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news
Boris Johnson opens CS5Boris Johnson tells UK mayors that far more commuters will need to cycle when nation begins to emerge from lockdown
Boris Johnson has used a call with the UK’s directly elected mayors to urge them to keep cars out of city centres when the nation begins to emerge from lockdown.
Writing on Twitter this week, London’s cycling commissioner Will Norman said that with the capital’s public transport capacity greatly reduced when restrictions area eased, up to eight million journeys a day would need to be made by other means.
“If just a fraction switch to cars, London will grind to a halt, choking our economic recovery,” he said.
The situation will be similar in other major cities and Jamie Driscoll, the Labour mayor for the North of Tyne, told the Guardian that Johnson was therefore keen for people to cycle instead of drive when the lockdown is eventually lifted.
“It was very interesting that the Prime Minister was talking about taking the opportunity to push clean, green travel, active travel, cycling infrastructure and getting cars off the road,” said Driscoll.
“The real risk is that you end up with a situation where people go back to work in their cars, into city centres that are not designed to take that amount of traffic, that congestion makes it harder for buses to get through and you end up with this vicious cycle.
“We will be coming out of a crisis involving a virus that makes it very difficult for people to breathe. The last thing we need is a man-made equivalent.”
Greater Manchester’s cycling commissioner Chris Boardman has tweeted that he, Mayor Andy Burnham and the various boroughs are already “on the case” with regards to encouraging cycling when lockdown measures are relaxed and that plans will be announced next week.
Driscoll also mentioned that Johnson had made references to active travel and reducing obesity. He speculated that obesity’s association with increased risk of complications from Covid-19 may have played on the Prime Minister’s mind during his recent experience of the illness.
“Obesity is a massive issue and also a very expensive issue, because it does cause a lot of us, as we get older, to spend many years when we can’t be that active,” he said.
“It’s just speculation, and far be it from me to comment on the prime minister’s physique, but maybe having just been through it he has had a Damascene conversion.”
The Government has said it will set out a "comprehensive plan" next week on how to get the economy moving, reopen schools and help people travel to work following the coronavirus lockdown.
Dr Rachel Aldred, at the University of Westminster, said the coming weeks and months presented a potential tipping point with regards to improving urban transport. However, she warned that without appropriate action, cities could end up taking a step backwards.
“This is a really important moment,” she said. “There is the potential to lock in the reduction in air pollution we have seen over the past weeks if we get this right, but as people begin to go back to work and can’t or don’t feel safe using public transport, there is the potential to instead lock in a huge increase in car use and pollution.”
Mark Watts, the chief executive of C40 Cities – a network of 96 cities around the world collaborating to address climate change – said: “There is now a hell of a lot of collaboration among very powerful politicians who do think a green economic recovery is absolutely essential.”
Watts expressed optimism that short term measures could endure. “This is how cities are going to function for the next two years, and probably that will transition – if we have a green economic recovery – into permanence.”
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
Latest Comments
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It's a pity Nottinghamshire Police don't do something similar in Nottingham specifically targeting all the Deliveroo/User etc riders....
- David9694 6 hours 30 min ago
Guildford was an occasional Saturday shopping visit for me in the 1990s (going shopping was actually a thing back then, kids) and I remember a...
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Balrogs being an ancient evil, presumably they'll be competing in the senior category? Maybe they'd want an eBalrog bike?
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I thought I remembered them being banned at some point too so I Googled it and . . . ...
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Just outsource the responsibility
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42 comments
Hilarious given some of the comments in this thread how many of you are still chewing wasps (and deluded) over the election outcome.
It must have beaten some of you out that Boris got a landslide whilst Steptoe, Mad-dog McD, Diane Abacus, van-crash Thornberry and cronies got their worst hoofing in nearly a century. Wonder why?
It's the 32,000 unfortunate deaths so far that I object to.
But you can think what you want.
And seeing that that number is only going up, I don't see that he can be calling it a sucess already.
So, cyclers (not cyclists) can help lower road traffic congestion and an increase in motor vehicle users will mean more delays...? Please can this article, Boris and Will be quoted when anyone spouts the nonsense that bikes cause delays?
There's already a few inklings of what it'll be like when lockdown is lifted. I saw on Twitter a drive-thru Costa which opened in some retail park and immediately, the roads around it were absolutely gridlocked as everyone jumped in their cars to drive to it. The queue went right round the car park and out onto the main roads and it was chaos.
That is going to be the new normal in towns and cities everywhere if we're not careful. It'll be 2 years before public transport is back at 2019 levels of usage but about 2 weeks until the roads are overwhelmed with private cars. and then no-one will want to ride because it's too dangerous - because of all the cars.
The last month has been (mostly) amazing. Families & kids out on bikes on roads that they'd previously never have dreamed of cycling along. It'll be about 2 days before they'll all bullied off them again by drivers.
yeah that happened in Ipswich https://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/news/business/costa-ipswich-euro-retail-pa... actually the exact same thing happened when the nearby McDonalds re-opened briefly too before it was shut again by the police because of the queues.
I dont know exactly why I dont think Ipswich is full of coffee addicts as such, but I know why people drove there, because its basically an area designed only for cars, its a horrible set of roads to cycle on, the council removed a cycle lane (not that it was a very good one but its the principle) on one of the nearby feeder roads to widen it for all the car traffic, and its not much fun to walk from the nearby estates either, you are crossing 4-6 lanes of traffic all who think the speed limit is at least 10mph faster than whats posted and traffic lights are optional to obey.
Yup - all those projects that certain powers wanted to happen but coluldn't get public support for, are now going to happen under the umbrella of keeping everyone safe: ID cards, facial recognition, The End of Cash,...
