Funded by Bike Hub & delivered by Sustrans, The Big Pedal is a three-week project to get kids on bikes, and excited about riding to school.

Kids, parents and teachers across the UK will be getting on their bikes for the journey to school this March as part of Sustrans’ Big Pedal. There are prizes up for grabs for the schools that involve most people.

The Big Pedal is the UK’s biggest school cycling competition to get kids active and raise money for the charity Sustrans.

Nearly half of all children want to be able to get to school by bike but only four per cent do, said a statement from Sustrans.

Carl Pittam, Sustrans Director of English Regions, said:

“Last year’s Big Pedal saw children from more than 800 schools across the UK making nearly a million journeys by bike.

“This year’s race will see even more families discovering just how easy it is to do the school run on two wheels. Children that cycle to school regularly are more active and more alert and better learners.”

The race is funded by Bike Hub, the UK cycle levy scheme. Phillip Darnton, executive director of the Bicycle Association, said:

“The future of cycling depends on every generation of kids learning and wanting to cycle.

“The cycle industry through its Bike Hub levy is delighted to fund this event for another year. 2012 is a very special year; the Big Pedal marks the start of the Summer of Cycling – a new campaign bringing together everyone who cycles and encouraging them to introduce one new-comer to cycling during the year.

“That’s why the Big Pedal is aiming for 1000 schools to sign up and one million journeys to be made.”

The Big Pedal will be the roll-out event for the Summer of Cycling, an umbrella project backed by all the major cycling organisations and created by the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group.

The Netherlands Embassy in the UK today volunteered to share the wealth of Dutch experience of cycle safety and urban infrastructure with a number of high-profile cycling campaigns in the United Kingdom.

By using the resources of the Dutch ministries of Infrastructure and the Environment, and Economic Affairs and the public private partnership of the Dutch Cycling Embassy, the Embassy has offered to put experts from specialist Dutch organisations that offer urban infrastructure solutions geared towards cycle safety in contact with UK campaigns.

This is “in order to provide solid expertise and tailored visitor programmes for British policy-makers and urban planning experts. The Dutch are keen to help the UK develop the same methods and infrastructure that have made the Netherlands one of the safest countries in the world to be a cyclist.”

The Dutch Embassy is said to be “delighted” by the cyclesafe campaign launched by The Times on 2nd February, and already supports London Cycling Campaign’s upcoming “Go Dutch” campaign which will be launched on Thursday at the Design Museum.

The Netherlands currently has 135,470km of roads and 29,000km of segregated cycle tracks. 12,000 of these segregated tracks have been built since 1996.

The Dutch Embassy said: “It is important to create calm roads so that cyclists and cars can share the roads safely. Along major roads, however, dedicated cycling infrastructure such as bike lanes and segregated cycle tracks are required. Millions of euros are thus invested in making intersections safe for cyclists or creating dedicated tunnels and bridges. Amsterdam, for instance, spent 20 million euros (£16.6 million) a year on cycling projects between 2007 and 2010. The economic benefits far outweigh the costs.

The Netherlands is a wealthy country in which 1 in 2 people owns a car. Bicycle use, however, is higher than anywhere else in the world.

The Times newspaper today threw its substantial weight behind an 8-point manifesto, urging safer conditions for UK cyclists.

The feedback was immediate: cyclists and cycle organisations – and road safety organisations, and motoring organisations such as IAM, AA and RAC – supported the newspaper’s stance. The Labour Party is to push for a ‘Cycling Summit’ to take up the issues raised by The Times.

Sustrans pledged to support the ‘cycle safe’ campaign.

British Cycling, the European Cyclists’ Federation, London Cycling Campaign, CTC, and the Cycling Embassy of Great Britain also voiced support.

The Times pointed out that since 2001, 576 British soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan and Iraq; in the same period, 1,275 cyclists died on British streets.

Sustrans’ policy advisor Eleanor Beasley said:

“Given the recent spate of high profile collisions with cyclists and a dramatic increase in those killed and seriously injured, you’d be forgiven for thinking that cycling in Britain can be unsafe. Here at Sustrans, we find that fear of traffic is the main thing that puts people off cycling – especially women and children.

“We are facing a stark choice: abandon our bikes and keep our kids indoors, or fight for safe streets for everyone. The Times’ campaign aims to make sure that cyclist safety is taken seriously at the highest level – even though it’s a while since we’ve seen David Cameron on his bike.

