Streets Ahead

This time we’re talking all about mapping walking routes. Back in the Autumn, Emma Griffin from the Footways project joined Laura for a stroll around Bow in East London. Footways is a network of quiet and interesting streets for walking in London, with the aim of getting people out on the pavements and walking for transport.

Their aim is to make the pedestrian network the top priority when it’s often the lowest.

View Footways’ Google map layer: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1djPyfTHyWyHfqVNNIqStpRbvXZ7yabk0&ll=51.51235318211866%2C-0.13645850981252927&z=14 

Read Laura’s CityLab article on Footways: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-10-27/mapping-london-s-best-walking-streets 

We hope you enjoy this episode of Streets Ahead, a podcast dedicated to the world of active travel, liveable streets and people-focused urban design.

We’re on Twitter and welcome your feedback on our episode: http://www.twitter.com/podstreetsahead

If you're reading this, please can you take 1 minute to give us a rating and write a review? It helps us more than you probably think.

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There's a new Highway Code! Rules for all types of road users have been updated in The Highway Code to improve the safety of people walking and cycling.

Naturally, some people have taken the news very badly with strange headlines and talk radio stations going into overdrive.

What do the changes mean and what difference will they make?

We hope you enjoy this episode of Streets Ahead, a podcast dedicated to the world of active travel, liveable streets and people-focused urban design.

We’re on Twitter and welcome your feedback on our episode: http://www.twitter.com/podstreetsahead

If you're reading this, please can you take 1 minute to give us a rating and write a review? It helps us more than you probably think.

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2021: it happened, that we can say for sure. Ned, Laura and Adam go through their highlights and lowlights of the year - and look back at some of the big stories in active travel.

Plus: Adam has a new job. Ned and Laura quiz him on being the new West Midlands Cycling & Walking Commissioner.

Thank you for your support this year and we look forward to bringing you new episodes in 2022!

We hope you enjoy this episode of Streets Ahead, a podcast dedicated to the world of active travel, liveable streets and people-focused urban design.

We’re on Twitter and welcome your feedback on our episode: http://www.twitter.com/podstreetsahead

If you're reading this, please can you take 1 minute to give us a rating and write a review? It helps us more than you probably think.

CORRECTION: In this episode, we stated that the Cowley LTN in Oxford had been made permanent. In fact, Oxfordshire County Council agreed to an ETRO of 3 further LTNs in East Oxford. This is on top of the 3 Cowley LTNs which have been in place for nearly a year. The decision as to whether the Cowley LTNs will be made permanent will be made in February.

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In this episode, sponsored by Superpedestrian, Ned, Laura and Adam visit Nottingham, a city bustling with integrated transport. We try the city's new Link e-scooters, by Superpedestrian, visit the tram, ride bikes and hire cars. It's a true smorgasbord of sensible and sustainable transport options - delivered in part by the city's Workplace Parking Levy.

We also follow in the footsteps of the Prime Minister, 18 months on from his Gear Change announcement - visiting the bike shop he launched the strategy in - to see how things are going.

Thanks also to Scootfit for their help in keeping us safe on scooters and pointing out Adam has weird knees.

We hope you enjoy this episode of Streets Ahead, a podcast dedicated to the world of active travel, liveable streets and people-focused urban design.

We’re on Twitter and welcome your feedback on our episode: http://www.twitter.com/podstreetsahead

If you're reading this, please can you take 1 minute to give us a rating and write a review? It helps us more than you probably think.

Thanks for listening!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We’re talking about the power of behaviour change - why, perhaps, soft measures deserve hard cash. While much of the focus in active travel is around the need for dedicated infrastructure, quietly, around the country - organisations are implementing softer measures that can have a significant impact. A few weeks ago Laura visited the Chrisp Street Community Cycles, a ‘cycle hub’ in an empty high street shop in Tower Hamlets, East London.

Want to support the hub? The fundraiser is here (until 23 November): https://www.spacehive.com/continue-chrisp-street-community-cycles

We hope you enjoy this episode of Streets Ahead, a podcast dedicated to the world of active travel, liveable streets and people-focused urban design.

We’re on Twitter and welcome your feedback on our episode: http://www.twitter.com/podstreetsahead

If you're reading this, please can you take 1 minute to give us a rating and write a review? It helps us more than you probably think.

Thanks for listening!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this special episode, Adam chats with Matthew Baldwin, Deputy Director General at DG MOVE, part of the European Commission. Baldwin works on sustainable mobility, including how to protect vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists in the coming era of connected, automated and autonomous mobility.

