Northern Rail Cycling Forum

News that the Northern Rail Cycling Forum is coming to Darlington next week is a timely reminder of that company's attempts to encourage integration between two forms of sustainable travel. The forum brings together a range of cycling organisations with representatives of Northern Rail at regular meetings held around the North.

Despite their leaky and ancient rolling stock, Northern have an excellent and helpful policy towards cyclists. I, and many friends, have found their staff to be extremely accommodating and helpful. You get the feeling that, if they had the money - or state encouragement - Northern might start investing in the kinds of carriages that are used by cycling-friendly operators around Europe. As part of that cooperative approach, the Campaign has been invited along next Wednesday to the Dolphin Centre.

Sadly, our colleagues from Newcastle Cycling Campaign have had less luck. There, Nexus-run Tyne and Wear Metro use "health and safety" considerations to ban cyclists from bringing their bicycles on to their trains. Metro train drivers are known to call the police out to evict a cyclist from an otherwise empty carriage. Newcastle is currently going through the consultation stages of a cycling strategy for the city, as well as its Local Transport Plan 3. Neither mentions the metro bike ban. Newcastle Cycling Campaign have raised this strongly in their response to LTP3.

Which leads us neatly to what we thought we had in store in the near future, the Tees Valley Metro. Funding was in place and work was ready to commence - until the Con-Dem government came along. Like much else in the area, the whole project is now up in the air, thanks to the government's spending review.

So for now we are stuck with Northern's rickety old trains. But at least they have pleasant staff who are welcoming to cyclists. A reminder, perhaps of the days when British Rail once catered for somewhat more of us:

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Bike and Trains Study Tour, Netherlands

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The All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group visited the Netherlands in April 2009 with officials from British cycling organisations. This excellent video by Newcastle-based Carlton Reid of QuickreleaseTV documents the group's findings.

Carlton Reid will be a guest speaker of Darlington Cycling Campaign this coming autumn.

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Dangerous Roads

The top four stories on The Northern Echo website at the moment are all car-related and all negative:

* Four-car collision causes traffic disruption
* Sneezing man rescued from burning car
* Two seriously injured after tanker and cars collide
* 118mph Police driving instructor’s speed shame (also the front page story in today's paper)

Thankfully no-one was killed in any of these incidents.

How come nobody remembers these stories when trying to decide how to get somewhere, yet they remember any story about trains being delayed?

At least when the train is delayed you get to have a chat and are given free papers and drinks.

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Cycling in Europe 6 - Bikes on Trains

Our last hours in the Netherlands included the remarkable Groningen railway station. Underneath a large, open forecourtthat is devoid of traffic, resides a massive bicycle parking area, with what seemed like tens of thousands of bikes parked up.

Groningen, with a population of 185,000 is about twice the size of Darlington, roughly as big as Sunderland. And this is the kind of picture that can be imagined if we had a cycling-friendly culture in the north east of England.

We put our bikes on the train in Groningen, and again space is tight. It's the rush hour on a small local train to the border town of Nieuweschans. From here, it's a short ride to the border, but remarkably the cycle route takes us into Germany without a hint of a border crossing. Only the change in road signs and bus stops give away the change of country - we actually crossed the border on a small path that runs alongside a single-track railway line.

Trains in Germany are quite different - an entire carriage at the rear of the train is given over to cyclists. The seats are lined up along the side walls, and can be up or down depending on the number of bikes.

In both cases, though, we need to pay for the bikes, (daily tickets cost 6 euros in the Netherlands, 4.50 in Germany) whatever the journey. So compared to the UK pluses and minuses - we don't pay for bikes on trains in the UK, but there is little space, and we must book in advance. In the Netherlands there is still little space, though it is at least a walk on service. In Germany, taking the bike is a lot easier, though again requires payment.

So we arrive at our destination, Bremen. A few days to cycle around and gain some further impressions before the return home.

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Cycling in Europe 2 - Joy in Central Holland

Within 300 metres of getting off the ferry in Ijmuiden, we are confronted with a magic roundabout. A cycle ring towards the outer rim gives cyclists priority over vehicle traffic joining and leaving the roundabout. We know this phenomenon from previous visits to Bremen, where we have filmed a roundabout that is designed for motorists to give way to cyclists on entering or leaving. (Have a look at the Things to Come video on our 2007 Cycling Symposium site for an idea of what this means).