“Cycling shouldn’t have to be a heroic act or a political statement. Just getting on your bike can create and inspire big changes. The more people that get on their bike, the more we’ll get seen, recognised and prioritised.

“But the recent increase in tragic accidents is a sure sign we can’t do it alone – we desperately need our politicians to listen, and to act. Sustrans has pioneered walking and cycling schemes around the country – and we know what works. We’ve seen neighbourhoods turned around by better routes, slower speeds and more people opting for two wheels instead of four.

“The single biggest thing our politicians could do to protect – and set free – cyclists around the country would be dropping the speed limit on the streets where we live, work, shop and play. Councils like Islington, Portsmouth, Oxford and Liverpool have already started to introduce a 20mph speed limit on residential streets.

“Another major way to help more people cycle safely is changing the places we to travel through. Our work in London has shown that by developing a network of greenways – some off road and some on quieter streets – we’ve helped to get more people of all abilities cycling who wouldn’t have dreamed of braving London’s busy main roads.

“Cycling can help tackle some of society’s biggest problems, from rising levels of obesity to climate change. But many of the schemes that are helping people to get – and stay – on their bikes are facing an uncertain future because of funding cuts. We urgently need politicians to support a long-term improvement in conditions for people choosing to go by bike. This should include a commitment to dedicated funding streams for smarter and healthier travel.

British Cycling today released its own findings on cycle safety.

Ian Drake, Chief Executive of British Cycling, said: “As more people take to their bikes, we take seriously our responsibility to ensure they are able to do so in a safe environment. The reality is that the number of cycling deaths and injuries on the roads is decreasing and evidence suggests that the more people who cycle, the safer it becomes. However, for us, even one death is one too many and by listening to our members we can better understand what needs to be done to help create the necessary mutual respect required between motorists and cyclists to ensure both can use the roads in a safe manner.

“It’s essential that we get away from this sense of ‘them and us’ between motorists and cyclists. Most people who ride a bike also drive a car which suggests there should already be some mutual understanding. Now more needs to be done to build on this and create culture in which all road users can better respect each other. And it’s important to stress that cyclists have as much of a role to play in this as motorists, by ensuring they adhere to the rules of the road with regards to things like stopping at red traffic lights and signalling correctly.”

The Association of Bikeability Schemes has been welcomed by Department for Transport, funder of the Bikeability programme.

The Association of Bikeability Schemes is a new body, being set up to represent the cycle training industry. There are now over 350 Bikeability schemes registered and more than 6,000 people have trained as instructors. Between them, they are delivering Bikeability training to more than a quarter of a million children each year.

The Association of Bikeability Schemes (TABS) will act as an industry body to give a greater collective voice to Bikeability Schemes.

TABS has been set up by a sub-group of the Instructor Training Organisations as a Community Interest Company and will soon invite applications for membership. All active Bikeability Schemes that hold a current up-to-date registration will be eligible to join. The Department for Transport has been supportive of the initiative.

There will be a launch conference in Birmingham on Thursday 21st June. This will include a chance to elect a board for the Association.

Stagecoach, the bus company, has issued a press release pointing out the huge financial gains of ditching a car. CTC and Sustrans pitch in.

Travelling by bus instead of commuting by car could save drivers more than £1700 a year, according to new research carried out by Stagecoach, the bus company.

The research coincides with other recent studies which show that motoring costs have soared ver the past year. The cost of driving to work has increased by 21 percent over the past 12 months, while the amount of traffic using the country’s roads has dropped as commuters find it increasingly difficult to meet rising motoring costs.

Stagecoach CEC Sir Brian Souter said: “Rocketing motoring costs and household bills are squeezing living standards for many families across Britain. [Our] survey shows that people can save hundreds of pounds a year by switching from the car to the bus as well as avoiding the stress of being stuck in traffic jams on their way to and from work.”

Stagecoach surveyed more than 30 commuter routes across its national bus network, from the north of Scotland to the south of England. The study assessed the cost of making the journey daily by car, taking into account only the cost of fuel and parking – no other costs associated with car ownership were included. The survey then compared the motoring cost with the cost of purchasing a weekly multi-journey ticket on Stagecoach buses which can be used for unlimited travel on Stagecoach services within the designated area.

The results showed that, for each and every route assessed, taking the bus cost significantly less than commuting by car.

Commuters in the East Midlands could save up to £350 a month by switching to bus travel Bus users travelling between Glenrothes and Edinburgh could be up to £5,000 a year better off than if they travel by car.

