I see this as a little Easter present to all the Greater Manchester residents, actually.
Last week saw the launch of the Greater Manchester Cycling Manifesto!
The manifesto’s 5 principle keys are:
- Cycling infrastructure should be high quality, consistent and appropriate.
- Cycling should be fully integrated into the public transport system.
- On-road cycling training courses should be provided free of charge for adults.
- Residential areas should have a default speed limit of 20mph.
- Campaigns to promote cycling from A to B should be bold, sustained and targeted.
A fantastic charter drafted and created by the brilliant people of Love Your Bike and supported by a range of businesses and organisations of GM.
Please go read it, share it and enjoy it, because I do think this is a milestone for GM worth popping a bottle of bubbly… OK…. at least enjoy it with a nice cuppa eh?!
You know how much I believe in cycling to create a liveable and an enjoyable city, with much reduced level of congestion for a Manchester returned to a people-scale, which is what it deserves. This, for me, is a tangible step towards all that!
Naturally Cycling : Manchester 
So they fail to request measures to reduce the level of motor vehicles on the road?
You won’t get more people to cycle if you don’t force them out of their cars. Sadly FoE don’t want to upset car drivers…
erm… mike, encouraging high quality infrastructure, aka segregated dutch style infrastructure, by de facto reduces motor vehicles on the road as people feel safer to cycle and leave their car at home.
But hey if you want to be so negative, please go ahead… who am I to ask you to see this in a positive light uh?!
“Sadly FoE don’t want to upset car drivers”… I must admit Mike, for all the hard work that FoE-LYB does, and for being always the ones who actually take the time, bother and effort to respond to the (usually undesirable) proposals by local authorities, you are most ungrateful and rather unpleasant in your statement. Is it really necessary?
Is not that many of us, regular cyclists, out there, who put up with the poor cycling conditions in Manchester, instead of being so divisive we should try and support each other? Even if proposal may not be as forward as you’d like them to be?! See them as the starting point, not the end goal. Just saying, you know…
As a regular cyclist in central & south Manchester I don’t particularly care about segregated cycle lanes/paths as all too often other cyclists (and pedestrians) are as much or more of an issue than car drivers. What I do want is roads that are pothole free and drain properly and the knowledge that if I cycle around the city there will be secure places allocated for me to lock and leave my bike.
You’re absolutely right. That already comes under the responsibility and duty of the/any council, we all experience issues with the (lack of) promptness from their side on acting on such duties.
I reported an awful stretch of road nearby my home over two years ago, it was resurfaced last week. Better late than never?! Frustrating, but true. Now it’s a joy cycling down a smooth road. My kidneys are so grateful.
The fact is we need (and I personally wish to be part of that support/encouragement) to encourage lots more other people to cycle instead of driving, for that is why the manifesto was drafted. It is a starting point, not the end goal. It is a manifesto that will hopefully be adopted by GM local authorities so that they can have a common denominator, as at the moment, GM LAs don’t even talk to each other regarding issues such as transport, let alone sharing a common goal with regard to cycling (infrastructure and all).
I hope that you may be interested in joining (or add your voice to) Greater Manchester Cycling Campaign and/or Love Your Bike. We all want to be able to cycle in safe and pleasant conditions, going from A to B without worrying about being knocked off by cars or worse even by other cyclists (I have had a couple of near misses thanks to some unpleasant, fast cyclists who cared for no-one but themselves). So, surely we all wish to reach the same result?
Eastern Bloc eh?
Try to leave your silly leftish pseudo-egalitarianism behind and make a serious attempt to improve cycling in Manchester.
Pete, you are the funniest guy ever! 🙂