Venice - a great car-free city - Alan Wakeman

I’ve spent much of my life trying to cajole politicians into common sense policies on cars in cities and, with a London mayoral election due in 2012, have recently distilled five decades of reflections on this topic into 2 sheets of A4 and sent them to my MP, my MEP and both declared mayoral candidates. To make up your own mind, here’s what I’ve sent them. I’ve called my document: A Transport of Delight…

A Transport of Delight*

Despite the presence of historic village names on the TFL route map few Londoners realise their buses still trace ancient parish boundaries that have survived two world wars and centuries of urban sprawl. Yet, when asked where they live, residents of Battersea and Bloomsbury, Hackney and Hoxton, Sydenham and Soho, consistently name their villages as their home. So why has transport planning relentlessly treated London’s villages as routes not
destinations?

I propose that policies that acknowledge and reward Londoners’ enduring village loyalty would improve all residents’ and visitors’ sense of place wherever they went in our amazing, two-thousand-year-old city. I further propose that such policies be offered in itemised village referenda on detailed practical methods of enhancing each village’s environment. If such policies proved acceptable London’s villages might become virtually car-free and walking in
the street would cease to be a battle and become a pleasure.

To accomplish this desirable outcome I propose individual Village Referenda on…

Ø Conversion of existing car parks to village warehousing & delivery centres enabling:
Ø Local delivery of all goods at user’s convenience by silent, fume-free electric trucks.
Ø Signed taxi routes to village cab ranks.
Ø Signed cohesive cycle routes.
Ø Where residents vote for it, implementation of their streets as public gardens.
Ø Tree-planting.
Ø Street tidies – combined planting, seating and waste-recycling points.
Ø Removal of all redundant traffic signs.
Ø Access to pedestrians and cyclists only (with the above exceptions).

In addition I propose individual Village Referenda on…

Ø Green walkways between neighbouring villages.
Ø Continuous cohesive bicycle routes between villages.
Ø Integrated ticketing on all public transport with simple transverse and radial interchange.
Ø Integration of Thames ferry-boats with other public transport.
Ø Pedestrian-friendly interchanges at all main transport hubs including riverside piers.

*Flanders & Swan song about London’s Red Buses

How to apply these proposals to my village:-

—- Alan Wakeman

Women on Wheels

On Friday, 25th February, 2011, a group of about 50 women—mostly foreigners but with several Bangladeshis—took to the streets of Dhaka on bicycle. The ride was organized by a new group called Arohi (aa-row-hee, from the Bengali word for “rider” and the Sanskrit root “aarohana” meaning ascendance); it was their first ride.

When I first heard about the ride, I hadn’t planned to join. I haven’t cycled in Dhaka in years. The traffic is generally horrendous, and when it moves more smoothly, the speed and aggressive attitude of the drivers makes it terrifying to be vulnerable on a bicycle. Long ago were the pleasant Friday mornings when a few of us would cycle together to and around the Dhaka University campus, have breakfast at a friend’s home, then race home amidst the buses and cars.

But the organizer was so enthused, and all the women cyclists I talked to were so eager, I finally broke down and agreed to go, on my signature red folding bike. After all, there is safety both in numbers and in sticking out. So at 9 a.m. a group of young women gathered in front of the office of WBB to borrow bikes, then rode together to an art gallery, where we were delighted to find a crowd of women and bikes. Altogether there were about 30 of us, a mix of nationalities, languages, and clothing styles….but all eager to ride.

Getting to our destination, a monument on the Dhaka University campus, involved a few hairy spots. I gained confidence as I rode and happily manoeuvred between the cars and rickshaws (and less happily avoided the buses…Dhaka bus drivers unfortunately seem to have little respect for human life), but for those unused to riding in traffic, the experience must not have been so pleasant. But all around there were smiles. I found myself dancing on the bike, kicking out my feet, waving my arms, and shouting slogans: Women cycle! (It is considered unacceptable in Dhaka, and many other parts of Bangladesh, for women to ride bikes.) Cycling is independence! Cycling is joy! We are traffic!

It was hard not to get caught up in the exuberance of it all. The young Bangladeshi women whom we had taught to cycle in our bike training program were brimming over with enthusiasm: when will we do this again??? Riding home, I was on a long stretch of straight, flat, and fairly empty road. I raced, pumping hard, enjoying the adrenaline and the feeling of strength in my legs and lungs. Normally now I only ride a stationary bike, a pathetic substitute for the real thing. It felt like all the sessions on that bike, boring as they are, were practice for this exhilarating moment.

