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Will Milton Road set the standard?
CAMBRIDGE CYCLING CAMPAIGNFEBRUARY – MARCH 2017 • CAMCYCLE.ORG.UK
Also in this issue:● Street cycle parking● Air pollution● World record cycling
2 CAMCYCLE February – March 2017
Contents
CAMPAIGNINGCurrent campaigns 4
Will Milton Road set the standard? 6
EVENTSOne million cycles 9
Annual General Meeting 10
Cyclenation campaigners’ conference 13
Camcycle seasonal social 13
Mill Road Winter Fair 13
FEATURESIs BikeAbility useful? 14
Cycling through five countries on Earth Day 16
How to signal to the driver behind 19
Business cycling mileage 19
Cycling and air pollution 22
REGULARSVolunteer profile: Richard Burgess 20
Campaign Diary 23
Infographic 24
Newsletter No.130If you like what you see in this newsletter, add yourvoice to those of our 1,200 members by joining theCambridge Cycling Campaign.
Membership costs are:
£3.50 Budget (no paper newsletter will normallybe provided)£17.50 Individual£22.50 Household£100 Donor
For this, you get six newsletters a year, discounts at alarge number of bike shops, and you will be support-ing our work.
Join now on-line at:www.camcycle.org.uk/membership
Cambridge Cycling Campaign was set up in 1995 tovoice the concerns of cyclists. We are not a cyclingclub, but a voluntary organisation promoting cyclingfor public benefit and representing the concerns ofcyclists in and around Cambridge.
Registered charity number 1138098
Our meetings, open to all, are on the first Tuesday ofeach month, 7.30pm for 8pm until 10pm at theFriends’ Meeting House, Jesus Lane, Cambridge.
Elected Committee Members and Trustees 2016-2017Chair (and Charity Chair) – Robin HeydonVice-Chair (and Charity Secretary) – Hester WellsTreasurer (and Charity Treasurer) – Chris HowellMembership Secretary – Sue EdwardsLiaison Officer – Martin Lucas-SmithPlanning Officer – Al StorerNewsletter Editor – Sarah RodgerRecruitment Officer – Tom McKeownEvents Officer – Willa McDonaldPress Officer - Franny RitchieWeb Officer – Neil SpenleyCampaigners – Richard Burgess, Jim Chisholm,Matthew Danish and Monica Frisch
Contacting the CampaignCampaign Officer – Roxanne De Beaux
Camcycle, The Bike Depot, 140 Cowley Road,Cambridge CB4 0DL
(01223) [email protected]: @camcycleFacebook: CambridgeCyclingCampaign
JH
World Record cycling – see page 16
3 CAMCYCLE February – March 2017
From the Chair
Apparently we don't see most of thethings we see. Well, that's my inter-pretation of some research called
‘The Uniformity Illusion, Central Stimuli CanDetermine Peripheral Perception’. Theauthors are based in the Department ofBrain and Cognition at the University ofAmsterdam. So what does the research say?
Well, as you all probably know, whenyou look at something you focus on theobject and use a very small area of yourretina to look at the fine detail of the object.It is something called the fovea that doesthis, mainly because it has lots of light-receptive cells all packed together so thatyou, for example, can read the words infront of you now. Surrounding this area isa much larger, much less detail-orientedarea of the retina.
The researchers got test subjects to lookat a number of images that each had avisual illusion. For example, my favouritehad lots of circles in the centre, and lots ofother four-, five- and six-sided symbolsaround (see below). Except that when youlook at the centre of the image, all the otherobjects around become circles as well. Thisfeels slightly freaky.
So what does this have to do withcycling? Well, ever noticed that you failedto see a cyclist when driving? Or when youare riding a cycle you are almost hit by amuch faster-moving larger vehicle? Well,they may have imagined that you were notthere.
Our visual system appears just to makeup the details. Filling in the gaps in ourvisual field with things that it thinks arethere, and ignoring the things that it doesn't
see. So, as you approach that roundabout,you are looking at the car, and the areaaround the fovea is not seeing the personon the cycle also coming around. And thisdoesn't just apply to people on cycles, itwould also apply to people walking acrossa side road as you turn into that side road.
As we probably can't change the humanbrain to enhance our peripheral vision,could we make the roads safer, given thisknowledge?
Well, one thing we could do is designjunctions where we don't have to look formultiple different-sized things near eachother at the same time – such as a rounda-bout that puts everybody in the samephysical space. The so-called Dutch round-about proposed at Queen Edith's Waysolves this by having completely separaterings for people walking, people cycling andpeople driving. As you approach in a car,you first have to give way to peoplewalking, and then people cycling, and thenpeople driving. One at a time. And it is thisone-at-a-time approach that is important.You can use your fovea to look for the manwalking his dog, and then the womancycling to her friend’s house, and then thecouple in a car. At no point do you have tolook for cars and bicycles at the same time.
Some people will complain that you haveto give way more times: a maximum of fivetimes, I think. But surely it is better to giveway five times than give way once and hitthe person your brain didn't perceive.Robin Heydonwww.camcycle.org.uk/jumpto/theuniformityillusion
Central stimuli can determineperipheral perception
The City Deal has been, and willcontinue to be, a topic of discussioninside these pages and in the widerpopulation. We have to recognise thatwe cannot make the difference alone.That is why you will read about ourideas for Milton Road that weredeveloped in conjunction with theMilton Road and Hurst Park residentsassociations. More partnership work-ing will be necessary to bring suchbenefits to other main roads in andaround the city.
Learning to ride a bicycle should bea rite of passage. Bikeability gives kidsthe skills and confidence to ride.Inside, Rad Wagon gives us a deepinsight to what it means and how it allworks.
Of course, after we learn to ride acycle we sometimes want to gofurther. But what about five countriesin a single day? I’m not sure how toeven start to do that, but you’ll findout inside that it can be done and howmuch fun it was.
Have you noticed how dirty the airhas been? We need to have a seriousdiscussion about air pollution andwhat we can do to help. Do you suffermore from air pollution when cyclingor when sitting in a car? This willbecome a significant future issuewhen the city considers introducing alow emission zone and possiblydiscourage the use of polluting vehi-cles.
There is much more inside, so turnthe page and read about everythingelse that is happening.Robin Heydon
4 CAMCYCLE February – March 2017
Campaigning
Current campaignsCity DealUrban and Environmental Design Guid-anceAn updated version of this design guide,now titled ‘Urban Design Guidance forTransport Infrastructure Projects’, isscheduled to be approved by the CityDeal Board and Assembly at their meet-ings in March.
This latest version is very concerningas yet again it sets such low requirementsfor our city’s infrastructure.
Camcycle believes that, at the veryleast, this design guide should meet thestandards of proven high quality cycleschemes within Cambridge and, ideally,that it aspire to improve upon these.Camcycle has submitted a letter detailingpoints where the Guidance could bemodified to ensure that traffic congestionis reduced and an improved urban envi-ronment is achieved. We included anumber of street cross sections to illus-trate how our suggested changes wouldhave an impact.
Although there is no formal consulta-tion on this document we hope that oursubmission will support a better versionfor the second attempt of this veryimportant document.Cyclescape 2583
Cross-city cycle routesCamcycle is pleased that the constructionof Phase 2 of the Hills Road Cycleway issoon to commence. Phase 1 has alreadyseen a massive increase in cycling on HillsRoad, despite the hazardous junction atLong Road and poor connection to theHospital site. Camcycle hopes that Phase2 will further boost the numbers ofpeople using bikes to get to and fromAddenbrooke’s and the BiomedicalCampus, as well as giving residents abetter route into the city centre. Wehope that the Phase 2 works will becompleted in a timely manner avoidingthe lengthy delays that plagued Phase 1and that careful consideration is given toensuring safety for people on bicyclesduring the works.Cyclescape 1298
Milton Road Local Liason ForumA resolution was passed supporting the‘Do Optimum’ design that has beendeveloped by a working group fromMilton Road Residents' Association(MRRA) and Hurst Park Estate Residents'Association (HPERA), working in alliancewith Camcycle (see pages 6-8).Cyclescape 2662
How to keep up with the City DealThe best way to be informed about whatis coming up with the City Deal is to lookat the forward plans. An updated plan isincluded in the agenda files for each CityDeal meeting. To make it easy we willpost these to a dedicated Cyclescapethread as soon as they become available.Cyclescape 2945
5 CAMCYCLE February – March 2017
Consultations
CB1 Station developmentCamcycle has been consulted on thedesigns for two more residential andcommercial buildings prior to the plan-ning application stage. We are assessingthese for cycle parking quality, accessi-bility, the potential for future expansionof Cyclepoint parking and implicationsfor the Chisholm Trail.
