Prioritise Active Travel over motor vehicles

I am delighted that Herts CC and North Herts Council are planning action to improve the provision for cycling and walking. Improvement is a good thing, but only if they create a network and prioritise Active Travel over motor vehicles.

However, in general I don’t feel the plans go far enough, and that risks making little or no difference to how many people leave cars behind and use Active Travel instead. If councils really want to make a difference, then the actions must be much bolder and clearer for people to change behaviour.

Too many past ‘improvements’ have been piecemeal and given cycle infrastructure a bad name – like the Letchworth painted gutter that runs along Station Way from Broadwater Avenue to Morrisson with a stupid little bit that takes you off the road ready to cross to a path by Morrisons. This ‘improvement’ makes things worse. It is never used. It is a waste of money. Please do not do anything like this.

Adopt the Dutch principles for improving Active Travel – and our roads – as much as is legally possible. Use resources like Not Just Bikes (https://www.youtube.com/NotJustBikes) to inform and educate all those involved with design AND build. Get those people on bikes to experience it first-hand so they understand how little differences in the travel surface matter.

General Comments: These comments apply across the whole of the district.

1. 1. I have one complaint. The statement “Plans to improve facilities for people who walk and cycle”.
      
      1. This, unintentionally, implies it is scraps for the underprivileged who can’t afford anything else. It risks setting the wrong mindset for those involved, making it less likely to succeed, as it assumes it’s for a small proportion of people, not all. The experience from cities around the world is that people walk and cycle when they feel safe and more so when that’s the easiest option.
      2. Make it – “Plans to improve facilities for people to walk and cycle”. One word different but changes the scope from the miserable few who already walk and cycle and are looked down upon for doing so because they’ve not made it – to ALL people. Because all people should be walking and cycling not driving, especially on local journeys – most journeys are local.
   2. I’m concerned that some changes appear small and not be noticed
      
      1. Many previous cycling ‘improvements’ failed because they were piecemeal; a stretch of cycleway that ends were it gets most dangerous because the road narrows and there ‘wasn’t the space’. These are worse than doing nothing – breeds mistrust, politicians make false claims, wastes money, increases car use.
      2. The Weston Way – Baldock Road cycleway risks dumping bicyclists onto the horribly dangerous Baldock Road. (I looked at the Baldock documentation first and it gives a bad impression, the Letchworth part indicates improvements supporting improvements.)
   3. Complete Networks must be formed for Walking, Cycling, Public Transport and Driving.
      
      1. The networks for Active Travel should be the most direct, smoothest, quickest and easiest routes. Push cars aside, not bikes.
      2. Junctions are the most important. Get them right and the scheme will an impact. Older schemes have typically deprioritised bicyclists putting cars first. They failed to make it easier to cycle and walk, and harder for vehicles.
   4. It is not enough to make it better for walking and cycling. Stevenage has one of the most extensive cycling networks of any town in the country but has only 3.3% of journeys by bike, a quarter of Cambridge. It must also be made less desirable to drive. That means heavily restricting vehicle movements.
   5. Town Centres should not have cars driving through, they are destinations, not thoroughfares. Especially old towns – it was fine when everyone walked or rode a horse. A 120 years ago it made sense to have through traffic who would likely stop and buy something; today that through traffic prevents people stopping and buying.
   6. Strongly limit car parking too – the town centre is not a car park. Do have lots of places to park bikes.
   7. There will be resistance. Making real positive change will be very unpopular – at the beginning. Eventually people will understand, and people will come to love it. Politicians of all persuasions must hold firm. Encourage them to watch Not Just Bikes YouTube channel to see how it can be.
   8. Change policies – it’s free to change policies! – to prioritise Active Travel to make it the default option for all journeys and easier than using a car. If these are already policy, thank you! Things like:
      