I wanted more. I wanted cycling to be part of my daily routine. The city would shrink. All sorts of places I never or rarely visit would be accessible. Exercise would be fun and wouldn’t require extra time, as it now does. These are all selfish motives. But the group that organized the ride has a deeper mission. Arohi seeks to promote cycling for women in Bangladesh. They wish to break the stigma associated with women cycling. They wish to promote freedom of mobility for women. For low income women, the time it takes to walk everywhere, and the expense and discomfort of buses, are both unaffordable. Being able to ride a bike would mean so much to such women. What to me is pure recreation and fun is to many the first step towards mobility and independence.

I hope Arohi succeeds in its goal. Not only would it make a world of difference for women, but a strong presence demanding safe conditions for cycling in Dhaka could contribute towards making cycling safe for everyone. Bless you, Arohi!

–Debra Efroymson

Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/arohicycling

Blog: http://arohicycling.wordpress.com

This year the international free public transport day took place on Saturday the 6th of March, and to celebrate it the Swedish commuter organisation Planka.nu arranged a huge – and free! – subway party. The idea was to raise awareness of the free public transport day and the question of making the public transport free, but also to celebrate and increase the feeling of community amongst the commuters in Stockholm.

We boarded the subway train at its first station and dressed it in pink garlands, balloons and Planka.nu merchandise. Then we turned up the volume on our newly released dubstep remix of the 70’s hit single “Love Train” from The O’Jays to welcome everyone boarding the train at the next station, Stockholm Central.

By first making their way into the subway for free and then jumping on the pink party train, all commuters going from the centre of Stockholm out into the suburbs could start their Saturday night party in the subway! Together we partied and celebrated a day of resistance to the fare-society.

The public transport is a place where Stockholmers spend a lot of time, and we wanted it to be more fun, more welcoming… and more pink! In the words of the former major, and founding father of the subway in Stockholm, the late Hjalmar Mehr: “Public transport is built for the common people, it is the carfree’s daily traffic route, every ride should be a feast, every station a colorful fairy castle!”

Alexander Berthelsen www.planka.nu

One day every March, for 35,000 people in Cape Town and their supporters and families, it is “all about the bike”, as the city hosts the world’s largest individually-timed bicycle race.

But, for everyone else within hearing distance of the race, it is all about the car – and how to get by without it. That’s because Cape Town – not a city particularly friendly toward cyclists on every other day – closes some 120km or so of freeway and suburban roads to vehicles.

This year, a collection of non-racing cyclists decided to cash in on Cape Town’s “accidental” annual carfree day and make it “official”, laying claim to a little strip of main road between the Kalk Bay harbour, the beach and the city’s most picturesque rail line on the one side, and the race-route on the other. Traffic police kept private cars out at the cycle tour end, and orange bollards and a security guard discouraged cars at the other. And so it happened that the bookshop, the baker and the pancake maker did a brisk trade for passers-by, dog walkers and race-watchers; children (and a few grown-ups) drew chalk patterns on the tar, and Sunday morning felt suitably slow-paced and carfree. Far more effective than a road sign-post saying, “slow down, children playing”, is, er, children playing.

“Where do you usually ride?”, I asked one small boy in a crash helmet. “Nowhere”, he said. “It’s my first time.” Then he laid down on his skateboard to recover…

Gail Jennings

On Friday, March 19th, agent-technicians from the Bureau Of Organized Bikelane Safety (B.O.O.B.S.) descended by bicycle on the intersection of Broadway and 23rd Street in New York. The B.O.O.B.S. is charged with clean-up and removal of all gas-guzzling, dangerous vehicles illegally parked in and polluting city bike lanes. While preparing to patrol, multiple members of the media competed for the inside scoop on the B.O.O.B.S. Several civilian bicyclist supporters joined the ride in hopes of seeing the action.

The agents slowly proceeded up 6th Avenue, targeted for clean-up due to noxious amounts of motor vehicle traffic. Though encountering an estimated average of 1.5 toxic obstructions per block, the B.O.O.B.S. team found that the bikelane contamination level, while still very hazardous, was less than expected. It only takes one toxic obstruction to sully the utility and beauty of a bikelane. Several obstructions were only partial, and removal was generally prompt as the team employed clean-up methods including gentle reminders to polluters of the law regarding bikelanes. A choreographed de-briefing occurred at the end of the patrol.

The B.O.O.B.S. is hard at work to clean up these pollutants which disrupt the delicate urban environment, but it will take some major inter-agency cooperation to prevent all the Class II bikelanes in New York City from being declared Superfund sites.