Cycling and the Justice System – AllParty Parliamentary Cycling GroupCamcycle submitted a comprehensiveresponse to this inquiry on whether thecurrent judicial system is serving allcyclists. The inquiry focused on four keyareas:● road users and victims● enforcement and investigation● criminal law● driver awareness and civil justice.
Cyclescape 2838
Bollard bothersThere are all kinds of bollards, chicanesand other vertical obstructions on cycleroutes in Cambridge. Many may beunnecessary, some are outright danger-ous and many could be improved, forexample by being made more visible.We've had some success getting thebollards on the Busway Cyclewayimproved and now we want to take onthe whole city.Help us by sharing your bollard botherson Cyclescape 2961.
Street cycle parkingFollowing the motion passed at our AGMwe have resolved to:(1) champion the replacement of on-
street car parking with cycle parkingwhere it is clearly needed
(2) identify streets where this shouldand can be achieved
(3) work with local councillors to surveydemand
(4) where there is sufficient localsupport’ work with local councillorsto prepare proposals for funding, forexample, from the local highwaysimprovement fund.
Cyclescape 2876.
Naming namesWe would like to have all cycleways inCambridge named as a means of recog-nising them officially and ensuring theyare registered in emergency service data-bases etc.Cyclescape 2891
City-wide campaigns
Planning applications
16/1942/FUL 48 New SquareCambridge CB1 1EZThe creation of 5 self-contained flatsthrough conversion of the existing end-terrace known as No.48 New Square, thedemolition of the existing garage and theremoval of 4 parking bays.
Camcycle objected as cycle parkingwas insufficient for residential use in thislocation. There were a number of funda-mental design issues, including a 1.5mwide cycle parking shelter that is notdeep enough to cover standard cycles.Cyclescape 2822
➔
➔
16/1916/FUL 61 Norfolk StreetCambridge CB1 2LDCreation of 5 new flats through changeof use of HMO and takeaway and newroof extension and rear annexe.
Both Camcycle and the city Cyclingand Walking Officer raised concernsabout the lack of detail of the proposedcycle racks.Cyclescape 2821
Campaigning
Also
Chisholm TrailThe latest news is that the planningapplication for the Abbey-Chestertonbridge will be determined on 16 Februaryby the City Council Planning Committee.The Phase One Chisholm Trail applica-tion will now be determined by the JointDevelopment Control Committee, prob-ably on 15 March.Cyclescape 832
Cycle route between Horningsea andWaterbeachCamcycle member Bert Santilly and agroup of local residents are campaigningfor a safe cycle route between Water-beach and Horningsea along the B1047.
They have met with Councillor RobTurner (South Cambs District Council)and are surveying the road route, apossible off-road route and current cycleuse of the B1047.Cyclescape 2940
CB1 survey reportCamcycle is very concerned about themany issues with the CB1 Station devel-opment and is developing a survey reportof the site. One issue is the poorlydesigned and dangerous junction ofGreat Northern Road and Tenison Road.Local residents have conducted trafficsurveys on Great Northern Road and ameeting has been organised with theHighways Department, councilors anddevelopersCyclescape 2919, Cyclescape 2918
6 CAMCYCLE February – March 2017
Campaigning
Will Milton Road set the standard?
At last year's Camcycle AGM,Robin Heydon stated thatwalking is the most important
mode of transport. It is the most humanway to travel, from pre-school to pastretirement, whether fully-able or viathe assistance of a powered walking-equivalent mobility aid, and all therange in-between. Every journey has awalking component. Any place thatstrives to be friendly must have goodprovision for walking.
The Greater Cambridge City Dealhas put forward a set of principles thatprioritises walking, cycling and publictransport. We agree with and supportthese principles, but the initial designofferings from the City Deal consulta-tion process were deeply unsatisfac-tory and did not meet the stated goals.The proposals for Milton Road strippedout almost all the trees and created akind of ‘bus motorway’ that would crampeople who are unprotected by vehi-
cles into the leftover margins of theroad.
In response to community outcry,the City Deal formed Local LiaisonForum (LLF) workshops that broughtresidents and stakeholders together totalk about the future of Milton Road.Conversations that began during theseworkshops between local residents andmembers of Camcycle led to the collab-oration that has produced the 'DoOptimum' conceptual design, which
7 CAMCYCLE February – March 2017
shows a viable alternative to the CityDeal's much maligned 'Do Maximum'and 'Do Something' designs.
The starting point of the 'DoOptimum' design seems an obviousone: a street that prioritises walkingand cycling must be a place for humanbeings, and therefore must incorporategood pavements, sufficient crossings,separate cycle lanes, and plenty ofplantings and trees. The safety featuresare especially important at junctions,where most collisions occur, and whichhave traditionally been poorly designedfor the needs of people on foot orcycle. A street designed to prioritisepublic transport must also incorporatethese features, as every public trans-port trip is bookended by walking orcycling segments. We must alwaysremember that we don’t invest inpublic transport simply for the sake ofmoving large vehicles around; publictransport is about helping people getto the places that they want to be, inan efficient and equitable manner. Inthe debate about infrastructure, thisbasic fact is often forgotten.
A classic illustration of this pointoccurred at a Milton Road LLF wheresomeone had questioned the need forstreet crossings near bus stops. To a
person who only thinks about movingvehicles, crossings are a nuisance: theystop traffic every so often! To a personwho thinks about public transport as aservice that is about helping people,crossings are essential: almost everybus journey, there and back, willrequire crossing the street at leastonce. Without that crossing, the bustrip cannot happen. If people are afraidto cross the street, then they will beafraid to take the bus, and everyonewill be worse off. Safe street crossingsare a fundamental part of prioritisingpublic transport.
The collaborationbetween Camcycle andthe local residents’ asso-ciations shows just howeffective real publicengagement can be
We need to be sensitive to thechanges in character that take placealong Milton Road. The ‘Do Optimum’plan uses different types of publictransport priority measures in differentsegments of the street, each accordingto its needs. Near the Busway, MiltonRoad is more industrial and busy withmotor traffic. Here it is sensible toconsider dedicated bus lanes. At theother end, just north of Gilbert Road,the street is narrower and very residen-tial, with many families walking andcycling to school regularly. Much of thecar traffic has already been siphonedoff by Elizabeth Way. A wide expanseof tarmac is counterproductive. Insteadwhat is needed is more crossings andample verges with trees to protect thecycle lanes and pavements that familiesare cycling and walking along. And inthe middle segment, between theGolden Hind and Arbury Road junc-tions, the street is a gateway into anurban neighbourhood. In a street sceneframed by trees and verges, the pave-ments and cycle lanes will be evenbusier than they already are. The publictransport priority measures must shiftfrom the tarmac-heavy approach nearthe A14 towards a lighter touch that
makes more efficient use of road spacevia peak-time turning restrictions.
We need smart and well-targetedinterventions. The ‘Do Optimum’ plansshow ideas about how to carry outthese types of measures but the finaldesign arrangement is yet to bedecided. Part of the reason is becausesome of these choices will dependupon expected changes to the regionalpublic transport network. Looking froma broader perspective, public transportin Cambridge requires a wholesalereview to produce a properly coordi-nated, integrated, multi-modal networkthat is suitable for the growing andchanging city. The City Deal should beconducting a process of service plan-ning to determine the details of thefuture regional public transportnetwork. That is a step that should betaken as soon as possible. In the mean-time, there are some measures that canbe implemented independently of theoutcome of the service planning. Forinstance, we do know that there willneed to be some form of bus serviceon Milton Road, for local access at thevery least. Therefore, we propose goodbus stops with platforms built to enablestep-free boarding, long enough to fitbuses with multiple doors, provideample waiting space, amenities, andseparation from the cycle lane accom-panied by a Zebra crossing to connectto the footway. Properly designed busstops shorten dwell times and speed upthe bus service, making it more punc-tual and reliable. Good bus stops are afundamental part of prioritising publictransport.
