Richard demonstrated the exemplary cycle infrastructure in Houten, a town that has been developed to prioritise local transport. We saw that cycle parking is plentiful around transport nodes such as train stations. Video of cyclists using wide, separate cycle paths through the town showed that they have priority over motor vehicles at intersections. Cars are not excluded from the residential neighbourhoods, rather they have been planned for and kept in their place, in contrast to much UK development practice.

Richard then discussed development practice in Vathorst where private and public sectors are collaborating to create affordable, desirable, cycle-friendly neighbourhoods. The meeting heard how the project had been managed to ensure that various parties were working to their strengths; allowing the public sector to do what it is good at and the private sector likewise.

We also saw innovations such as green roofs, self-commissioned homes, flexible public buildings and district heating grids.

Since the UK government published the National Planning Policy Framework, which makes planners consider sustainable development, there is nothing to stop a local authority from having continuous cycle routes to local destinations within new developments, Richard said.

The information-packed presentation allowed a short period for discussion among the delegates. The quality of the subsequent questions was high and there were many more comments and ideas from the floor that could have been shared if there had been more time. As a result, the meeting agreed to reconvene for a follow-up event. That date is now confirmed as 29 May 2012. The venue will be the same as before (Friends Meeting House, Manchester) and the discussion will start at 7pm prompt with an hour from 6pm to 7pm for informal networking. It will be designed to allow the maximum participation by delegates, guided by Richard Armitage’s hands-on knowledge of how to achieve change in the field of sustainable transport. People who couldn’t attend the first event may wish to read the reports below or arrive early on the 29th to receive a recap of the initial presentation.

Event organiser Jonathan from GMCC says: “The meeting was rich in detail and we could tell from their questions and subsequent emails that delegates were inspired by what they heard. The current economic climate means more people will be encouraged to cycle for transport, and recent changes in planning legislation are opening the door for the kind of change we have all been wanting. We look forward to seeing all of the delegates at the follow up event so that we can take the next steps towards a future of active travel and sustainable living.”

Download the SUNN Dutch Study Tour Report (1MB PDF)

Visit the JRF SUNN webpage for more information and reports.

Dipak at PopUp Bikes

The news that the UK is officially in another recession confirms what many businesses have known for a long: times are hard. What will commercial landlords do with vacant trading space? With rising fuel prices incentivising cycle commuting, where are we going to put all the extra bikes?

One Manchester-based social entrepreneur has put two and two together.

Dipak flips the espresso lever and a mechanical hiss cuts through the conversations of half a dozen commuter cyclists. At the door, Prakash shakes the hand of a brightly clad customer and then wheels her bike towards the storage bays as she goes off to change into her workwear. Welcome to PopUp Bikes, the latest incarnation of secure, covered cycle parking.

The railway arches on Manchester’s Corporation Street are home to various small businesses including taxi garages, artists’ studios and engineering firms. “The arch we’re stood in was owned by a wealthy businessman,” explains Dipak Patel, the proprietor of PopUp Bikes. “He used this to park his car here during the day.” We laugh because his premises could easily house a dozen cars. Or a hundred bikes.

PopUp Bikes aims to be more than a manned parking facility which is why a day’s parking comes free with a coffee (and that’s priced lower than Costa). Cycle commuters who don’t drink coffee can choose between daily and monthly parking tariffs.

It’s early days, the facility having opened mid-April, and Dipak knows that even a social enterprise must grow fast to survive, but his positivity is contagious and he has done his homework. Having researched the number of commuters cycling into Manchester, he knows the numbers stack up.

This operation has cost a fraction of the Cycle Hubs being planned by Transport For Greater Manchester. The savings result from using existing premises at a time when the lettings market is deflated, whilst the social aims of the business encourage suppliers to cut their prices. It’s the kind of smart thinking that’s essential in a shrinking economy and Dipak is confident this model could pop up all over the city – as long as cyclists keep buying their morning coffee.

Find out more at www.popupbikes.co.uk

Artists Impression of the new path at Woolfold Gap

Monday 7 May will see a 1km cycle ride along a newly opened path at Woolfold in Bury. Walkers and horse riders will join recreational cyclists to travel along the refurbished path following the route of a former railway line, crossing the new bridge that replaces the Woolfold Gap viaduct.

