September 28, 2009
Thousands more parking places created at stations – but only for cyclists
from The Times Online, Ben Webster, Environment Editor
The daily misery of hunting for a space in the railway station car park and being charged up to £20 for the privilege will soon be over for thousands of commuters — if they switch from petrol to pedal power.
The Government will announce today that it is creating 10,000 additional secure cycle spaces at stations as part of a commitment to “put cycling at the heart of transport policy”. Hundreds of stations will get cycle stands monitored by CCTV cameras or with cages accessible by swipe cards. Ministers have not yet ruled out reallocating spaces from cars to bikes.
In addition, ten main stations, Waterloo, Victoria and St Pancras in London, as well as Leeds, Sheffield, York, Hull, Grimsby, Scunthorpe and Liverpool Lime Street, will gain “cycle hubs” offering cheap repairs, cycle hire and supervised parking.
The £14 million of funding for cycle facilities being announced today comes after the commitment last year to spend £100 million to increase cycling in a dozen towns and cities. The Department for Transport has set a target of getting an additional 2.5 million people cycling regularly. It also aims to offer basic cycle training under the Bikeability scheme to half a million ten-year-olds across England by 2012.
[...]
Lord Adonis, the Transport Secretary, will say today that: “For too long we have hesitated to promote cycling — the greenest form of travel — as a mainstream form of transport. Yet more than half of all journeys — including journeys to work, school and college — are of five miles or less. If we made it easier and safer, more people would cycle. Just talk to the people already on their bikes. They sail past the traffic, they enjoy the exercise, they get a sense of freedom. And the cost in petrol? Nothing.”
Lord Adonis decided to invest in station cycle parking after visiting the railway station in the small Dutch city of Leiden. It has supervised parking for 6,000 bicycles [...]
The standard amount of funding for cycling initiatives in English local authorities is about £1 per citizen, per year. In contrast, Dutch cities such as Amsterdam are spending between £10 and £20 per year. [...]
source : http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6851682.ece
Monday, 28 September 2009
Friday, 18 September 2009
GOOD NEWS FROM THE UK
Cyclists will be given green light to ignore one-way signs
From The Times, September 17, 2009
Ben Webster, Environment Editor
Cyclists will be permitted to ride the wrong way along one-way streets under a change intended to encourage more people to give up their cars or use them less.
[...] The Department for Transport is authorising a trial in the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, in which a small plate saying “EXCEPT CYCLISTS” will be attached to poles carrying no-entry signs.
If the trial is successful, the department intends to extend the policy to the rest of Britain and permit thousands of one-way streets to become two-way for bikes. It believes that long diversions around one-way systems are a significant deterrent to new cyclists, who might be less confident about breaking the rules. [...]
Hackney Council in East London pioneered the introduction of contraflow lanes and now has the highest rate of cycling of any London borough.
Sadiq Khan, the Transport Minister, said: “The pilot contraflow cycling system will help to reduce journey times for cyclists while allowing them to travel safely and legally on the most convenient routes. If this pilot is successful then councils across the country could be offered the opportunity to use similar measures on their roads.”
The Times revealed last year that Kensington & Chelsea was seeking permission to operate a pilot scheme. Daniel Moylan, the deputy leader of the Conservative-controlled council, said then that he was persuaded of the need to make the change after noticing that hundreds of cyclists a day were ignoring no-entry signs on Thackeray Street, which his home overlooks.
He said: “If this is what cyclists want to do and they can do it safely, then we see it as our responsibility to adapt the legal position to allow them to do it legally.
“We are recognising the reality that cyclists prefer to take the shortest route through quieter streets. The alternative of having a policeman standing on the road to catch cyclists would be foolish and unworkable.”
Chris Peck, policy officer of the Cyclists’ Touring Club, said: “We’ve been campaigning to allow two-way cycling on one-way streets for years and we are delighted that finally the Government is permitting a sign that is easy to understand.
“It is a safe and sensible option that is standard in all other European countries, so we can’t believe it has taken so long to be accepted here,” he added.
A report by the club said that it might be necessary to reduce the speed limit to 20mph on some roads with contraflow lanes to avoid the risk that cyclists will feel intimidated by oncoming traffic.
[...]
source : http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6837656.ece
From The Times, September 17, 2009
Ben Webster, Environment Editor
Cyclists will be permitted to ride the wrong way along one-way streets under a change intended to encourage more people to give up their cars or use them less.
[...] The Department for Transport is authorising a trial in the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, in which a small plate saying “EXCEPT CYCLISTS” will be attached to poles carrying no-entry signs.
If the trial is successful, the department intends to extend the policy to the rest of Britain and permit thousands of one-way streets to become two-way for bikes. It believes that long diversions around one-way systems are a significant deterrent to new cyclists, who might be less confident about breaking the rules. [...]
Hackney Council in East London pioneered the introduction of contraflow lanes and now has the highest rate of cycling of any London borough.
Sadiq Khan, the Transport Minister, said: “The pilot contraflow cycling system will help to reduce journey times for cyclists while allowing them to travel safely and legally on the most convenient routes. If this pilot is successful then councils across the country could be offered the opportunity to use similar measures on their roads.”
