Worcester City Council meeting, and Councillor Amos is asking questions about bikes!
It was a Worcester City full council meeting last night, 9th July 2024, and for those keeping a track of the meeting schedule it's possible to attend in person at the beautiful Guildhall or watch live on line via YouTube, and it's even possible for members of the public to speak on a topic of their choice at the start of the meeting. Wowzers!Well, last night I did none of those things. As much as I've become more interested in the machinations of local government in recent years I find it hard to keep on top of the schedule of meetings and what's on the agenda (kudos to all the Councillors and officers for their dedication and patience). I'm also currently working away from home, so last night was shower, cycle into Dumfries to grab some food and a beer, and catch a bit of the Spain vs France kicking ball game. I did however see a couple of comments on the socials about the meeting, notably that there was some chat about cycling and the Beryl Bike scheme, so made a mental note to catch up on the meeting today.I'll attempt to post the video at the correct time stamp below. The bit about bikes was at the start of the meeting, a series of questions posed by Cllr Alan Amos (sadly a lone Conservative voice in the chamber since elections in May 2024) at the start of the meeting.https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=1132&v=msjX9iy788s&feature=youtu.beHopefully you can watch the video, but I'll type out the questions and answers (from Deputy Leader Cllr Jabba Riaz) below:Alan:Following the introduction of the Beryl Bike scheme what monitoring will take place to ensure that users do not cycle along the pavement getting to and from the parking locations?Jabba:Cycling on pavements is in breach of the Highway Code which applies to all road users and all cyclists, whether riding a Beryl Bike or not, and is enforceable by the police. There are no specific plans to monitor pavement cycling although rides are tracked and the data could be made available to the police if required. The bays are adjacent to roads and cycle paths and so there is no need, or incentive, for cyclists to ride along pavements.Alan:What monitoring will be undertaken to ensure the pick up drop off locations cause no danger to pedestrians and motorists?Jabba:The location of the bays have been selected to ensure that they do not cause any obstruction of the highway and our officers have worked closely with colleagues at County Highways to ensure that this is the case. The bikes are GPS tracked, and so Beryl can monitor there locations at all times, and local operatives can relocate bikes to support demand, as well as to identify any bikes that may be parked outside of the bays. Parking out of the bay incurs an additional cost of £10 which encourages riders to end the ride within the designated bays. City Council officers will continue to monitor the scheme as part of routine contract monitoring.Alan:Can he ensure me that no taxpayers money at all will be used to subsidise this scheme?Jabba:The bike share scheme is part of the Worcester Town Investment Plan as approved by Policy and Resources Committee back in January 2021. The business case for the scheme was approved by Policy and Resources in March 2022 and subsequently signed off by government with the Towns Funds Grant allocation of £700,000, which includes subsidising there cost of setting up the scheme and the Council's ongoing contract management costs. Beryl were procured through a competitive process to delivery the scheme, and the proposed financial model did not include any provision for additional support. There are no further budget allocations for this scheme.Alan: I specifically asked about enforcement because the criminal behaviour of cycling on pavements, particularly in the pedestrianised city centre is now out of control given that the police have chosen not to enforce the law and the council doesn't enforce it either given that both of these agencies could and should do so therefore would Councillor Riaz join with me in campaigning for it to be made a legal requirement for all bikes to display a registration plate so that offenders can be identified, just as all other road users are so required.Jabba:We're not anti anything in this council Councillor Amos, we are pro choice, pro healthy lifestyles, pro improvement of health, pro life, and we will try to achieve that objective, and all the statistics point to a great and successful scheme, and that we should be encouraging more cycling. The answer is actually not more enforcement, possibly in certain locations, but the answer is a modal shift in society, breaking free from the psychosis that the bike is somehow lower down the food chain than the automobile. Until we get over this psychological barrier that the automobile is the king of the road and cyclists are annoying flies that should be swatted, Im afraid cyclists will choose the option that is in most cases safest and easiest for them. What is needed is more education, better roads that are not full of potholes and dangers, more funding for safe cycling networks, and the County Council to get behind our travel