The future of transport is Electric

(Taken from a press release and slightly amended to reflect being posted after the event, and Green involvement)

Penny Burgess and bike!

Gloucestershire's first electric cycle shop (E-cycle UK) opened it’s doors at 10 John Street Stroud on the 1^st August 2014. It will be run by local cycle entrepreneur Jacob Kirby who also owns Tarmac and Trail in Stonehouse.

The shop will stock a wide range of electric bikes from utility bikes for getting to work on time to high spec touring machines and even full suspension  electric mountain bikes for adrenalin junkies  along  with a range of commuting cycling accessories.

Jacob said “ we have been selling an increasing number of electric bikes  from our shop in Stonehouse  but just didn’t have the space to display the whole range  to let customers see and try different makes and models to fit different budgets and requirements.”

He went on to add “ This is a great opportunity  to expand the business to meet an increasing demand for a cheap alternative to the car for short to medium journeys. We will of course be able to help customers reduce the purchase costs if they buy them through the national cycle to work scheme”   

Green Party Councillor and keen cyclist Simon Pickering said  “with increasing traffic congestion, the cost of insurance and rising fuel prices, more and more people are turning to cycling but around here the hills can be off putting.   I was a bit sceptical about electric bikes until I tried one, but  they are stunning, they are the future for local personal transport” 

Green Party member Penny Burgess who commutes around 20 miles a day  from Rodmarton  to work at Ecotricity in Stroud on an electric bike said  “my electric bike has changed my life, I can now commute  into Stroud without arriving hot or sweaty and  never get caught  in traffic jams on the edge of town. On the way home the electric bike just whizzes up the hill onto  Minchinhampton  common, it’s brilliant I would recommend them to anyone, whatever their fitness level. It also means we don’t need an extra car!”

Find out more about Penny Burgess's epic, fundraising cycle ride here - https://www.facebook.com/Pennydoesendtoend

Access Bike!

This is a press release from Creative Sustainability, which we’re sharing because we think this work is really important. Cycling is good for health, independence, sustainability, and being able to engage socially. It’s about re-use, and opportunities for younger people, who have seen services aimed at them cut back to a shocking degree around the country.

Press release:

In 2012 Access Bike gave 50 young people around Stroud district a reconditioned bike, helmet and a lock for £20. With help from Creative Sustainability and bike shops Noah's and Cytek, Access Bike is doing it again in 2014.

Owning a bike means that young people can join in cycling related social, sport and community activities, giving them more independence to get to school and after school activities, increased social and recreational confidence and helping towards participation in activities such as cycling clubs and competitions. The project is focusing on young people who couldn't otherwise afford a bike and aims to work with Archway, Thomas Keble, Shrubberies, St. Rose's and Maidenhill Schools, plus The Door and Open House, to match bikes to young people who need one.

Elizabeth Bailey, aged 19 is the new project manager. She says "For some of these kids owning a bike would mean so much. It's easy to forget how, for many, a good bike is simply out of reach, particularly these days. I've always had a bike and it's given me the freedom to take part in things I could never have got to do without one." Elizabeth is working with the bike shops to find the right bikes for students and is looking for more bikes to be reconditioned.

Anna Bonallack, Director of Creative Sustainability says "I love this project, there is so much good that comes out of it for young people, including training for a group to become road safety and cycle maintenance trainers themselves so that they can do workshops with younger people. We also want to work with schools on a local cycling plan to help their students cycle safely to school -  let us know if you or your organisation can sponsor the project or lend expertise."

If you have a bike you don't use get in touch with Creative Sustainability. All bikes will be reconditioned by experts at Cytek, Tarmac and Trail and Noah's Ark, but the better nick they are in the more bikes they can get through. Call Elizabeth and Anna if you have a bike to donate and about the wider project -  01452 770177 or email anna@cscic.org 

For more information about Creative Sustainability CIC  visit our website www.cscic.org

CSCIC is a not for profit community interest company.

Bikes Outsell Cars

Apparently, in 26 out of the 28 EU countries, bikes outsold cars in 2012. There’s an article about it here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25209551.

There are obvious economic reasons for what’s happening here. Cars are far more expensive to buy and run than bikes. With rising fuel costs and wide spread economic hardship, bikes are an obvious way of saving money. Why spend on a gym subscription when you can cycle to work and save money on both? For anyone interested in improving their health and fitness, swapping  a stressful short commute a bike ride is an obvious choice.

