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Workplace cycle challenge

Cycle campaign officers have recieved the following notification from Sam Robinson of Challenge for change.

I am delighted to announce that all three applications to Sustain Wales’
Supporting Sustainable Living Fund have been successful. We were informed
yesterday evening that following a Fund Panel meeting last week, the
decision was taken to fully support all three proposed Workplace Cycle
Challenges in Wales in 2012. Namely: Cardiff; Swansea; Gwynedd & Anglesea.

Thanks to all local and national stakeholders for their support in these
applications.

This is a major step in the right direction and the focus is now on us,
local stakeholder groups and key local and national agencies to identify
all remaining funding opportunities, based on this major funding source
coming through, to be sure we can get three Challenges away this year as
planned.

Challenge for Change and CTC look forward to continuing to build local
partnerships, working together to get many more people cycling more often,
right across these three regions. By working in this way we aim to change
the face of cycling in Wales over time, creating a legacy of sustainable
low carbon leisure & work active travel that impacts and benefits in many
ways, dismantling social and economic barriers, right across cultures.

The following link will provide up to date information and ways to get involved in this event.

http://www.cardiffcyclechallenge.org.uk/home

Cardiff - sustainable transport city?

Cardiff aims to become the UK’s most sustainable transport city by 2012 with public transport and cycle lanes receiving upgrades.   http://www.thefreshoutlook.com/?p=8756  28 Dec.2011

Contrast this claim with:
**  in Sept. 2012 they propose to close the bus station and worsen services/congestion by diverting buses to the failed 'Bus Box' with poor waiting facilities, rotten information and long walks to change buses or to rail (http://cardiffgreengranny.blogspot.com/)
** the use of 'sustainable transport' modes is aimed at only 48% journey-to-work by 2013; largely due to this, the carbon footprint of transport is substantially higher than cities such as Bristol and Newcastle (2.5tCO2 pa compared with 1.84/Bristol and 1.44/Newcastle: QUEST Euro-project: Carbon-assessment of city transport
http://www.carbonaware.eu/fileadmin/user_upload/IG_meeting/Final_event/2_Castangia_THE_MY_CITY_TOOL.pdf

** cycling facilities in the city are poor, detailed in the 'Freshoutlook' article as follows:
The designated cycle lanes currently consist of red stripes which are painted at the side of the road. They are poorly maintained, often parked on, not linked up to form a continuous cycle network and thinner than 1m; the safe distance cyclists need to be from the pavement in order to stop drivers overtaking them dangerously.
Other ‘cycle lanes’ consist of shared pavements that are not segregated and result in pedestrians and cyclists battling for space and bus lanes which stop abruptly.

Bus station redevelopment report

By Max Wallis

I was the sole member of the public that afternoon.  Only the project officers addressed the committee, Neil Mcevoy sent apologies from the Council Executive, and the Chairman did not circulate or read out our cyclists and other letters.  Though he said there's a long way to go, the Committee were told it was being rushed to Cabinet this month and then to specific planning applications in April.  Is this not Cardiff rushing to another planning botch-up?

The Project Director (Kevin Doyle) gave the main presentation, showing the publicised Central Square plan, but saying the architects have been told to make changes.  He followed the written report (Cardiff Council website, E&S Committee meeting), to show he'd addressed the Committee’s 18 points from last March, though they had commented on a very different plan.

# he dropped the talk of not providing for cyclists – said they would now include "decent storage" for cycles, plus workshop/sales.

# accepted the aim for a "truly integrated  transport interchange" (given by the Committee), not a replacement bus stn.

# had told the designers to now connect bus station (south end of Marland House) to rail station

#  decided the capacity of bus station is to be 75% of current buses - but could take 100% if programmed dynamically, assigning vacant bays to any bus and telling passengers to move.

Paul Carter as operational manager for major projects was second to Kevin Doyle.  They said the bus station was to operate on Event days, but gave no explanation, apart from saying access from south.

They aim to dispense with a bus-station for 18 months, using stops around the bus box (have hired Aecom to demonstrate conclusively this can work).  No Councillor asked about what happens on the closure/rebuilding of Westgate St, due within the next two years.