Maybe it's just me but I find that higher motor vehicle traffic volumes (aka congested roads") make it physically safer for me as a cyclist as they move slower thus less like for a serious collision/injury. Only downside is a lot more pollution. But I'd still rather be on my bike.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52519340
Mr Shapps told the Andrew Marr Show that the government was looking at a range of options for people to travel to work, including encouraging what he described as a "massive expansion" in interest in "active travel" such as cycling or walking.
As much as I think the internet of shouty people will object... I would love to see some social pressure campaigns to get people to use active transport, leaving public transport as free as possible for those unable for whatever reason to use.
In many cities bus journeys are barely quicker than walking. Active transport should be seen as a norm and civic duty much like putting the recycling in the green bin.
I'm no fan of Boris but when he was the Mayor he did cycle to work and he was only stopped cycling by the security services when he became foreign secretary (He claimed his bike was nicked outside parliament though which was bullshit).
I wouldn't put it past him to push this through, road building might be all about cars now but pretty soon they'll be given over to autonimous freight vehicles,Might be just the time to drive the move towards greener transport.
Boris was the best thing that happened to cycling in London for commuters. The loonie lefties can't accept it but it's true. Khan on the other hand has been dreadful.
That reads like a black and white, good/bad view of a complex situation. Just because Boris rode a bike himself means nothing in the world of Westminster politics. Boris is not a 'santa claus of cycling' or any kind of advocate. You only have to look at the road-building fund vs the money for walking and cycling in the last budget.
And if anyone thinks that all the rich, hugely influential lobbying companies, most notably the oil lobby, the car companies and their many ancilliaries are going to take this lying down then they are living in cloud cuckoo land.
I don't think you've grasped the seismic shift that COVID has brought about.
Public transport capacity has just been decimated overnight.
The tube is simply not viable in its current form, likewise many inner city bus routes.
It is impossible to move the same number of workers by car.
The only viable route forward is active transport.
Businesses which depend on being able to get their workers to a certain place in order to make money will lobby for whatever will help them achieve that.
In inner cities that can only be active transport.
The lobbying will be in favour of active transport not against it.
Good stuff but words need to be followed with actions.
Unfortunately public transport is going to be less viable for the foreseeable future so that pretty much only leaves active transport.
Bizarrely if this pandemic ends up forcing more people to take active transport it may well end up saving more lives than it cost.
All well and good, but this comes from an incorrigible liar, whose government issued the biggest, most expensive road building plans last week, preceded by totally unfunded active travel plans.
They lied about PPE, and hitting the 100,000 tests a day, and nurses, all far more vital than transport, so there just ain't enough salt in the world for me to swallow that.
...and who names their child "Wilfred"?
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson. It is possible he's beginning to run out of names as this is his sixth known child across three admitted women.
He'd have another child but he pressured the woman he was having an affair with to have an abortion. I think that was the woman he was having an affair with that he claimed he wasn't, which resulted in him being sacked for lying for the second time by then Tory leader Michael Howard.
Yes, he's a charmer that one. It astounds me that some people like him.
I know the tabloids were getting all excited about him getting engaged to Carrie wotsit, but is he actually divorced yet?
I think that he was getting that done in that bit where he seemed to be on holiday and not attending Cobra meetings.
And not preparing the nation he is meant to be leading for what we are going through.
I'm not sure he ever wanted to take any responsibility or do any actual leading - he just wanted to win, so he could be called "the leader" or even just be known as the winner.
Well he can be charismatic, but I think that makes him more dangerous.
Or even Hawkin?
I'm with you on this. The guys a liar. Anyway if the economy grinds to a halt all the better - then he has another scapegoat other that brexthick and yes, all those post covid countries begging to do trade deals with the UK. Just begging.
More ad hominem attacks on Boris. Just accept it he's the best thing that happened for cycling commuters in London and the worst thing has been Khan. All you virtue signalers will never accept it because because Tory bad Labour good.
Thank you.
Reading the tired old 'right on' comments here, I'm starting to think being a cyclist means being an insufferable progressive/lefty too.
Thought I might have to start walking everywhere.
Well there is a pretty clear correlation between having strong right wing views and being anti cyclist, along with related issues such as being anti-environmentalist and pushing the primacy of the market.
Plus as we are effectively an outgroup surely the furthering of a cycling agenda means we are progressive by default?
I love the simultaneous claiming of outgroup status alongside the dehumanisation of another group.
It's hilarious how many people think that people who hold different political views from them are 'lower than vermin' but also think that they themselves are 'one of the good guys'.
I don't claim outgroup status - it's effectively imposed upon us. I'm just a guy who rides a bike amongst many other things.
I don't have a problem with people who hold different political views - actions are what counts and many of the actions of the Tory party are completely indefensible and have caused unnecessary suffering and ruined lives thoughout the last century.
I think you'll find that all the pro-cycling moves introduced during Boris Johnson's time as mayor were actually planned by his predecessor, Ken Livingstone. All Mr Johnson did was not to cancel them.
Johnson took the credit, but if you do the research you'll realise he doesn't deserve it. What he does deserve is a reputation for bungling and spending money unwisely.
Khan has been busy trying to tackle the mess left by Johnson, such as the £52 million spent on an eyesore bridge that served no purpose and that was to be built in the wrong place in any case. Note that the design contract was awarded to a tennis club chum of Johnson's without a proper tender process. Oh, and bear in mind Johnson's purchase of illegal water cannon, expensive buses that break down, a cable car nobody uses and closure of police stations and fire stations.
Khan gets a lot of stick, most of which is utterly undeserved. And if you look closely, there's a lot of really dodgy anti-muslim sentiment in there.
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