Most of the City Deal’s proposals forpublic transport assume that buses willstill mainly travel the same way tenyears hence that they did ten years ago.But that doesn’t really make sense:transport needs have been shifting forquite some time already and that willonly accelerate in the coming years.Cambridge is a polycentric city, but theCity Deal’s transport plans do notalways acknowledge that fact.Cambridge has two bus operators anda major railway line, but there is littleintegration between any of them. Therailway line runs parallel with MiltonRoad, between 1 to 1.5 km to the east,providing a dedicated public transport
Campaigning
8 CAMCYCLE February – March 2017
Campaigning
corridor with higher capacity and capa-bility. Within five years it is virtuallycertain that there will be three cityrailway stations serving three majoremployment centres: North Station,Central Station and South Station(Addenbrooke’s). We don’t need towait decades for a rail network withinthe city: we already have one well onits way. As railway service levelsincrease, many of the trains runningthrough the city will have to be sched-uled to stop at all three stations,providing the basis of an expressmetro-style service. Additionally, it canbe expected that the existing intercitytrains will be further supplemented bynew train lines serving the growth ofdemand for a Cambridge-focusedregional rail network. The combinationof a selection of intercity and regionalservices will provide the frequencyneeded to make this ‘Cambridge Over-ground’ feasible for everyday trips.
Such systems already exist and arehighly successful in many Europeancities.
With rail taking on such importancelocally, it’s vital to have bus servicesplanned and designed aroundconnecting with the three stations.Connections are the only way to makepublic transport relevant to morepeople. No single route can stand aloneand serve more than a small fraction oflimited kinds of trips, but a networkthat works together dramaticallyincreases the utility of every singleoption. An integrated and coordinatednetwork of walking, cycling and publictransport gives people the freedom andconfidence to make all kinds of trips atall times of day. Getting from A to Bshould be simple and easy, no matterhow you put it together: by bus, rail,cycle and foot. Integrated fares, coor-dinated scheduling, and a regionalapproach to service planning are all
very important parts of public transportpriority. The City Deal’s proposal for aWestern Orbital busway could be a keylink. Together with the railway, the twowould form a dedicated necklace ofpublic transport encircling the city,connecting with local buses, andserving many important centres ofactivity. The Cambridge Overgrounddiagram shows conceptually how therailway, the Western Orbital and var-ious walking and cycling Greenwaysmight fit together in the not-too-dis-tant future.
The ‘Do Optimum’ plan for MiltonRoad shows our ideas for how theseprinciples might be applied to producea better street for people, but it’s onlyone street. The purpose of the CityDeal is to build the infrastructure thatsupports the housing and transportneeds of the coming decades. To quotefrom the City Deal website:
‘The Greater Cambridge City Deal is aunique opportunity to secure thefuture of Greater Cambridge as aleading UK and global hub for researchand technology, support economicgrowth and improve quality of life forresidents of Cambridge and SouthCambridgeshire.’
That’s exactly right. So let’s get thisdone right on Milton Road, and acrossthe whole of the Greater Cambridgeregion. The collaboration betweenCamcycle and the local residents’ asso-ciations shows just how effective realpublic engagement can be. Camcycle isdetermined to keep working to helpensure that the City Deal commits tohealthy, sustainable and optimum infra-structure that we will be proud to handdown to the next generation.Matthew Danish (Camcycle), CharlesNisbet (Milton Road Residents’ Asso-ciation) and Michael Page (HurstPark Estate Residents’ Association).To view the ‘Do Optimum’ plan,please visit the website:www.camcycle.org.uk/miltonroad
9 CAMCYCLE February – March 2017
Events
One million cycles14 December 2016
The bike barometer on Parker's Piecenear the Gonville Place crossing haskept count of Cambridge’s cycles sinceit was installed in 2014 (see Newsletter115). This December was the first time itreached the one million mark. A keengroup of campaigners had beenkeeping an eye on the counter and thisexciting milestone was officiallyannounced on Twitter around middayon 14 December.
While we missed the precisemoment we were no less excited tocelebrate it and did so in style a fewhours later on a cold but clearDecember evening. A rush of emailswere sent, ‘One Million Cycles’ posterswere printed on bright paper,Christmas lights were used to adornbikes, chocolates were bought fordistribution and in the end we managedquite a good last-minute celebration.
The party of campaigners cheeredon cyclists who cycled past and werejoined by Hilary Holden from the City
Deal team and by Romsey CouncillorAnna Smith. This spectacle wascertainly noticed by drivers stuck in theafter-work Gonville Place traffic jams.A lucky ‘one millionth’ cyclist wasselected, Jez Climas, an engineer withMax Fordham, St Andrews Street, andhe seemed very pleased to share themoment.
The barometer shows the daily totalof cyclists, and the position of thedetectors allows riders to see theircount being registered as they pass. Toreach the one million mark means thatthe average daily total for 2017exceeded 2,500 cyclists using thisroute - something which Cambridgecan be very proud of!
Let's name the occasion ‘One MillionCycles’ Day and let's see how muchearlier it will be in 2017.Roxanne De Beaux
10 CAMCYCLE February – March 2017
Events
Annual General Meeting6 December 2016
Official businessThe official business of the AGM followed the presenta-tion and began with the Chair’s report by Robin Heydonwho summarised Camcycle’s 2016 achievements,including the new branding, as well as setting out thepriorities for 2017 such as the creation of up-to-datepolicy papers.
Monica Frisch, Acting Treasurer, reported that thefinances were in good order and that after a strong effortin 2016 the financial processes had been simplified, anew financial system implemented and the varioustreasury tasks spread over a financial subgroup.
Sue Edwards reported that Camcycle membership isup from last year and most members are now subscribedat the new rates. The new membership system is helpingwith this and continues to improve.
Simon Nuttall presented his motion on street cycleparking (see page 12). The motion was seconded by AlStorer and it was passed by 46 votes.
The election was then held, with the submitted ballotpapers being counted while we enjoyed a post-AGMcatch-up at the Maypole. We are pleased to announcethat the following trustees have been elected for 2017:
Chair - Robin HeydonVice Chair - Hester WellsTreasurer - Chris HowellMembership Secretary - Sue EdwardsLiaison Officer - Martin Lucas-SmithPlanning Officer - Alistair StorerNewsletter Editor - Sarah RodgerEvents Officer - Willa McDonaldRecruitment Officer - Tom McKeownWeb Officer - Neil SpenleyPress Officer - Franny RitchieGeneral Campaigners - Richard Burgess,
Jim Chisholm, Matthew Danish, Monica Frisch
A special welcome to our new trustees Chris Howell(returning to the board after several years’ hiatus),Matthew Danish, Willa McDonald and Franny Ritchie.We also thank outgoing trustees John Hall and RoosEichenberger for their contributions. You can read moreabout our trustees on our website www.camcycle.org.uk.
As always we must acknowledge and thank all of ourvolunteers, members and supporters who have helpedus to campaign for more, better and safer cycling in 2016.With your ongoing support we hope to deliver an evenmore successful 2017.
The presentation
To begin the AGM Brian Deegan, Principal TechnicalSpecialist with Transport for London, gave a lively pres-entation on ‘Going Dutch in London’.
Brian is responsible for overseeing the design qualityof cycling schemes (but not other projects, unfortunately)across London, and as London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, hasjust promised £770m for cycling during his (first) term inoffice, there is a healthy pot of money to spend. Cyclingcurrently has a 19.7% surface mode share (i.e. excludingthe tube) in central London, and the largest daily flow yetrecorded was 9,614 on London Bridge (with no cycleinfrastructure at all), compared to about 7,000 in someparts of Cambridge; however, just 2% of residents cycleto work, compared to 29% in Cambridge, so he admittedthat Cambridge also had lessons for London. He choseto talk to us about three topics: mini-Hollands, newplanning tools for campaigners and, most importantly,signalised junctions, an area in which London is advanced.
Firstly, mini-Hollands were part of former mayor BorisJohnson’s vision for cycling, and a key lesson has beenthat political buy-in is crucial, with Waltham Forest’sdeputy leader Clyde Loakes becoming a major cyclingadvocate in the Labour Party. Both route and areastrategies are needed - crossing points over main axeschange them from barriers into enablers of cycling, whilethe spaces between the axes were branded as ‘villages’in Waltham Forest. It’s important to think in terms of ‘amini-Holland borough’ rather than isolated mini-Hollandprojects. As part of the political process, consultationtechniques include Commonplace, a social media-stylewebsite that allows people to comment freely onproposals (the predictable ranting is usually followed bysensible ideas). Trialling was also important (Hackney’sfirst modal closure happened by accident when theyacted to stop kerb crawling, but it was so successful thatresidents on nearby streets all asked for the same meas-ures) - in Waltham Forest they used planter boxes andExperimental Traffic Regulation Orders to make bigsudden changes, which were successful after the initialshock, but now there’s no need and in future they’ll justintroduce permanent measures in the normal way.
