An occasional update on items from the Velo-city.
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BILLION-POUND BREAKTHROUGH
Mayor Announces E-W Separated Bike Lanes – 24 km through heart of downtown London
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has announced that the City of London will be building an east-west 24 km separated bike lane from West London to Canary Wharf through the heart of the City of London. Part of a one billion pound cycling strategy it will be the longest continuous separated route in a major European city.
“The reason I am spending almost £1 billion on this is my belief that helping cycling will not just help
cyclists. It will create better places for everyone. It means less traffic … It means more seats on the Tube, less competition for a parking place and fewer cars in front of yours at the lights.” Boris Johnson also stated “Timid, half-hearted improvements are out – we will do things at least adequately, or not at all.”
The London Mayor’s media release is available in short and long versions. London Evening Standard story here.
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HELMETS AND BIKE SHARE
Will the City of Vancouver proceed with a bike-share rollout this year? The City says yes; James Deroux of ‘Sit Up Vancouver’ is doubtful – and thinks the helmet requirements is the problem:
Planned since at last 2008, the bikeshare launch date was finally announced last year as Spring 2013 [2]. Since then, the launch date has slipped to Summer [3] and last week, in an interview with Vancouver Magazine published Monday [4], City transportation director Jerry Dobrovolny pushed the date further back: “he still hopes to see some portion of a rollout take shape before the end of 2013.” Since no city would launch a cycling initiative as Winter approaches, this means no Bixi for Vancouver until at least 2014. …
The blame for this new delay lies squarely with the provincial legislature and their adult helmet law, but may be shared with the city council, for failing to amend its own adult helmet legislation, and for failing to make the case for adult helmet choice to the province with enough force. …
Sit Up Vancouver fully supports the City of Vancouver’s push for more people on bikes through bikeshare; but this is simply not possible while the adult helmet law is in place.
BC’s adult helmet law is an international anomaly, an out-dated, ill-considered and costly piece of legislation. It must be amended without delay.
[2] http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2012/06/vancouver-bike-share-program-to-launch-in-2013/
[3] http://vancouver.ca/streets-transportation/public-bike-share-system.aspx
[4] http://www.vanmag.com/News_and_Features/A_Push_for_Cycling_in_Vancouver
[5] http://www.streetsblog.org/2011/06/16/from-london-to-d-c-bike-sharing-is-safer-than-riding-your-own-bike/
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ELECTION UPDATE
From the British Columbia Cycling Coalition:
Our election page – including links to our Cycling Strategy, candidate brief and how you can help build support for cycling during the election.
The first media coverage of the Cycling Strategy and efforts to move cycling forward during the election that the BCCC and our member groups have been working on.
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Upcycled Bike Chain Creations from Seo Young Deok
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“As announced in the TfL business plan the overall budget for cycling will rise to £913 million, two and a half times more than previously planned, with almost £400 million spent in the next three years alone. Cycle spending will rise to £145 million in 2015, or around £18 per head, up with the best in Germany and almost on a par with the Netherlands.”
By comparison, Vancouver’s has pledged to spend $25 million over 10 years on cycling, which works out to $4 per person per year.
Plus we’re saddled with a helmet law that is making bike sharing almost impossible.
I applaud Vancouver’s attempts to be the world’s greenest city, but we’re at risk of getting lapped.