Funding is to come from WAG - £17M to take on the obligation to widen the Herbert St bridge, which they won't do (a very good deal they said) plus 2 x £2M tranches from Sustainable Travel City funding.   (In summary, the Council ruined the bus station, gave passengers a dreadful place for years, would expect special funding to close it down for 2 years or so, before building the new one).

Marland House and the m-s carpark are to be bought; they say the carparking must be replaced elsewhere and hope to get Railtrack to build a new m-s carpark to the rear of the rail station.  (Where is the Sustainable Travel assessment that says Cardiff must keep its over-abundance of central carparking, created for St Davids2 ??). The urgent driver is a Financial sector company (1500 jobs in Cardiff, who'd take on another 500). They are somehow to get Enterprise Zone advantages, even though that was originally for the Callaghan Square area (no mention of that this time, so given the criticisms (W.Mail 16 Dec. 2011 ** and poor market prospects it may be deferred as they spend all the £21M on Central Square).

They’ve engaged the "specialist" bus station designer Buro Happold, who have just revamped Slough Bus Stn (a fancy roof - aesthetics good, public facilities rotten, says a review); otherwise their experience appears from Google to be in designing Aqaba and Canada Water bus stations.  Kevin Doyle said Buro Happold describe themselves as one of the leading designers....  so Cardiff engaged them despite little track record with UK bus stations.

They intend to seek Cabinet endorsement on 30 January and submit a planning application in April, to start building in October.  Helpfully, Enterprise Zone status allows short-cutting of normal planning procedures. 

The public consultation was a 'strategy', with adverts around the city centre and in buses, also that one questionnaire last February that asked if people wanted a new bus station.  So Kevin Doyle implied no need to consult cyclists or bus users further. Public consultation that had been scheduled from 9th December has been quietly shelved.  The highly paid consultant designers will do the job and get it quickly through planning, to start building in October. 

The Council is still set on a Convention Centre -  scaled up with five-fold exhibition space (not the best intensive use of city centre space).  So they won't use the WMail&Echo site for the Financial firm, but will close down the bus station early, to suit them.  Kevin Doyle claimed woodenly that as the new bus station is a major construction, it's "not possible" to build it while operating in and out of the current bus station.  They don't need consultants to tell them "not possible", naturally.  

Evidently Central Square’s redevelopment is determined by the desire to meet demands of Finance Companies for a 10-12 storey, 230,000sq ft office block, towering over a small triangular public space.   The companies are said to be “two of Cardiff’s biggest employers” **,  so apparently take priority over bus services and bus users, despite the claim on Sustainable Travel City funds.

** http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2011/12/16/first-impressions-released-of-the-planned-central-business-district-in-cardiff-91466-29962086/#ixzz1kIZKIgOk

Bute Park winter access

For the rest of the winter cyclists can cross Bute Park in the Dark
 
The three month trial to keep two gates into Bute Park open till 7pm has been a success. The survey is open till 9 January but early results show that more people are walking across in the dark than cycling, that all users are really pleased to have this facility and most are critical of the poor signage which does not let people know about the later locking and which gates are kept open after dark. The two gates are the one by the new concert hall of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and the one on Sophia Gardens Bridge. 
 
Following a meeting with interested parties just before Christmas the Head of Parks, Jon Maidment, decided that the later locking at 7pm would be continued into the New Year until the clocks go forward. He will hold a further meeting in mid January to discuss the practicalities of paying two security wardens to monitor the gates and lock them at 7pm. There have been no incidents at all but the Police representative said he thought that was because the secuity guards were there and gave people confidence.  
 
The survey of cycle and walking commuters has now closed and the results will be analysed by the Council. Early results show that most people heard about 'crossing the park in the dark' via word of mouth and workplace intranet emails. The signage has been inadequate and contradictory and the Council Parks Services are looking into putting proper clear signs up soon.

Bus station re-development - cycle access

Here's a copy of a letter which the campaign has sent to the council, re the recently adopted plans for the bus station development:-

Central Square and adjacent development area

The Cardiff Cycling Campaign urges that the Executive plans as approved last week are called in for scrutiny by the Committee.

