Streets Ahead's presenters, well at least two of them, have been gallivanting around Europe in recent weeks, coming back together in this episode as a trio to embark on an audio roam through some of the current topics in cycling. From the link between bike racing and everyday cycling, to the spending review's implications, to the rise of 'fake e-bikes', a recent report which Laura and Adam worked on, we have it all here.

Links from the show:

The Robert Frost poem, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/42891/stopping-by-woods-on-a-snowy-evening

Cycling superstar, Cat Ferguson: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_Ferguson

The Spending Review: https://transportactionnetwork.org.uk/spending-review-cuts-active-travel-funding-by-40/

Transport for New Homes' research on car dependency in new housing. https://www.transportfornewhomes.org.uk/the-project/building-car-dependency/ and its award for the Bath Riverside housing development: https://www.transportfornewhomes.org.uk/transport-for-new-homes-award-bath-riverside/

And the recent e-bike report, by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Walking and Cycling, authored by Laura Laker: https://appgcw.org/resources/inquiries/unregulated-and-unsafe-the-threat-of-illegal-e-bikes/

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This episode Laura and Adam talk to two guests from PJA, who happen to be this week’s sponsors, about rural active travel. Phil Jones is chairman at PJA and Ben Coleman PJA's technical director.

Active travel is sometimes associated with busy urban bike lanes and bustling city pavements. But rural areas’ transport needs are as, if not more acute. With fewer buses or rail services, and longer distances to travel along fast-moving country roads, people in small towns and villages tend to have few alternatives to the car. Rural car-dependence is high, rural transport poverty is higher. And while inter-urban paths connecting nearby settlements could offer transport independence from youth to old age, funding and delivering such connections can be fiendishly hard.

Laura also spoke to Joaquim Muntane, Technical Lead (Movement and Place) at Oxfordshire County Council about their plans to deliver a network of greenways linking 60 settlements with the city of Oxford.

PJA’s vision is to create better places through great design. They bring together place-led transport planning, civil engineering and environmental solutions, partnering with developers, landowners and national and local government to enable good growth in urban and rural places. You can find out more: https://pja.co.uk/

Some issues we covered in this week's episode:

Lives will be lost without better routes, say MPs: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1elnwn09vno; from a Parliamentary debate on rural cycling: https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2024-12-10/debates/C12E8986-6FA2-4C57-98B8-2FC6F289C627/RuralCyclingInfrastructure

Faversham's town-wide 20mph: https://pja.co.uk/2020/07/01/pja_faversham_20mph/

English cycle route standards, LTN 1/20: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cycle-infrastructure-design-ltn-120

The planning and Infrastructure Bill https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-planning-and-infrastructure-bill/guide-to-the-planning-and-infrastructure-bill

Oxfordshire's Greenways Plan https://letstalk.oxfordshire.gov.uk/oxford-greenways

Cambridgeshire Greenways plan https://www.greatercambridge.org.uk/sustainable-transport-programme/active-travel-projects/greater-cambridge-greenways

The decade-long B4044 path campaign https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/24718917.cycle-lane-oxford-step-closer-10-year-campaign/

For ad-free listening, behind-the-scenes and bonus content and to help support the podcast - head to (https://www.patreon.com/StreetsAheadPodcast). We’ll even send you some stickers!

We’re also on BlueSky and welcome your feedback on our episode: https://bsky.app/profile/podstreetsahead.bsky.social

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It's fair to say this issue has been rumbling on a while. In the 1970s 70% of 4-11 year olds walked to school. Now less than half do. Three quarters of parents say 'side road zebras' would help them walk their kids to school more.

In countries around the world white stripes, painted on the roads where side streets meet main roads, give pedestrians confidence, and drivers a reminder, that pavement users have the priority. However, in the UK any 'zebra crossing' as we call them, needs a flashing orange beacon and zig-zag lines at either side, to be legal on the roads. While 40 times cheaper to deliver, and tried and tested worldwide, 'side road zebras' without the lights or extra lines have been rattling around the pinball machine of British transport legislation for around eight years, so far without an outcome. While they exist in supermarket car parks without incident, the public roads are a different matter.

Chris Boardman, England's walking and cycling commissioner, talks to Adam and Laura about the idea, which he's backed for some time, first working in Manchester as active travel commissioner, and now, in the national role. While he says caution in transport policy helps stop stupid things happening, he believes it is now the time to move forward. For context, we've had six transport ministers in the time it's taken to mull this issue.

Adam and Laura also spoke to Westminster City Council's Cabinet Member for Streets, Max Sullivan. Max is overseeing trials of ten side road zebras in the heart of London, including outside the Houses of Parliament and the Department for Transport's HQ, which he says is a coincidence.

A whopping 29% of pedestrians have been hit or nearly hit by a driver at a side road. Trials in Greater Manchester found drivers give way at side roads 30% more when there's a side road zebra. Additional polling found 76 per cent of parents of 4-11-year-olds would feel safer about their child walking to school (or allowing them to walk independently) if there were zebra crossings on side roads.

We also visit the issue of pedestrianisation of Oxford Street by the mayor of London, Sir Sadiq Khan, against Westminster City Council's wishes.

For ad-free listening, behind-the-scenes and bonus content and to help support the podcast - head to (https://www.patreon.com/StreetsAheadPodcast). We’ll even send you some stickers!

We’re also on BlueSky and welcome your feedback on our episode: https://bsky.app/profile/podstreetsahead.bsky.social

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.