Metrolink - (not) leading the way to an integrated sustainable transport system

Cyclists on the Way. Bike & Ride is no empty promise, but a comprehensive offer for all friends of cycling. For example you'll get a detailed map which shows you which stations are equipped with bicycle parking space. You'll also find information about how to best transport your bicycle in our vehicles."

Considering all the discussion about the need to develop a sustainable transport system in Greater Manchester to help reduce congestion, C02 emissions, improve air quality and encourage people to make Smarter Choices - make more journeys by public transport, cycling or walking -  you would hope that the Bike & Ride quote above was the new Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority's policy on allowing bicycles to travel on Metrolink trams . Unfortunately, you may be very dissapointed.

On Friday 15th January the GMITA Capital Projects committee members are being asked to vote on two recommendations contained in Agenda Item 8. The Implications of the Carriage of Bicycles on Trams.

1) Members are asked to endorse the decision to continue with the current policy to forbid the carriage of bicycles on trams with the exception of folding cycles which should be fully encased.

2) Members are also asked to endorse that GMPTE should continue to provide investment for cycle facilities on the Metrolink network, rail stations and in any future proposals, such as the anticipated Park and Ride facilities

Recommendation 2 is great and would hopefully be supported by all apart from the most ardent cyclist-hating petrol head.

Unfortunately if the Committee votes for recommendation 1 as well breaking a pledge made way back in 2002 when the GMPTA (the previous name for GMITA) agreed in principle to allow off-peak cycle carriage on Metrolink Phase 3 trams - they will also continue to prevent the Greater Manchester system from integrating two sustainable modes of transport - the bicycle and tram.

It woud also continue a regretable policy that puts Manchester at odds with many progressive cities in Europe and across the world including Australia,Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands and the United States of America -all of which are very happy to allow bicycles to travel on their networks. Even the London Underground allows passengers to take bikes onto most sections of the system, even in the heart of the city such as on the Circle, District and Hammersmith and City lines, during off-peak hours.

Allowing bicycles to travel on off-peak trams would encourage more people to combine tram and cycle journeys for commuting, shopping and leisure, and be an effective way to reduce carbon emissions. This argument is given greater power when considering Greater Manchester's own transport strategy which suggests that between 2 and 5 miles is a perfect cycling distance, and that around 90% of the Greater Manchester population will soon be within a 2.5 mile cycle ride of a tram (when the hugely welcome new Metrolink services are completed).

The vote on this takes place tomorrow and Love Your Bike and the Greater Manchester Cycling Campaign are calling on anyone who can to contact the GMITA and urge committee members to honour the pledge made in 2002 and vote to allow cycle carriage on off-peak cycle trams. If you fancy adding your voice, please send your message to gmita@manchester.gov.uk

Unfortunately, at the moment the attitude of Metrolink and GMITA appears to be more along the lines of Cyclists in the Way!

PS The lovely Bike & Ride policy in from Nurnberg in Germany.....

2010 : The Year of the Bicycle ?

Well lets hope so.  There is plenty of evidence that increasing the number of people cycling can help reduce air pollution, traffic congestion, obesity levels and C02 emissions.  More positively, increasing cycling levels can help people become fitter, healthier as well as save money. (Re)designing and (re)engineering communities to make it easier, safer and more desirable to walk and cycle can also help to improve social cohesion at the community level. 

Some of this work will require funding and unfortunately Manchester was unsuccessful in its 2008 bid to become the first Cycling Demonstration City and neither did Greater Manchester get shortlisted in 2009 for the Sustainable Travel City funding.




But 2010 will provide many opportunities (and challenges) to increase the resources available to improve the cycling facilities and level of cycling promotion within Greater Manchester.

Here are a couple of things to look out for:


Local Transport Plan (LTP3) for Greater Manchester.  This Plan will decide how much funding will be allocated for promoting "active travel" (cycling & walking) and will be drafted and consulted on during 2010.   Various campaign groups will be lobbying to increase the resources made available for cycling.  Give them a hand if you can.