Secondly, new planning tools include the NationalPropensity to Cycle Tool (partially developed in Cam-bridge), Streetmix (for seeing what you can do with thewidth of your streets), WebCAT (which rates locationsby distance from public transport), mesh-density analysis(which does the same for distance from cycle routes –81% of London’s roads are suitable for Bikeability Level2 cyclists, but there have to be safe crossings – at£60,000 each - of the unsuitable roads), the LondonDevelopment Database (for extracting funding fromdevelopers), HEAT (Health Economic Assessment Tool,to counter the economic arguments for reducing conges-tion for motor vehicles) and the London Datastore, whichnow includes cycle metrics for virtually every street.
Finally, Brian turned to new junction designs since2012, when his only options were Advanced Stop Lines
11 CAMCYCLE February – March 2017
Events
(for cyclists on the road) or Toucan crossings (for cyclistsannoying everyone on shared-use footways). The firstCycle Superhighways used a lot of (unsegregated) bluesurfacing in a way that would not be acceptable nowa-days, but did also introduce the first lights to protectcyclists from left-turning motor vehicles. After visiting 14European cities, Brian and his team produced the LondonCycling Design Standards, introducing cycle-specificsignals, parallel crossings and (soon!) cycle exemptions atred lights. It took a year’s trials at the Transport ResearchLaboratory to convince the government that cycle-spe-cific lights would work, and another year to convincethem about low-level lights and early release. Brian
showed us video of good examples at Cambridge HeathRoad and Queens Circus, and of a two-stage right turn,with cyclists moving left to wait to make a right turn whenthe traffic lights change. A simultaneous all-ways phasefor pedestrians and cyclists will be installed soon on LeaBridge Road (in Waltham Forest), again after a one-yeardebate.
After Brian’s talk, Edward Leigh asked him whetherthe volume of cyclists on Superhighways can block sideroads – Brian said there would be gaps after 30 or 40seconds owing to signals elsewhere. James Woodburnasked about taxis sitting with engines running, and Briansaid that London’s Healthy Streets Vision would be
D
B
A
C
Storagearea or‘box’
Adjacentapproach
Single-stage normal right turn pathTwo-stage right turn path
12 CAMCYCLE February – March 2017
Events
published soon. Martin Lucas-Smith and Rob King bothcommented that the Superhighways were excellent andfelt like real roads for cycles. Colin Rosenstiel said thatcyclists had to stop too often at places like BlackfriarsBridge and Parliament Square, but Brian said that therewere long clear stretches between the interchangeswhere cyclists could ride a green wave.
The motion re street cycle parkingThis is the motion proposed and explained by SimonNutall and passed by the AGM. Camcycle resolves to:
● champion the replacement of on-street car parkingwith cycle parking where it is clearly needed
● identify streets where this should and can beachieved
● work with local councillors to survey demand● work with local councillors, where there is suffi-
cient local support, to prepare proposals forfunding. For example, from the local highwaysimprovement fund.
Providing secure places to park bicycles is a simple andeffective way to encourage cycling by making people onbikes feel welcome. In some areas of Cambridge residentshave got used to all the spare street space being allocatedto the storage of motor vehicles and very little for bikes. Theresult has been badly parked bikes cluttering hallways,clinging to drainpipes and other street furniture.
My motivation for bringing the motion to the AGM wasto raise the profile of the issue and to establish it as one ofCamcycle’s priorities for the coming year. At the October2016 monthly meeting, at which a forum was held on whatissues the Camcycle should take forward, on-street cycleparking had significant support.
The experience on Thoday Street, where some on-carriageway racks have been installed, is a good example ofhow the problem can be addressed (see Newsletter 119).
The racks have been in place for almost two years now.Having watched them from our house I've noticed thembeing used by residents up and down the street from severaldoors away. The racks are always full to overflowing at night
and empty out in the morning. During the day more bikescome and go.
The outcome of this initiative was that, despite apparentdemand, car parking was not a significant reason to opposethe racks. County councillor Kilian Bourke surveyed the localresidents and found that ‘almost 50% of car ownerssupported the change’. Support was much stronger fromthe many residents in the street who don't have the use ofa car.
I have heard bikes being tampered with in the middle ofthe night and reported that to the police. I've also reportedseveral bikes as abandoned. The city council respond usuallywithin a couple of days to tag the bike, and revisit a weeklater to take the bike away. That is necessary to keep theracks clear enough to meet demand.
What next? Following the success of the Thoday Streetscheme a city council committee has requested thatCamcycle make suggestions as to where more installationscould be considered.
We now need to draw up a list of suitable locations. I havein mind areas similar to the streets of Romsey and Peters-field where typically all of the residents' parking bays are formotor vehicles, where there is no cycle parking and wherebadly parked bikes obstruct narrow footways. I should thinkthat applications are more likely to succeed where house-holds do not have a motor vehicle and where bikes are usedregularly. Ultimately a city council committee is going tohave to make a decision to change a location from aresidents car parking bay to a cycle parking bay. That is likelyto be outside a resident's property and so the support ofthat resident and ideally their neighbours is going to be asignificant factor in determining the outcome of the proposal.
So it is now over to you. Do you want the space outsidewhere you live to be added to our list? Could you make astrong case for that? Would you like to help Camcycle drawup a survey of locations? The way to keep up with andcontribute to this topic is to follow Cyclescape thread 2876or send an email to [email protected] De Beaux, Tim Burford and Simon Nuttall
Cycle parking briefly appeared on County plans for TenisonRoad, but none made it onto the street.
Clear demand: bikes on the footway locked to street furniture.
13 CAMCYCLE February – March 2017
Events
Camcycle seasonal social19 December 2016
This gathering took place at Thirsty on Chesterton Road. Wewere able to take over the ‘back room’ which allowed us tocome and go as we pleased. On the night there were about 40people who came and went at different times. We are able tomingle and chat to more people than if it had been a sit downmeal. It was good to get together informally to chat over somemulled wine. There was an excellent food van serving extremelytasty Vietnamese street food that proved very popular, withpeople going back for second helpings. Thirsty provided mulledwine and an interesting selection of soft drinks as well as goodquality wine and beer so there were options for all. Al made usa lovely cake to celebrate the end of a hard but successful yearof campaigning and it was great to have so many members andguests there with us. We had a very enjoyable and lively night.Thank you to Roxanne for helping me organise this.
As the newly elected Events Organiser please send mefeedback about this event via Cyclescape and also any ideas orsuggestions for future events!Willa McDonald
Mill Road Winter Fair3 December 2016
Once again the Mill Road Winter Fair managed to arrange aclear and crisp winter’s day and a huge turnout from Cambridgeand beyond. While our stall was positioned at the far end ofthe action, by Thoday Street, we still had quite a number ofpeople visit us - at times more than our three or more volun-teers could talk to.
This year we had a little more to offer than previous years.The Fair was the first outing for our new greeting cards and wesold well over 100 of them as well as many Camcycle badges.Our stall was also nice and bright with our new banner,tablecloth and large posters to promote our successful andongoing campaigns.
The reaction from passers-by was overwhelmingly positivewith many questions about the Chisholm Trail. It was clear thatthe community is now impatient for the Trail to be constructed.
Thank you to all the volunteers who helped with our stall atthe Winter Fair. We couldn’t do it without you!Roxanne De Beaux
Cyclenation campaigners’ conference19 November 2017
Jim Chisholm and Roxanne De Beaux joined over 100 otherattendees for a great day meeting other cycle campaignersfrom around the country and learning from some excellent
speakers during the plenary sessions and workshops.The first plenary session stood out as unusual due to the
rare presence of more women than men on the panel. In fact,the entire conference was notably more diverse than previousconferences by gender and age (at least as observed by thisreporter in recent years). This is a good sign that the diversityof campaigners is increasing and an indication that cycling andthe campaigning world are becoming more appealing to‘everyday’ cyclists.
Some of the topics covered during the conference were:● campaigning for mini-Hollands● air quality● intrinsic safety● making cycling ‘tube’ maps● making the economic case for cycling● healthy streets.
At the end of the day an award was presented to Camcycleby the Cycling Embassy of Great Britain. We were given a‘Cambridge Kerb’ with a plaque in thanks for our hosting theEmbassy AGM earlier in the year.
All in all, the day was very informative - it was great to seesome new faces on the stage and in the crowd. A hugethank-you must be given to Jonathan Fingland from GreaterManchester Cycling Campaign for all the work he put intoorganising, as well as to the team from St Albans who did agreat job of hosting the event.
As always, Jim has some interesting facts about St Albans.At one time this tiny city boasted more cycle parking spacesthan Cambridge! We have certainly now surpassed them withour Cyclepoint station parking.Roxanne De Beaux
14 CAMCYCLE February – March 2017
Features
Is BikeAbility useful?
