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Birmingham, Cities, City mayors, Coventry, Environment, Leicester, Sheffield, UK news - June 25, 2020

What the West Midlands is getting right, and wrong, for cycling

The region has made progress in getting people on to bikes, but where’s the ambition?

When the mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street, stood on an unlit section of towpath opposite what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse recently and hailed a “big summer for cycling and walking”, it was perhaps worryingly symbolic. That Friday, hours after Street invited us to “come cycle Birmingham’s canals”, at least two women were pushed into Birmingham waterways by a group of young men.

The West Midlands is proud of its industrial heritage, but unlit, isolated towpaths are no replacement for a cycle network that safely takes people places they want to be.

What the West Midlands is getting right, and wrong, for cycling

The region has made progress in getting people on to bikes, but where’s the ambition?

When the mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street, stood on an unlit section of towpath opposite what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse recently and hailed a “big summer for cycling and walking”, it was perhaps worryingly symbolic. That Friday, hours after Street invited us to “come cycle Birmingham’s canals”, at least two women were pushed into Birmingham waterways by a group of young men.

The West Midlands is proud of its industrial heritage, but unlit, isolated towpaths are no replacement for a cycle network that safely takes people places they want to be.

Can you guess the world city from the cycle lane icon?

Some cities use images of bikes and riders, with or without helmets. Some use riderless bikes – and others just get the geometry all wrong. Can you tell what city it is from its cycle lane icon?

Which city is this?

London

Paris

New York

Which city is this?

San Francisco

Manchester

Vancouver

Which city is this?

Amsterdam

Sydney

Edinburgh

Which city is this?

Stockholm

Milan

Washington DC

Which city is this?

Tokyo

Jakarta

Singapore

Which city is this?

Bahrain

New Orleans

Copenhagen

Which city is this?

Lille

Seattle

London

Which city is this?

Perth

Prague

Pittsburgh

8 and above.

Excellent

7 and above.

Very good

6 and above.

Pretty good

5 and above.

Not bad

4 and above.

Not bad

3 and above.

Hmm

2 and above.

Oops

0 and above.

Oops

1 and above.

Oops

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'People think we’re from another planet': meet Karachi's female cyclists

Teams of women and girls are among numerous cycle groups increasingly to be seen on the streets of the frenetic Pakistan megacity

Early on Sunday morning in Karachi, a group of girls are riding loops around an empty stretch of road outside the colonial-era Custom House. At 6am they left the narrow alleys of the old neighbourhood of Lyari, branded a war zone by national and international media after a lengthy and brutal gang conflict. Two hours later they are still happily pedalling away, in ballet slippers and with headscarves tucked under helmets.

“I used to cycle alone,” says Gullu Badar, 15. “It’s nice to cycle here because there’s no danger, no cars. It feels good that there are other girls cycling with me too.”

The ego of our men is very fragile. If someone is trying something new they cannot tolerate it

How apartheid killed Johannesburg's cycling culture

Racial segregation meant cycling lost status in South Africa earlier and more intensely than in the rest of the western world

Cycling Cities: the Johannesburg Experience is published by the Foundation for the History of Technology

“The writer counted, in the space of only four minutes, 93 native cyclists riding past the Astra theatre,” wrote a journalist for the Star newspaper in July 1940. Standing almost 80 years later on the same corner of Louis Botha Avenue at the same time and day of the week – 6.30pm on a Monday – it is hard to imagine. The theatre is long gone and not a single cyclist is to be seen on the car-choked thoroughfare.

What happened to Johannesburg’s once vibrant commuter cycling culture? The dominance of the automobile marginalised the bicycle in many cities around the world through the 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s but that process was accelerated in South Africa by apartheid. When policies of spatial segregation forcibly moved black people to faraway townships at the periphery of the city, the distance between work and home increased dramatically and cycling collapsed as an everyday practice.

It may be said of the Johannesburg child that he learns to cycle before he can walk

Members of Johannesburg Amateur Bicycling Club, a white leisure cycling group, in the 1890s

Alexander Township residents ride bicycles in 1957 as part of a boycott of bus services in protest at high fares

Left: two men pose proudly with their bicycles in 1922. Right: 1890s Johannesburg

Workers from a white working-class neighbourhood cycle towards the then city centre

Left: white children’s bicycles at an airshow. Right: Alexandra Township residents discuss the 1957 bus boycott

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What the West Midlands is getting right, and wrong, for cycling

What the West Midlands is getting right, and wrong, for cycling

Can you guess the world city from the cycle lane icon?

'People think we’re from another planet': meet Karachi's female cyclists

How apartheid killed Johannesburg's cycling culture

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