Letter to Theresa May from Olympic Cyclists

[fimm]

As quoted in The Guardian

"
Dear Prime Minister,

The Great Britain cycling team athletes topped the cycling medal table for the third Olympic Games in a row at Rio 2016. It was a truly outstanding performance and enhances Britain’s status as the world’s leading elite cycling nation.

You were widely reported in the media as saying that there will be “no limits” on the honours that could be bestowed on our medal winners. But the best way to honour the achievements of our athletes would be a legacy of every-day cycling in this country – a place where cycling is the choice form of transport for people to get around in their daily lives.

Your predecessor called for a “cycling revolution” and your government’s manifesto sets out a target to “double” the number of journeys cycled. While some steps have been made, cycling is still a transport mode which does not enjoy the government investment or political leadership given to roads, rail or aviation.

The government is now considering feedback on the draft Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy (CWIS). We urge the government to publish this and set out a timeline to address the chronic underfunding and lack of leadership which is keeping cycling for transport in the slow lane. Only networks of segregated cycle lanes in towns and cities across the country can achieve and influence growth.

The success of the CWIS will be felt not only across government but in all areas of the nation’s life.

The government’s sports strategy seeks to extend the number of people living physically active lives and could be truly transformative. Active travel – walking and cycling – is the easiest way for people of all ages to fit physical activity into their lives. Currently, only one in five people achieve the recommended levels of physical activity.

Around one in three children is overweight or obese. The government’s childhood obesity strategy recognises the value of physical activity and the importance of walking and cycling to school. I am sure you know that this will seem a fanciful idea for most parents without the convenient walking and cycling routes which would give them the confidence that their children will be safe getting to school. Yet we know it can be achieved – in the Netherlands, 50% of education-age children cycle to school.

As cities like Copenhagen and New York have shown, cycling also creates better places to live and work. More cycling cuts congestion, reduces noise pollution and fuels local economies. Small businesses in New York have seen a 49% increase in business where cycle lanes have been installed.

There is huge latent demand for cycling. Two thirds of people would cycle more if they felt safer on the roads. The government’s road safety statement reiterates the manifesto commitment to reduce the number of cyclists killed or injured. The CWIS needs to set targets to improve road maintenance, enhance enforcement of the laws, and update the rules of the road to better consider the needs of cyclists.

To make this happen, we need 5% of the government’s transport spend allocated to cycling. This is the only way that cycling will be integrated into transport strategy and given the priority it deserves.

Investment in cycling as a form of transport isn’t purely an investment in cycle lanes. It is an investment that will pay off for the nation’s health, wealth, transport infrastructure and the vibrancy of our towns and cities. It has the added benefit of just making it easier for ordinary families to get to work and get to school.

Our athletes have inspired the country and now we urge the government to take cycling seriously as a transport option for everyone.

British Cycling’s policy adviser Chris Boardman would welcome a meeting to discuss this further. We look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

Chris Boardman, policy adviser, British Cycling and Olympic gold medalist
Sir Chris Hoy, six-time Olympic gold medallist, joint most successful British Olympian
Laura Trott, four-time Olympic gold medallist and Britain’s most successful female Olympian
Jason Kenny, six-time Olympic gold medallist, joint most successful British Olympian
Mark Cavendish, Olympic silver medallist
Joanna Rowsell Shand, double Olympic gold medallist
Elinor Barker, Olympic gold medallist
Owain Doull, Olympic gold medallist
Becky James, double Olympic silver medallist
Katy Marchant, bronze medallist"

(I assume they didn't sign themselves thus but The Guardian added the explanations...
EDIT, no that's straight off the British Cycling website.)

 

[coffeejo]

I'll don my optimist's hat and await the sea change...

 

[Fab Foodie]

They forgot to mention proper penalties for killing cyclists .....

 

[mjr]

I'm very sceptical of BC's motives, but this seems a good action and I wish them well with it. Sadly, also in the article:

A Department for Transport spokesman said government investment in cycling had tripled since 2010. He said: “We are spending £300m on cycling funding and a further £500m for infrastructure in local communities which will include benefits for cyclists.

“The number of people choosing to get about by bike has grown over recent years and, following the success of our Rio Olympians, we want to see this trend continue.”

To put that £0.3bn and fraction of £0.5bn (and it'll be a small fraction, as the vast majority is spent on non-active transport) into context, the annual transport budget is over £28bn or £433/person. So even if that £0.8bn was all on cycling and repeated every year, it would only be 2.9% - rather than the 5% minimum - and it's probably over 3 or 5 years, so it's something like 0.6% to 1%

That's even without considering the harm done by all these small pots of money being for short-term capital projects rather than continuing development and maintenance.

In short: that reply from the Department of Transport is two fingers up to the Olympians, dressed up to sound like big numbers. 5% would be £1.4bn every year purely on cycling. May's government is stopping a long long way short.

