The winds of change... a new cycling campaign arrives

There's change in the air...  As cycling enters it's Governmental wilderness years, more and more people who care passionately about cycling are asking the same question - are we going down the right path to bring about mass cycling here in the UK?

You can trace the route of all this thought and introspection to the 'big blogs'; the likes of Copenhagenize and that great city's integrated bicycle culture, and David Hembrow's A view from the cycle path and his views on the importance of subjective safety, or his posts debunking some of the myths put forward as to why Dutch-style cycling could never be achieved 'over here'.  These blogs have become incredibly popular and have helped to spread ideas around the world.  Before the advent of the internet information distribution was a one way street; the likes of John Franklin would write about how dangerous cycle paths can be and what a disaster Milton Keynes was for cycling and such word was taken as gospel.  Nowadays a cyclist in London can see brand new cycle tracks being built in New York (of all places), read the comments and decide for themselves whether they think that's a good thing or not, and pass the information on...


As a consequence of this 'brave new world' of information exchange more and more people seem to me to be singing from the same hymn sheet and questioning the status quo;


The Grumpy Cyclist talks about why having to ride in the primary position is too much of a burden to expect of the most vulnerable.
Cyclists in the City talk about why we need 'the other 49%'; Mums, kids and grans on bikes and whether we are doing enough to encourage them.
Cycalogical recognises that fear of traffic is the main reason why most people don't ride a bike and wonders if we are doing the right thing to try and overcome this.
iamnotacyclist looks back on the history of the segregation debate here in London and finds a compelling argument for building more cycling infrastructure from an LCC campaigner from a decade ago - what's been done since?
At War With the Motorist's Joe talks about how he became a clips and lycra kind of cyclist and how he came to realise that it was a consequence of the cycling conditions and how those conditions would never encourage mass cycling.
Charlie Holland from Kennington People on Bikes thinks it is outrageous that a ban on cycling on the South Bank will force people to cycle on National Cycle Route 4 - a high speed dual carriageway with some paint on the side of it.  He asked some local Mums if they'd be happy for their kids to ride this route - the resounding answer was ''No!'
Even the Department of Health has got wind of the fact that we do so little active travel that if something doesn't change we'll all soon be fatties...
Cyclists here in the UK read about the Bicycle Policies of the European Principals (Continuous and Integral) from the Fietsbaraad, see how mass cycling has been achieved and ask "Why aren't we trying to achieve the same thing here using these tested and proven methods?"

People watch the pleas of the girls from Beauty and The Bike asking outright for road space to taken away from motorists and given over to cyclists...

And of course, over at Crap Cycling in Waltham Forest the mysterious, illustrious Freewheeler is not holding back on his acerbic criticisms of where our current campaign priorities have brought us.  Of particular note he recently dug up notes from a 2003 conference... doesn't look to me like much has changed since.  His post on how he traversed from being an integrationist to being pro-Dutch style infrastructure makes for an interesting, enlightening read. 

Of course, the internet is a two-way street and everyone is entitled to share their opinions and both sides of the argument do.  Carlton Reid sets off on an emotive but impassioned trek about why he loves black top, and over in Spain a certain well-known internet troll who thinks cycle lanes are the work of the Devil sets out his stall in typically fascinating fashion (I mean fascinating like as in a car crash. You know you shouldn't look but just can't help it. The comments are particularly, um, stimulating)

What's all this got to do with cycling, I hear you ask, other than lots of people getting hot under the collar?

Well, words inevitably lead to actions and over at the Lo Fidelity Bicycle Club blog, writer Jim may just be on to the start of something big.  A former employee of the CTC and long-time bicycle advocate he's setting up a new action group which intends to promote cycling as cool, accessible to all and indeed vital to the whole country. Modelled on the Cycling Embassy of Denmark it will seek to put cycling first in all matters of policy and seek to change things for the better over here in the UK.  Jim writes that the new campaign will be;

An Embassy, free from the burden of history, legacy and ties, created to work in partnership with fellow organisations and charities in Great Britain, mainland Europe and around the World trading ideas and experiences in how to promote cycling and make cycling infrastructure work in urban and rural contexts.

Some might think that we already have enough cycling campaigns here and that what we have is sufficient, but the creation of this new group stems directly from frustration with these existing campaigns.  Most excitingly of all it will;

..work with local authorities and relevant parties to redefine Cycling Infrastructure Design Standards in the UK and bring them in line with best practice in partner countries. ‘Hierarchy of Provision’, although well-meaning and correct in principle is too open to abuse or compromise by practitioners that know little about the requirements of cycling (or indeed walking) yet may wish to know more.

For me, those words about 'Hierarchy of Provision' are what are most exciting of all.   As a campaigning policy dreamt up by the CTC and adopted by the Department for Transport, 'Hierarchy of Provision' has failed to bring about mass cycling in the UK, or even in parts failed to stop the downward trend of cycling's modal share.  As a campaigning stance it was adopted by the UK Government in 1996 in it's policy document "Cycle-friendly infrastructure: Guidelines for planning and design" and states that Dutch-style infrastructure should be considered as a 'last resort' after traffic reduction, traffic calming, junction treatments and painted bicycle lanes or shared bus lanes.  Attempting to reduce traffic volumes in the UK has not been a success, as I've highlighted before in my previous post on the National Travel Survey.  Whilst of course this proposed hierarchy is desirable on paper, personally I feel all too often it's been used for political purposes to avoid providing quality infrastructure where it should be.  To be frank, this policy is car-centric and about ameliorating the conditions of vehicular cycling, not about putting the bicycle first...

A storm in a tea cup? A bit of a blow on the blogs?  Nothing but pie-in-the-sky dreaming and a waste of time?  Shouldn't we just leave it all up to the existing campaigns?! 

Maybe, maybe not. 

But whilst cycling is out of favour with the Government it gives cyclists themselves an opportunity to influence the shape of things to come.  As Jim writes; "If it fails, I get egg on my face but get to catalogue why and we all learn from the experience but if we were to succeed, the rewards would be incredible for everyone."  Put like that, it's worth rocking the boat a little, don't you think?

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