This bikezone article gives an overview of the problems with British roundabouts from a cyclists' point of view.

Accident rates at roundabouts are a concern in most industrialised countries. It just seems that some (including the UK) can't imagine a solution that gives such priority to non-motorised traffic. Yet studies consistently suggest that driver awareness and attention is the key to reducing accidents. Even at these cycle ring roundabouts, cyclists are watching out for sleepy car drivers. A clear run through a roundabout for a car driver reduces their propensity to pay close attention to details like cyclists.



We team up with Martin (above), a cyclist from North Shields who is touring Holland for a couple of weeks. Martin has Dutch parents, but sounds Geordie through and through after being brought up on Tyneside. He struggles to enjoy cycling in North Shields, but loves it here in Holland. Martin's choice of cycling on Tyneside is partly economic - he is not burdened by the spiralling costs of car ownership, and has adjusted his lifestyle accordingly.

Then we cross the nearby river on a ferry that separates cars from cyclists/pedestrians, the former paying for the crossing, the latter not. So pricing policy favours sustainable transport there.



When we come across this small railway station in Castricum, we realise the depth of cycling culture in this part of the world - hundreds of bikes used to commute to a station the size of Thornaby.

We say our goodbyes to Martin, who is heading up to the islands. A short train trip from Castricum to Anna Paulowna near the dyke to the north is perhaps less inspiring, and explains why most bikes are left behind. Whilst it is possible to walk on a train with your bike without pre-booking, it costs six euros for a bike "day ticket", however short the journey. And there is little space to store bikes in the designated areas - maybe 2 or 3 bikes at a time in two or three spaces near doorways.

When we tell a passenger we are heading for Germany, they mention in passing how German trains are both better and cheaper. Judgement withheld until later.

After two days of rain, at last the sun comes out as we leave the train. Coupled with a decent breeze on our backs, the long ride to and over the dyke now becomes genuinely exhilarating. Tim decides to burst into song. The joys, the joys.

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Cycling in Europe 1 - Tyneside

Two of the Campaign's members are off to Holland and Germany for a few days to experience first hand day-to-day cycling in nearby European countries. No lycra-clad thousand miles and more style cycling - this is a leisurely journey to Bremen in northern Germany by bike, ferry and train.

The start of this short investigative trip was the 12 miles or so from Newcastle Central Station (a horrendously wet day inhibited cycling direct from Darlo) to the ferry terminal at North Shields. This meant using the riverside cycle route along the north of the river Tyne.

Much of the route followed a very pleasant track bed, presumably an old industrial railway line, frustratingly interrupted by regular crossings of roads. At each of these crossings, the former bridge had been demolished, to be replaced by a long descending run (resulting in a gathering of speed) to the road crossing, followed by various barriers to maintaining that speed - barriers, give way signs, roads with no warnings to motorists to take care, and of course your average uneducated UK urban car driver who blasts his youthful way through such situations with a full throttle in a 30 miles an hour zone. All this followed by the steep climb up the other side.

One aim of our trip is to try to understand why so many of our motorists can be so unhelpful towards cyclists; another is to consider whether the adage that "we can't change them - this is Britain" is really true. This is crucial to us finding ways to make driving behaviour more considerate. We overnight on the ferry to Ijmuiden in Holland to see how - and if - they do it over there.

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Tyne & Wear Metro and Bikes

This coming weekend, I'll be up on Tyneside with my bike. The weather forecast is horrendous, so I took a look at the Metro web site to see whether I could, in an emergency, take my bike on board a train. I foolishly though that, having recently returned from Berlin, where the local train operator is actively encouraging cyclists onto their trains with their bikes, there might be a chance.

Alas, the only mention of bicycles is in the "Terms and Conditions" document, which specifically bans bikes from trains. In response I have sent the following letter:

Dear Metro,

Isn't it about time you woke up to your responsibilities regarding climate change and started to make it easier for cyclists to use the metro system? Having viewed your conditions of carriage, I see that you have a blanket ban on bicycles on metro trains. Compare this with more progressive cities like Berlin, where there is currently a major campaign being run by the local train network to encourage cyclists on to their trains with their bikes.

Excuses are now not good enough. We badly need to encourage the use of sustainable transport in our towns and cities. Please reconsider this backward rule, and look at ways in which you can become a partner in finding local solutions to climate change.