We are aware that in your report on issue of a new bus station, the Committee did decide that cyclists did not need to be accommodated within the limited area foreseen for it.  We agree that accomodating cyling within the bus station would be unneccesary. However, we are dismayed that decision appears to have been extended to ignore cycling provisions throughout the plans.

We would point out there is a need to accommodate considerable cycle traffic in this crucial area for access to the city centre, as well as to the transport interchange.
# between the Wood St bridge and Saunders Rd (for the Bute Terrace and Butetown routes) as well as St Mary Street (for the north-south route as well as central shops)
# access to cycle parking for transfer to buses, coaches and trains, as well as taking cycles on trains

The key pinch points in the layout as publicised are –
- from the west, Wood St to the station frontage (where commercial offices protrude onto existing highway instead of being set back from the previous development line) and
- from the east where buses could take all the space on the Saunders Rd and St Mary's Street routes. Practical solutions need demonstrating as these are also key for both cycle and pedestrian flows.
We hope the Committee will share our concern that prohibiting cycling from these key routes will lead to the same conflict seen elsewhere, where numbers of cyclists ignore the prohibiting.  Better to design for the cycling flows that will take place.

In addition there appears to be available space for expanded cycle parking, to levels befitting a sustainable transport city, at the east of the railway station (Saunders Rd), the area currently used by taxis appears vacant and unallocated in the plans.

This would also be an excellent opportunity and location for a proper site for cycle hire - a hire and service business – as is appropriate for a city wishing to promote cycling. With the demise of OY Bikes, let's make space for a quality service that really sends a message to citizens and visitors that Cardiff is serious about sustainable transport.

Richard Nelmes
Chairman - Cardiff Cycling Campaign

OYBike closure

The OYBike hire scheme which has been running in Cardiff is going to close before the end of December. This is because they couldn't find a sponsor to enable the scheme to keep running, and the scheme was not commercially viable without sponsorship (Cardiff council provided sponsorship at £70k pa for two years).

Those registered to hire bikes were informed by letter, and invited to apply to get one of the bikes, which will be handed over to ex users of the scheme. There has been some disquiet over the fact that there was a Welsh government subsidy provided to set up the scheme, and some thought that the remaining assets (the bikes, etc.) should have been taken over by the council ready for a replacement scheme.

Campaign members have some experience of other bike hire schemes in the UK and Europe. Many of the UK schemes seem to be failing (Newcastle is one exception), or at least not prospering. The Cardiff scheme did especially badly:-11 000 trips (perhaps 12 000 by the end of December) for 2 yrs funding @ £70 000pa, which is equivalent to a subsidy of more than £10 per trip.
 
It was launched in Sept. 2009 http://road.cc/content/news/6429-cardiff-launch-city-centre-bike-hire-scheme-september  ahead of London's, set to be a commercial venture. The first year was an abject failure, but the Council threw another year's subsidy at them which has proved to be wasted. 

Cardiff Cycling Campaign was sceptical from the start, and were not consulted about local cyclists' needs and potential people to serve, nor asked to help in recruiting members. The Campaign intend to lobby for a more realistic cycle hire scheme to be set up in Cardiff, looking at best practice elsewhere, following the examples of more successful projects in UK and European cities of similar size and topography.

Cardiff Cycle Festival 2012

A letter has been recieved from Jo Sachs-Eldridge thanking people for their contributions to the 2011 festival, and asking for help and ideas for the 2012 event. 

Cardiff Cycle Festival 2012 is planned to be another nine-day celebration of cycling with a host of exciting events happening across the city of interest to regular cyclists, occasional cyclists or even a wannabe cyclists.

This time they want to plan ahead earlier to help them to promote the events for longer and to a wider audience so if you would like to host an event please let them know as soon as possible! The more info you can tell them the better - what you are planning, the date, venue, target audience and perhaps a photograph. Email them on cycling@cardiff.gov.uk or complete the form on their new website - www.cardiffcyclefestival.co.uk.

They are also looking for ideas for events you would like to see happening or any cycling related activity you can think of that could be included– let your imagination go wild.