Executives from Sustrans and CTC welcomed the findings of the Stagecoach research

Sustrans’ policy director Jason Torrance said: “Providing regular, reliable and affordable public transport options is a crucial part of giving people the choice to leave their cars behind for everyday journeys, and made even more attractive when integrated with supporting walking and cycling for shorter journeys.

“With fuel costs increasing, many people are finding themselves in ‘transport poverty’, either unable to access potential jobs, or running a car at the expense of other necessities. Our experience is that when people are provided with cheap, efficient and safe alternatives to the car, they will use them to tackle this often hidden affliction.”

Chris Peck, policy co-ordinator at CTC, said: “Switching to public transport can save money in certain circumstances, but for shorter commutes you can’t beat a shift to the bike for saving both time and money. In urban areas cycling is often the fastest mode out there. At the start of the last recession CTC predicted that rising fuel prices and declining incomes would lead to a shift to cycling – and that’s exactly what’s happened. The latest figures available show that more miles were cycled by bike in Britain in 2010 than at any time in the past 18 years.”

A survey by Green Flag published in November 2011 found that the cost of driving to work has increased by 21 percent (£229) over the past 12 months. UK motorists spend £243 million every week on driving to and from work. The RAC’s Annual Cost of Motoring Index, published in November 2011, found insurance costs rose 14.4 compared to the previous year, up to an average of £551. The cost of car insurance was 35 percent higher on average than in 2009. And the average annual cost of owning and running a car soared by 14 percent (£819) to £6,689 per annum over the previous 12 months.

Go North East has launched a membership offer which gives a discount on bus travel and includes an option to also have free membership of a car share club and a bike sharing scheme.

The Newcastle-based company has created Key Lifestyle, a ‘get rid of your car’ package deal for commuters.

CTC’s train and bus expert Dave Holladay believes this is the first such scheme in the UK. It’s a joined-up concept common in other EU countries, such as the Infotec scheme in Belgium.

Members of Key Lifestyle get a 15 percent discount on bus travel on Tyneside and can also opt in to membership of Commonwheels, the car share club, and Scratch Bikes, Newcastle’s pay-as-you-go bike sharing scheme. Membership of each scheme normally costs £25.

“At last, a transport operator selling the complete product,” said Holladay.

Go North East is not just encouraging customers to switch to non-car travel it also wants to remove old cars from the road:

“Scrap your car and get double its value back in free bus travel with Go North East. We’ll arrange for your car to be valued and then convert this value into free bus travel.  For every £100 your car is worth you’ll get two months of travel.”

Bicycle orgs agree on joint promotion for 2012 and beyond. Summer of Cycling to be a celebration of every facet of cycling, from the velodrome to the cycle path to the bike shop.

Twenty three cycle organisations have joined forces to promote cycling under a unified banner in 2012. Businesses such as Halfords, Brompton and others have also pledged support. The campaign is called the Summer of Cycling and will be open to any and all organisations, businesses, clubs, magazines and individuals.

Details for exactly what the promotion will entail are still being worked out but an initial meeting between twenty three cycling organisations was characterised by an unusual degree of consensus. Racing organisations can promote Summer of Cycling just as easily as local cycle campaign groups. And, unlike previous attempts at joint promotions, all the major orgs were present, there were no major omissions.

The initial meeting was held at the back-end of November in an upstairs committee room in the House of Commons. Present were executives from British Cycling, CTC, Sustrans, London Cycling Campaign, Cycling Scotland, the Bicycle Association, Bike Week, Transport for London, the Association of Cycle Traders, Halfords, the Tour of Britain, Cyclenation, the Cycle to Work Alliance and other organisations. Chairing the meeting was Julian Huppert, the workaholic LibDem MP for Cambridge. He’s the co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group, a cross-party bunch of bicycling MPs and peers.

The APPCG has no axe to grind, it’s neutral. It could therefore bang heads together – gently – to call for the meeting to discuss a joint promotion for Olympic year. What was anticipated to be a heated meeting, with cycling factions splitting along the usual party lines, turned out to being a session of nodding heads. Instead of objections, there were offers of help, and from all quarters.

The promotion won’t be location-based: Cycling Scotland could flag-wave with the Summer of Cycling just as easily as Transport for London could tie it in to the Olympics. The promotion is cheap, it requires the organisations to submit their events to a database and then link to this central database via their own websites. Cost? Small banner-sized space for a clickable Summer of Cycling logo; the logo printed on business cards, or placed below email signatures. Later this week it may start to appear on corporate Christmas e-cards.