      1. Ensure all new plans involving transport have an Active Travel centric view, not the current car centric view.
      2. Require Continuous Pavements – see https://youtu.be/9OfBpQgLXUc
      3. Require clear design differences between Streets and Roads:
         1. Streets have driveways; they should be 20mph (30kph). The design should make it uncomfortable to drive faster.
         2. Roads provide access to somewhere else and have no driveways, these can be 30+mph.
         3. Stroads are a terrible idea mixing high speed and local access, thankfully we don’t have many of them in Herts. https://youtu.be/ORzNZUeUHAM
         4. Motorways are not relevant for walking and cycling, but present barriers.
      4. Making traffic calming the norm. https://youtu.be/bAxRYrpbnuA
      5. Require Tight Radius junctions, remove sweeping curves. One of the cheapest things to do and has one of the biggest impacts on safety for Active Travel.
      6. Ensure Footpaths and cycle ways that give the most direct route to places people want to go, while motorised vehicles must go the long way round.
      7. Make streets (and some roads) narrower.
      8. Get rid of signs. They cost money, create hazards and are often ignored. Make the street/road design layout infer the relevant speed and use. This is cheaper and looks better. Less traffic at slower speeds reduces maintenance costs.
         1. If you need a flashing sign to remind people to slow down, that means the road design is wrong.
      9. Make traffic lights smarter. Prioritise Walking and Cycling. Lights should be on Pedestrian Green (road red) unless a vehicle is detected, then it switches. When a pedestrian is detected (using radar as for vehicles) it should automatically switch to pedestrian green. Appropriate minimum green times may need to be set based on the level of flow.An excellent location to change this is outside Morrisons on Broadway Letchworth. There used to be a Zebra crossing, but there were so many people crossing it was holding up traffic. The answer should be how do we get rid of the traffic, not to inconvenience the pedestrian more.
      10. Do not allow any new drive-throughs. I would love to see a per vehicle charge for use. The damage they cause is huge.
   9. For any new development, before construction of buildings commence, build the infrastructure in this order, so workers can get to work without driving cars:
      
      1. First build footpaths and cycle ways.
      2. Then the tramways (if only 😉 and start running
      3. Then the roads
      4. Start the bus routes
   10. Make all streets in towns 20mph by default. Only by exception may roads be 30mph or faster.
       
       1. I understand the argument that it won’t make a difference – but it does make some difference for very low cost. It’s quick. It shows intent.
       2. Remake roads to the design speed. https://youtu.be/bglWCuCMSWc.
   11. To succeed, Behavioural Change is needed in addition to changing the built architecture. This will require education and information. One thought on this:
       
       1. The word Cyclist has been commandeered by the press for hate speech, I like to use the word Bicyclist to indicate this not about sport, Lycra and speed, but about everyday movement.
   12. People cycle on pavements – let them do so. Encourage people to cycle on pavements. Education people that this is better for all.
   13. Painted cycle lanes are better than nothing but are scary and dangerous. They will not encourage cycling. Not Just Bikes calls them Painted Gutters, with good justification. Please make the default wide separated cycleways.
       
       1. Avoid using paint and signs.
       2. Do use consistent coloured red asphalt for cycleways.
   14. Cycle paths should be wide enough for social cycling. Many people want to cycle while chatting with a friend.
       
       1. Minimum width 2m.
       2. Ideally, at least 2.5m.
       3. 3.3m for bidirectional cycle path.
       4. http://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/2016/08/mass-cycling-requires-sociable-side-by.html
   15. Created Filtered Permeability on many existing roads, so that cars go away from the main destination, but bicyclists and walkers can get through easily.
   16. Town Centres should be a Destination, not a Thoroughfare. Meaning cars and other vehicles cannot drive through them blighting the centre. Repeated experience has shown that if you remove vehicles, especially through traffic, people start using the space more and spending more.
   17. Across the district, there are way too many cars on the roads, most of which are parked, often on pavements and cycleways. Additionally, an increasing number of properties have dropped curbs causing more hazards and reducing public parking space availability.
       
       1. Introduce resident parking across the district. Require all properties with cars to buy parking permits. The first to cost about £200, the second 10x that, the third 10x that, etc – set by property, not by household, if they claim it’s another property, then there’s a new Council Tax revenue stream. There are some people who have many cars (I was once one) and clog up the roads for others. I know of a non-resident who just leaves their car on the street and only moves it every 4 months or so.
       2. Every person who has a drop curb takes away from everyone else – they should pay an annual charge for this privilege. Something like 2x the resident parking permit, that’s roughly equivalent to the number of on street parking spaces they take up.
   18. Work with Network Rail to increase bicycle parking at stations. One day we will have bicycle garages! https://youtu.be/9HdqTZs3vjU
   19. Building for Active Travel is one important step in helping people become healthier and happier – and reducing GHCs. Often Active Travel works best in conjunction with Public Transport, particularly cycles and train, so much so that the Dutch now recognise Cycle-Train as a mode of transport. Any plans should consider future public transport infrastructure expansion, in particular trams. Trams construction costs more, but have significantly lower operating costs for both power and maintenance, they are also liked better by travellers and are safer, being more predictable, than busses – and have lower emissions. With a combined population of 76k, Hitchin, LGC and Baldock are bigger than many German towns with trams.

Detailed comments on Baldock and Letchworth proposals

For Tim’s detailed comments on the Baldock and Letchworth proposals, please download the full document, which also includes photographs of key locations.