 

[Tin Pot]

British addictions;

Cars
Alcohol
Sugar
...

 

[Profpointy]

although well intentioned I can't help thinking that th 300 million or whatever spent on infrastructure might have been better spent on, I don't know, beer

 

[mjr]

although well intentioned I can't help thinking that th 300 million or whatever spent on infrastructure might have been better spent on, I don't know, beer

You mean that what we currently see isn't explained by it being spent on beer for the designers and workmen before they draw and build some of this stuff?

Seriously, I feel the main problem is that it's far too little money spread far too thinly, so much of it is spent doing a half-assed job of the easy bits in order to keep the headline numbers up, while the complicated expensive bits like junctions either aren't done or are half a half-assed job (a quarter-assed job?). Like a smooth 3m kerb-protected track along the fairly straight road near me turns into a lumpy 1m two-way track with badly-angled crossings around part of the outside of the roundabouts at each end. What's the slogan for Highways England's cycling division? "Doing easy stuff badly and giving up on difficult bits"?

As well as the 5% of transport budget, DMRB needs updating to remove local "discretion" from cycle route minimum widths, corner radii, kerb profiles and so on. Both the DfT and local councils have shown repeatedly that they cannot be trusted to use that discretion appropriately.

 

[MarquisMatsugae]

Not going to happen

 

[psmiffy]

I'll don my optimist's hat and await the sea change...

Not going to happen

It is marginal gains - if enough people keep saying it - the politicians will realise there is votes to be had - then eventually it will happen - as it did in the country I have been in last week and the one my bum is planted on now

 

[srw]

What a bloody load of grumps.

Our most successful olympic team write to the government, and all you lot can say is "not going to happen"? As anyone who has been to London knows, there's been an absolute transformation in cycling in London over the last 5 or 10 years, alongside a complete transformation in infrastructure - paint, signage, segregated lanes, bikes for hire, a massive increase in the number of cyclists, a complete transformation in driver attitude, a normalisation of cycling as a way of getting around and, very importantly, a transformation in the attitude of politicians. That normalisation in London is quickly leaking out to London's hinterland - I've written on here before about the sea-change I'm seeing in the home counties.

I've said it before, but it bears repeating. In London 20 years ago I was a complete eccentric for being a bike rider and not a courier. I'm now part of the mainstream. In Buckinghamshire and Surrey 5 years ago I was a complete eccentric for being a commuting bike rider. I'm now part of a rapidly growing band of early adopters.

The same is no doubt true, with different timescales, in dozens of towns and cities around the country.

 

[EnPassant]

I'm as skeptical as the next bloke about governments reasons for doing anything. But I'm all for the likes of Boardman et al writing and campaigning like this, the alternative is they sit on their thumbs and say nowt and that will definitely achieve nothing.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

What a bloody load of grumps.

Our most successful olympic team write to the government, and all you lot can say is "not going to happen"? As anyone who has been to London knows, there's been an absolute transformation in cycling in London over the last 5 or 10 years, alongside a complete transformation in infrastructure - paint, signage, segregated lanes, bikes for hire, a massive increase in the number of cyclists, a complete transformation in driver attitude, a normalisation of cycling as a way of getting around and, very importantly, a transformation in the attitude of politicians. That normalisation in London is quickly leaking out to London's hinterland - I've written on here before about the sea-change I'm seeing in the home counties.

I've said it before, but it bears repeating. In London 20 years ago I was a complete eccentric for being a bike rider and not a courier. I'm now part of the mainstream. In Buckinghamshire and Surrey 5 years ago I was a complete eccentric for being a commuting bike rider. I'm now part of a rapidly growing band of early adopters.

The same is no doubt true, with different timescales, in dozens of towns and cities around the country.

When is all this coming to Glasgow?

 

[NorthernDave]

It's good to keep the pressure on (although there's no Wiggo on that list), as most Westminster politicians have no idea what it's like in the rest of the country - they'll see the (mainly good) infrastructure in London and think it's like that everywhere.

although well intentioned I can't help thinking that th 300 million or whatever spent on infrastructure might have been better spent on, I don't know, beer

The 10% of that being spent on the Cycle Super Highway in Leeds would certainly have been better spent on beer. Or perhaps a lot of it was spent on beer at the planning stage? (Completion date Dec '15 and still nowhere near finished...)

 

[srw]

When is all this coming to Glasgow?

Over the next 9 years...

https://www.glasgowconsult.co.uk/Up...l Composition) - downloading from website.pdf

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Over the next 9 years...

https://www.glasgowconsult.co.uk/UploadedFiles/GCC Cycling Publication (Final Composition) - downloading from website.pdf

Aye, trouble is that if they go on like they started (rubbish infrastructures allover the place) we will never be like London.
Let's hope for the best.