LONDON: A ride with the Mayor's Walking & Cycling Commissioner
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- Опубліковано 21 сер 2024
- Join me for a ride and conversation with Will Norman, London's Walking & Cycling Commissioner. We'll be exploring some infrastructure designed to create a safer, more inviting environment for all ages and abilities, from protected and separated bikeways to Low Traffic Neighborhood (LTN) designs, like modal filters and motor vehicle traffic diverters.
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- My previous interview with Will: • London, England, wants...
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Background:
Hi Everyone! My name is John Simmerman, and I’m a health promotion and public health professional with over 30 years of experience. Over the years, my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization in how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.
Since 2010, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be while striving to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."
The Active Towns Channel features my original video content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.
Thanks once again for tuning in! I hope you find this content helpful and insightful.
Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2024
A complex city to negotiate change. Well done Norman.
Indeed! Thanks so much for tuning in. Cheers! John
You must be the hardest-working person in the world! Every time I get on UA-cam, you have a new video that came out just minutes ago, and all of them are real bangers. I don't know how you do it, but I'm so glad you do. It's such a wonderful respite from all the doom and gloom out there. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
I always appreciate you tuning in! Thanks so much. Cheers! John
It's great to see my side of the pond on your channel. We are very lucky to have pavements in the UK. I know cyclists get a lot of stick from car drivers and yet the cars take up more room for eachother. The man who you interviewed enjoyed talking. Keep up the good work
Thanks so much, Bobbie. Will do. Cheers! John
Great video! Really enjoyed your discussion with Will and the insight into the challenges they face implementing some of the infrastructure.
Cool! Thanks so much for coming along for the ride. Cheers! John
Central London is great for cycling. The trouble is getting safely in and out of central to the places where people actually live. The decentralized nature of London's governance means that certain boroughs (especially those with voters of a particular leaning) sit as massive, smelly and dangerous barriers to progress.
I totally get that this is a challenge, and I think that Will alludes to this a bit when referencing the 33 different municipalities. Now I will say that I was staying way out in Walthamstow and rode in each day for about an hour or so and I think I got a good sense of what is was like to ride through those jurisdictions. For the record most of rides were delightful with only a handful of challenging spots. Could have the luck of the draw though to your point.
@@ActiveTowns You’re right it is luck of the draw. I live in Barnet which is one of the worst of the outer boroughs, whereas neighbouring Enfield is fairly good. Example: in Enfield you can get free cycle skills training. In Barnet they closed the programme because it was too popular 🤪
Wonderful video of London. Great to see all the changes they are implementing and planning to do.
It really is! Glad you enjoyed it.😀
London, for such a beautiful city, sacrifices so much to those roads. World class landmarks and lanes, lanes and more lanes..
Yep, unfortunately, we can say the same about most global world-class cities. Car brain is an insidious disease. hehe 🤣
Sadly true
True, though compared to most U.S. cities it's not nearly as bad and you don't have highways running through it.
Quite impressive. Good to learn that a big city like London is making advances in making their streets safer.
They are working on it... obviously a long way to go, but it should be inspiring to other big cities around the world. Thanks so much for tuning in. Cheers! John
@@ActiveTowns Exactly my thought.
@@nikhilsrl 😀
Nice that Cities like Londen are on track. But know that In the Netherlands we almost are 40 years un do the cars damage , and bike infrastructure. So everybody knows it takes a lot of time .
Yes, excellent point. The Netherlands has a tremendous headstart, and y'all keep improving the network all the time. Thanks so much for tuning in. Cheers! John
At a ground level nearly all people you have as guest on your show support the same insights but the more I watch these videos the more you notice the chasm between this of the pond and your side. Meaning the challenges each have to face. This London public officer clearly knows what he is taking about and has extensive knowledge of the subject matter. From a Dutch point of view I can very much relate to his observations, whereas the challenges you have to deal with on the other side of the Pond almost look from medieval, pre-sewer times!! Our problem is having to deal with 33 local authorities - also hailing back from medieval times! Everyone has to carry his own cross, it seems 😊😊
Indeed! I also do try to remember that in North America we’re only just now getting serious (in some locations) about these transformations whereas the Dutch, the Danes, the Swedes have a good fifty years head start on us. Cheers! John
Great video! These podcast style bike tours are an amazing format. Looking forward to more!