Ahead of COP26, it’s an interesting look to active travel’s importance on the world stage - and how we can work together as a global community to communicate best practices to reduce emissions and improve health. 

In the episode, Baldwin says: "Somehow we've allowed the bike to be seen as an agent of the liberal metropolitan elite. How can that be that we seem to be losing that argument? When in the town I live in, 50% of the households don't have access to a car - and spoiler alert - it's not the richer 50%!"

We hope you enjoy this episode of Streets Ahead, a podcast dedicated to the world of active travel, liveable streets and people-focused urban design.

We’re on Twitter and welcome your feedback on our episode: http://www.twitter.com/podstreetsahead

If you're reading this, please can you take 1 minute to give us a rating and write a review? It helps us more than you probably think.

Thanks for listening!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A year ago we explored e-scooters as the UK began its official trials of rental scooters. How's it gone since? How are other countries dealing with e-scooters in cities? Are we just scared of new stuff?

In this episode, sponsored by Superpedestrian, Adam heads to Lisbon to try out their Link scooters and we put some tricky questions to the company's Policy Director for the UK & Ireland, Jean Andrews.

We hope you enjoy this episode of Streets Ahead, a podcast dedicated to the world of active travel, liveable streets and people-focused urban design.

We’re on Twitter and welcome your feedback on our episode: http://www.twitter.com/podstreetsahead

If you're reading this, please can you take 1 minute to give us a rating and write a review? It helps us more than you probably think.

Thanks for listening!

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Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) are (probably) coming. In this episode, Laura is taken for a spin on public roads in one - going on a journey through Greenwich, London, with nothing other than a robot car for company (if you ignore the two safety drivers ready to step in at any moment).

Are Driverless Cars, Connected and Autonomous Vehicles, or AVs, a solution to a problem, or are they just tech for tech’s sake?

The UK is betting big on AVs. The Government wants to make the UK a hub for this technology and has invested £200m into Research and Development already. 

Our thanks to this episode's interviewees: Balazs Csuvar - Head of Delivery at DG Cities; Stephen Kyberd, Field Engineering Lead at Oxbotica; Niranjan Thiyagarajan, Management consultant advising the car industry on AVs; Krishnan Jayaraj Menon, Project Manager at Oxbotica - and last but not least our driver, Tristan, and co-driver, Dan.

You can watch a video of the car in action here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZNIE_ABGf0&t=26s; and see their vision for the future here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUCSnrWUBc0 you can even order your own VR headset from the Endeavour Project here, to experience the vids in 3D: https://www.projectendeavour.uk/vr-registration

We hope you enjoy this episode of Streets Ahead, a podcast dedicated to the world of active travel, liveable streets and people-focused urban design.

We’re on Twitter and welcome your feedback on our episode: http://www.twitter.com/podstreetsahead

If you're reading this, please can you take 1 minute to give us a rating and write a review? It helps us more than you probably think.

Thanks for listening!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

July saw the publishing of the UK Government's Transport Decarbonisation plan, followed by the IPCC's Sixth Assessment Report, which didn't make for pretty reading.

In the UK surface transport is the single largest contributor of greenhouse gases, producing 23% of our emissions, and we’ve made no significant in-roads to cutting that contribution, in a decade. So what needs to change, and are we (and our policymakers) capable of doing it?

We hope you enjoy this episode of Streets Ahead, a podcast dedicated to the world of active travel, liveable streets and people-focused urban design.

We’re on Twitter and welcome your feedback on our episode: http://www.twitter.com/podstreetsahead

If you're reading this, please can you take 1 minute to give us a rating and write a review? It helps us more than you probably think.

Thanks for listening!

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Ned rode a cargo bike and he liked it. Streets Ahead have a partial real-life reunion which culminates in Ned riding a cargo bike.

Thanks to Raleigh for having us at the launch of their new Stride cargo bike range at the Olympic Park in London.

Are we on the cusp of a cargo bike boom in the UK? What do we need to consider to take cargo bikes to the masses?

For the record, Amazon are trialling cargo bike deliveries in London.

We hope you enjoy this episode of Streets Ahead, a podcast dedicated to the world of active travel, liveable streets and people-focused urban design.

We’re on Twitter and welcome your feedback on our episode: http://www.twitter.com/podstreetsahead

If you're reading this, please can you take 1 minute to give us a rating and write a review? It helps us more than you probably think.

Thanks for listening!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.