As I travel around Kent I become increasingly frustrated at the opportunities that have been missed to provide for, and encourage, cycling in our county.

Maidstone has just opened a new multi-million pound riverside walkway and park that was partly funded by the Millennium Commission from National Lottery money. The scheme includes two new pedestrian bridges over the Medway to link the park and its leisure facilities to the town. In addition the town’s award winning Lockmeadow Millennium Bridge that was opened in 1999 is also part of the project. Good news for the residents of Maidstone.

However, walkway is the appropriate word. Cyclists are prohibited from using the 10km long path alongside the river that gives a potentially safe and traffic-free route into the town. Cycling is also prohibited on all three bridges that link the elements of the route together and give access to the park where cycling is allowed, although not publicised. There are no cycle route links into the existing cycling network in the town including National Cycle Route 17. That was also funded by Lottery money. The reasons for these anomalies appear to be a lack of joined-up-thinking between KCC and Maidstone BC. Missed opportunities.

In another area of the county a new Community Hospital is under construction but an opportunity to study the plans has shown that apart from an area designated for cycle parking in a remote corner of the car park there is a distinct lack of cycle facilities serving the site. This Government now recommends that on all new major projects of this type a Cycling Audit be commissioned to ensure that cyclists can safely access the facility from its entire hinterland. Apparently this was not carried-out, resulting in another missed opportunity.

The world’s last bicycle soldiers are soon to be disbanded as the Swiss government has decided that there is no place in a 21^st century army for its 3000-strong Bicycle Brigade. Formed in the late 1800s when many European powers had added pedal power to their military capability the regiment continued as a vital back-up communications tool that was ideally suited to operating in rugged terrain where conventional vehicles would find difficulty in operating.

The Swiss army is based upon a militia system where each male citizen between the ages of 18 and 42 spends three weeks every two years doing military service. The cycling regiment has generated a unique esprit-de-corps amongst fit, young Swiss and some members even went on to become Olympic cycling contenders. Thousands applied to join each year and following a very physical selection procedure that involved running 3.4km in 12 minutes successful recruits faced a 15-week training course including a 200km forced "pedal march". This fitness regime was essential to be able to use a specially built 7-speed, hydraulically-braked, mountain bike that featured machine gun clips, space for four panniers and weighed-in at 90kg fully loaded.

On finishing their service at 42 the citizen-soldiers can buy their machines for a nominal sum, but they technically may not sell them on. However, so well thought of are these Swiss-built Condor machines that they can sell on an Internet black market for over £2000. By 2003 they will be no more as the Swiss Army faces a cycle-free future as it refocuses its efforts to repelling economic refugees rather than the threat of conventional military invasion. It is ironical that the potential for Nuclear holocaust was seen-off with pedal power yet the possibility of human invasion needs a higher-tech army.

Cyclists "Stand Easy".

Steve Balyi came into the meeting room at the University of British Columbia looking just like another of Vancouver’s many cycle commuters. It was only later I discovered that his right leg had been amputated many years ago after a motorcycling accident.

We were both there to discuss UBC’s plans to develop a new, almost potentially car-free, community on its vast land holdings, and to explore a continuing project to gradually eliminate non-essential motor vehicles from the existing campus.

Steve turned-out to be more than just another of one of the many project stakeholders that were attending the meeting, but was a key player in helping to implement the radical changes to mobility management that the University was setting-out to achieve. Apart from numerous other cycling advocacy commitments he runs an organisation called BikeCartAge. This provides a zero pollution bicycle delivery system in the city of Victoria and had been awarded a grant to develop a goods movement system for UBC.

BikeCartAge already has a fleet of 12 unique bike carts that are currently fully employed to deliver items as diverse as newspapers, flowers, computers, groceries and office supplies around Victoria, the BC Capital, where 10% of commuting trips are by bike. Steve has many people assisting him in this venture but it was obviously his enthusiasm and energy that was the power behind this operation. This was now being directed toward ensuring that one of Canada’s premier places of learning is an environmental leader at the start of the 21^st century.