Local Development Framework (LDF).  During 2010 many of the Greater Manchester councils will be consulting on their draft Core Strategies.  When completed these LDFs will replace the Unitary Development Plans (UDPs) for each Council.  Now this may all sound very, very dull (and it often is) but these documents will set the planning frameworks to 2025 (or beyond).  So what, I hear you ask?  Well here is one example, if you want better cycle parking facilities outside buildings, offices and local shops then lobby your Council to include better cycle parking guidance in their Core Strategy document. This will set the amounts of cycle parking that the Planning Departments will require any new (or redeveloped) buildings to provide.  (See the No Place to Park (My Bike) post)

Manchester's Climate Change Action Plan includes some interesting references to developing cycle facilities and cycling promotion. These include:

• Smarter choices will be easier to make. Cycle and pedestrian routes will cross the city region, making it easy to get around without cars. Our workplaces will encourage cycling and walking to work with storage, changing facilities and bike rental schemes 

• Invest in active transport such as a City Centre network of Cycle Centres; pedestrian and cycleroutes; and interchange and storage facilities at public transport and cycling destinations.
  

• Support businesses and other organisations in developing sustainable and low carbon travel plans, including car sharing, car pools, public transport ticket schemes, workplace cycle facilities and flexible working.

• Develop mechanisms to encourage more people to cycle and walk as part of their own travel plan.

• There will be workplace facilities for cyclists, walkers and runners and advice available for those looking to travel more sustainably as well as adult bicycle training to give people the confidence to travel by bicycle.

• A major programme of development and investment will have extended the reach andintegration of the city’s public transport network and there will be a wider network of cycle paths available, too.

Which all sound nice and lovely, but as with all plans the hard part is to convert the nice words into real actions. So here is one challenge for 2010. Another is to encourage the other 9 Greater Manchester councils to develop Climate Change Action Plans that go beyond what Manchester is promising to do.

Local Elections.  All 10 Greater Manchester councils will be holding elections for local councillors in May.  Even if you don't want to vote for them..... why not ask the candidates if they support increasing the number of people cycling and what they will do to achieve this ?

This stuff works! Supporting increased cycle training and promotion can deliver. Last December, Cycling England reported that the use of bicycles had increased by 27 per cent on average in the six cycle demonstration towns it supported between 2005 and 2008. Cycling England calclated that "each pound spent on cycling in Aylesbury, Brighton and Hove, Darlington, Derby, Exeter and Lancaster delivered benefits worth £2.59 in reduced mortality as people became more physically active"  (Cycle towns show benefit)

So have a Happy New Year and lets hope that "to start cycling again" or "to cycle more" are two New Year Resolutions that many more people get to keep.

Making behavioural change fun !

There has been a lot of discussion over the last few years about the need to encourage people to change their behaviour - specially in relation to transport because of issues such as congestion, air pollution, obesity (lack of exercise) and the need to reduce C02 emissions.

One lesson that has not always been learned (or remembered) is the need to make the paths to changing behaviour less threatening and even fun!

Here are some interesting examples from the Fun Theory.com website (an initiative from Volkswagen). The Piano Stairs project wanted to see if they could get more people to choose the stairs by making it fun to do.  Watch the video and see for yourself.

According to the Fun Theory.com website it is "dedicated to the thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behaviour for the better. Be it for yourself, for the environment, or for something entirely different, the only thing that matters is that it’s change for the better."

Giuseppe Lo Bocchiaro has submitted a more recent entry entitled Just Cycle It  with a suggestion to local authorities about how to encourage more people to cycle in cities.

"Cycle in the city is a good thing! We intend to promote the use of bikes in the city. More bikes mean fewer cars in the streets and a more beautiful city. The way to promote the use of bikes is simple! The local administration gives the bikers an odometer. The bikers who are moving in the city, augment the kilometres in the odometer. When the bikers want, comes back to the local administration and shows the kilometres they made. The local administration gives some gifts to the bikers such as services, tax deductions, theater tickets etc. In relation to the kilometres they made. So the more you ride your bike the more presents the administration gives you. ENJOY!"


So if we want to see more people cycling in Greater Manchester, our challenge for 2010 (and beyond) is to come up with fun and attractive ways to encourage more people to cycle.  I wonder if any local authorities or businesses would consider the rewards schemes as suggested in the Just Cycle It example?

