this issue:
Content:
1. Bristol - Cycling Demonstration City!
2. Railway path saved (definitely)
3. Cardboard bike
4. Sun & sand explorer reinstated
5. 130-million bikes
6. Hourbike
7. Doctor Bike
8. Life Cycle in Iceland
9. Life Cycle in Bath
10. In a pickle
Bristol - Cycling Demonstration City!
It was Bristol against Manchester and Leicester: and it was Bristol wot won it! Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly used Bike to Work day in June to announce the excellent news that Bristol is to be the UK's first Cycling Demonstration City. A total of £22.8-million (half from government, half raised locally) will be invested in cycling initiatives over the next three years. The overall aim is to double levels of cycle use in Bristol and the suburban parts of South Gloucestershire.
Bristol's bid included:
- Creating the UK's first on-street bike rental network, modelled on the successful Paris scheme (see Hourbike, below).
- Running a programme of bike recycling that will provide free bikes to people in disadvantaged communities.
- Building a state-of-the-art facility for cyclists in the city centre providing a showers, lockers, secure bike parking and an information point.
- Creating a new cycleway to link the suburbs with the city centre opening up new, safer options for commuters who currently rely on their cars.
- More than doubling the number of children receiving Bikeability cycle skills training.
- Instigating a programme of outreach, information and awareness raising; explaining the benefits of cycling to many more people and helping them to give cycling a try.
Hear Ruth Kelly extolling Bristol's virtues by clicking here. A general overview from the BBC here. Read the Guardian's coverage by clicking here.
If you're a Facebook user, there's a new group to join: Bristol: Cycling Demonstration City. Post photographs, share your experiences of cycling in Bristol and suggest ideas for getting more people on their bikes. Click here.
Alternatively, send your ideas to Life Cycle! What do you like or dislike about cycling in Bristol? How would you send £22-million making the city a more bike-friendly place. Click here and tell us.
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Railway path saved (definitely!)
In the last edition of Cycling News we rejoiced that plans to build a hideous guided busway along the Bristol and Bath railway path had been shelved. But there was a caveat: the statement from Bristol City Council announcing the U-turn was rather woolly. Many campaigners believed that the Council's change of heart was only temporary and that busway scheme could easily be resurrected.
We therefore applaud the announcement from Mark Bradshaw, the councillor with responsibility for Bristol's transport, that the busway is a definite dead duck. After a fact-finding visit to Cambridge, where a similar bus rapid transit system is being created, Councillor Bradshaw declared that the size of the lanes and the gantries needed for a dedicated busway would be "entirely inappropriate" for the Bristol and Bath route.
This is good news. Life Cycle UK, along with other groups, is calling for investment in better lighting, signing and policing on the railway path, and more links to it. We'd also like to see new housing developments face the path (the "bike homes" proposed for Easton that we featured last month are a step in the right direction). Two million walking and cycling trips are made on the Bristol and Bath path every year. We believe that that could be doubled relatively easily and cheaply.
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Cardboard bike
Every 71 seconds someone's bicycle is stolen. It's an annoying, stressful, expensive experience, and deeply depressing if it's a bike you're particularly fond of. The time honoured way of deterring the thieves is to secure your bike to a proper cycle stand using a good quality D-lock. (And a quick reminder that organisations can get free stands from Life Cycle's Take a Stand scheme. http://www.lifecycleuk.org.uk/cycle_parking.php
But maybe there's another way to safeguard your cycle. Phil Bridge, a design student at Sheffield Hallam University has been thinking outside the box. Or rather, he's been inspired by the box to produce: a cardboard bicycle. "My main goal" he says, "was to completely devalue the bike into something that could be left anywhere and you wouldn't have any worries about it."
Phil reckons his cardboard bikes could be mass-produced for about £15 each. They would have a life of about six months, after which the super-strong (and, yes, weatherproof) Hexacomb cardboard frame would be pulped and recycled and the few metal components (chain, tyres, etc) would be salvaged and reused.
Learn more and read an interview with Phil Bridge by clicking this link.
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Sun & sand explorer reinstated
A train service, much loved by Bristol's cyclists, is back on the rails. The Sun and Sand Explorer runs between Bristol Temple Meads and Weymouth every Saturday until the end of August
A similar service used to run twice daily down to the south coast, but it was not included in the latest franchise agreement between the Department for Transport and First Great Western. However, following lobbying by disappointed sun seekers, First announced that it would reinstate the service during the summer months.
It's a reminder of how rail travel used to be. The vintage diesel locomotives that haul the train are (gosh!) reliable. The old carriages have (gasp!) lots of space. Passengers get to enjoy (wow!) comfy seats and tables. And most amazing of all (get this!) there's a humungous guard's van that takes bicycles.
Read the full story by clicking this link. For timetable and booking info, click here
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130-million bikes
The world produced 130-million bicycles according to figures recently released by the Earth Policy Institute. This is more than double the number of cars manufactured. The research shows that the cycle industry is currently growing at twice the pace of the automotive industry.