The providers of our cycling facilities really mean well. Against the car dominated corporate ethos of their Highways Committees and Departments they struggle to find the time and the money to introduce the cycle lanes, tracks and routes that pro-cycling organisations such as Spokes badger them for. Most of the people involved are also personally dedicated to changing the agenda towards a more environmentally friendly and sustainable form of transport for without their personal commitment it is doubtful if very much would ever be done.

Yet many of them have an Achilles’ heel. They do not always realise the importance of directional signing to the overall worth of a cycling scheme. They will normally worry themselves silly to get the legal signs
correct, but as they know the area and know where they are going the direction signing is often a forgotten area and is not consistent along the route. It is also not consistent across jurisdictions with silly variations occurring in some locations.

Even when signs are in place they are frequently vandalised or removed/repositioned by anti-bike locals, yet these actions are rarely picked up by the regular patrols who travel along the road network. The inspectors do not ride bikes and certainly do not travel on off-road routes so vital off-highway directions are lost.

This is where Spokes members can come in. If a direction sign is not present report it to your local council’s “Highways Help Line”, and perhaps Spokes could have preprinted postcards for us to send in. This is an area where we could do our bit to make cycling facilities better for all.

Having recently spent a few weeks in North America I can report that cycling is alive and well in both the US and Canada. Despite the US having a reputation for being a totally carcentric society I found that in New England provision for cycling was being taken seriously. Many roads had on-carriageway cycle tracks, often provided at the expense of reducing/removing traffic lanes, and
off-road routes were quite common around cities – especially those with Universities. Cycle parking was actually better provided for than in many UK communities.

In Canada September 9th is the opening day of their 16,000km coast-to-coast Trans Canada Trail
that has been set up to commemorate the Millennium. Billed as the longest recreational trail in the world it will have come from idea to reality in just nine years and links all of Canada’s Provinces and Territories.

It is a shared use facility accommodating five core activities - cycling, walking, horseback riding, cross-country skiing and snowmobiling some, obviously, only where and when conditions permit. Not only will it incorporate existing trails, new construction and routes on old railway lines but some
stretches will also run alongside operating railways. This is not such a major problem when many lines only host one or two trains a day.

The Trail is being built by a consortium of specially chartered Trail Councils in each Province and has received major national and local sponsorship as well as donations from millions of ordinary people. For $40 anyone can buy a metre of trail and have their sponsorship recorded in one of the Trail Pavilions spaced across the land. If you would like to know more then hit their Web site on http://www.tctrail.ca

I spent some time before Christmas working in Iceland, not you might think the ideal time and place for cycling. Yet Reykjavik, the capital, has some 40 plus all-year-round cycle commuters who use two wheels around the city whatever the weather.

To be fair Reykjavik is on the west coast of Iceland, and although snow is frequent the Gulf Stream means that the ambient temperature in winter is about minus 1C and wind and rain are the biggest disincentives to using a bike. If snow does fall the roads are not salted [for environmental reasons] and motorists use studded tyres to cope with the packed ice. So do cyclists – yes studded cycle tyres are available for the hardy few who brave the conditions.

In summer the number of bike commuters rises to about 400, which is not bad in a city of 130,000, whilst cycling generally is a popular leisure activity during the endless summer evenings when the city-wide network of bike paths come into their own.

Akureyri the second city is much further north on a fjord that lies just below the Arctic Circle [66 degrees north]. With regular winter snowfalls of a foot or more, as greeted us, even hardy Icelanders do not venture out on their bikes in this season of almost perpetual darkness. In the summer however it is a different matter and cycling is encouraged by the ease of getting around on quiet country roads, and the provision of dedicated paths that in winter become cross-country ski trails.

(While in Iceland Malcolm met two cyclists who read the SPOKES Newsletter on the Internet. Please let us know if there anymore of you out there? Ed.)

