Whilst other cities reportedly move forward, reaping the benefits of bike-friendly design and putting wings on bicycle culture such as the 7% bike modal share in Seville (achieved in remarkable short time) and Velo-City Vienna - Newcastle could not be further from this future today.
Our partners Beauty and the Bike, aka Richard and Beatrix, welcomed members of Cambridge Cycling Campaign.
As Richard describes, it was a tour to highlight Bremen’s cycling infrastructure and we started by explaining, that every red line on this map represents a cycle path - so that every busy, main road has a cycle path alongside it.
Just in time for the conference „The Sound of Cycling – Urban Cycling Cultures“ http://velo-city2013.com/ June 11-14 2013 for world-renowned cycling visionaries to gather in Vienna ... I had the opportunity for a quick working weekend/holiday in Vienna. So here is my observations over just three days in May, George reports.
Something has shifted! Minds have been moved towards a more integrated transport system. In Newcastle City Council's recent bid to the Cycle City Ambition Fund contained an astonishing statement from Nexus. Taking your bike on Metro trains may not be so fictional any more.
There has largely been positive news about cycling in our city recently. Here, however, is a sad story to tell. On attending the Newcastle City Council's cycle forum yesterday we asked about progress with the pinchpoint removal on Heaton Road, reported previously here.
A whopping fifty people attended the meeting on Acorn Road at the Cricket Club in Jesmond on the 23rd May. The meeting, organised by or partners Transition Jesmond as part of the Jesmond Community Festival, wanted to promote public discussion about the proposals which have been developed by the Acorn Road improvement group over the last year or so.
You asked for some photos! I only took three when I was visiting Helsinki in August 2012. Because I grew up in Helsinki I forget to take my camera, or even my phone. I suppose the big thing you could mention is that some cyclists cycle all year round in Helsinki - even when it's -25C and lots of snow - because it's safe to do so.
The Safe Cycling petition has its three year anniversary on 2 June 2013. Whilst we now have warm words, a super Cycle Plan and a Cycle City Ambition bid document good enough to be adopted as Newcastle's works programme - we aren't impressed with physical progress; and roadspace has yet to be fairly apportioned to cycling.