Any experiences of trying to take your bike on to local trains would be helpful.

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Bikes on trains: how we used to live

So, we could do it in the Fifties...



Part two can be seen on the site I found this on: Film Of British Cycling Club Outing (1955)

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Bikes on Trains - Photo

Members of Darlington Cycling Campaign, Tim Stahl and Mike McTimoney, meet with Liberal Democrats, including Fiona Hall MEP, at Darlington Station, to discuss the government's attempt to block EU legislation which would require train companies to provide more space on trains for bikes, pushchairs and wheelchairs.

From left to right: Dr Tim Stahl, Ian Barnes, Alan Macnab, Cllr Malcolm Dunstone, Cllr Martin Swainston, Fiona Hall MEP, Mike McTimoney, Robin Cradock and Dr Robert Upshall.

More details on the previous blog post: Bikes on Trains

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Bikes on Trains - Letter from Berlin

As it is a European Parliament initiative that has raised the question of bikes on trains, Darlington Cycling Campaign felt it might be useful to observe how travellers in a bike friendly country handle the issue. By chance, one of our members is currently working in Berlin, and sent this photo of a father and his two kids using the city's S-Bahn.

In fact, all local trains in Berlin have carriages with flip-up seats that allow for bikes, prams and wheelchairs to occupy space. There is a small extra charge for bringing your bike on a train, but as so many people use public transport - and cycle - they typically buy an annual or monthly pass. A monthly pass costs 8 euros for a bike on top of normal fares. Students pay 145 euros for a full annual travel pass that includes a bike pass. All Berlin students are obliged to buy one. Given how little a monthly bike pass costs, and indeed an annual travel pass for students, the network is heavily used, frequent, and always being used by cyclists. As in this picture, there are often too many for the designated spaces, so cyclists use any other available open space on a carriage.

Bikes are expected on local trains - just as they are, interestingly on those Berlin pavements where a cycle path does not exist. Berlin is not the most cycle-friendly city in Germany, but the clear perspective of cyclists and non-cyclists is that cyclists can use their judgement to make joint use of pavements - and trains - safe for everyone. So rather than using restrictive travel laws that make it complicated and, judging by the previous post, impractical to take a bike on a train, here in Berlin it is a natural and easy part of getting around. And travel laws are flexible enough to allow cyclists to use spaces other than so-called "designated" spaces.

This essential trust in cyclists is what I think is badly lacking in the UK, due of course to the fact that so few Brits cycle, and this majority of non-cyclists stereotype cyclists around their chavs-on-bikes obsessions. Whilst the European Parliament debates compulsory designated space, those countries with a pro-cycling perspective are busy making it easier to use non-designated spaces. This picture, for the average thinking Berliner, is a sign of the success of their environmental policies. To the typical Darlington transport commentator, I suspect it is an outrage that should be punished with a £500 fine, skateboarder-style.

Comparing Berlin's approach to the debate in the UK, and the government's apparent desire to oppose compulsory space on trains for bikes, wheelchairs etc (could someone point to a website with the UK government's position - googling failed to come up with anything), it seems there is only one conclusion. The current regime of privatised railways - just as with our beloved privatised buses in Darlington - cannot deliver what is required in the 21st century. They are not fit for purpose. They badly need reforming so that they can actually serve our public transport needs.

All this sounds like very New Labour language. But New Labour seems so wedded to the companies currently delivering our public transport, that they have lost sight of their core ideology - to keep reforming and come up with something new. Is it too much to suggest that New Labour is the new Old Labour? And maybe even vice versa?

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Bikes on Trains

Fiona Hall, Lib Dem MEP (Member of the European Parliament) for the North East, is visiting Darlington this Saturday, April 28th, as part of her campaign to make trains more accessible for cyclists and wheelchair users. Darlington Cycling Campaign are supporting the campaign and will be meeting her at the station.

The European Parliament voted for a resolution to require trains to have extra space for bikes, pushchairs, wheelchairs and sports equipment. This is going to the Council of Ministers and the UK Government have said that they will fight against the proposals in the transport ministers' meeting. The story so far is on Fiona's website:

* Fiona backs extra space for bikes, buggies and wheelchairs
* Government will fight against extra space on trains

Campaign members use the train on a daily basis, using bikes at either end of the journey:

I find my journey to York quite easy by bike and train and it is a lot quicker than driving. I think there is potential for a lot more cycle/train commuters in Darlington.