Have you looked in your bike shop recently?

What sort of machines do they have for sale? Chances are that around 70% of the bikes in stock will be mountain bikes and another 10% will be tourers or street racers. Only 8% will be genuine town bikes suitable for commuting or daily trips in the city. Perhaps the 12% of hybrids on offer could also come in this category. As less than 1 in 5 bikes for sale in the UK are designed for utility use is it any wonder that so few regular trips are made on two wheels?

Move to Holland and Denmark and a different picture emerges in their bike shops. Up to 50% of cycles in the showrooms are town bikes with another 25% being hybrids. Mountain bikes only account for around 30% and the street racers account for the remaining 5%. Is it sales following usage, or is it that the British love of the fashionable mountain bike, or the traditional club tourer, is actually conspiring to inhibit a switch to pedal power?

To use a bike for daily commuting to school or work-place it will need basic necessities such as lights and mudguards. It will not need knobbly tyres and 24 gears. Some 90% of cycles for sale in the UK do not have these basics as standard fittings. Cross to Holland and the proportion is reversed, with 90% fully equipped. The message is clear. While we may campaign for more cycle facilities, our own retail industry is providing the wrong product to use on them and is selling an incomplete piece of equipment. No wonder that the majority of the 2 million bikes sold every year in the UK lurk in the dark recesses of garages while the car is used for the average home to work trip of less than 5 miles.

SWITZERLAND for a cycling holiday - it does not sound right. Surely it is all Alps, mountain railways, lakes and steamers? Well, yes, but you do not have to ride up the Alps while the railways and boats welcome bikes as part of an integrated transport system second to none.

Switzerland has a network of cycle routes which are surprisingly flat, well signed and well used by the locals. 10% of all journeys are made by bike. Tourists tend to stick to their cars and coaches. In Thun, a busy commercial and light industrial centre and our base for a recent visit, the main shopping street is for pedestrians and cyclists only during the day. Its 800m length is lined with cycle racks.

For about £35 you can buy a "Go anywhere" daily cycle pass for most trains and boats and for £350 you can obtain a yearly season ticket for your bike. The 9 major National cycle routes have easy to follow guide books and maps available in German, French and Italian. The local authorities have invested in complementary facilities to enhance the National routes. Many hotels have free bikes for guests - so go and sample environmental transport at its best.

Individuals

I spent a recent afternoon riding along a cycle path converted from a disused railway line in the suburbs of the Belgian city of Charleroi.

That the path existed was due to the persistence of two individuals, the Mayor of the City and Gilbert Perrin the President of the "Belgian Rails to Trails" organisation who promoted this and similar routes in his adopted country. He is Swiss.

It occurred to me as I cycled on their creation that a large amount of the progress we have made in bringing the bike to the fore as a sustainable transport medium has been down to individuals. In the UK John Grimshaw has changed attitudes and agendas wit h SUSTRANS - his personal creation. David Birwell has taken the Rails to Trails conservancy to be a potent force in the car dominated USA. In Spain Joaquin Jimenez, as a lone wolf, set Spanish railways off on a programme of forming 5000km of Greenways from their network of disused lines.

In Scotland David Begg single-handedly changed the transport planning scenario in Edinburgh to sustainability from the traditional highway engineering solutions previous generations of local politicians had espoused. A petite determined Belgian Lawyer Marie Caroline Coppieters has thrust the European Cycling Federation into a position of influence in the EU corridors of power. Closer to home the quiet persistence of Sheila Webb has helped to bring about pro-cycling change in Kent.

All individuals; all determined to make a difference for cycling for our future. Let us be thankful that the homogenous world we live in can keep producing such individuals to drive the engines of change.

From the Spring 1999 newsletter….

The World moves on and we move with it. Having stepped into the breach last April to fill Isobel Stoddart's shoes when she left for the USA, leaving Sustrans without a Kent Manager, I too have now relinquished that post & handed the baton on to Barney Hill.