Follow this link to the events' listing for last year for some inspiration.

Proposed Highways & Transport (Wales) Bill

At the last Cardiff Cycling Campaign meeting, Sustrans Wales director Lee
Waters introduced the proposed Welsh Government “Highways
and Transport (Wales) Bill, which will place a duty on highway
authorities to develop and maintain networks of paths for walking
and cycling. There is a commitment to 5% of transport budgets to
support sustainable transport in this way.

Lee explained that this is a ‘flagship’ bill that is likely to gain all-
Party support, but there are issues for local government and
cycling that need to be worked on between now and 2013, with
consultations to shape the Bill.

The paths will not be just traffic free but part of a mixed approach,
Lee said, referring to the recent “Understanding Walking and
Cycling” publication that calls for better dedicated facilities for
cyclists. This was not about arguments between segregation and
on-road cycling however.

Lee understood that there is a range of attitudes from the
disability lobby, from opposition from Guide Dogs for the Blind for
example to enthusiastic support from Pedal Power, recognising the
benefits for many.

We had a lively discussion about the proposed Bill, about the
purpose of making cycling mainstream, adopting and applying
good design standards, changing the culture and practice in
highway authorities, reinforcing learnt experiences in shared space
and application of the Manual for Streets.

The Bill is expected to be incremental and may include
retrospective actions on existing networks, compulsory purchase,
and influencing road schemes at the earliest possible stages.
The draft bill will be published in the Spring. Lee encouraged us
to keep in touch, as others, and to make sure commitments are
made in the May 2012 Council elections.

Ken Barker

Ely Trail route development

The campaign has been contacted by Cardiff city council to comment on a plan to add ramps to the footbridge between Cowbridge Rd E and Sanatorium Rd, near Victoria park. We replied that we'd rather see the money spent on opening a temporary route through the old paper mill site, where the trail is intended to go when the  site is developed for housing (which may be some time in the current financial climate). Campaign members have found that there is already a continuous path from Sanatorium Rd through the site to Ely bridge, already fenced on one side, and easily (cheaply) adaptable as a cycle route until the developement takes place. We also informed that council that the planned footbridge ramps would be unsuitable for use by many leisure cyclists, and that limited cycling budgets should not be spent on this temporary and not very useful scheme.

The campaign are also trying to get a bridge built across the river from Sanatorium Gardens to Trelai park (where there is currently a pipe bridge), which would provide another possible route for the Ely trail. It is hoped that a soon to be redundant bridge on the bay barrage path near the Norwegian church will be moved here, and that a feasability study for this project will be funded shortly.

Challenge for change

The Cardiff cycle campaign will be giving local stakeholder support to this initiative.

Challenge for change is an initiative begun in New Zealand.  It aims to get onto bicycles people who do not normally cycle.  The distance cycled may be as short as across a car park, or long as across a county.  Each City's challenge runs for 12 months, with a three week focus period when the 'Challenge for change' people are in town.  During this period they organise making bicycles available for the Challenge.  The Cardiff Cycle Challenge will involve a bid to Environment Wales for funds to facilitate.

More information is available at http://www.challengeforchange.com/home

Pont y Werin Bridge 

This prestigious bridge opened in July 2010. It provides a leisure route around Cardiff Bay and provides an off-road route between Penarth and Cardiff, although the cycle links on either side are poor. Cardiff Cycling Campaign and the Vale Cyclists are working with both the Vale of Glamorgan Council and Cardiff Council to improve access to Penarth and into the Vale of Glamorgan. 

Bute Park entrance opposite Corbett Road

The new entrance is hazardous to cyclists on the cycle path as the new entrance to Bute Park is so wide. The hazard of vehicles entering and leaving is inadequate. We are working on improving this - in the meantime cyclists look out for traffic coming in and out of the entrance. 

History

Cardiff Cycling Campaign originated in discussions around Friends of the Earth and others, during 1987 and 1988. At one time it was a "Cycle Planning Group", at another time it was "Friends of the Bike". The first campaign event (a bike ride around the city and Cardiff Bay) was in September 1987.

The first newsletter was published in 1989.