Cycle training is often called intoquestion when it comes tobuilding ourselves into a cycling
nation. I thought I’d take a look.
Over the years I’ve had peoplebring up the following subjects:● training doesn't increase the
numbers of people riding● the money could be better spent
on building infrastructure● it's just the foundation of vehic-
ular cycling which for decadesnow hasn't worked for the UK.
Now, a few years back, I'd haveagreed wholeheartedly with theseconcepts. However, having spent aconsiderable amount of time sincethen involved in BikeAbility (see link1). I think it's a lot more nuanced thanthat. There's just a lot more to it.
Increasing cycling levelsWe'll start with cycling levels. A study(link 2) commissioned by The Associa-tion of Bikeability Schemes in 2014found that ‘trained children reportedthey cycle more often, cycle more toschool, cycle more on the road, cyclewith more confidence on the road, andenjoy cycling more’.
There it is, BikeAbility does, in fact,increase numbers riding to school. Theobvious caveat is that this is stillnothing like the revolutionary changein numbers required to make ourselvesa cycling nation. What's important tonote is that TABS agrees with that lastcaveat (3). That's right, the people whodeliver this training do not think it's thebe all and end all of cycling.
Training is not an alterna-tive to good infrastructureInfrastructure is the way forward. FullStop. It is the way in which we getmore people riding, more often, andfurther. This needs to be done at anational level, with national standards,with joined-up thinking betweendifferent authorities. At the momentwe have small schemes, that do help
locally, but are a long way from deliv-ering the cycling infrastructure neededto make a difference nationally.
What would it take to do this? Well,the Dutch experience tells us aminimum of £20 per head per year issomething like it (4). Around £2bn peryear nationally (5). And we'd need todo that for decades to catch up withthe Dutch. Should we drop BikeAbility
for a year or two and put that moneyinto building? Well, at the last roundBikeAbility got £50m for 4 years’training (6). So that's £0.0125bn wecould add into that £2bn per year, orless than 1% more. Anyone thinkthat's going to make any difference?Me neither. And in the meantimechildren everywhere are not involvedin any kind of formalised cycling fun.
15 CAMCYCLE February – March 2017
Features
Vehicular cycling
Is it all about forcing children in frontof lorries, getting them battle-scarredso they will either adapt (like the 2% ofvehicular cyclists) or run away? Thispremise suggests that the majority ofkids learning will never do it again. Weknow that doesn't happen. And actuallyBikeAbility is so much more than that.
For a start, Level 1 never goes neara road. It's all about helping kids get togrips with controlling a bike, usually ina playground setting. It's a laugh! It'sfun, it's riding around the playgroundwith mates. And that's a big point. It'sfun!
Put simply, BikeAbility isfun, does get more kidscycling to school, is agood use of money, isn'tall about roads, and thekids love it!
Playing games during this is aimedat covering a series of simpleoutcomes, but it's still fundamentallybike control. Something you need toride a bike, wherever you are. You'll besurprised just how many kids havemost of the necessary skills, but still notquite all of them. I think those who'veridden their bikes for decades cannotremember those initial learningmoments. Some do think there's noneed for any training, just get on thebike and pedal. Well, at an early agethere can be a lot more to it than that.True, it’s not much, but it’s fun to dofor two hours.
Then level 2 starts getting the kidson the road. Pupils in years 5/6 enrolto do this course, often as decided bythe school, and usually with around70-80% uptake from the class. Most ofthem start a little nervous but end uploving it. One or two do keep thosenerves through the course, and a tinynumber, around 1-2%, stop. This isusually on quiet roads, sometimes a bitbusier. Kids actually respond muchbetter on busier roads.
In addition, part of Level 2 is lookingat use of cycle infrastructure. This iswhere we get to point out how badsome of it is, and how to deal with it inall circumstances, both on- and off-road.
It's not all about roads. It's aimed atwhat the kids need for today's cycling.Not next year's, not a decade fromnow, but right now, in the environmentwe have. If we decide to wait until theinfrastructure is built, there will be noriders left to get on it.
So what happens if we get loads ofnew infrastructure? We adapt thetraining to suit, just as it's already beingadapted. And again, this is how theDutch deal with it. Yes, they do cycletraining over the North Sea (7). In fact,it's pretty clear they do somethingsimilar to BikeAbility, including beingon roads, albeit with a change of focusreflecting their environment. Use aroute to school and cope with thedifferent hazards along the way. This ispretty much how Level 3 is deliveredhere. This will involve fewer roads (butclearly not none) and will involve thesame kind of hazard perceptionlearning that BikeAbility is all about.Hazard perception is another thinglinked with BikeAbility successes (8).So this is something that the Dutchseem keen on as well. Again, this isn'tjust about motor traffic but it does forma key part.
So, is BikeAbility useful?The final criticism that could be levelledat BikeAbility is that it gives those incharge the excuse to do nothing else.Again, this is the argument of defeat.Does anyone really think that if westopped training suddenly we'd havepeople in authority deciding they needto spend time working on cycle infra-structure? No, I don't think so. We doneed to push to do it all. Cycle trainingfor kids is not the most important thing,but it is part of the solution.
So let's go back to those issues.● ‘Training doesn't increase the
numbers of people riding’ - Itdoes, but we do need to do more.
● ‘The money could be better spenton building infrastructure’ - It'sjust not enough to make a differ-
Reference Links(1) www.bikeability.org.uk/(2) www.camcycle.org.uk/jumpto/
cyclingtoschool(3) infrastructure(4) www.camcycle.org.uk/jumpto/
uk200yearsbehind(5) www.camcycle.org.uk/jumpto/
eurosforcycling(6) www.camcycle.org.uk/jumpto/
bikeabilityfunding(7) www.camcycle.org.uk/jumpto/
biketrainingnetherlands(8) www.camcycle.org.uk/jumpto/
hazardperception
ence. We do need lots moremoney to do infrastructure.
● ‘It's just the foundation of vehic-ular cycling …’ - Again, no longerreally the case. Whilst some of itis based around realistic training,there's lots outside that.
I do still get why people feel uncom-fortable, as BikeAbility was born out ofa vehicular cycling manual. However,it's changed a lot since the start, andactually was never as solely focused onvehicular cycling as some people mightsuspect. Put simply, BikeAbility is fun,does get more kids cycling to school, isa good use of money, isn't all aboutroads, and the kids love it!
We have the firm blueprint fromover the North Sea, infrastructure andtraining, let's get on with it.Rad WagonBikeAbility Instructorwww.radwagon.blogspot.co.uk
16 CAMCYCLE February – March 2017
Features
I enjoy long cycle rides, and last yearI found myself looking for a chal-lenge combining technology (route-
planning and bike tech), sport and localculture. I wanted to show what’spossible with lower-impact transport,plus my love of languages and geog-raphy made crossing natural andnational borders very appealing. Sowhy not try to set a cycling record inthis context?
Browsing the Guinness WorldRecords database, I found that therecord for the number of countriesvisited by bike in one day, held by GlenBurmeister from Leicester, stood atfour. A look at the map of Europeindicated that it would not be impos-sible to cycle through five countries ina day. But more than just a record forthe archive, this would also be a test ofthe virtual and physical cycling infra-structure, such as cycle-paths, maps,and route planning applications.
I decided to make my attempt on 22April 2016, which would be Earth Day,the annual global day of support forenvironmental protection, and also bethe day of the signing of the ParisAgreement on limiting greenhouse gasemissions.
EquipmentSince the tour would only take one day,I could travel light. I would ride mylightweight hybrid bike, which for tenyears has been used for commuting,shopping, distributing Camcycle news-letters and pulling bike trailers, and hadbeen tested in the CTC Cambridge200km Audax. It was fitted with aluggage carrier, mudguards, puncture-proof tyres and triathlon bar (which Ihad learnt to appreciate on my longercommutes). Aged wheels, brakes,chains, gears and saddle were replaced;as for tools and spare parts, I took onlythose necessary for very basic repairs/-adjustments, such as fixing a flat tyre.
I had hoped to produce a time-lapseof the whole tour, but this was farbeyond the handlebar-mountedcamera’s battery capacity, so instead Iwould take photos manually every fewminutes. I also took a small portable
power bank and a hand-crankedcharger to recharge my gadgets ifnecessary.