Many of you will know Barney, a Wye resident, from the work he has already been involved in with Sustrans and local groups promoting cycling and other sustainability issues in the area. I wish him well, and I trust that Spokes will give him the same support that both Isobel & I received.

I am now spending more time with consultants looking at various projects world-wide, including cycling issues, so perhaps Loose Chippings will continue in a more cosmopolitan mode following-on from my report from Australia two editions ago. I have just returned from British Columbia where I took time-out from work to spend a few hours with our cycling colleagues from the Greater Nanaimo Cycling Coalition, (GNCC).

Driving, rather than riding, as the Canadian winter, even on the milder west coast precludes biking unless you are particularly hardy, and with snow on the surrounding hills plus rain coming off the Pacific, this was one of them. Off-road trail riding is popular over the miles of tracks through the dense forests on Vancouver Island but the GNCC is also keen to set-up tourist rides around their city.

Before leaving for Canada my work took me to an interesting European town where the local council had achieved a riding-rate of 14% of all local trips being made by bike. We were there to advise on expanding the already well planned network of cycle routes, many of them off-highway on disused railway lines. A problem we had to face is that the town and its regional authority now want to use the remaining rail routes for a new Light Rapid Transit system planned to remove even more car trips off the road, so we are having to come up with innovative new ideas as part of our contract.

This progressive harbour-side community is only some two and a half to three hours away from Kent by rail or road & would be well worth a days visit to see how other authorities operate away from this car-bound corner of SE England. The name of this oasis of sustainable transport planning? Gosport in Hampshire! Surprise, Surprise.

From the Winter 1998 newsletter….

As a Spokes member you probably are one, for Walcers are people who normally walk or cycle for short trips and do not use their car for these. The terms Walcer and Walcyng (the act of doing it) have come out of the E.Us ADONIS programme which set out to look at how to encourage walking and cycling as alternatives to short car trips and to improve traffic safety at the same time.

The work was undertaken by eight national traffic research institutes across Europe. Unfortunately (although perhaps not surprisingly) none of these were UK based and again it is no surprise to learn that when these researchers wrote to the British Highway Authorities for data and information only 12 bothered to reply. Bedfordshire, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Kent and Norfolk were the only counties to do so and this is a sad reflection on both our interest in the issues of sustainable transport and the sadly eurphobic nature of much of our establishment.

The project resulted in a massive "Best Practice" catalogue of guidelines for authorities to adopt in order to promote cycling and walking in their areas. The conclusions are encapsulated in a very clear six-sided leaflet that even the most hide-bound UK highway engineer or politician could understand if the Highway Authorities it has been freely distributed to chose to circulate it.

Should we be surprised that across Europe 30% of all car trips are shorter than 1km and could be walked in 15 mins. Some 50% of all car trips in Europe are less than 5km and could be cycled in 15 mins. Hence, if everyone was prepared to be a Walcer or had facilities to enable them to go Walcyng in safety half our car trips could be done away with.

How do we make the change happen? The report's authors are realistic enough to accept that in a society built around the motor vehicle, reciting facts and figures will not be enough to trigger positive actions to encourage the official promotion of Walcyng in some countries, despite the success of such programmes in the more civilised areas of Europe - Holland, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, etc. They talk openly about the need to get involved in one-to-one debates with advocates of unrestrained car use and the need to identify barriers to Walcing. These are the founding roles of campaign groups such as Spokes and with official E.U. reports and documentation behind us perhaps we should give fresh impetus to arguing the case for both cycling and walking in as many for as we can. For you are a Walcer.

Imagine a city the size of Kent. A suburban sprawl 80 miles by 30 miles, but with a population of only just over a million. That is Metropolitan Perth, the Capital of Western Australia, a beach front garden city strung out along a sandy plain overlooking the Indian Ocean. The locals call it the world's best kept secret, or California as the Californians imagine their state to be.