Production is dominated by China which manufactured 73-million bikes in 2003 of which 51-million were exported, primarily to Europe or the USA. Other major manufacturers include India, Taiwan, Japan, and the European Union.
Europe is the world leader in bicycle use. In Amsterdam, Copenhagen and many other cities about a third of trips are made by bicycle. Cycling is encouraged by expansive networks of bike lanes and cycle tracks, secure parking, and end-of-trip facilities such as showers and lockers. Safety initiatives implemented over the past 25 years in Germany - such as better cycling training, improved routes, traffic calming, and stronger enforcement of traffic laws - have reduced casualties while doubling the number of bike trips taken.
Rising petrol prices mean that even America is getting the message. The "eyeball shock at the gas pump" is leading to a rediscovery of cycling with retailers reporting sales soaring by as much as 30 percent in recent months.
Full story here
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Hourbike
We've reported in past issues of Cycling News on the spectacular success of the Velib scheme in Paris which has put 20,000 very distinctive bikes onto just about every street in the city. The bikes can be used free of charge for short hops or rented at low cost over longer periods. Velib has tempted thousands of people onto two wheels and given them an enjoyable cycling experience. Now Bristol is to try something similar, albeit on a smaller scale.
From September, 130 Hourbikes will be available from special storage pods to be sited at Temple Meads and Bristol Parkway railway stations, along the Bristol & Bath railway path, on UWE's Frenchay campus, and at other locations, mainly in the city centre. You release a bike by inserting your membership card and keying in a PIN. Use the bike and then return it to any Hourbike pod to end your rental.
It costs £10 to become a member of the Hourbike scheme. Bike hire is free for the first half-hour, thereafter you're billed £1 an hour. Members can check availability and location of bikes and the amount of credit in their Hourbike account via the Hourbike website.
Interested? Visit www.hourbike.com for more information.
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Doctor Bike
2008 is proving to be the busiest yet for Life Cycle's Doctor Bike! Our friendly mechanics have run cycle surgeries at schools, businesses, hospitals, and community events in Bristol and beyond. Hundreds of people have had their bicycles checked, minor faults fixed and the bikes made safe and roadworthy. Keep an eye on our website to find out when Doctor Bike is appearing next.
We also run regular bike maintenance courses at the Life Cycle Centre in Knowle. You'll learn how to set a bike up for maximum comfort, how to cope with a puncture, how to keep your brakes in good condition and your gears changing properly. For more information click this link.
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Life Cycle in Iceland
Life Cycle is working with the Icelandic Cycling Federation to improve the quality of cycle training in the country. They came to us because we helped create Bikeability, the new version of the classic Cycling Proficiency Test currently being rolled out across the UK, and we're known as an authority of how to teach safe, skilful, confident cycling.
In Iceland, cycling is becoming increasingly popular, and the government wants to adopt best practice for cycle training in its schools and in courses run for adults. We sent the lovely Veronica Pollard, one of Life Cycle's ace cycle trainers, to give a presentation that explains the ideas that underpin Bikeability and to run a special training course for Reykjavik's cycle instructors.
Veronica said: "The trainees all did very well even though I was running the course in English, and I had to get my head round the fact that everything was a mirror image. They ride on the right! I hope this course will kickstart a major programme of high quality cycle training in the country."
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Life Cycle in Bath
You don't have to travel to Iceland to get Bikeability training! Over the summer we're running special courses for 8 to 11 year olds at Widcome School in Bath. The children are taught how to cycle safely and skillfully - and they enjoy every minute of it. Courses run for two hours each day over three days.
Training begins off-road, away from traffic, but then moves onto local roads. Children learn how to control their bikes, how to anticipate other car drivers' behaviour, and how to carry out manoeuvres with skill and confidence. We work with small groups of children so everyone gets lots of attention.
At the end of the course the children are awarded certificates and we provide feedback to parents on their child's progress.
The courses run on 5, 6, 7 August and 26, 27, 28 August.
Places cost just £20 (rather than the usual £49) thanks to a subsidy from B&NES Council. For more information click here
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In a pickle
Bike enthusiasts in Easton are organising a Bicycle Re-Cycling Day to allow local people to give their unused or unwanted spare bikes, tools and parts to a good cause. The event is being run by volunteers on Sunday July 13th 2008 at The Pickle Factory, All Hallows Road, Easton, Bristol. Click here for a map.
There will be an auction of repaired bikes and equipment at the end of the afternoon. Any money raised will be used by Transition Easton for sustainable community projects.
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Everyclick
Here's a way to make a donation to Life Cycle UK - and it won't cost you a penny! Simply use the Everyclick search engine. Surf the Net, do a spot of shopping, book a holiday and you'll see the donations clock up remarkably quickly. To start using Everyclick click here.
- Sent
- Fri, Aug 1st 2008, 07:01