The Times revealed last year that Kensington & Chelsea was seeking permission to operate a pilot scheme. Daniel Moylan, the deputy leader of the Conservative-controlled council, said then that he was persuaded of the need to make the change after noticing that hundreds of cyclists a day were ignoring no-entry signs on Thackeray Street, which his home overlooks.
He said: “If this is what cyclists want to do and they can do it safely, then we see it as our responsibility to adapt the legal position to allow them to do it legally.
“We are recognising the reality that cyclists prefer to take the shortest route through quieter streets. The alternative of having a policeman standing on the road to catch cyclists would be foolish and unworkable.”
Chris Peck, policy officer of the Cyclists’ Touring Club, said: “We’ve been campaigning to allow two-way cycling on one-way streets for years and we are delighted that finally the Government is permitting a sign that is easy to understand.
“It is a safe and sensible option that is standard in all other European countries, so we can’t believe it has taken so long to be accepted here,” he added.
A report by the club said that it might be necessary to reduce the speed limit to 20mph on some roads with contraflow lanes to avoid the risk that cyclists will feel intimidated by oncoming traffic.
[...]
source : http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6837656.ece
Wednesday, 16 September 2009
PIOVE...
Questa mattina pioggia battente. Ho incrociato solo 7 [O_o] ciclisti nei miei 15 km per andare al lavoro... Questa sera la pioggia si e' alleggerita un po' ma di ciclisti ne ho contati 11, compreso un ragazzino che cazzeggiava per strada.
A me la pioggia non dispiace per niente - e questo nonostante stamattina abbia scelto male la giacchetta di copertura e sia rimasto umidiccio per gran parte della giornata. Domani, k-way waterproof, anche se nero, ma almeno e' intero, non come il k-way fluo di oggi, abbastanza waterproof ma con due bei fascioni laterali in elastichino... una vera fregatura che ha reso la mia maglia una spugna... also, mi portero' a full change of clothes, just in case. ;>
NO MATTER WHAT YOU RIDE AS LONG AS YOU DO
A me la pioggia non dispiace per niente - e questo nonostante stamattina abbia scelto male la giacchetta di copertura e sia rimasto umidiccio per gran parte della giornata. Domani, k-way waterproof, anche se nero, ma almeno e' intero, non come il k-way fluo di oggi, abbastanza waterproof ma con due bei fascioni laterali in elastichino... una vera fregatura che ha reso la mia maglia una spugna... also, mi portero' a full change of clothes, just in case. ;>
KEEP ON RIDING!!!
>>> . <<<NO MATTER WHAT YOU RIDE AS LONG AS YOU DO
Tuesday, 15 September 2009
CYCLING IN THE RAIN
Oggi mi sono gustato una pedalata sotto la pioggia - finalmente la temperatura si e' abbassata a gradi piu' umani e la pioggia non da fastidio, anzi e' un piacevole cambiamento alla routine quotidiana. Pedalando mi e' venuta alla mente una cosa: e' meglio stare in bici sotto la pioggia, che in auto senza.
A seguire, alle ore 21:00, MASSA CRITICA SERALE con partenza da piazza Palazzo di Citta' (quella del municipio) - Torino.
... e continuate a pedalare che l'autunno e' una bella stagione (suggerisco l'uso del casco se percorrete i viali con i castagni...)
BUONE PEDALATE!
* * *
Ricordando a tutti che da domani parte la SETTIMANA EUROPEA DELLA MOBILITA' SOSTENIBILE segnalo anche un appuntamento per Giovedi' 17/9: alle ore 19:30 APERITIVO DEL CICLISTA, alla ciclofficina Tandem, via Virle 22, Torino - ciascuno porti qualcosa da bere e/o da mangiare =>A seguire, alle ore 21:00, MASSA CRITICA SERALE con partenza da piazza Palazzo di Citta' (quella del municipio) - Torino.
... e continuate a pedalare che l'autunno e' una bella stagione (suggerisco l'uso del casco se percorrete i viali con i castagni...)
BUONE PEDALATE!
Tuesday, 8 September 2009
PEDALATE GENTE, PEDALATE!!!
Torino in bici: obiettivo 15%
Torino è la sesta città italiana ad aver sottoscritto la "Carta di Bruxelles" che impegna ad attuare politiche per raggiungere il 15% degli spostamenti in bici entro il 2020 e a dimezzare gli incidenti. Il Comune stima che attualmente il 10% di torinesi usi abitualmente la biciclettaLa "Carta di Bruxelles" è stata sottoscritta da 27 città europee al termine della conferenza internazionale “Velo-City” tenutasi nella capitale belga dal 12 al 15 maggio.
Torino può oggi contare su una rete di 170 chilometri di piste ciclabili che l'amministrazione intende ampliare con la progressiva applicazione del Piano Urbano della Mobilita' Sostenibile in fase di redazione. Gli uffici comunali stimano che attualmente la percentuale di torinesi che usano la bicicletta per i propri spostamenti superi il 10% (nel 2003 era l’8%), percentuale che sale al 22% se si tiene conto di coloro che la usavano solo nella bella stagione o saltuariamente.
fonte: http://www.ecodallecitta.it/notizie.php?id=100000
Tuesday, 1 September 2009
BACK TO WORK...
... and back to riding the town!! It was good to restart pedalling in the cool morning air - lots of cyclists around and a few familiar faces.
*** RIDE ON ***
*** RIDE ON ***
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