Rather than creating many low quality bike lanes I would devote a few entire avenues to lightweight portable transport and create cycle-scooterhighways.
Polluting vehicles.
Polluting vehicles.
Polluting vehicles but with more LPT (lightweight portable transport) such as bikes, escooters & so on.
Electric vehicles & more LPT (lightweight portable transport).
STEP 1 (OF URBAN FLOW PLAN) One or two roads in a city chosen to become ‘Greenways’. Only open to non-polluting LPT. No large polluting vehicles other than emergency vehicles & essential large deliveries.
STEP 1.1 (optional extra) As above but with improved flow.
STEP 2 Pedestrians above. Safety & continuous flow achieved: noone has to wait for anyone else. Pedestrians could be on travelators.
STEP 3 Pod cars or travelators above. An optional addition for later on pending popularity of earlier steps.
STEP 1 UNDONE (IN CASE NEED BE) Greenway changed back to regular road but still with pedestrians & pod cars above. Step 1 is reversible at any time which is a huge safety feature of this plan.
View as a slideshow below
1. Polluting vehicles
2. Polluting vehicles 2
3. Polluting vehicles but with more LPT (lightweight portable transport)
4. Electric vehicles & more LPT (lightweight portable transport)
STEP 1 urban flow plan, no vehicles, only non-polluting LPT
STEP 1.1 urban flow plan, no vehicles, only non-polluting LPT with improved flow
STEP 2 urban flow plan, no vehicles, only non-polluting LPT, pedestrians above (continuous flow)
STEP 3 urban flow plan, only non-polluting LPT, pedestrian walkways above & pod cars (2)
Another example of the Urban flow plan is shown below, this time using a junction in Hong Kong and adding extra options. To open slideshow viewer just click on any picture.
All pictures in this post were hand painted by the author over countless hours on an iPad using the Procreate app. (HK photo credit ze big-trip.com)
Showing the value of active travel using data. Statistics refer to the UK unless mentioned otherwise.
Money & the economy
Public sector spending on roads in the United Kingdom has been over 12 billion British pounds each year since 2021. sources: Statista and Office for National Statistics
Spending on walking, wheeling and cycling infrastructure can have a maximum return of up to £19 per £1 spent. The health benefits associated with increased physical activity are a large contributor to these returns. Investments in the strategic road network have an average return of £2.50. https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5803/cmselect/cmtrans/1921/report.html
According to a European study looking at a range of societal impacts, such as land use and cost pollution, as well as individual impacts, such as health benefits and travel time, driving a car was found to have a cost to society of €0.11 per kilometre (or 9 pence per mile). By contrast, cycling generated a €0.18 net benefit to society for every kilometre cycled (or 15 pence per mile), primarily due to the health benefits of physical activity and walking was found to generate the greatest net benefit to society. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2018.12.016
Another earlier study by two of the same authors (Stefan Gössling and Andy Choi) calculated that one kilometre by car costs €0.15 (13 pence), whereas society earns €0.16 (14 pence) on every kilometre cycled. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2015.03.006
Building more roads and car lanes to improve traffic flow only works temporarily, in the long term it usually increases car traffic. https://doi.org/10.7922/G22805Z9
Sutton Coldfield, a large town north of Birmingham, has a population of nearly 100,000 and yet has no segregated cycle lanes. The local government installed one at a cost of £75,000, but following an outcry by local ‘motorists’ and Conservatives it was removed before it even had the chance to open. The removal meant even more expense. Many locals, likely some of the same people who complained, then said what a waste of money it was to build a bike lane and then never use it! https://suttoncoldfieldtowncouncil.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/email-response.pdf
Author’s conclusion The evidence clearly shows that well designed projects in the right places that allow for more cycling and active travel can benefit physical, mental, environmental and financial well being. Stopping such projects claiming that they are a waste of tax payers’ money and so on, is untrue and highly unhelpful. Our obsession with cars is fuelling the problem.
Do you agree?
Look at the quotes and pictures below.What are they trying to say and how do you feel?
“Either you’re part of the problem or you’re part of the solution.” (a saying based on an original quote by Harry Emerson Fosdick)
Original quote attributed to Peter Drew
Picture made using chat GPT & then added to by author
Quiz!
True or false style quiz based on the above information:
An open letter from the Peacemaker Foundation (Reading Time 2 to 3 minutes)
Update May 2020: Since the time of first sharing these ideas in early March 2020, more and more places have already started following some of these suggestions. We need to make sure we keep up the momentum and see these beneficial changes happen in more places.
THE PROBLEM
At present we face the challenge of providing people with safe forms of transport in which they do not occupy enclosed spaces with others and can maintain a safe social distance. The hazards of public transport right now are well documented, but many are falsely assuming that car journeys are safe. A car is an even more enclosed space than a train or bus, so the only way it’s going to be safer is if you travel alone or with people you know for sure to be virus free and take precautions.
Hordes of people avoiding public transport by travelling in cars alone is a scenario we must avoid for obvious health and environmental reasons. The virus may just be Mother nature’s wake up call, reminding us of our biggest problem – global warming. We absolutely need to take this fleeting window of a chance to do better.
