Lisbon knows…

And those groups treat people on bikes - especially children just trying to get to school or less confident people trying to replace car journeys - with contempt too. The difference is only one group is really at risk of death (and it isn’t those with disabilities).

E-bikes - with pedal assist with speed & power limited by law - are legal and a great way to travel around London. Illegal electric motorbikes - with much more power, speed & weight and with an auto throttle - are a dangerous menace. Good to see the police taking action.

Why does this never happen with cars? This is just another example of motornormativity at play. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I’ve spoken with Jason Watson. He knew exactly what this would cost him. He gave up his military career to take a brave stand for democracy. Patriotism that only works with obedience isn’t patriotism.

We'll sneak out early on Saturday and do what the hell we like because TfL won't be around. Your man got agitated at me taking photos. Even more agitated at me using the words "permit" and "Chapter 8*" *of the Traffic Signs manual for road works signs.

Happy 10th birthday to our special baby girl golden retriever Luna.

This pavement path was recently resurfaced by National Highways across a petrol station slip road... less than 1m separates users from the busy dual carriageway. It's part of the National Cycle Network. Why wasn't it improved? You might ask open.substack.com/pub/lauralak...

The BBC guide to walking more: 1. Drive your SUV to a country park 2. Walk more than you normally do 3. Drive home

Seriously BBC Breakfast? Someone from Sports England and a walking group to talk about the NHS’ new campaign to get people walking. The only appropriate group would have been Better Streets or a similar group. It’s about making people think about walking to the shop; not on a massive hike.

Study in Denmark reveals that #cyclists break 5% of road rules whilst motorists break 67% of such rules. Source: road.cc/content/news...

“The city’s transition away from the car, tho fantastically chaotic, has become a global role model. Under mayor @annehidalgo.bsky.social, Paris was ‘the most influential city in the world’ says Canadian urbanist Brent Toderian. Hidalgo, stepping down after 12 yrs, exulted: ‘The bike beat the car.’”

Shout out to @americanfietser.bsky.social for introducing me to Weather Goods Sweden years ago. Finally picked up their Urban Briefcase rack bag for commuting into work with. Very stylish and professional. Would have loved to have gone for the brown one but let’s be honest; it rains too much here.

Sustainable Urban Vehicle Yes this is a SUV! #BikeTO

I am having one of those days when public figures and commentators discuss a topic I know MUCH more about than them, which is always interesting / frustrating. I don’t have time to school everyone on the Hammersmith Bridge issues, I am working. But anyway, Peter’s is the most correct take so far

I don't buy into the, 'It's a sign of our dizzying national decline that Hammersmith bridge can't be used by motor vehicles' narrative. It's a 19th century grade II* listed suspension bridge, which simply won't take the cumulative weight of an endless succession of (up to) 18-tonne laden buses.

"A huge regeneration scheme for the area was rubber-stamped by Halton Council in 2024 which will see 318 existing homes bulldozed on the estate and replaced by 257 new properties." How the hell are we lowering density? It should be the other way around; especially that close to the town centre.

When can we have this at the federal level? This is all I want to vote for going forward.

"The PM goes on to say that some road and energy projects that are not "immediately vital" would be scrapped to pay for increased defence spending." This is positive. Hopefully active travel–which helps protect the country by reducing foreign fuel dependence–suddenly doesn't become "road projects".

"These are not the cars of the future." @betterstreetsforbirmingham.org

Streets are for people. Pho is for my belly 😂

When people say "bikes" they don't typically mean "just get on a bike and ride everywhere, loser." What they mean is that in a country where the more than half of all local trips are 3 miles or less, our government could do a lot more to make it safe for people to choose to bike if they want.

Probably a little late, but I just remembered a trick from when I was a kid growing up in Australia when AC was something only the very wealthy had. Get a tea towel & soak it. Pinch length ways and twist. Shape like a horseshoe and put in the freezer. Wait an hour and put around your neck.

I do not have a car, but I do have a cargo bike. In Vienna, it is a life changer. www.leeds.ac.uk/news/article...

I saw these at the supermarket earlier today and had an involuntary eye roll UK Gov should smack this down - full Leveson II. Remind them they simply report the news, they don’t set the agenda and they certainly don’t pick the cabinet

And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile And you may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife And you may ask yourself, "Well, how did I get here?"