Like California the motorcar is the primary means of transport, but like California the bike is also making a comeback and a local bike culture really exists. Six years ago the Western Australian Government founded a group in its Transportation Department called Bike West. Their first action was to develop a cycling strategy to bring the need for bike friendly infrastructure to the attention of their engineer and planners.

It was not simply intended to emphasise the need to provide purpose built facilities and to integrate cycling into the existing road structure, but the strategy set out to allow the bike developers and planners to allow the bike "permeability" into and through all new housing and commercial zones in a way that the car could not.

Another idea was to integrate cycling into their suburban railway network by not only promoting feeder routes to stations but by building parallel cycle tracks alongside railway lines within their generous rights of way. This plan is now underway with some £1.5m being spent on station to station links that are helping to build up a long distance network linking suburb to suburb.

With bike shops present in almost every parade of shops there is a good feeling for cycling in Perth and the daily distance many people travel in this spread out city mean that it is a prime time leisure activity for the majority of its sports loving citizens. Early evenings and weekends see the routes around the rivers, lakes and parks busy with bikes as well as runners, walkers, roller bladers etc, all sharing the same paths without conflict. Surely a lesson for the diverse groups in the UK.

An interesting development in Western Australia is the current debate on the compulsory use of cycling helmets for they are viewed in many quarters as a major impediment in getting people back on a bike. It is now realised that such a rule takes away the spontaneity of just jumping on a bike for fun, or a trip to the shops, as well as giving a negative message that cycling is intrinsically dangerous.

Australia is a great place to visit and Perth especially so. It is the most isolated big city in the world, being more than 2,000 miles from anywhere of comparable size. So it has developed its own laid back lifestyle.

Moving Forward 

Every few years large organisations feel they have to reinvent themselves. Kent County Council is no exception.

Two years on from the role which brought me into the Traffic Management & Cycling role it has been reorganised out of existence, giving me the option to take a reasonable early retirement package. The emphasis is on early, for at 54 I had no wish to take up full time leisure. By one of those serendipitous chances the day I opted for a pension and the suitcase full of used fivers Isobel Stoddart rang up to say she was off to America and was I interested in the Kent part of her regional manager's role at SUSTRANS. It took a nano-second to think through the options and say yes. So from Cycling for Kent I will be Cycling for Britain from May. If a bike came as part of the job it would be a tandem, for joining me in the implementation of the National Cycle Network is Sheila Webb, your SPOKES co-ordinator. We will both be working two days a week on the project and I suspect Sheila will be steering the beast that John Grimshaw has let loose on Kent.

In the same way SPOKES backed me when I came into my Kent role I hope all you SPOKES persons will assist Sheila and me in our new jobs both by your pressure and your presence.

I would like to have passed on "Loose Chippings" to my successor in Kent but I regret there is no one lined up to concentrate on cycling in the near future although Phil Pittock at the East Kent office will keep his role of promoting cycling facilities in your area. As I live in Loose perhaps I can keep the title and write it from a SUSTRANS viewpoint. The decision is your Editors.

From the Spring 1998 newsletter….

This phrase sums up the movement in the United States to convert abandoned railway rights of way to cycling and walking paths that has resulted in a 24,000 km network in current use. This railway conversion programme has also happened on a smaller scale in the UK with John Grimshaw and our friends at Sustrans taking the lead with their now famous 25 km long Bristol to Bath path and subsequently the Cuckoo Trail, plus other routes. Even Kent has a small scale conversion in the Invicta Way at Whitstable where in 1978 KCC turned some 2 km of the Crab and Winkle line (closed in 1952) into a shared use route.

The decline of rural railways is not a US or UK phenomenon. In Belgium there are over 1200 km of abandoned tracks and Spain has 5000 km. Both these countries have started programmes to convert these into shared use cycle/ pedestrian/ equestrian paths and in May 1997 a Europe wide conference was organised in Belgium to bring together all those involved (or just interested) in this work.

