Monthly Archives: November 2007

Jan Gehl for Darlington (on a Bike)

Posted on by Posted in infrastructure, inspiration, Pedestrian Heart, routes 8 Comments

As Darlington approaches the end of the 6 month trial period for cycling in the Pedestrian Heart, and the final year of Cycling Demonstration Town funding, there are some crucial decisions about to be made about the future of cycling in the town.

Small town (UK) thinking (of which there is much here and around the country) says that cyclists are not popular, dangerous, anti-disabled etc etc. National thinking, leading experts in the field, and best European practice says that cycling in the Pedestrian Heart should only be a first step towards less car access to the town centre, and much much more public transport, cycling and walking access.

Copenhagen urban planner Jan Gehl confronted similar problems 40 years ago – before today’s best practice was developed. Indeed, many argue that he has been personally responsible for much of today’s progressive transport/urban planning thinking.

He has advised London, and even Wakefield and Castleford, in the past. Surely it is time for him to come to Darlington. Can I suggest that, should the Cycle Demo Town monies not run to bringing him here, and we get a silly decision on Ped Heart cycling, we invite him to join a mass protest ride through the town – along with members of Cycling England, who have so generously funded cycling in Darlo?

Thanks to John Wetmore from across the pond for directing us to this interview he carried out with Jan Gehl in London. John is a great pedestrian advocate – and friend of cyclists. You can see more of his american public broadcast videos here.

Cyclists are better shoppers than motorists

Posted on by Posted in 20MPH, Pedestrian Heart 1 Comment

Baggage
Originally uploaded by [Zakkaliciousness]

Cycleliciousness has another great post on why cyclists are better shoppers than motorists

Some stats from the post:

* Cyclists purchase smaller quantities each time they go, but they visit the shops more often

* Motorists are in the minority in shops in urban areas – between 25 to 40 % of customers, depending on the day of the week

* Barely 25 % of motorists leave a shop with two or more bags of goods (as opposed to 17 % of cyclists). Therefore, 75% of motorists have nothing to prevent them from using other transport forms

* Another study, this time in Berlin, showed a massive increase in cross-neighbourhood movement when they introduced a 30 km/h (18.6mph) speed limit for cars, except on major routes. People were simply using their bikes and the public transport to get around and they found themselves more mobile as a result. Up to 40% in some cases, for trips between home and the shops

* Similarly, a survey carried out in Strasbourg indicated more than 30% increase of visits to the shopping area of the city after pedestrianisation and closureto through traffic in the town centre

* A survey carried out among consumers in Bern, Switzerland, established the ratio between the value of purchases made and the parking area used by each customer over a year. The profitability was highest in the case of the cyclists – €7500 per square metre for cyclists, €6625 for motorists

Go and read the original post, cyclists are better shoppers than motorists, for more details.

School car-exclusion zones

Posted on by Posted in cars, children, schools 2 Comments

While searching for articles about 20mph zones, I came across a Northern Echo article about a car exclusion zone set up a five minute walk from a school in Durham – Pupils launch car-exclusion zone.

It’s not clear from the article whether it is all cars which are excluded from the zone, or if it’s just a voluntary/suggested zone for parents dropping their children off at the school. I’d guess it’s the latter.

I wonder what difference this would make to Darlington’s traffic patterns if it were implemented across all schools in the town?

Link Dump

Posted on by Posted in inspiration

I’ve had three useful blog posts sat in my feed reader for a couple of days, waiting for time to blog about them properly. In the absence of that time appearing, I thought I would put up a quick list. I’ll try to write about them in detail later.

Goldmine for bike advocacy groups – link to a PDF of useful info.

The Amazing Cyclist Fashionistas of Copenhagen! – advice for female cyclists.

Why Do We Ride? – discussion of why Copenhageners ride their bikes so much.