The ride will finish at Greenmount Old School where there will be refreshments and a display showing the sculptures, wildlife and archaeology along the Kirklees Valley.

The project has been part of Sustrans’ Connect2 programme and is funded by the Big Lottery, Bury Council and Persimmon Homes.

Bury Council would like local organisations and clubs to have stalls at the Old School on 7 May. Contact Chris Wilkinson on 0161 253 5269.

The tape will be cut at 10.30am at the end of Darlington Close, Bury, (BL8 1UG). If you attend the opening by car, please respect the needs of local residents and do not park on Brandle Avenue or Darlington Close.

Dates and destinations as follows:

May 24  Fletcher Moss

June 21 Horseshoe

July 19  Anup’s Choice

August 23  Heaton Park

September 20  Park Bridge

Meet at Albert Square, Manchester city centre, 6pm

No need to join or sign up, just turn up and ride.

The “leader” will be Rob Raikes except when he’s away on holiday. Contact Rob at raikes[at]gmail.com

Waiting to meet up with more riders, en-route to Manchester Airport, June 2010.

Norman Baker in Manchester for Brompton Dock opening

Cycling Minister Norman Baker has unveiled the new Brompton Dock at Manchester Piccadilly Station.

Local cycle training company BikeRight has won the Manchester maintenance contract and will induct new users to the joys of folding and unfolding the bikes.

Users will operate the system by mobile phone rather than smart card and Brompton hire cost roughly the same as the bus fares for regular, short journeys. A simple, marketing-free explanation of Brompon’s pricing structure can be found here, while the company’s own webpage about the prices is here.

The storage unit for the bikes, essentially a row of steel lockers, occupies the space of one parked car. Accordingly, infrastructure costs per bike are significantly lower than London’s popular Boris Bikes, at £1,500 compared to £25,000.

Brompton chose Manchester Piccadilly station as their second UK location after the first Dock landed at Guildford station last year. Managing Director Mark Antwis explained that he plans to have thirteen Docks across the country by the end of 2012, the next ones opening in Canterbury, Exeter and Southampton.

However, Piccadilly station bosses won’t be allowed to rest on their laurels. At the unveiling, Network Rail managers looked embarrassed when the Minister asked, “Where is the cycle parking?”

What do you think?

Send us your review of the Brompton Dock – we will publish the best one in Pothole.

From Monday 14 May to Tuesday 5 June 2012, workplaces across Greater Manchester will take part in a fun, free competition to see who can get the most people cycling. The initiative is a three-way partnership between local transport authority TfGM, cyclists’ organisation CTC and marketing company Challenge for Change.

While teams try to clock up more miles than each other, participants have a chance to win cinema tickets in a prize draw.

Join the Challenge!
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Going Dutch: New homes, New travel arrangements in the Netherlands

By Richard Armitage, CMILT, Chair of the Cycling Forum, Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport.

This event was originally scheduled for 16 April. Due to huge popular demand, we have changed to a larger room and rescheduled for Tuesday 1 May 2012.

Transport consultant Richard Armitage is a member of SUNN, the Sustainable Urban Neighbourhoods Network. In autumn 2011 SUNN hosted a study tour of three Dutch cities to see how active travel opportunities can be designed into new developments.

Richard explains the background:

“Over two years SUNN arranged for a group of 60 professionals involved in new residential developments – designers, architects, urban planners, developers, housing association managers, and one transport specialist (me) – to tour new developments around England. This was a fascinating and instructive process, showing the good, the bad and the sadly indifferent in modern residential areas. And at the end, we went Dutch…

In the Netherlands we viewed three cities: Amersfoort, Houten and Almere. The new homes we saw have many different designs and sizes. The bicycle is frequently the best way to get around – the quickest and most direct route between A and B, the most pleasant way to travel (traffic-free). Proper cycle storage, hire and maintenance facilities abound. This leaves public transport – mainly rail – to take you longer distances (e.g. to work). Despite high quality building standards, low energy consumption homes, pleasant surroundings and significant transport infrastructure investment, the finances work. Public subsidy is minimal, yet these developments are financially successful.