Introducing the concept, Huppert said:

“There needs to be a better cross over between all the cycling groups. We need to bring all the interests together. In 2012, we need cycling to say the same thing at the same time. Events could be linked together to flow from one event to another.”

By linking together, cycling becomes bigger, stronger. This would pique the interest of ministers, said Huppert. He added it would also be a good hook for the media. With sport cycling expected to do well at the Olympics – with a potential gold medal winner at the opening event of the Games, Mark Cavendish in the road race – 2012 could be the year when cycling goes “top of mind”, said Huppert.

Phillip Darnton, vice president of the Bicycle Association, agreed:

“2012 ought to be year we sell more bikes than ever before. It ought to be the year more kids get cycle trained than ever before. More children should be cycling to school than ever before. And after the Olympics, more people than ever before should be lining the roads to watch the Tour of Britain.”

The execs from the wide variety of cycling groups agreed to agree that the Summer of Cycling had great potential, and importantly, didn’t conflict with any existing or planned promotions.

In March, Sustrans’ Big Pedal – supported by Bike Hub, the industry’s levy fund – will aim to get children in 1000 schools cycling for one million bike-to-school miles. This would be the kick-off event for the Summer of Cycling, with summer being a loose term, a very loose term, for March through to October.

The idea that most galvanised the meeting was the +1 concept: those taking part in events would be encouraged to bring one other person along. A proselytising pledge campaign could get new people to try cycling to work for the first time, or riding the wooden banks of a velodrome for the first time, or taking part in a long-distance challenge ride for the first time.

A website was turned on this morning. Summerofcycling.net has little more than the logo and an email sign-up box right now but will get much more content in the new year. There’s also a twitter feed. The logo was designed by Peter Thompson of Peloton Design: he’s the graphic artist who created the look for the Tour of Britain.

The Summer of Cycling isn’t exclusive to the 23 cycling organisations present at the first meeting. It’s a promotion open to any business, any organisation, any club, any individual, any blogger, or any magazine or any website.

As far as we can tell, the new A to A routing feature is a world-first for a satnav app. Arrive at a destination, fire up the app, input your desired mileage, add points of interest to see along the way, and wait for a few seconds for a suggested route to be summoned. Tap ‘follow this route’ and off you go!

This will make the app into a tool for cycle tourists, for day tours and for longer duration trips. The app can currently plot a route of 200 miles.

Version 3.0 of the Bike Hub app is now live. It can be found here for iPhones. The Android app gets the same functionality.

The app is a standard satnav in that it routes from A to B, albeit a satnav specific to cycling. Version 3.0 adds A to A circular routing. This makes the app into a tour-suggestor tool.

You can ask for a tour with or without Points of Interest: such as parks, castles and so on.

We’re hoping to link up with National Trust properties in the future, adding their locations to OpenStreetMap. The PoI dataset is still patchy in places, but it will grow and get better over time.

Also in version 3.0 – and a much requested feature – is dynamic route recalculation. Stray from the route and the app will suggest you make a u-turn. Stray a bit further and the app will create a new route, on the fly. This is standard on car satnavs, and it’s finally on Bike Hub version 3.0, thanks to app coding work from  app developer Tinderhouse and routing tweaks by Cyclestreets.

Version 3.0 also makes the cross-hair icon a little bigger and shifts it left so fat-fingered folks no longer press ‘cancel’ when they want to hit the ‘locate me’ button. There’s also has tighter integration with Cyclestreets, adding a box to input a Cyclestreets journey number. This will be useful if you prefer to pre-plan your routes via desktop and then want to transfer the same route to your smartphone.

The most requested feature from users is added in version 3.0. This is map cacheing. Map tiles can be downloaded to a smartphone when in range of wifi or a good 3G signal. Users will still require a phone signal to call down the route from Cyclestreets but maps – which can take a while to download in a poor signal area – can now be stored locally. (And deleted later, if wished).

The app has evolved greatly since launch and will continue to evolve, thanks to funding from the Bike Hub levy fund. If you have other features you’d like to see added, place them on the forum.

New study reveals untapped potential of cycling as a means to cut transport’s greenhouse gas emissions.

The European Cyclists’ Federation has today released a report which shows the emissions savings cycling makes compared with other modes of transport. Even taking into account the production, maintenance and fuel [food] related to bicycle use, emissions from cycling were over ten times lower than those stemming from the private motorcar.

