Enabling family cycling in the city centre

A family cycling out of the centre of Dordrecht.

I've just returned from a week's holiday near Dordrecht, in the Netherlands. While staying there I did a lot of cycling, enjoying being able to relax and not worry about road positioning to keep myself safe.

How Long Does it Take to Fix a Light Bulb?

Latest news: The lighting in Edgbaston Tunnel has now been replaced.

The Greener Way

I recently got hold of a copy of Push Bikes member Roy Watson's new Birmingham Greenways map. Whilst looking at it I noticed there is a way of eliminating a tedious on-road section of a ride I make from time to time through the Netherton tunnel. Additionally, it makes it circular without going via my house, so it could be used by other people. So one beautiful sunny afternoon I set off with Roy's map in the spring clip of my pannier rack.

Please Keep Left, People!

There is a noticeable increase in the number of people cycling in Birmingham, and of course most of them opt for routes that don't involve mixing with motor vehicles. The canals make for a pleasant environment, and the resurfacing of the tow paths carried out using Cycling Ambition Grant money is an improvement over the previous mud bath, but the tow paths are too narrow for use as heavily used shared-use paths.

Designing and Planning for Cycling Training Workshop

John Bennett and I attended this workshop run by MADE on behalf of Push Bikes. There were approx twenty other delegates – three from Birmingham City Council, one from Centro, eight from Bristol City Council, a few from other local councils, together with a couple of students. At the introductions it was disappointing that several were not regular commuting cyclists and most had only passing involvement with cycling infrastructure design.

What to Make of Pavement Cycling?

This week, a thoughtless idiot who knocked over a 3 year old girl has made national headlines, and prompted You and Yours, on Radio 4, to ask people "Have you ever been put at risk on the road by a cyclist?" I've chosen, however, to illustrate this blog post with an image of

Analysis of the Survey of Local Election Candidates

For the council elections Push Bikes carried out a survey of the views of candidates on sustainable personal transport. The results of that survey were in many ways encouraging, but they also revealed a lack of knowledge about the better ways in which things are done elsewhere.

Old Rail Bridge at Northbrook Street

At the end of the Harborne Walkway there is an old railway bridge under Northbrook Street which linked up to a rail bridge over the canal to take the trains to New Street Station. This railway bridge has been bricked up and buried for many years, but recently AMEY have uncovered the buried end to undertake strengthening works on the brickwork. Coincidentally, the Birmingham Cycle Revolution local connections scheme is widening a pathway next to this location to improve the connection between Summerfield Park and the canal access steps at Northbrook Street.

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