There should be plenty of opportunities for such initiatives in Spring 2010, when Manchester should see the launch of the Points4Life scheme. According to the website the scheme is a "new loyalty programme which will encourage people to be healthier. It will take knowledge, learnings and technology from the private sector, where many loyalty programmes run very successfully and apply them to the public sector. Through the use of government, local authority and private sector funding Points4Life will encourage Mancunians to be healthier in a range of ways including what they eat and doing more exercise."

The Points4Life scheme has set an objective to recruit 20-25% of the Manchester population to be involved, although it is hoped to be able to achieve 40% participation in the scheme over a three year period, plus 20% of those commuting to the city.

The key behaviour change outcomes that the programme is seeking to influence are:

• people are more physically active
• people eat a healthier diet,
• people maintain a healthy weight;
• people stop smoking;
• people limit their alcohol consumption to nationally recommended levels;
• people take up screening opportunities offered through the health service.
  

Part of the national Change4Life programme, Manchester has been chosen as the test bed for this scheme and has received £4.6 million funding from the NHS. We look forward to some fun and rewarding ideas to provide incentives to encourage more people to cycle in Manchester.


Happy New Year.

PS.  Oh, and any suggestions where we could install a Piano Stairs in Greater Manchester and who might fund it would be most welcome!

So you think you have too much stuff to carry by bike ?

Reasons for not cycling #5: I have too much stuff to carry...




When asked why they don't cycle many people reply that they have too much 'stuff' to carry.  Well their stuff may not fit in a small handlebar basket or back panniers but to see how much luggage a bicycle could carry, in August 2008, Austin on Two Wheels (USA) announced the “What’s the biggest thing you’ve carried on your bike?” contest.


They asked people to submit pictures of themselves, their bike, and the largest load that they had carried on the bike. Each week, for 6 weeks, they published a semi-finalist photo  and then asked people to vote on the best overall photo.



"Utility bicycles can be used to carry almost anything – groceries (beer!), items for work, furniture, cars, you name it!"






This photo of a "retro" couch on a Bakfiets cargo bike was one of the semi-finalists.







Need a bicycle for going shopping, taking the kids to school, going to work, carrying groceries, or for hauling tools, pets or even sport equipment. Then you may want to check out the Mundo Utility Bike. Watch the video on YouTube of the Mundo comfortably delivering a 140lb load.

Next time you hear someone saying they have too much stuff to carry by bike maybe you can suggest they think a little bigger !

Cycle shops in Greater Manchester

We haven't seen any comprehensive listings for cycle shops in Greater Manchester. So have created this Google Map.

If we have missed out your favourite store then let us know.

The green markers are for shops that offer a 5-10% discount to members of the Greater Manchester Cycling Campaign.

No Place to Park (My Bike)

"Traffic signs. Trees. Wrought iron railings. Chain link fences. Telephone poles. Even a storm drain. I think I've secured my bicycle to just about everything in and around the center city of Manchester; everything, that is, except a bike rack.

....The number of bicyclists on Manchester roads seems to have increased considerably as of late. Whether folks are riding high-end mountain and commuter bikes or Wal-Mart specials, we all face a similar problem: no legitimate place to park. But I would settle for several designated bike racks in visible, highly-trafficked areas, at least in the downtown area. While it would be nice to covered bike parking like they do outside of this train station in Northern Ireland."

Sound familiar ?  Whilst this description of one persons search for decent cycle parking is from Manchester, New Hampshire (see Fortress Manchester) it can be a common problem in many parts of Greater Manchester.

But why are there so few decent cycle parking facilities in Manchester?

Part of the problem is the ludicrously small number of cycle parking spaces that Greater Manchester planning guidance requires building developers to incorporate in new buildings or re-development projects.

According to the Greater Manchester Parking Standards listed in the 2006 Local Transport Plan (LTP2) Technical Guidance (who said we were sad!)

For office building type developments (Type A2: Financial & professional services) the "Minimum standard for cycle parking provision" is 1 cycle parking space per 400 square metres (minimum of2).