Route planningIt was clear from the start that I wouldbegin my journey at the ‘Three Coun-tries Point’ on the Vaalserberg nearVaals, where the Netherlands, Belgiumand Germany meet. I selected Évrangeas my finishing point, a village at theFrench/Luxembourg border that wasas close as possible to Vaals, withovernight accommodation availableand at an acceptable distance to rail-way connections. I planned to passthrough various towns for food, shops,bike repair (if necessary), and people towitness my tour, e.g. in town halls andtourist information centres. All theseplaces are more or less connected withthe expressway known as EuropeanRoute E421, for which I would need tofind a bike-friendly parallel route. Mydetailed planning used Cyclestreets.netand the cycling mode of Google Maps.On Cyclestreets the ‘fastest route’included roads designated as ‘hostile’to cyclists. The ‘quietest’ and ‘balanced’routes, as well as Google Maps,favoured unpaved forest tracks overquieter roads, but these would add toomuch time to my ride: over 15 hoursversus 11-12 hours for the fast route.Fortunately both apps could also findthe car-free paths of the RAVeL(Réseau Autonome de Voies Lentes), aWallonian network similar to Sustransthat converts e.g. disused railway linesto car-free paths. It connects with thesimilar LF (Landelijke Fietsroutes) in theNetherlands and Flanders, andEuroVelo. My planned route was about180km long, passing over Belgium’shighest point, but I also planned a lowerbut slightly longer route in case of badweather. Altogether, I used a combina-tion of (mainly) the ‘fastest route’ ofCyclestreets and Google Maps as aguideline, assuming the ‘hostile’ roadsto be acceptable out of peak hours, andI was hardened by cycling toCambridge Research Park on the A10for the last three years.
Start - Valserberg.
Aachen.
Botrange.
RAVel - Ligne 48.
Cycling through five countries on Earth Day
17 CAMCYCLE February – March 2017
Features
The trip starts
To get to the Netherlands, I used the‘Dutch Flyer’ offer, which covers traintravel from Cambridge via the over-night ferry from Harwich to Hoek vanHolland, to Heerlen, at the other endof the Netherlands, the closest stationto the tri-countries point. My bike alsoneeded a ticket for the ferry (£4) andfor the Dutch trains where the bikeareas provide a nice meeting space forcyclists. I set off from Heerlen in myrainproof cycle jacket and jeans (unfor-tunately the lycra had been left athome). I cycled past deserted borderposts to the former Imperial City ofAachen, where I admired Charle-magne’s cathedral and the sulphuroussmell of the thermal springs. I thencrossed back into the Netherlands tocycle up the country’s highest hill(Vaalserberg, 322m), where the Neth-erlands, Belgium and Germany meet (inaddition to observation towers, thereis also a maze). Before World War I, thiswould have been a fourcountries/territory meeting point, as italso included the Neutral Territory ofMoresnet, for which there were onceplans to make Esperanto its officiallanguage. Today, it is part of theGerman-speaking part of the French-speaking part of Belgium, throughwhich the first half of the tour wouldtake me. Soon after a rapid descent ofthe Vaalser serpentines, I arrived at theGrunebempt B&B in Gemmenich,Belgium, where I stayed overnight.
The challengeAt 6.09am, shortly before sunrise, I setout from Gemmenich. The weather wasvery good, with 15° C, only a little sunand wind, and no rain expected untilthe next day. I returned through Vaalsto Aachen and took a rural road toEupen, where I dropped into the townhall and was briefly interviewed by thelocal newspaper ‘Grenzecho’ (whichtranslates as BorderEcho, very appro-priate for my challenge). Next the routeclimbed south into the desolate boggylandscape of the Hohe Venn/HautesFagnes (meaning ‘high fen’ in Germanand French) where granite rocks pre-
18 CAMCYCLE February – March 2017
Features
vent rainwater draining away, leadingover millennia to the formation of peatbogs of sphagnum moss. The Ardenneshave been a classic cycling region formany decades and a handful of racingbikers were on the road over Belgium’shighest point, the Signal de Botrange(694m). This has a concrete staircaseat its peak to increase its height to700m, but I did not attempt that finalclimb by bike! After a rapid descent Icrossed the Robertville reservoir,followed by a fast and very pleasantride on the Vennbahn cycle-path, partof the RAVeL (Ligne 48). However, nearSt Vith, I met a dead end due toconstruction work on the RAVeL. (Ishould have consulted the RAVeLwebsite for updates.)
To make sure that my trip remainedsomething of an adventure, and to stayaware of the local environment, I haddecided not to rely on GPS for naviga-tion outside the towns, insteadfollowing a map and signposts. Thisworked well at first, but near Oudlerunfortunately led me onto gravel forestpaths instead of the Vennbahn.Emerging from the woods, I crossed theunnoticeable border into Luxembourgand cycled up to a field which a half-readable plate identified as the coun-try’s highest point (Kneiff, 560m). AgainI accidentally chose an alternativeroute, this time the E421 expresswaytowards Luxembourg City. Thankfullycyclists were well respected; in factduring the whole journey, I was onlyhonked at twice (and once sprayedwith windscreen wash, by a Stag Tourwith UK number plates). Finally, nearErpeldange a sign commanded errantcyclists off the motorway and down thescenic Alzette valley to Luxembourg.The city of Luxembourg sits above adramatic gorge but happily the shopswere now closed and commuters wereat home, so my crossing of the highbridge over the Pétrusse wasuneventful. I continued south alongalready very French-looking avenues,lined with trees in bloom, towardsThionville.
Approaching the French border, thedashcam that I had set up to record thefinal approach ran out of power. Unde-terred, I used my hand-cranked charg-er. It was very rewarding to generatesuch important electricity with my own
Luxembourg border.
Motorway A7 = E421.
Luxembourg.
Finish - French border.
hands. With the camera again active Icrossed into France at Évrange around8.45pm, just as the sun set, andstopped for a photo at the church.Searching for someone to officiallywitness my arrival, I heard music froma nearby school, where I was greetedby volunteers preparing for a charityevent the next day: a motor-bike rallywhere riders go door to door sellingroses for a cancer charity. I joined themfor a while before retiring to the nearbyhotel.
In total, my journey had taken 14½hours. I had been in motion for about8½ hours, and spent the rest of thetime collecting signatures on the offi-cial witness forms, eating and justenjoying looking around and takingphotos.
Heading homeGetting out of bed the next morningwas easier than anticipated! I cycledthrough light drizzle back to Luxem-bourg railway station, dutifully sourcedthe local drinks and confectionariesthat I had promised to export and thencaught a train to Brussels, from whereI took the Eurostar to London (with a£25 charge for my bike). The regions Ihad travelled through had changedhands several times and seen manybloody battles, reminders of whichremain throughout the area; whizzingpast Calais reminded me that borderscan still be a deadly reality.
Back home, I overloaded the Guin-ness World Records website withphotos, videos and GPS tracks (I usedthe free GPiSync software to geo-tagphotos). In June I found that my recordhad already been broken by the auda-cious Michael Moll who cycled throughsix countries in a day, crossing the Alps,which I would not have consideredpossible – at least not with that power-train. Not that this mattered when myGuinness World Record certificatearrived in September, and anyway,what is a record after a day when riderand bike had worked so well togetherin relation to their environment, so wellin fact that despite all the physicaleffort I really had felt no exhaustionwhatsoever.Karsten Koehler
QR code
19 CAMCYCLE February – March 2017
Features
Much of my cycling is ‘local’, that is, on streets aroundmy cluster of villages, or on streets within Cambridge.Of course I do have the huge benefit of motor-
traffic-free routes between the villages and Cambridge, butalmost every trip both starts and ends on a typical street.
Most of these streets will have bends or cars parkedwhere overtaking of those on cycles needs some care. WhenI was younger (and fitter) and if the road had a 20mph limit(few had when I was younger) it was easy, you could just takethe lane and cycle a little faster, and most drivers would staybehind.
Now I’m less fit, and especially on streets that are yet tohave a 20mph limit, I find I get overtaken at inappropriateplaces. I think I’ve found a way to reduce these risks, espe-cially on the streets I know well.
I do the ‘correct thing’ where visibility is poor or the dangersare clear. I take the lane, making clear that overtaking me wouldbe as silly as overtaking a car. That does not stop the idiots, butnothing will!
But there are opportunities where there is a an ‘inflection’in a series of bends or a stretch without parked cars. At suchlocations I find that, if I can see or hear no approaching car, I
How to signal to the driver behindcan help the drivers behind. I simply start to ‘coast’ and movecloser to the kerb. That gives space for a safe overtake, withplenty of room and avoiding a ‘close pass’. I find that I may evenget a friendly wave from the overtaking driver, even ones Idon’t know.
I don’t wave the driver to overtake, although I am sharinga little risk, as a car may approach at inappropriate speed, orsomeone may come out of a drive or side turning. This veryrarely happens, but I do need to be ready to slow or stop.
