<
https://thedriven.io/2025/10/01/on-yer-bike-australia-needs-to-remove-5-million-ice-vehicles-by-2035-how-we-do-it-is-up-to-us/>
"While listening to the
Never Strays Far podcast last week, I heard British
Tour de France commentator Ned Boulting in conversation with writer, adventure
cyclist and former cycle courier Emily Chappell.
They discussed the safety, comfort and relief they feel when cycling in a
protected bike lane, although there were a few wistful reminiscences about the
old days of elbows out and battling through London traffic.
That’s the London cycling I remember and left behind 15 years ago. It’s the
London cycling I grew up with, rode to school with and rode to work with.
I was back in London for a couple of months this year, and it’s clear that
cycling has changed and grown significantly. Cycling in London started to
change under Ken Livingstone’s mayoral term, when he introduced the docked
cycle hire scheme in the run-up to the 2012 Olympics.
This scheme allows you to pick up a bike cheaply for short trips across the
city. Livingstone also introduced the cycle superhighway network of wide,
protected bike lanes linking outer and inner districts. This was introduced at
the same time as the congestion charge, which forced drivers entering central
London to pay for the privilege.
Surprisingly, the next mayor, the Conservative Boris Johnson, continued this
investment. The rental bikes became known as ‘Boris bikes’ as he expanded the
scheme and the cycle superhighways.
Work also began to remove many of the road systems designed in the ’60s, ’70s
and ’80s that prioritised cars over buses, pedestrians, taxis and bikes.
Neighbourhoods that had been choked by encircling gyratory systems became
places that people wanted to live and work in again.
Whatever else Boris Johnson was, he was also a cyclist. Before he became mayor,
his office was in my neighbourhood, and he could often be seen cycling to and
from work. He even earned the grudging respect of the cycle couriers who
congregated outside the pub I lived above.
In the UK, active transport and the promotion of cycling have become key to the
country’s drive towards net zero and the fight against air pollution, which has
reached illegal and dangerous levels in cities like London.
The current mayor, Sadiq Khan, introduced the Ultra Low Emissions Zone to make
the most polluting vehicles pay for their emissions, and the national
government has given local authorities a statutory duty to make space for
active transport, such as walking and cycling.
The pandemic has given fresh impetus to the removal of traffic from residential
areas. Low Traffic Neighbourhoods have been a feature of London since the 1970s
— I grew up in one of the very first — but the pandemic has given people the
opportunity to consider what kind of streets they want to live in."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