Cool! Glad you like them. Yes, more are on the way. There are quite a few tucked away in my archive as well. Hmmm, I may need to create a specific playlist for this format. Cheers! John
I’m a bike tourist and visit London regularly just to ride the city, great stuff and thanks for helping to put London on the map as a bike destination!
That’s fabulous! You are quite welcome and thank you so tuning in!
@@ActiveTowns
If you’re still in London at the weekend I’ll shout you a coffee
Awe, thanks! But I’m actually in Ghent for the Velo-city Conference this week
@@ActiveTowns
Enjoy work and play, select that excellent Belgium beer carefully!
Brilliant: free use of the Bike Hire on Sundays. I wonder if all 33 different traffic bureaucracies in London had to approve the free Bike Hire.
Hmmm... that's a good question. Let me see what I can find out, Mark
No, fortunately they didn't! The Santander Bikes (called that because of the bank that sponsors them) are run by Transport for London, the Mayoral authority that Will works for. But some boroughs can be real pains when it comes to infrastructure. Kensington and Chelsea (the place where the Grenfell Tower burnt down) is arguably the worst. They put in a segregated cycle lane for seven weeks then ripped it out again for spurious reasons, and now High Street Kensington is a gaping gap in a safe east-west route. Their attitude towards the "little people" goes back a long way though: a hundred years ago they prevented tram lines being built in their borough.
@@matthewmarks6951 Thanks for answering this for us. Much appreciated 🙏
Great job John! This was so fun and informative ❤
Thank you! So glad you enjoyed it! 🙏
At 7 minutes there's an upgrade to a painted bike lane. Did they put in low curbs along that?
That would be nice in my area.
I also like the raised bike lane. A clear division between car and bike traffic.
We had chickens and goats when I was growing up, and we made our own food.That's why I don't hunt. If you kill it you have to clean it.
Yes, those were quick-build low curbs with signage in that bike lane.
i cycle union street where they start the video every week :)
Oh cool! Thanks so much for tuning in. I hope you enjoyed it. Cheers! John
Had je niet ff de noordzee over kunnen zwemmen John en ff in Breda een rondje fietsen?
Het weer is in ieders geval ook k.t hier haha.
Cheers Dim.
I'm coming your way on the 24th 😀
Are you coming back to Paris?
Yes, I'll be in Paris on Friday night, June 21st, after the Velo-city conference in Ghent.
Interesting video but having been a couple of falls that luckily, I was wearing my helmet ⛑️ . Acoustic bike and class 2 electric bike I hope you and others have no regrets when it happens to you all that don't wear a helmet.
Good to hear you were okay. Take care.
Did you land on your head?
Bike helmets offer minimal protection - only up to 10mph when you hit a stationary object. They won't help in a crash with a car, and their psychological effect is to "other" cyclists so drivers take less care around them and cyclists themselves are likely to take more risks. You don't see many in places like The Netherlands. Please don't fall for cycle helmet propaganda - it only gives the impression that cycling is a lot more dangerous than it is. Far healthier to cycle than to be put off by being forced or shamed into wearing a helmet.
No mention of how bike lanes effect others, just a one sided view.
?? So then explain your view on the subject.....
@@ce17ec A lot of bike lanes are dangerous for pedestrians, especially with things like floating bus stops. They have crossings to reach the stop but most cyclists ignore them. Also, a lot of bike lanes are underused and create more traffic than they prevent and therefore more pollution.
So your solution is?
@@ActiveTowns Roads are perfectly safe for bikes to use, cyclists just need formalised training and registering before they're allowed to go on the roads. Then get rid of pointless cycle lanes.
We’re advocating for safe mobility options for all ages and abilities across all mobility modes of travel… this sounds a little different from the “cyclists” you are referencing. In my mind an 8 year old little girl or her 88 year old grandmother should have a safe and inviting route to ride on to their meaningful daily destinations. Are you proposing that all streets have motorists be driving so slow that are as safe as pedestrians on their pavements?