Congratulations! And celebrations?

This just in – Giant comedy cardboard cheque for £17 million arrives at Birmingham Council House!

Yes, bike fans, Birmingham Council is swimming in the long-awaited cycling cash thanks to a successful bid and the OK from the Department of Transport. And with the coffers swollen with all this money, their idea is to make Birmingham as bike friendly as Amsterdam.

So, should we all go out, buy clogs, circles of the finest Edam and Dutch phrase books immediately?

Erm…..no. Not just yet anyway.

Whilst our Dutch counterparts continue to cycle the miles and miles of their excellent cycling infrastructure, Birmingham Council’s plan will take 2 years and these plans want to triple the number of city cyclists, revamp canal towpath’s and create or upgrade 130 miles of off & on-road routes.

One of the main parts of the plan is to create a long-awaited bike share scheme on a par with the Boris Bikes currently in operation in the nation’s capital.

And with rumours abound that Manchester had already outbid Birmingham for the cycling cash, today’s announcement is particularly sweet for those involved in the bid. Councillor James McKay, cabinet member promoting a “green, safe and smart city”, told the Birmingham Mail, “You always get speculation over these bids and the level of speculation is a measure of the interest in the project.”. This after a Manchester MP for the Liberal Democrats had previously posted online that his city had already won the bid.

So while it is right to celebrate this victory, this author suggests we also temper the celebrations with an air of caution.

The cash is now available, which, don’t get me wrong, I think is brilliant. £17 million from the government and £7 million from Birmingham Council. So £24 million all together. What we need now is strong leadership. We need the money to be spent wisely. Sensibly. Correctly.

I can’t be the only one not wanting to be cycling around a city in 2 year’s time that’s  full of Sir Albert’s Folly’s.

Auf Wiedersehen Bab?

 

Anyone who watched last night’s BBC show “Bang Goes The Theory”, may have seen their report on how the city of Berlin has increased the quality of the air in the city by cutting down on emissions. They attribute some of this reduction on more people using alternative transport such as electric cars and more people cycling. So I was wondering – can Birmingham learn anything from this?

I’d like to think they can.

I visited Berlin a few years ago and must admit, there seemed to be a noticeable lack of cars on the roads. Ok, they are blessed with a fantastic public transport system (something our fair city sadly lacks) and not too many hills, so you can definitely see the attraction of using bikes to get around – they even built sculptures to their bikes (see the picture I took above). But with that in mind, we should be looking at cities like Berlin and Amsterdam as blueprints for what we want to achieve here in Birmingham.

Some would say we are trying to improve things by making changes with the advent of hybrid electric buses and the addition to the tram to New Street but even with these changes, we are still miles behind not only our counterparts in Europe but even UK cities such as Manchester and Newcastle.

So come on Brum, time to step up…..otherwise it’s Auf Wiedersehen Bab…..

Let me please introduce myself….

So this is me. My name is Wayne and I love my bike. Although I must admit – this isn’t the bike I actually use on a regular basis. This is a bike I hired from Starbikes, in Amsterdam

I did purchase one of these bikes and yes, it was a little weird at first to get used to a bike with no brakes (just a back pedal one!), nevertheless, I love my bike.

Anyone who has had the pleasure of cycling in Amsterdam or indeed, anywhere in the Netherlands, will tell you that cycling is really a joy. Dedicated cycle lanes (as you can see in the picture) and traffic lights specifically for cyclists. It is heaven. So if Birmingham gets this cycling grant, we could have our own lanes instead of dodging motorists and diesel-spewing buses !!