There are other practical reasons though. While cars sit in congestion, bikes can slip through, taking advantage of cycle paths and bike lanes, towpaths and other shortcuts. You don’t need to find a car sized space to leave your bike in, and usually you won’t pay to chain it up somewhere, either.

Cycling gives you a liberty that cars just can’t provide any more. The road is not a place of freedom or delight, and is often stressful, while the cycle path tends to be a quiet, enjoyable and safer space. Stroud has a lot of good cycle paths and the towpath, making cycling or walking a lot more fun than sitting in a queue.

Many people are turning to bikes for environmental reasons, too. Bikes do not create noise pollution or on-going air pollution. You don’t need to tarmac over vast expanses of countryside for cyclists. Bikes and pedestrians make for much friendlier urban spaces than an endless stream of cars do. On a bike, you get to be sociable. The personal advantages of both walking and cycling, are huge.

In London, Green Peer Jenny Jones is calling for 20mph speed limits to make roads safer for cyclists. https://www.london.gov.uk/media/assembly-member-press-releases/green-party/2013/12/news-from-jenny-jones-am-one-in-five-cyclists-have-abandoned We’re ahead here in Stroud, with 20mph limits in Randwick, Whiteshill and Ruscombe. Now plans are underway to get 20mph limits into more of Stroud – further information here. http://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/extra/article/115270/Stroud-20mph-Speed-Limit-Proposal

It’s great that more people are cycling. However, for that to work, we have to support cyclists by making sure they are safe. Cyclists are really exposed compared to vehicle drivers, and recent tragic deaths in London demonstrate that it’s not enough to encourage people onto bikes. We need some political effort to make sure cycling is a safe, and therefore viable choice, right across the country.

Greens and Cars

Most people would assume that a Green agenda is bound to be bad news for drivers. Cars are not very green, after all. Let’s take a step back for a moment and think about the driving experience, and how we define good for drivers, and bad for drivers in the first place.

The most obvious take is that ‘good for drivers’ means the freedom to do what you want with your car. It’s the car advert showing the empty road and a sleek car performing beautifully. Excitement, freedom, grace, power and speed combined. Even for a non-driver like me, it’s easy to see the attraction.

I walk and cycle a lot around Stroud, and I what I see most days, are drivers sitting in queues. I see heavy traffic at peak times, jams around the town centre at weekends, I see the trouble people have finding on road parking. I can’t imagine that’s a whole lot of fun. I can pass cars when I’m cycling. So where is the romantic freedom of the open road? Not in Stroud.

There are many things built and organised around the idea that people have cars. Centralisation means people from the villages have to come into Stroud for basics. Once upon a time villages had shops (plural) post offices, pubs, village schools and maybe even a doctor. Now you have no choice but to travel to a larger urban centre for most or all of those things. There isn’t much public transport infrastructure, so many of us don’t have the option of taking a bus instead, especially if we need to be out after dark. We have to travel to find work; maybe there is no work where you live, or you can’t afford to live where you work. We’ve got into a position where work, schooling, shopping, health and leisure all tend to mean having to get in a car. Meanwhile everyone else has to get in a car too, the roads are congested, heavy traffic is dangerous and stressful to drive in, we spend far too much time in queues and the experience is miserable. Building more roads certainly hasn’t fixed it.

Heavy traffic means children do not walk and cycle to school, because parents feel (understandably) that it isn’t safe for them. All those cars on the school run add to the problems of heavy traffic, making a vicious circle.

Not everyone can drive, and not everyone wants to. If we had more public transport, people who don’t really want to drive could get out of their cars. If we had more safe spaces for walking and cycling, we’d have more pedestrians and bikes, and fewer cars. If the infrastructure didn’t mean having to drive somewhere to deal with the most basic necessities, there would be a lot fewer cars on the road. If work stayed local, if we avoid building yet more car-only out of town shopping spaces, we won’t have to have the cars to access things we want. We could have something totally different. Something nicer that is more of a joy, and less of a chore.

In an ideal world, I think most drivers would prefer not to have to sit in queues or struggle with heavy traffic. Roads kill a lot of people every year, and we’d all be a lot happier if that didn’t happen. In a community that invests in public transport, supports cyclists and enables safe walking, drivers benefit. Quieter roads mean a happier driving experience and less money wasted burning fuel just to stare at the motionless car ahead of you.

If we aren’t all trying to drive everywhere every day, than that vision of the open road becomes feasible again. If you actually like driving, consider supporting schemes that get cars off the road. It’s not about forcing people, or punishing drivers, it’s about real choice and a better quality of life all round.