Doing this means that considerate drivers can pass, and arenot stuck behind me for half a mile! It is nice when drivers andriders can co-operate. Similarly when an approaching driverwaits, so as to allow me to pass a parked car, I try to give anacknowledging wave.
I’ve not done ‘Bikeability level 3’ training, but I do have 3editions of ‘Cyclecraft’ by John Franklin, going back to 1988.I’d recommend anyone who regularly cycles on busy roads toread the most recent edition, especially if they’ve not doneBikeability level 3 training. I’ve also got a copy of ‘Roadcraft’(the Police Drivers’ Manual) from 1965! I’d recommend anypolice officer to read both!Jim Chisholm
Business cycling mileage
Does your employer pay car mileage but not cyclemileage? Did you know that the same rules that makeit easy for businesses to pay car mileage expenses also
cover cycle mileage?
HMRC rulesHer Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) allows companiesto pay cycle mileage tax-free, and NI-free, up to 20p per mile(2016-17 tax year). This must be mileage for business trips orto a temporary workplace, not ordinary commuting to apermanent place of work.
You might wonder what this payment is intended to cover,as cycling doesn’t consume fuel. However, car mileage is alsotax-free at an amount far higher than purely the cost of fuel: amileage payment is also intended to cover the incrementalcosts of running a car, such as maintenance, which increasewith mileage. The rate is the same whether your cycle ismanual or electric-assisted.
In order for payments for mileage to be tax-free, records ofmileage should be kept, as for car mileage.
Note that you cannot claim the mileage tax-free if you areusing a cycle through a Cycle To Work scheme, unless owner-ship has been transferred to you, as the bike is owned by thecompany during the loan period and therefore is not personaltransport.
Benefits for businessPaying cycle mileage is likely to be cheaper than expensespayments for alternative forms of travel. While most peopleare unlikely to replace a 100-mile cross-country trip in a carwith one by bicycle, they might cycle to a railway station ratherthan taking a taxi, or claiming car mileage and parking costs.Businesses with clients or multiple sites in a smaller area couldsee gains in switching employees to cycling.
Offering cycle mileage is one way to encourage employeesto spend less on travelling, while also supporting employeechoice and health, and demonstrating environmental creden-tials.
Tax reliefIf your employer doesn’t pay cycle mileage, or pays at a ratebelow 20p per mile, you can still claim tax relief on 20p lesswhat you were paid, per mile. The amount of tax relief is likelyto be small unless you do a great deal of cycling for businesstrips, but if you fill in a tax return and keep records anyway,you might as well.Hester WellsPlease refer to HMRC or your accountant or finance depart-ment for further information and clarification.
20 CAMCYCLE February – March 2017
Volunteer profile
Me and my cycling journey
It seems that, on and off, I have alwayscycled. From riding my British-builtRaleigh to primary school in Mafeking
(South Africa, of ‘Siege of ...’ fame), bygoing over the cattle grid from the Impe-rial Reserve (British expats’ headquartersin the, then, Bechuanaland Protectorate),into the busy stream of pedestrian, cycleand bus traffic coming from the ‘Location’where the ‘natives’ lived, over CecilRhodes's ‘Cape to Cairo’ railway line andthrough the Afrikaner railway workers’section and to the ‘whites-only’ school.(That's how it was, folks.) And in theholidays I explored the arid bush aroundmy home, on my bicycle rather than mydad's horse, which only went where itwanted to. Then we moved to thewonder of verdant Salisbury (Harare) inwhat is now Zimbabwe, where I soon gotto know the greater city, exploring exten-sively on my bike. I thought I had arrivedin heaven, a heaven which included manycycle paths and much more rain than theKalahari.
Then followed the cycling gap when I‘grew up’, went to university so did notcycle but had a scooter, travelled andcame to settle in London, and bought amotor bike. There it slowly dawned onme that bicycling would be great. Unclut-tered by helmet and leathers I couldenjoy the weather and, when not beingdriven into the gutters by the carelessmotorists and hostile cabbies of the1970s, it sort of felt like flying. I movedto Brighton where I bought my firstbrand-new bicycle, kept proudly in thehall of my flat where all visitors wereencouraged to genuflect and admire theclassical beauty of my steel-rimmedRaleigh - the very bike on which I joinedthe early London to Brighton cycle ridesand learned the joys of touring Brittany.When I came to live in Cambridge Ibought a wonderful Mercian and formuch of the 1980s kept very fit com-muting from east of Fulbourn. The routewas via Fulbourn Old Drift and The Tins,so mostly free of fast motor traffic, andit was wonderful; and I learned that,weatherwise, there were really not manydays in the year that I could not make itto the city on a bike. Later, when workingfor the University as a building surveyor
I used to travel to my various sites aroundthe city, and used a bike trailer to takecricket coaching kit easily and smuglyanywhere in greater Cambridge withoutgetting caught in the rush-hour traffic. Inbetween times I have gone cycle touringand camping in England, and along lovelypaths and rivers in France and Holland,and would love to do more.
By chance I became a member ofCambridge Cycling Campaign almostfrom its inception because I was keen, inprinciple, on its ideals, but was mostly asleeping member, not helping much otherthan at the odd stall. On retirement Ihave become more active, preparing theCampaign position paper on TenisonRoad (they went ahead with it anyway),being part of the team to organise aneducational bike infrastructure tour in2015 to Assen and Groningen, and morelatterly assisting with the complicatedfinancial requirements of a subscriptions-based charity.
What I have appreciated most being amember of Camcycle is seeing policy-makers being encouraged to look prop-erly at the contribution that cycling canmake to easing traffic congestion andhopefully improve people's health, andthat to achieve these aims joined-upthinking and joined-up cycling infrastruc-ture are essential. And I have mostly
bathed in vicarious pleasure at othercommittee members' efforts andachievements in this area. Seeing thesuccess of the Busway cycle track,Cyclepoint parking at the stationprovided after years of campaigning, HillsRoad and Huntingdon Road cycle lanes,watching the progress being made on theChesterton cycle/pedestrian bridge andthe Chisholm Trail, and, recently, thepotential of the Greenways is all veryexciting. I wish for Cambridge to stand asan example for the rest of England tofollow.
I suppose the best thing I could wishfor Camcycle is for it to become unnec-essary, that the facilities are all soimproved as to render the Campaignredundant. Fat chance! But I do wish itto be an effective and flexible campaign,working for a great cycle infrastructurewithin a modern public transport system,and able to make a constructive contri-bution to the challenges that will beintroduced by technological change, beit light rail, driverless cars and taxis, orelectric bicycles.
To those considering becoming amember I say, ‘Please do’, even if youonly cheer from the sidelines, but, if youcan assist, so much the better. Camcycleneeds people with a wide range of skills,and I am sure we could use yours. Also,
21 CAMCYCLE February – March 2017
Features
Come along with your children and try out a Cargobike, Trike, Tandem or Mummy bike in a traffic free yard.
Specialists in child and freight carrying bicycles, Top Quality, Genuine made in Holland Dutchbikes.
Tuesday-Saturday 9am-5pmemail: [email protected] • tel 0777 273 8899
HOPE STREET YARD CB1 3NA
schoolruncentre
dutchbike
it is a really good way to learn and keepup to date with the very important thingsgoing on in Cambridge, and a way tomeet interesting people and get into ahealthy lifestyle.
And finally the most inspiring part ofmy cycle journey has been seeing thenewest generation of young parentsusing the cycle lanes, with their DutchBakfiets-type child transporters andaccompanied by older children on theirown bikes. These are cyclists of thefuture and the people to whom we owea responsibility to provide the infrastruc-ture, to allow them good local transpor-tation and a healthy lifestyle. So whensoon, I hope, I see these same peopleusing the Chisholm Trail and the newcycle bridge across the river to Ches-terton I will know that ‘the times, theyare a-changin’. They must.Richard Burgess
Volunteer profile
Families crossing Maids Causeway
Workshop Now Open!8.45am-6pm Mon & Thu
Join us at The Bike Depot for bike services,
repairs, parts and tools. We love to talk about
what we're doing and dispel all those
maintenance myths! Drop in for a free quote or
give us a ring to book your bike in.
15% Discount for CamCycle members.
01223 789606
Outspoken CyclesThe Bike Depot 140Cowley RoadCambridge CB4 0DL
22 CAMCYCLE February – March 2017
Features
Cycling and air pollution
Air pollution has been in the newsa lot recently with the release ofthe NICE draft guidelines on
air (see note 1). Air pollution is agrowing problem in our cities, with anestimated 40,000 deaths a year in theUK attributed to it (see 2). So what arethe risks to people cycling?