The car is never allowed to dominate the streets or the view in these new urban extensions but there is still plenty of parking. It is not about ownership but use and management. Meanwhile, Dutch motorway queues are easily as good as ours, so the car has not been banished. The results are obvious to see and Dutch people are queuing up to live in these areas, especially Houten near Utrecht.”

Come and hear what we can learn from the Dutch.

Tuesday 1 May 2012 at 7.30pm. Light refreshments available from 7pm.
The Main Hall, Friends Meeting House, Mount Street, Manchester, M2 5NS.

To reserve a place (and assist catering), RSVP  honsec@gmcc.org.uk

Going Dutch promotional materials: A4 b/w flyer (PDF, 56KB) – 13 page colour booklet (PDF, 623KB)

Full report on SUNN Project (opens in new window)

Anne Berg cycling in Manchester

Picture the scene. An experienced cyclist is making rapid progress along Oxford Road. She is doing everything she should – reading the road; riding for the conditions – when an overtaking bus pulls across her lane, threatening to squeeze her and her bike against a row of parked cars. She hits the brakes and counts herself lucky that there was no one following.

Big deal, you might think. This type of incident happens all the time on the streets of Manchester and other British towns. But this particular cyclist has come to expect better. The cyclist is Anne and, as she puts it, she was “brought up to ride a bike”.

Cyclists in the majority

“I’d say 8 out of 10 of my friends use their bikes in Copenhagen. When you want to go out and there are some people on buses, it’s like, ‘oh no’.”

Anne attributes the popularity of Danish cycling to its low cost: “With the high rates of tax in Denmark, cars are very expensive – whereas biking around is a way to save money. And it’s fashion: some of my friends now ride fixies.

“So drivers in Copenhagen are very aware of bikes. Cyclists travel at high speed and they are good at telling drivers when they’re doing something wrong. But it’s not a perfect system. The position of the cycle paths at the side of the road means that in order to turn left you have to cross an intersection and wait for the traffic lights. Also, there’s conflict between cyclists and bus passengers crossing a cycle path.” Still, cyclists feel that they have a right to be there. “I’d say they own the street – whereas in Manchester, bikes are the little guys.”

Looking at British cyclists

“You know, the cyclists here look very strange. I don’t know how far they’ve traveled but they’ve got their helmet, their hi-vis, their cycling clothing.”

“At my orientation lecture in September, I was given a cycling leaflet showing a 5.5km cycle route! For me, 5.5km is not a bike route, it’s a running route. Another was 25km but that was so far away, you’d need a car to get there.”

“A bike is a good way to explore. And Manchester is good to cycle in because it is flat. But your roads are in very bad condition with potholes that are often filled with rainwater. The council should fix them because of the danger they pose to cyclists who can overlook a water-filled pothole. That’s my biggest complaint.”

“There are lots of cars here and drivers don’t know what to do when they see a cyclist. Most of them try to be considerate but they don’t know that you’re there. They don’t see you.”

“I don’t have any really bad stories except for the bus on Oxford Road. Bikes in bus lanes seems an odd solution: they’ve put the smallest person in with the biggest. And cyclists sharing paths with pedestrians doesn’t work: you have to be very careful, using your brakes more, because pedestrians don’t know you’re coming – and it makes people think it’s OK to ride on the pavement!”

“What I like about cycling here is you don’t have to worry about the other bikes.”

A new perspective on home

“I went home for Christmas and suddenly I wasn’t the only cyclist around. There are so many bikes, you ride as part of the group. If you want to go slowly it’s OK but a cyclist in a hurry can pass others very close, which can be stressful. And you have to think about the three streams of traffic: the people; the cyclists and the cars.”

“At certain places outside rush hour, I feel more relaxed riding in Manchester.”

The mountain bike and locks Anne was loaned in Manchester have taken some getting used to

Changing perception

“British people’s perception of cycling is off. I think they would actually like it if they tried it. Maybe they would even get addicted to the freedom.

“It’s not a hassle cycling in Manchester – but it’s a hassle locking and unlocking my bike here when I have to use two locks! It’s ironic that bike theft is a problem when there’s so little cycling!”

Fact file

With taxes, car prices in Denmark (finfacts.com) are the highest in Europe.

Bicycles are permitted on Copenhagen’s trams (intl.m.dk).

