Boris cycle plan: fact or fiction?
The London Mayor’s Vision for Cycling could be a landmark in UK policy on cycling even though there are numerous obstacles to its implementation. The Mayor’s plan breaks with the current British tradition of trying to squeeze in cycling facilities without taking road space either from flowing traffic or parking, and simply abandoning any provision when the going gets tough at junctions
The policy too is in marked contrast with Boris ...
Innovation ignored at our peril
The 150th anniversary of the Tube, celebrated with steam engines being operated on the system for the first time in decades, demonstrated yet again the power of innovation, a theme about which I have become somewhat obsessed. The Underground system was testimony to the remarkable innovative spirit of the Victorians as the idea of digging up streets, installing a railway system and then covering them over again was truly mould ...
Britain still hesitant about innovation especially in transport
I have seen the future. Or have I? in 2012, I came across a wide variety of transport innovations and was, for the most part, pleasantly surprised. Normally, I am fairly cynical about wondrous new ideas and how they will reshape the world, and have been quick to dismiss them. However, given the pace of technological change and the number of ideas that appear workable, I am beginning to change ...
Gothenburg’s vision of sustainability
It’s easy to dismiss foreign experience as irrelevant because each country and culture has its particular institutions and history. However, fundamentally the issues around transport are the same across the world and a recent study visit to Gothenburg in Sweden, a town of just over half a million inhabitants, threw up a number of issues from which we can learn.
Of course, I realised that Gothenburg was very different from any ...
My mayoral campaign
I’ve decided to put my money where my mouth is. Or rather stick my head above the parapet by trying to get the Labour nomination for mayor of London.
It all happened by accident, really. In the run up to this year’s mayoral election, I wrote a piece for the Evening Standard pointing out that neither of the two main candidates in the Boris & Ken show had anything interesting to ...
Will we get a cycling legacy from the Olympics
One of the oft hoped-for legacies of the Olympics is that the successes of the athletes will translate into more physical activity in the wider population. Nowhere is this more widely anticipated than in cycling where there seems to be an expectation that there is an obvious crossover between cycling as a sport and as a means of transport.
The problem is that the link is, at best, tenuous and, quite ...