Background Beelines is arguably the most important local transport initiative I will experience in my lifetime. A plan to create a network of a thousand miles of safe routes across the Greater Manchester city-region to enable increased levels of walking and...
Last week I was invited to appear on World Business Daily on the BBC World Service to talk about why Mobike had failed in Manchester. Having recently blogged on the demise of the Chinese bike-sharing scheme here, I was happy to...
Well folks, since my epic whinge last week I haven’t been commuting by bike and to be honest haven’t overly missed it. Basically I crossed the line from being battle-hardened to being shell-shocked and at the moment I just can’t face...
Folks, tonight I feel closer to quitting the whole cycling lark than I’ve ever been. This week, still only four days old, I’ve had so many depressing, worrying, dangerous incidents that it’s sapped what little joy I’ve managed to muster since...
In June 2017 Chinese bike-sharing company Mobike selected Manchester and Salford as the first location in Europe to trial its app-driven dockless-bike scheme. Much fanfare surrounded the launch, both in the UK and the Far East, and it was of course...
Cycle campaigners are fond of the maxim: “build it and they will come“, i.e. if you create a safe environment for people to cycle in, then people will, of their own volition, change habits and start cycling. But is it really...
Introduction Ever since my non-appearance on TV last weekend I’ve been wondering how well I would have coped under that much pressure – the actual interviewee Laura Laker performed valiantly considering she was under fire from three sides (widower Matt Briggs...
Yesterday, Saturday 11 August, I received a call out of the blue from a BBC journalist asking me whether, in my capacity as a cycle campaigner, I’d be willing to appear on breakfast TV to discuss a cycling-related news story that...
Introduction Regular readers of this blog will be aware that things have been afoot (and a-bike-wheel) for a while here in Greater Manchester. To recap briefly: May 2017: Andy Burnham elected Mayor of Greater Manchester July 2017: Burnham appoints Chris Boardman...
Disclaimer: This article is NOT advocating breaking the law, nor is it an exhortation to take unnecessary risks to oneself or others when cycling. Any comments suggesting such will be disregarded. Please read and try to understand the argument before commenting....