plan, some of which the Honourable Member had the power to control in his time of office at County Hall.So what do I make f this, and why did I feel compelled to write this blog? On the face of it, it's a series of reasonable(ish) questions and some sensible answers, but scratching a little deeper I think there are some additional points that need making.Clearly Alan thinks people cycling on footways is a notable problem, and we should use police and council resources to enforce the rules to stop it happening. I've covered cycling on pavements in more detail in another blog (also covers road tax, MOTs for bikes and registration plates). The police take a sensible and balanced view with regard to guidance for enforcement. Not all cyclists or bikes are the same (a 2 year old on a balance bike is not equal to someone using a cargo bike, and is not equal to someone on a road bike cycling at 30 km/hr, who is not equal to someone riding an electric motorbike), and is also dependent on the road design and an individual's ability. With regard to Worcester West Mercia wrote in 2017 in support of scrapping the cycling ban, describing the heavily trafficked main roads surrounding the city centre as unsuitable for cycling. Alan's concern is not backed up by road traffic collision statistics, and specific reports or complaints about people cycling on pavements are rare (for instance in the Worcester News, with the notable exception of a certain Alan Amos, or his suspected pseudonym in the Worcester News comments Hwicce), although neither make reference to specific incidents, just generalised grumblings (Ed. great band name).My own observation is that people cycling on footways, and through the city centre streets covered by TROs that prohibit cycling (and bizarrely mobility scooters) between 10:00 and 18:00 (it's fine the rest of the time), is that the practice is common place, and causes little problem. On the whole people don't like conflict, pain, or causing other people distress, and so you see a mix of people and bikes just getting on with it, very similar in fact to the shared use paths along the riverside. The vast majority of interactions are done courteously and without drama. If Alan is going to make statements such as 'it's out of control' (whatever that means) it seems reasonable that this is supported by evidence. Simply making statements that could be labelled as sensationalist seems to have little purpose, unless you are deliberately trying to stir up division.I've offered to Alan (and other councillors) on a number of occasions to do a tour of the city by bike (still waiting on the call), so he can see first hand the issues that are faced by people travelling by bike, not least when trying to cross the city centre (we've even got an infrastructure safari route which looks at the good and the bad). I'm happy to ride my bike on the roads in Worcester, mixing with multiple lanes of motor vehicles (worst case is 4 in a single direction), but have my fair share of interactions with substandard drivers as a result (substandard = antisocial = dangerous = illegal). As such I completely understand why many people would choose not to do that, and instead cycle of footways, or through the city centre roads covered by TROs, especially when cycling with children or less confident adults. As a pedestrian including when walking my dog I often encounter children and adults cycling on footways, and all both parties does is avoid each other, usually with a cheery salutation as they pass.The Share with Care approach works on the riverside paths, on shared use paths in Warndon and St Peters, and along the National Cycle Network route along the canal; this where some of the narrowest pinch points exist. The sooner the TROs prohibiting cycling go the same way as the PSPO the better; I'd argue that this is the single most cost effective gift the Council could give the residents of Worcester that would have the biggest impact on enabling and encouraging people to make more journeys by bike instead of car.Not mentioned by Alan or Jabba is the point that the Highway Code also prohibits driving on the footway, something that is happening near continuously throughout Worcester, in some cases blocking footways when parking, in other cases in the vicinity of pedestrians. This is well documented by the Twitter (X) account Badly Parked Worcester. It is ridiculous to talk about road danger caused by bikes without acknowledging that road danger caused by cars happens at a higher frequency and with a greater risk of injury (which is backed up by statistics). The police talk about the Fatal 4, speeding, not using seat belts, drink / drug, and distractions (mobile phone use). If Alan applied the 'out of control' phrase to speeding in Worcester it would be appropriate; read this blog here. Is it too much to ask that our elected leaders have evidenced based discussion and look towards best practice solutions?Finally, the tired trope regarding bikes and number plates. It's covered in detail in this blog, but to keep it brief, if we were to introduce a system of registration for cyclists we’d be in an elite club consisting of us and (checks notes) North Korea. [eye roll emoji]