THE SOLUTION
1. Widen and improve existing bike lanes and cycle-superhighways now while we have less traffic in order to enhance cycling safety and allow greater social distancing. Any cycle superhighways should have at least two lanes in either direction (slow and fast) with clear barriers to divide the two directions and further enhance safety. All efforts should be made to separate cyclists from vehicle traffic and pedestrians – even if it means elevating the cycle pathway over some or all roads. See a good example from Beijing HERE.
2. Legalise electric scooters as a matter of urgency and other allow them to be used on the improved bike lanes and cycle-superhighways – henceforth ‘cycle-scooter ways’.
3. Make ‘Urban Greenways’. Rather than peppering a city with inadequate bike lanes, simply take a small number of roads and devote them entirely to green lightweight transport devices by banning cars: minimal to no infrastructure required, maximum safety and social distancing, maximum encouragement to get people out of cars and onto bikes and scooters, massively enhanced air quality for residents on those roads, maximum fun and completely reversible in future if need be. North-South and East-West routes converging in the city centre would be a perfect start to allow speedy and safe long distance travel!
THE TIME IS NOW
If local governments do this now there will be far less pushback than if they wait. This is what we should have done long, long before anyway, but we’ve been blinded by our obsession with cars for so long that it hasn’t happened in most places. Smoke gets in your eyes. Nevermind, we can do it now, we must do it now.
THE KINDS OF CHANGES WE NEED TO SEE:
In Germany, Paris, New Zealand and elsewhere local governments have created pop-up cycle lanes using various removable materials. Later on these widened bike ways could be made permanent.
In Birmingham, UK, pollution has risen with excessive car use in recent years. The local government created two high-quality cycle superhighways which have been criticised for hardly being used. As soon as we legalise electric scooters it’s obvious that they will become well-used and this will help to clear the air. The existing two cycle-superhighways form a disconnected South-to-North pathway – we now need an East-to-West path as well please.
In London various cycle-superhighways are now becoming victims of their own success and are far too busy to allow for safe social distancing. They’re also often quite unsafe given that they’re bi-direction without separation – so cyclists pass each other at high speeds. Identical paths parallel to or elevated above the existing ones should be created without delay. Then each cycle-superhighway can become one way only – safer in every respect. If parallel, then we could simple allocate one of the traffic lanes for now, and later on make the change permanent.
SUMMARY
We need to:
Improve and widen cycleways/bike lanes – then give them a new name such as ‘greenways’ or ‘greenlanes’.
Legalise electric scooters & some other non-polluting lightweight portable transport tools & allow the scooters on the ‘Greenways’.
Devote just two or three long roads in each city to green transport gadgets to allow safer faster travel across the city.
Let’s do this now please. If we do, we may look back one day and see that in fact it was the virus that saved us.
To see our letter written in early March 2020 to the Future of transport team in the UK click HERE
LPT* (Lightweight Portable Transport) is on the rise and so is the Earth’s temperature. The idea: Just take a few long roads or routes in a city and make them car-free. At first on weekends, using road blocks, and later perhaps keep them permanently car-free. Simple, cheap, effective, and completely reversible. The pictures below are mostly of Taipei, but this idea could be used in almost any city.
Future additions as per ‘the urban flow plan’ (see HERE)
What about the residents parking? Residents would be given free parking nearby, compensation or special access to a side lane along the road on condition they drive below 5mph. Electronic ID could automatically open the gate or barrier if there is one.
This is called induced demand and makes sense when you think about it. As nearby roads have more cars they become less pleasant to drive along so less people will. On the other hand if people have far more pleasant and safer LPT journeys as an option some of them will make that switch.
It’s also worth noting that in the early phase roads nearby the Greenway are likely to have less cyclists and others on LPT allowing more space for drivers in that respect.
What about emergency service vehicles and delivery vehicles? They would be given special access (electronic ID could automatically open the gate or barrier if there is one). It’s highly likely that small lightweight delivery vehicles would emerge rapidly.
I don’t believe this can be done. “People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.” (George Bernard Shaw)
In many places around the world various roads have been made car free and the feedback generally has been very good. See HERE and HERE for examples. The only addition with this plan is to devote the road to LPT rather than just give it to pedestrians alone. As technology improves and transport tools become lighter, smaller, safer and more efficient, and as cities become taller and more densely populated this is just one of those things that will need to happen anyway because it makes sense. Let’s just make sure we do it right.
We also really need to do this to allow people to avoid enclosed spaces together and give them safe, healthy travel options. Bike lanes will quickly become too busy to accommodate everyone safely. This can be done immediately with zero infrastructure!
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*LPT (Lightweight Portable Transport) is a term coined by the Peacemaker Foundation meaning any transport tool that is small and light enough to be carried or moved by hand. Examples are bikes, skateboards, rollerskates, scooters, electric wheels (Eucs), self balancing foot scooters (Hoverboards) and Segways.
The Peacemaker Foundation 