An outcome of the conference was a decision that a European Greenways Association (E.G.W.A.) should be formed to promote the Rails to Trails philosophy and to campaign through the EU and national governments for these invaluable corridors to remain in transport use (for soft road users) as well as becoming linear nature reserves. A working group (including Sustrans as a leading player) met in Spain after the Velo City and Euro Velo events which resulted in a constitution and agenda being devised for E.G.W.A. with a launch event planned for Namur, Belgium, on the 8th January.

At this point John Grimshaw, whilst totally wishing to back E.G.W.A., realised that this could over stretch his limited H.Q. resources at Sustrans and cast around for a willing engineer to carry the UK input. One ‘phone call, a sheaf of faxes, and some weeks later I was on a Eurostar heading to Brussels and an onward connection to Namur as a Sustrans volunteer. So, in the presence of the great and good of both Belgium and the European cycling world the European Greenways Association was launched with my signature on the UK section of the articles of association. It is a multi-national undertaking with the Directors coming from France, Belgium, Spain and the UK (yours truly). The European Cycling Federation is involved, as are several European governments, railway administrations, and environmental groups. So, watch this space to see how Europe performs in converting Rails to Trails.

From the Winter 1997 newsletter….

Holidays should be fun. They can also be frustrating. This is especially true if you are in the transportation business and in visiting other areas you see what you should be doing but realise that you will probably never match their achievements in your working life.

Can you imagine a Mercedes-Benz dealer in the UK offering their clients a loan bike when they bring their car in for service rather than a courtesy car for the day? No - but that’s the deal at Freiburg, the beautiful German university city set between the Rhine and the Black Forest.

Can you imagine an English railway station forecourt so covered with overused bike racks that in places it was difficult for pedestrians to access trains? Freiburg again. The historic centre is over twice the size of Canterbury and it is only accessible by foot, trams and bikes, plus service vehicles in the early morning, with masses of kerbside parking being totally oversubscribed. Indeed cycling demand is such a problem that they have run a trial for a Park & Ride by bike and tram with bike parks at suburban trams stops as well as building new bike parking on the inner ring road to reduce the number of cyclists in the city centre.

The city and its surroundings boast 45 km of segregated off road highway cycleways, 105 km of cycle tracks on the carriageway, 120 km of high quality tracks through forests and farmland (our bridleways) and 130 km of routes on cycle friendly residential roads. All this to serve a population of 200,000 in greater Freiburg, parts of which are so steep that the City Transport Department operates cable cars to reach some suburbs.

It was interesting to note that although all the streets in the historic core (and many on the periphery) were totally shared use between pedestrians and cyclists there appeared to be no conflict, with a live and let live attitude prevailing. Perhaps we need to re-educate the public as well.

Where do we go from here? On my part this is back to German language classes, for at least with the EU we can live and work anywhere!

From the Autumn 1997 newsletter….

I suppose it is one of the perks of my job that I get to ride in nice places with good people. This was the case in June when I spent two days in Devon looking into the way that progressive county had planned, designed and funded their expanding network of tourist cycle routes.

The 1½ hour ride along the Tarka Trail - now part of National Cycle Route (NCR) 3 - was just a brief interval in a series of meetings with a broad spectrum of Devon staff including the Deputy Director (an ex-KCC man) and the Trail Warden (who was out with his bike-trailer combination cutting back vegetation). We learnt a lot from the people we met who were justifiably enthusiastic about the whole Tarka project which is keyed around sustainable tourism and named after Henry Williamson’s famous otter stories that were based in the area.

With some 150,000 cyclists and 500,000 walkers using the trails last year it is estimated that they directly benefited the community to the tune of £1.25m so the investment by Devon in converting the disused railway line is being more than repaid. These figures were before NCR 3 was opened this spring and Devon expects the cycle flows to rise to meet the 300,000 per year using the Camel Trail in Cornwall. Unlike our West Country colleagues we do not have a legacy of old railway lines to work on, but we now have vision of a new cycling challenge to meet.