Compare this to the requirement adopted by York City Council that demands all plans for new office buildings provide 1 space per 55 square metres. This means that any new buildings in York are required to provide 7 times more cycle parking space than an equivalent office building in Greater Manchester.

To make it worse, it is not even clear whether the Greater Manchester guidelines actually have any actual teeth.  According to a Greater Manchester Local Transport Plan Cycling Group report in April 2002 Greater Manchester Cycle Parking Guidelines the "notes give advice regarding design and numbers of places, and whilst they cannot be enforced yet, form a suitable basis on which to implement facilities."  I am hoping a helpful Council officer can tell me that this lack of enforcement has changed.

Interestingly, the Greater Manchester Police Cycle Parking Design Guidance (Design for Security) released in October 2009 are based on the York Council 'level of parking' requirements and in the "What are Cycle Parking Standards?" section state that:

"These are generally acknowledged by Local Authorities as providing 'best practice'. These standards should be applied to all planning applications by Local Authorities." (emphasis added).

So Greater Manchester Police have adopted and are promoting higher standards for cycle parking than those currently followed by the Greater Manchester local authorities.

With the lack of decent cycle parking being amongst the many barriers to increased cycling levels in Greater Manchester is it any surprise that York achieves commuter cycling levels of between 20-25% compared to the 1-2% in Greater Manchester?

If you want Greater Manchester to build better cycle parking facilities it would be great if you could raise this with your local cycling officer or via your local cycle forum.  See CycleGM for contact details for your local cycling officer.

If you are really keen you could raise the need for better cycle parking standards within planning guidance in a submission to your Councils consultation process on their local development framework.  Check your Council's website for details.


PS It is interesting to see how other cities are responding to the need for better cycle parking facilities.

In July 2008, theNew York Times reported that while "people are generally free to wheel their bikes in and out of residential buildings, commercial buildings often ban them."

But on 7th December 2009, New York Department of Transportation announced that "the City is prepared to implement the Bicycle Access to Office Buildings Law (Local Law 52), which aims to increase bicycle commuting by helping cyclists gain access to secure parking at their office buildings during the workday."

In August 2008, New York Department of Transport also installed nine new bikes racks designed by musician, artist and biking enthusiast Byrne. "These clever and innovative racks were created to generate more interest in cycling in New York and also to add attractive, temporary art the City's streets."  See also David Byrne's Bike Rack site

Desperately seeking Member Champions for Cycling

In February 2008, Cycling England wrote to all local highway authorities in England encouraging them to agree to appoint a "Member Champion for Cycling".

Cycling England suggested this idea because they wanted to support local authorities to increase the promote of cycling and recognised that elected Councillors play a key role in setting the priorities of their Councils. The invitation outlined the range of support that Cycling England were offering to councillors who signed up to become a Member Champion for Cycling. This included a number of benefits for the local authority, including:

• Assisting the local authority in meeting a wide range of policy targets and objectives
• Facilitating the proper consideration of cycling in the various council meetings and other activities
• Improving relations with external stakeholder groups, particularly those involving local cyclists
• Enabling the Council to tap into best practice in other authorities and to link into the free support available from Cycling England.
• Offering personal and professional development opportunities for those taking on the role.
• Encouraging networking between individual councillors with an interest in promoting cycling.

Cycling England were also offering a funded toolkit to support designated Member Champions for cycling in local highway authorities, including districts with agency agreements covering highways / traffic. This comprised:

• Welcome pack, including advice on best practice, key references and a flexible presentation on how cycling can contribute to a council’s policies and strategies.
• A support hotline to Cycling England’s consultancy team.
• Each Champion can make use of Cycling England consultants’ time in support of their role, involving phone / email support, meetings / site visits as appropriate.
• Cycling Champions email discussion group linking them to Champions in other authorities.
• Regular e-newsletter and publishing advice / guidance for champions
• Free attendance at Cycling England led professional training events for Champions on existing and emerging cycling issues (subject to demand).
• National Standard Level 3 cycle training ‘refresher’ course to bring the Champion up to date on developments in cycle training, including the new Bikeability programme.
  