Time’s Up! www.times-up.org

About 4,000 bikers took part in Munich’s first Bike Night – an approximately four kilometre long bike tour around the city centre along prominent roads and boulevards. It was the kick-off event for Munich’s ambitious bike campaign: Munich wants to become the “bike capital“ of Europe. For about two hours, the roads and the city tunnel around the city centre were blocked for cars, so only bikers – dressed up in bright colors and funny hats, with creatively decorated and brightly flashing and blinking bikes – conquered the streets of Munich’s inner circle. It was a very novel and fascinating sight, as the inner circle is usually buzzing with cars jamming the road and deafening the fearful pedestrian and biker with reckless drivers honking their horns. But this time, it was the bikers ringing their bells and blowing their whistles: the bikers were in power.

The biking campaign of the city of Munich aims to promote the use of bikes within the city and to enhance the safety of bikers. The city council has increased the financial resources available for the expansion and development of a safe biking infrastructure within the city. Further events like the streetcasting activity “Munich Biking Idol” and the Bicycle Film Festival in December 2010 want to involve the citizens of Munich actively and directly in the campaign. Biking is not only celebrated as a means of getting from A to B, but first and foremost as a modern lifestyle.

Svenja von Gierke

Little things, like a handful of fleece, can make a big difference. In Chicago, bicycle activists from Break the Gridlock helped fair weather cyclists stay in the saddle year round with simple gifts of homemade head gear.

Ten years ago, Bike Winter emerged from Chicago’s Critical Mass community as a way to encourage people to keep cycling as the temperature plummets. At one of the early classes, we gave away colourful fleece balaclavas. They were a huge hit. Each year, we made another batch, but knew the demand was far greater than our capacity.

Willow naceo received one of those early balaclavas and decided to give back. She buys and scavenges fleece, burns up her scissors and sewing machine, and dresses as Santa to share Bike Winter cheer and gifts. “That balaclava made my first Bike Winter cuddly and warm. If something as simple as a free fleece goody can keep more cyclists on their bikes, I want to help spread the warmth,” explains willow.

In honour of Bike Winter’s 10th anniversary, Santa willow decided to leave no cyclist’s ears uncovered. She drained her savings account buying material and organised craft nights. “It is amazing how quickly a small group of volunteers can cut balaclavas in an evening of eating, drinking and socialising.” We have distributed over 2,000 fleece freebies this winter, helping one person at a time discover the joys of winter cycling and living carfree.

Gin Kilgore, bikewinter.org

This February, 23 activists from Green Action and the Right to the City initiative in Zagreb, Croatia were arrested. The raid took place just hours after around 4000 people had turned out to protest against turning part of the pedestrian zone into a ramp for an underground garage.

The operation aimed to remove the accommodation container which the groups had put oan a pedestrian zone as an info-point in order to block the beginning of works on the ramp, which is still under legal dispute. Activists inside of the container and on the roof peacefully resisted removal by locking themselves together using arm tubes, and were arrested after the fire brigade cut the tubes. At the same time, 50 activists blocked the road exits for the lorry carrying the container but were also removed by the police.

The police also destroyed a five-metre high trojan horse which had been brought to the site as a symbol of private interests and corruption masquerading as urban redevelopment.

“Using riot police against a small group of peaceful protesters is a disturbing over-reaction to the civil offence of failing to obtain permission before temporarily placing the container in the pedestrian zone”, said Teodor Celakoski from Right to the City. “The whole project is based on dubious legal manoeuvres such as the city authorities’ decision to declare it a project of public interest when it is clearly nothing of the kind”

nedamovarsavsku.net

The Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon (BAPA) and Work for a Better Bangladesh (WBB) Trust organised a bicycle rally in Dhaka on December 26, 2009 to call for ensuring a bicycle-friendly environment in the city in order to make it both lively and liveable. Speakers at the rally called on the government to reduce the high tax on bicycles and for a separate lane to be introduced in the capital for bicycle riders. They also called for improving the quality of public transport service.

BAPA and WBB Trust also organised a press conference to draw attention to the importance of cycling not only to improve the city’s terrible traffic congestion but to enhance the health of urban dwellers through exercise and reduced air pollution. The events were part of the lead-up to the 3rd International Conference on the Bangladesh Environment (ICBEN) on January 3-4, 2010, at which WBB Trust underlined the need for quality cycling infrastructure in the city.

WBB Trust continues to play a major role in advocating for more people and environmental  friendly transport policy, including discouraging car use and improving the situation for walking, cycling and public transit. In addition to its work n urban transport, WBB Trust works to change the conditions for rail transport throughout the country and to promote urban planning with a focus on high-density mixed-use areas that reduce the need for long-distance travel.

Maruf Rahman, WBB Trust