Metropolitan Copenhagen has a population of 1.93 million covering an area 3,030 km², compared with 2.63 million in Greater Manchester covering 1,276 km².

Andrew Fender, Transport for Greater Manchester

The labels change but the struggle continues. The authority responsible for co-ordinating transport across Greater Manchester has been re-branded from Passenger Transport (GMPTA) to Integrated Transport (GMITA) to simple Transport (TfGM) in recent years. The man now at the helm of TfGM is Andrew Fender who addressed a transport seminar, sponsored by Greater Manchester Centre for Voluntary Organisation (GMCVO). Chatham House rules applied so will try to avoid contravening the Official Secrets Act in this account. Andrew is the Labour councillor for Old Moat (Withington) Manchester. He traced the journey from Greater Manchester Council (established in 1974) to Transport for Greater Manchester. In 1973 Andrew stood unsuccessfully for the Rusholme seat but was defeated by the Tories(!) Four years later he was elected to represent Hulme and Moss Side, on a platform opposing the upgrading of Princess Parkway to a motorway. By 1981 he was chair of the GMC Transport Committee. Early plans for a Pic-Vic Link between Piccadilly and Victoria stations fell victim to the economic downturn. A 2p concessionary fare survived until 1986 when the metropolitan county councils were abolished. The inadequacies of the local rail network and the north/south divide in the conurbation were addressed by a move to light rail. This resulted in the public transport “renaissance” of the 1990s culminating in the opening of Metrolink Phases 1 and 2. On heavy rail the building of the Windsor Link better connected Salford Crescent with Piccadilly.

The 2008 Congestion Charge Debate was lost but we still gained £1.5billion from the Greater Manchester Transport Fund – the largest such investment outside London. In 1982 Fender visited Karlsruhe, Germany to study their tram trains. 30 years later we are still waiting for the introduction of this alternative use for heavy rail routes in the UK. TfGM is showing renewed interest, with trials currently taking place in South Yorkshire. Campaigners should be vigilant that we do not lose more cycle carriage. Andrew also believes there is further transport potential in the Ship Canal but it is unlikely to include improved cycle access if Peel Holdings get their way.

Despite the ever-lengthening Quality Bus Corridors (QBCs) annual bus usage continues to decline from a
1974 peak of 400 million to 225 million in 2011. Innovation will be required to reverse this trend. Smart card technology (such as the London Oyster Card) could help but the multiple operators disagree on sharing the revenue. Stagecoach and Metrolink will soon be trialling a joint smart card. The current annual subsidy for concessionary fares and socially necessary but economically unviable routes stands at £100million. All parties on TfGM (including the Tories) support the re-regulation of buses but pragmatism is the order of the day. Metrolink is publicly owned but operates as a franchise, currently granted to RATP. Transport has to relate to economic and spatial policies but Fender sees opportunities in the new localism agenda. There is still some scope for intervening in the transport market, the new Salford Quays bus link was pump-primed by TfGM.

Some members of his audience expressed scepticism at the value of big projects but Andrew defended High Speed 2 as being good for the North West. Another questioned the need for so much travel. Fender noted the extra (car) journeys generated by parental school choice and permissive retail planning, particularly the construction of the Trafford Centre which he opposed. Cycling featured in the debate, our speaker noted the successful bid to the Local Sustainable Transport Fund. He was congratulated on supporting the principle of 20 mph speed limits in all residential areas, adopted recently by Manchester. He could only lead the other nine highway authorities (district councils) in that direction, nudged by the aspirations in the Local Transport Plan. There was a passing reference to the ban on cycle carriage on trams. A Traffordian complained that integration was not promoted at Sale Metrolink which offers 32 free car park spaces but no bike parking. On 3 May Salford elects a mayor and Manchester votes on the desirability of the same. If passed, Manchester’s mayoral election will take place in November. Fender is alarmed at the prospect, fearing elected mayors could threaten the cohesion of the TfGM. Sadly electing a Greater Manchester mayor is not currently on the agenda.

• 20 is plenty for Manchester roads
• Children to cycle more safely under new Bill
• Persistence pays off on parking
• Things ain’t what they used to be
• D-locks and potholes: A Dane cycles in Manchester
• Bringing the Alexander Technique to cycling
• Zen and the art of cycle campaigning