Christian Wolmar

London is stuck in an intellectual traffic jam. When it comes to moving  millions of people around the metropolis each day with ease and in comfort,  the Mayor has nothing to say. In this year’s drab mayoral election neither act in the “Boris and Ken show” could summon up a vision of how to adapt London to the 21st century.  Transport is one of the few powers that the Mayor has, ...

Gosh, Bradley, I hate to be on the other side of an argument with you but I have to be. You are rightly seen as a god among us mere pedallers, a supremely dedicated athlete but also the self- deprecating boy next door. We love you, but that doesn’t mean you’re always right. Bradley Wiggins is right to row back on his apparent call for helmets to be made compulsory for ...

After hearing of the terrible death of a second person at Bow within a few weeks on the cycle superhighway, I tweeted that the thinking behind the scheme needs revisiting. Iain Dale, the consummate Conservative blogger and LBC presenter tweeted back saying it was a 'knee jerk' reaction on my part, and sprang to the defence of Boris Johnson and his cycle schemes See: http://bit.ly/sU9Lgn I think Iain misses the point ...

The list of quangos to be abolished, leaked to the Daily Telegraph today presumably by a government source, includes Cycling England, the body on whose board I sit. The open letter I wrote in Transport Times, which I have just posted on this site, seems to have failed.  From what I gather, though, there may be battles behind the scenes to save Cycling England.  It would, indeed, be daft to abolish ...

Open letter to Norman Baker, minister for cycling, walking, buses, alternatives to travel, etc  Dear Norman It has been remiss of me not to write before now to congratulate you on your new post. It is gratifying to see a Liberal Democrat being given key responsibilities in the Department for Transport, especially as you have always been a supporter of various sensible measures such as rail line reopenings, cutting back on road ...

Open letter to Norman Baker, minister for cycling, walking, buses, alternatives to travel, etc   Dear Norman It has been remiss of me not to write before now to congratulate you on your new post. It is gratifying to see a Liberal Democrat being given key responsibilities in the Department for Transport, especially as you have always been a supporter of various sensible measures such as rail line reopenings, cutting back on road ...