Many said we couldn’t do it. Data says we have. Toxic air-related deaths in London have dropped by 40%. 👏👏 @sadiqkhanlondon.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

​"European cities are set to lose between 8.5% and 14% of their on-street parking ..." This is a smart way to get drivers to care about car bloat. Bigger vehicles use more curb space, reducing the parking spots available to everyone else.

Making anti-cycling campaigner Wes Streeting Chancellor would be a massive own goal for Burnham before he has even started.

Thinking of some t-shirt ideas… Text reads: "When all you have is a car, every journey looks like a drive."

Any other position is literally insane.

To the prick in the red estate who gobbed off at me this morning that “there’s a fucking cycle lane there”, no there wasn’t. It’s a shared path, and at 22mph, I was being considerate of other road users (like pedestrians using it) to stay on the carriageway. That’s way too fast for a shared path.

The reason you don't see bicycles as practical transportation is because your infrastructure has been designed to only enable movement by car.

We’ve been told repeatedly that Romanians have a cultural aversion to cycling. Maybe not. What they seem to have is a cultural aversion to dying. When safe, protected infrastructure appears, so do myriad people on bikes.

Never trust a Tory with the NHS. Of course the UK govt spends a lot on healthcare it is a fully public system. The cost per capita is in fact low especially for the outcomes. As for bureaucracy it is vastly less bureaucratic than an insurance system. Plain lies. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

“We found there’s this perfect one-to-one relationship. If a city increased its road capacity by 10% then driving in that city went up by 10%.” Still one of the best articles on why building wider roads leads to more cars stuck in the same congestion. Understanding #InducedDemand Via @wired.com

We’re hearing from my new friend Dr. David Fevyer of Westminster University who is sharing his research on the reaction LTNs.

The easier infrastructure is to install, the easier it is to remove.

Flex posts: Protecting paint jobs, not people's lives.

Title conventions between academia and YouTube could not be more different. Academia: “Heterogeneous impacts of protected bike lanes on bikeshare behavior across demographic groups in New York” On YouTube, this would be something like: “Why Sharrows SUCK (And We Should Never Do Them)”

Bike-lanes don’t cause traffic congestion. Car dependency, dumb land-use sprawl, too many (& bigger) cars being driven too much taking up too much space, highly subsidized driving costs, and not enough choices in how to get around, ALL cause traffic congestion. Think about it. THAT’S common sense.

And … one of the things most politicians totally fail to understand about the internet is that its fundamental architecture is designed to route around disruption. The social media ban is just another form of disruption.

At roughly the same time Kier Starmer was announcing the social media ban for under 16s this morning I was gently suggesting to my 13 year old son that maybe he shouldn’t be looking at a video on WhatsApp while brushing his teeth… so the thread below with nuanced critique is very interesting:

On the social media ban, I have opinions... Quick caveat emptor: I have a background in software engineering and media studies, which gives me a useful perspective on how these platforms are built, how they make money, and the practical limitations of many proposed solutions.

Entirely related, because nobody does effective policy around tech. Nobody.

Just seen a zebra crossing I designed has been approved locally for installation. Well, I designed it over 20 years ago! Also fun to see my comment in support in the decision paper: "Fantastic to see this being proposed again after nearly 21 years since it was rejected."

For those of you not in the UK, this is the former health secretary. If he doesn’t understand how enabling walking and cycling will save the NHS and social care services multiples of that £4.5bn then it really shows he learnt nothing during his near 2 years in the role.

I have lived and worked through each cycling and walking investment strategy. This might be the best one yet, though I still don't believe it goes far enough. Still, celebrate the wins: An increased budget, a HS2 cycleway and targets for more kids cycling: www.cyclingelectric.com/news/governm...

Imagine how healthy people would be if cars were banned from cities.

The transport minister: “I tried couch to 5k, and found it really difficult. But ask me to leave my car at home and cycle five or 10 minutes to the supermarket when I want to pick up some milk and a loaf of bread, that’s something that I could easily do.” 🤞🤞 www.theguardian.com/politics/202...