 Which all sounds really goovy and very helpful. So thinking that it would be useful to know how many Greater Manchester councils had taken up Cycling England's kind offer of support, but having failed to find any details on the various council websites, we submitted Freedom of Information requests to all ten GM councils asking for details.

Now all you devotees of the Freedom of Information Act will know that local government bodies covered by the Act are supposed to respond to requests within 20 working days or at least tell you that they are going to take longer to give you an answer.

So how did the Greater Manchester councils perform?  Well all but one Council answered within the 20 working days with Oldham Council topping the chart responding within a blisteringly fast response of one day. The response times for the other councils were:  Bolton (4 days), Salford (5),  Trafford (6),  Stockport (8), Rochdale (9), Wigan (11), Bury (18), Tameside (18). Manchester didn't manage to respond within the 20 working days timeline and as this blog goes to press the clock is still counting.....

But have any of the local authorities seen fit to take up Cycling England's kind offer of really useful support and appointed a Member Champion for Cycling we hear you ask?  Well the results were:

Bolton:  None (See note 1)

Bury:  None (See note 2)

Manchester: None (See note 3)

Oldham:  Stephen Barrow. Appointed 12/2/2009.  (Email: stephen.barrow@oldham.gov.uk)

Rochdale: Wera Hobhouse.  (Email: wera.hobhouse@rochdale.gov.uk)

Salford: Jim Dawson. Appointed 3/2009.  (Email: councillor.dawson@salford.gov.uk)

Stockport: Stuart Bodsworth. Appointed 5/2008. (Email: cllr.stuart.bodsworth@stockport.gov.uk)

Tameside: None (See note 4).

Trafford: None (See note 5)

Wigan. None


So far only 40% councils within Greater Manchester are making use of the support offered by Cycling England with Bury suggesting that they are "anticipating making an appointment in the very near future" which will take the tally up to 50%.

Five councils have not appointed a Member Champion for Cycling although four of these (Bolton, Manchester, Tameside and Trafford) do have councillors with cycling somewhere within their remits.

Assuming that there were no onerous strings attached to the support being offered by Cycling England it seems very odd that so many Councils have declined to make the most of the support being offered from the national body responsible for promoting cycling in England. Specially at a time when most Council's are claiming that they want to promote and increase cyling levels.

We do hope it's not because the various Councils couldn't meet the "person specification" required to nominate a Councillor as a Member Champion for Cycling which required:

"A councillor who is a regular cyclist. You could be an executive or a nonexecutive member, depending on your Council’s policy on Champions. You will have technical support from competent, senior, officers."

Perhaps readers would like to email the Councillors below and ask them if they intend to join Cycling England's scheme.



Notes:

(1) Bolton Council has not specifically appointed a Member Champion for Cycling, but does have Members assigned to the Bolton Cycle Forum to promote cycling within their political parties and the Authority as a whole.

Members: 
Councillor John Byrne             (Email: john.byrne@bolton.gov.uk)
Councillor Richard Silvester  (Email: richard.silvester@bolton.gov.uk)
Councillor Michael Hollick      (Email: micheal.hollick@bolton.gov.uk)
Councillor David Chadwick   (Email: david.chadwick@bolton.gov.uk)
Councillor John Higson          (Email:  john.higson@bolton.gov.uk)


(2) The Executive Member for Environment & Transport has discussed the matter with senior officers of Bury Council and is anticipating making an appointment in the very near future.


(3)  Lead councillor for cycling is Emily Lomax. Email: cllr.e.lomax@manchester.gov.uk


(4)  The following Members have specific interests within their portfolios:  Alan Whitehead, Andrew Doubleday (Chair of Council Cycle Forum), Barrie Holland (Chair Carbon Reduction Panel).

For Andrew Doubleday and Barrie Holland  email: angela.monks@tameside.gov.uk
Alan Whitehead email jan.jackson@tameside.gov.uk

(5)  the Executive Member for Highways and Transportation, Alan Mitchell, has as part of his remit the promotion of cycling within the borough. He will receive updates from the Cycle Forum, and reports about cycling measures being implemented across the borough.  (Email: alan.mitchell@trafford.gov.uk)