irishboyinlondon

Photo: Guardian/Russell Underwood/Corbis

Interesting piece in the Guardian Bike Blog by Matthew Wright!

The idealisation of Dutch cycling in the British cycling press omits to mention that being a respected, mainstream means of transport incurs responsibilities as well as offering rights. Laws about lights, bells, bikes on trains, as well as compulsory paths, are rigorously policed. Taking a bike on a train requires a €6 ticket in addition to the cyclist’s fare – a significant cost for regular leisure riders.

None of this is unreasonable when the other side of the bargain is the combination of amenity and respect accorded to Dutch cyclists. But mutual respect takes a long time to build. A recent article (with an excellent video documentary) explains that it took the Netherlands about 25 years to get where it is today, from the depths of a child-killing car-centred policy in the 1970s.

Dutch perceptions of their system are as much about a culture of respect as they are about separate lanes. “Segregation,” Marc van Woudenberg of the blog Amsterdamize tells me, “is just one (important) part of bicycle policies in the Netherlands, complemented with integral spatial planning, traffic calming, bike facilities and effective traffic laws.” “Strict Liability,” explains GJ Baan of Dutch gear shop And Dutch, “is supported by the Dutch law … [it means] the driver’s insurance is deemed responsible when a collision occurs between a cyclist and a car.”

Frank de Jong, of dutchcitybike.com, points out that a system that respects cyclists promotes respectful cycling in return: “When I bike in Holland, I get the sense that the road was designed with bikes and cars in mind from the outset … I feel respected as a cyclist, and therefore I’m more likely to respect the traffic rules.”

Eric van der Horst, of the Cycling Dutchman blog, explains that motorists in the Netherlands are much more tightly regulated: “The hazards of speeding are fully recognised: speed limits are present everywhere, margins for offenders are tiny, paid parking is up to five times more expensive than in the UK.”

Update 28 Oct 2011:

This article has generated a great buzz online!

In response to the piece, Marc from Amsterdamize (who was contacted by Matthew for a view on cycling in Denmark and directly refered to  in the blog), has written a comprensive response to the article, qualifiying and clarifying some of the statments made in the post.  You can and should read it here.  

The London Cycling Campaign who are running a “go dutch” campaign for the upcoming mayoral elections have clarified their stance here and As Easy As Riding A Bike has also written a great response to the article which you can read here. 

citymaus:

Shreya Dave’s research went on to measure the full carbon footprint of commuting by bike using life-cycle assessment (LCA), the analytical tool that environmental consultants employ to compare products that are often very different. She concluded that an ordinary sedan’s carbon footprint is more than 10 times greater than a conventional bicycle on a mile-for-mile basis, assuming each survives 15 years and you ride the bike 2,000 miles per year (or slightly under eight miles per weekday).

A huge portion of that difference came from fuel combustion, but bicycles also require less infrastructure than cars. Even if you assume that all bicycles travel in dedicated bike lanes rather than free-ride on car-lane construction—would that we were all so lucky as to have bike lanes between our homes and work—Dave calculated building, paving, and maintaining roads for cars emits almost four times the greenhouse gases as doing the same for bike lanes.

slate, 09.08.11.
inhabitat, 15.08.11. 

Some interesting facts, figures and case studies!

The OBIS handbook presents interesting facts and figures from bike sharing schemes in ten European countries. Scheme characteristics such as technology, scheme size, service design etc. are described in connection with external factors of the cities. Finally the handbook gives comprehensive advice for all three stages in the lifetime of a BSS: Planning, Implementation, Optimisation.

The OBIS handbook is useful for local, regional and central governments involved in traffic issues, bike sharing providers and other companies and organisations related to bike sharing (such as providers of street furniture, outdoor advertisers, municipal parking operators), public transport operators, urban planners and cycling organisations.

Image:  The Independent

An old article but still interesting reading!

An interesting article by Laura Laker of the Guardian examining the controversial question - when should we take the lane? 

Ask any urban cyclist about “taking the lane”, and even if they haven’t heard of the term, they have probably done it. Although widely regarded as safe practice, this often gets negative responses from other road users. So who is right?

Photograph: Graham Turner for the Guardian

Interesting opinion piece on bicycles in the New York Times written by an American living in Amsterdam!

As an American who has been living here for several years, I am struck, every time I go home, by the way American cities remain manacled to the car. While Europe is dealing with congestion and greenhouse gas buildup by turning urban centers into pedestrian zones and finding innovative ways to combine driving with public transportation, many American cities are carving out more parking spaces. It’s all the more bewildering because America’s collapsing infrastructure would seem to cry out for new solutions.

Geography partly explains the difference: America is spread out, while European cities predate the car. But Boston and Philadelphia have old centers too, while the peripheral sprawl in London and Barcelona mirrors that of American cities.

More important, I think, is mind-set. Take bicycles. The advent of bike lanes in some American cities may seem like a big step, but merely marking a strip of the road for recreational cycling spectacularly misses the point. In Amsterdam, nearly everyone cycles, and cars, bikes and trams coexist in a complex flow, with dedicated bicycle lanes, traffic lights and parking garages. But this is thanks to a different way of thinking about transportation.