EU wide reductions of greenhouse gas emissions (GHS) are under scrutiny by many critics as the progress and actual results seem to fall short of the goals set by the EU this year. Recent reports affirm that the EU will not achieve the reduction of transport emissions by 60 percent between 1990 and 2050 through technology alone.

Comparing cars, buses, bikes and electric bikes, ECF investigated how cycling could help the EU achieve its 2050 GHG reduction targets for transport. According to the study, if EU citizens were to cycle as much as the Danes in 2000 – an average of just 2.6km a day – it would help the EU meet more than a quarter of the targeted emission reductions for the transport sector.

“Cycle 5kms a day and we reach 50 percent of the target,” said Benoit Blondel, ECF’s environment and health policy officer, and author of the report.

He added: “The potential for cycling to achieve these targets is huge, and with such little effort. Getting more people on bikes is going to be a lot cheaper than, say, getting more electric cars on the road.

“If we’re serious about meeting these targets we’re going to have to change our behaviour. It’s not about moving less. It’s about the way we move, and the transport choices governments make available.”

The report finds that city bicycle-share schemes have the potential to reduce further emissions, considering it is a substitute for motorised transport for 50-75 percent of the users.

With EU crude oil imports at 955 million barrels per year, EU citizens cycling at Danish levels would reduce EU oil importations by close to 10 ten percent.

Pic credit: Amsterdamize

]]> http://www.bikehub.co.uk/news/sustainability/reduce-co2-cycle-more/feed/ 0 http://www.bikehub.co.uk/news/sustainability/help-mps-to-get-cycling-in-london/ http://www.bikehub.co.uk/news/sustainability/help-mps-to-get-cycling-in-london/#comments Wed, 23 Nov 2011 14:02:27 +0000 Carlton http://www.bikehub.co.uk/?p=3135

There are no Cycle Hire docking stations near the Houses of Parliament. But there ought to be. If MPs – and peers – started to use so-called Borisbikes they would better appreciate what cyclists in London experience every day.

In a round-robin email Kulveer Ranger, the Mayor of London’s Director of Environment & Digital London, said:

“Many Parliamentarians have raised the issue of having a Barclays Cycle Hire docking station near to the Palace of Westminster.  Therefore, I am pleased to inform you of the proposals for a docking station planned in Westminster on Abingdon Green. This is located directly opposite the House of Lords.  A planning application has been submitted to Westminster City Council by Transport for London and I am writing to ask for your support to ensure it is delivered.

I apologise for the short notice, but if you would like to support the installation of the docking station at Abingdon Green, here is the link to the online application with suggested text if you want to add comments. Comments can be submitted until Sunday 27 November 2011.”

And here’s the boilerplate text that could be placed in the comments section:

I support the installation of a Cycle Hire docking station in this location as it may get parliamentarians to use bicycles for short-distance travel in London. There is currently a lack of available docking stations in the immediate vicinity of the Palace of Westminster and this location will provide a solution for this gap in the scheme network. It will encourage more cycling among those who live and work in the surrounding area and would also be useful for tourists.

The link above has long list of documents supporting the application, including this wonderfully evocative archeological assessment of the site.

Last year, Sir George Young, Leader of the Commons said: “I would encourage all MPs and peers to try them, and if they enjoy cycling, to go on to purchase their own bikes. There’s no faster, cheaper or greener way to get round.”

Currently, the nearest docking station is a wee walk away from the Palace of Westminster.

Demands for a docking station nearer to Parliament were led by Lord Butler, the former Cabinet Secretary and head of the civil service.

Lord Butler has cycled throughout his 30 years in government. He told the Evening Standard that he and his wife often used the “brilliant” Cycle Hire bikes.

Lord Butler, who wrote a report on the intelligence surrounding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, said of TfL’s iconic bikes:

“I use them about once a week. My wife uses them two or three times a week. What we very often use them for is going out in the evening. You can go one way and come back by cab or bus.”

Julian Huppert, MP for Cambridge and co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group, said:

“The Barclays bike scheme is excellent – but there are holes in it. One is at Parliament, so MPs, who we want to champion cycling, cannot use them to get to work. We must fix this!”

Via a points-of-interest menu, the Bike Hub cycle satnav app has location details for all of the current Cycle Hire docking stations. The free app routes cyclists on back streets and via cycle tracks. It is available for Android and iPhone.