I use the train quite regularly for work and it often makes sense to take my bike. I have done this on several occassions from Darlington to Newcastle,
Durham, York and Middlesbrough.

So, bikes and trains can live happily together. Or, can they?

Booking a bike on a train is very difficult and time consuming, so I have a bike at both ends (bike 2 lives on York Station).

The main problem that I face is the insistence that I make a reservation for my bike. This is a problem because, if I'm attending meetings, I don't necessarily know what time they will finish. I have missed trains where I've made a reservation or faced a long wait for my train if the meeting finished early.

More space on trains is clearly needed, both for bikes and wheelchairs/scooters.

(we regularly use the train with our kids and it only takes a couple of families doing the same and the lobbies are stuffed full of pushchairs.)

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The City That Never Walks

In The City That Never Walks, Robert Sullivan discusses the changes that some American cities are making to encourage their residents to walk or cycle, rather than taking the car:

places like downtown Albuquerque, where one-way streets have become more pedestrian-friendly two-way streets, and car lanes are replaced by bike lanes, with bike racks everywhere

Some of the schemes listed are already taking place in Darlington, but lots are not.

* a walkable town centre
* purposely limited parking
* a new bus plaza that is part of a mass transit renaissance
* an urban walking and biking trail [linking] neighbourhoods
* charges drivers a fee to enter the core business area
* police sting operations arrest speeding drivers
* replaced parking spaces near a subway station with rows of bike racks
* some traffic lights are programmed to change for approaching buses

We have the Pedestrian Heart, but what of some of the other schemes?

Someone needing to travel between Bishop Auckland or Newton Aycliffe and Darlington for work or education has very little choice but to drive. Should Darlington not be pushing for changes to the train timetable?

Any new scheme in the centre of town seems to need more car parking. When the TK Maxx building was built on the Crown Street car park, why did it need the car park addition? When the Commercial Street development takes place, will the multi-storey car park built near Gladstone Street increase traffic in that area? What will this do to the residents' health and lifestyles?

Some work is being done to increase the number of off-road walking and cycling tracks around the town, but could more be done? I can almost get from my house to the town centre without touching a main road. Almost. Whatever way I go, I end up having to make the last part of the journey on North Road or Haughton Road. We need these last missing links putting into place.

We could go even further than that, it is possible to link Hurworth village into the Riverside Path/McMullen Road cycle path that gives an off-road link to the town centre and both Further Education colleges, but part of the route is along a muddy bridleway. Imagine being able to ride from Hurworth to the town centre without having to use a main road. It's possible.

I've seen speed cameras on North Road recently, but not as often as I've seen speeding cars. I've seen traffic wardens, but I see a lot more illegally parked cars, vans and trucks. I see buses sat in queues of traffic, and cyclists on the pavement because they've been hounded off the roads by bad driving and too many cars. I hear of people driving to Northallerton, Teesside or Tesco to shop, because it's so hard and unpleasant to get into the town centre.

Anything put forward as an idea to kerb car use is "branded as anti-car, and thus anti-personal freedom". Increasing parking charges or a bringing in a congestion charge or road toll is seen as yet another tax on the motorist.

But as matters now stand, the pedestrian [and cyclist] is taxed every day: by delays and emissions [...]. Though we think of it as a luxury, the car taxes us, and with it we tax others.

So, let's see some of the car parking spaces in Abbots Yard or Skinnergate replaced with bike racks. Let's see some pressure on the train operators to make their timetable useable and useful. Let's see a crackdown on irresponsible driving before a crackdown on irresponsible cycling. Let's see buses given more priority at more junctions. Let's see some effort put in to try and create the missing last sections of the cycle network. Let's see a blanket 20MPH speed limit across the town.

Let's stop 'taxing' our pedestrians and cyclists and let's make Darlington a real Sustainable Transport Town.

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Bikes on Trains provision

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Make the provision for Bicycles on Trains Free and Compulsory by all train operators.

Make the provision for Bicycles on Trains Free and Compulsory by all train operators. This would make door to door journeys via trains more attractive, reduce road traffic, and reduce CO2 emissions.

I just signed this e-petition, you probably should too.

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