Push Bikes Manifesto, 2012.
Jeremy Clarkson, in The Sunday Times, 8th April, 2012.
[Copenhagen] is fantastic. And best of all: there are no bloody cars cluttering the place up. Almost everyone goes almost everywhere on a bicycle.... City fathers have to choose. Cars or bicycles. And in Copenhagen they've gone for the bike.... The upshot is a city that works. It's pleasing to look at. It's astonishingly quiet. It's safe. And no one wastes half their life looking for a parking space. I'd live there in a heartbeat.
PushBikes has produced a manifesto to support Jeremy's aspirations for cycling in Birmingham We have distributed it to candidates and 10 have responded - see here
We hope that this will become a yearly fixture, and will help voters choose who to vote for.
4000 Cyclists on the Big Ride Protest in London
The BBC reports that 10000 cyclists cycled 4 miles through central London on the London Cycle Campaign's (LCC) Big Ride.
The LCC wants the mayoral candidates to sign up to the "Love London, Go Dutch" idea, which hopes to make the capital as safe for cycling as it is in Holland.
The LCC website has details of the Love London, Go Dutch campaign here.
Events
This new page is designed to highlight local Birmingham cycling events organised by community based voluntary groups often in support of charities such as the British Heart Foundation.
Cycle training and presentations etc run by PushBikes members will be included.
PushBikes' rides are listed here and links to other West Midlands cycling groups here
Upcoming events
Elmwood BHF Cycle Ride: Sunday 20th of May
Heart of England Bike Ride, Baddesley Clinton: Sunday 8 July 2012
Be Active by Bike in Birmingham
Cities Fit for Cycling
The Times is running a campaign to improve cycling following a serious injury to journalist Mary Bowers as she was arriving at work on her bike and was hit by a lorry. Mary, 27, is still not conscious and is making a slow recovery in hospital.
More details here and on the Times website
Does Birmingham need a Boris?
What can we learn from London and Cambridge?
Push Bikes public meeting 27th March
Mustafa Arif, London CC, explained that with London split into different councils, with elected mayors. The personality and interests of the mayor are of vital importance: while a sympathetic mayor can help a cycling revolution take place, a mayor who is hostile to cycling can block all improvements.
Presumably a 'West Midlands' mayor would have a similar situation to the London mayor.
Mayors can lead to revolutionary changes, partly because they have a personal mandates from the electorate. For example, the congestion charge and the explosion of bus lanes in London happened because of the London mayor. Such changes are more difficult in councils without a mayor, because a consensus needs to be built among the councillors.
Jim Chisolm, Cambridge CC, described how in Cambridge, a city without an elected mayor, many of the councillors are members of the CCC and that many developers approach the CCC before submitting their planning proposals. By emgaging with councillors and developers the CCC has helped to show that good infrastucture leading to high cycling rates can be developed in Britain.
Both the speakers emphasised that success for cycle campaigners relies on political support. The poorly designed cycling infrastructure in the UK is not due to highway planners' lack of training - there are British transport consultants designing wonderful infrastructure on the continent. Political demands for increasing 'traffic' capacity normally far outweigh that for good cycle infrastructure. Vocal cycle campaign groups with a large membership and wide support are essential for building political support for cycling.
This is a more reliable solution for Birmingham than hoping for our own Boris.
Helping PushBikes Campaign in 2012
The evidence on the ground provided by the Selly Oak bypass, Longbridge juction & Lordwood Rd/Hagley road junctions shows that the highwaymen put a low value the safety & convenience of cyclists & pedestrains suggests we'll need all our members help to promote people friendly travel in Birmingham 2012.
But it's not all bad, as detailed below we've had some recent sucesses.
Icknield Port Loop regeneration
The project covers 65 acres a mile from the city centre. The proposals include between 3,000 and 4,000 homes and a million square feet of commercial space.
PushBikes has submitted comments on the planning application - click to view - and contacted the Ladywood councillors
John Pitcock: Silly signs on Route 5
John Pitcock - a founding member of PushBikes - has been campaigning about the confusing "no cycling" signs on the road section of NCR 5 along Kitchener and Cecil Roads south of Cannon Hill Park. The Birmingham Mail did an article on the campaign - read it here.
The "no cycling sign" on Ripple Road Stirchley was finally taken down a few weeks ago. Councillor Timothy Huxtable has responded: "I would like to work together with Push Bikes to help resolve this issue."
Battery Way/Weston Lane junction signage
After three years of campaigning and a near KSI a "cyclists crossing" sign has been erected!