Health benefits of cyclingoutweigh harm due to airpollutionThe first thing to bear in mind is thatphysical activity is a huge benefit tomental and physical well being. Whileexposure to air pollution is a danger tohealth, so is inactivity, and in all but themost polluted cities in the world, suchas Delhi, the benefits of cyclingoutweigh the harm of air pollution (3).For the average global city, you wouldneed to cycle 7 hours a day to start tonegate the benefits: more than anyoneis likely to do unless cycling is their job.
People inside vehicles arealso exposed toair pollutionExposure to air pollution happenswhatever your mode of travel. Somestudies have even found that the expo-sure to air pollution may be greater tocar occupants (4).
Duration of exposure is also a factor:in Cambridge cycling is often thefastest mode of transport, and sooverall duration of exposure can belower compared to walking, taking abus or driving along the same route.When before Christmas traffic wasmoving very slowly and parts of the citywere grid-locked, people in cars had nooption to remove themselves fromexposure, while people cycling couldoften move past queues and make theirjourney is the same time as usual.
Routes away from mainroadsIn a real-world sample of air pollutionexposure in London, cycling was leastexposed to air pollution, and car occu-
pants most exposed on a givenjourney (5). One reason cited for thelow exposure was that cycling canavoid the most polluted main roads.Cambridge has many quiet and off-roadroutes which can reduce exposure toair pollution, though this is only onefactor in choosing a route.
Effects of intensity of exer-ciseWhile some studies record passiveexposure to air pollution, others try tomodel the effects of exercise on expo-sure. Elevated breathing can increasethe rate of pollution exposure, butfaster cycling can also reduce theoverall time exposure. One modelsuggests the trade-off between theseeffects is optimal cycling at between12kph and 20kph (6), which would besimilar to the typical Cambridge personon an upright bike cycling in normalclothing for transport. This study isbased on a number of assumptions, andfactors such as fitness, but also bike fitand maintenance, can have an effect: apoorly maintained bike can make youwork harder to achieve the same speed!
General advice is based on assump-tions about the health of peoplecycling. People with respiratory orheart issues should seek individualadvice about exercise and air pollution.
ConclusionWe should all be concerned about airpollution. Air pollution doesn’t justaffect us while we are travelling, butalso in our homes and workplaces.However, the dangers aren’t neces-sarily greater to people cycling, and canbe lower.
In the long term, reliance on pollu-tion-emitting vehicles needs to bereduced or eliminated to improve thequality of the air in our cities. Morepeople cycling is part of a suite ofmeasures that can create this change.It would be short-sighted, and flying inthe face of existing evidence, to curbcycling activity because of fears aboutair pollution.Hester Wells
The path across Coe Fen, with nose to tail traffic onTrumpington Road beyond
www.camcycle.org.uk/jumpto/NICEdraftguidelineswww.camcycle.org.uk/jumpto/rcpeverybreathwetakewww.camcycle.org.uk/jumpto/benefitvsriskwww.camcycle.org.uk/jumpto/airpollutioncardriverswww.camcycle.org.uk/jumpto/healthiesttransportvideaowww.camcycle.org.uk/jumpto/airpollutionandspeed
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23 CAMCYCLE February – March 2017
Campaign Diary
Camcycle monthly meetings
The Campaign's monthly general meeting is held in the Friends'Meeting House, Jesus Lane on the first Tuesday of each month.Business starts at 8pm, with tea and coffee from 7.30pm. Theagenda includes opportunities to discuss current issues andplanning matters. All welcome.
7 February: Workshop to discuss core Camcycle values andcampaigning priorites for 2017.
7 March: to be advised.
Camcycle newsletter dates
Newsletter Team meeting: 15 February at 5.45pm in GradsCafé on the 3rd floor of the University Centre, Mill Lane. Allare welcome to attend this meeting where we will discuss themost recent issue and plan the next one. Cyclescape 979.
Copy deadline: 26 February: Members' help with the news-letter, including writing articles, taking photos, providingreviews and laying out content, is always very welcome.
Newsletter distribution: week of 28 March. Camcyclemembers organise the newsletter distribution, putting intoenvelopes and then getting them delivered. More volunteerswould be a great help. Please contact Lisa Woodburn ([email protected]).
Reach Ride planning meeting
Please join Willa McDonald (Events Officer), Simon Nuttall andMatthew Danish at 10am on 22 February at this planningmeeting for the Reach Ride. Please [email protected] for venue details.
The Reach Ride will be held on Bank Holiday Monday 1 Mayand members’ involvement is invaluable to ensure that Camcy-cle’s flagship event runs as smoothly as usual. We will also beasking members to volunteer to be marshals and ridesupporters on the day.
Cambridge cycle rides
CTC Cambridge holds up to six rides a week in the countrysidearound Cambridge. These range from short, leisurely-pacedrides which last 2-3 hours on a Saturday morning, medium-length rides on a Sunday afternoon, to long rides on a Thursdayor Sunday that last all day. All welcome. www.ctccambridge.org.uk
#CamRideHome starts at 6pm on the last Friday of each monthfrom outside The Mill pub on Mill Lane, Cambridge. No-onetakes responsibility for organising it and so it just depends onwho turns up. Usually a few do and they enjoy a one-hourleisurely tour of the city finishing up at a pub. Follow the hashtag and enjoy.
Please NoteCambridge Cycling Campaign reserves the right to decline topromote events or activities where helmets or high-visibilityclothing are required or implied.
City and county council committees
Campaign members may be interested in attending PlanningCommittee and Area Committee meetings, which often includecycling and walking issues. Development Control Forum andJoint Development Control Committee meetings determinethe Planning Applications relating to the major housing devel-opment proposals for the Cambridge sub-region. The Devel-opment Plan Scrutiny Sub-committee meetings often coverwalking/cycling/transport issues.
Agendas are usually online about a week in advancewww.cambridge.gov.uk/democracy/. Please check the websitein case meetings have been cancelled, or times or venueschanged.
Cambridge City Joint Area Committee administered byCambridgeshire County Council: no forthcoming meetingsscheduled.
Development Control Forum: 16 February, 12 March, 12 Aprilall at 10am in Committee Room 1 & 2 - The Guildhall, MarketSquare, Cambridge CB2 3QJ.
Development Plan Scrutiny Sub-committee: 28 February at4.30pm in Committee Room 1 & 2 - The Guildhall, MarketSquare, Cambridge CB2 3QJ.
East Area Committee: 6 April at 7pm in Cherry Trees DayCentre, St Matthew's St, Cambridge CB1 2LT.
Greater Cambridge City Deal Executive Board: 8 March at 4pmin The Council Chamber, Shire Hall, Cambridge CB3 0AJ.
Greater Cambridge City Deal Joint Assembly: 1 March at 2pmin The Guildhall, Market Square, Cambridge CB2 3QJ.
Joint Development Control Committee - Cambridge Fringes:15 February, 15 March, 19 April all at 10.30am in CommitteeRoom 1 & 2 - The Guildhall, Market Square, Cambridge CB23QJ.
Joint Strategic Transport and Spatial Planning Group: noforthcoming meetings scheduled.
Members Cycling and Pedestrian Steering Group: 9 Februaryat 5pm in Committee Room 2, The Guildhall, Market Square,Cambridge CB2 3QJ.
North Area Committee: 2 March at 6.30pm in the ShirleyPrimary School, Nuffield Road, Cambridge CB4 1TF.
Planning Committee: 1 February, 1 March, 5 April, all at 10amin Committee Room 1 & 2 - The Guildhall, Market Square,Cambridge CB2 3QJ.
South Area Committee: 24 April at 7pm in the Wilkinson Room,St John the Evangelist Church, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 8RN.
West Central Area Committee: 9 March at 7pm in St Augus-tine's Church, Richmond Road, Cambridge CB4 3PS.
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24 CAMCYCLE February – March 2017
Infographic
A third of London’s cyclists startedsince the appearance of saferinfrastructure3
Double the numbers of cyclistson Hills Road, Cambridge sincenew cycle lanes were put in2
50% increase in London cyclesuperhighway use sinceprotection added3
Cycling promotion on its own, withoutimproved facilities and infrastructure, haslittle effect on numbers cycling1
33%
100%
50%
0%
Cycling infrastructure
‘Dutch children are the happiest in the world.’Reasons include a built environment that iswelcoming, comfortable, and safe4
Number of cyclists ‘doored’ by current transportsecretary Chris Grayling, who has said cycle lanes‘cause too much of a problem for road users’1ST 1
