Birmingham pt II

Got the following response from Graham of Birmingham Push Bikes from my post about cycling in Birmingham:-

Seems you were predominantly following or trying to follow NCN5.  The Birmingham Cycling and Walking Map shows all the 'formal' cycle routes, plus roads 'favoured' by cyclists, canal access points, Rights of Way that permit cycling, et all. There were copies in FoE on Saturday. NCN5  and other NCN routes ARE signed on site but the signs are not always obvious - might be just a 'sticker' wrapped around a lamp column, or gone missing, or hidden by tree growth. Sustrans does have Rangers who look out for such things.

There is indeed "a lot of traffic" here but I am surprised that you saw "no cyclists". Birmingham is a big, busy city and some people have to travel great distances into or around the city at all sorts of times and the overwhelming majority of these journeys are (some would argue have to be) by car. There are rail services but public transport is largely served by the bus and we have no extensive Metro system. Yes, Birmingham does have the lowest percentage of journeys made by bicycle (less than 1%) and it is, historically, 'car city', yet those of us who see the city every day know that there are more cyclists.  A few years ago I could travel for a day or more and never see a cyclist; now I see a cyclist every few minutes, usually. There are numerous cyclists in and around Moseley and 20% of Push Bikes' membership lives there!

"A distinct lack of cycling infrastructure".  Depends where you are cycling. Several traffic light junctions now have ASLs but Bham is a big city with many thousands of traffic lights. I understand that the city council's policy is to provide ASLs at all new traffic light installations and there is evidence that is being done.  Here in Birmingham it takes a long time to change an infrastructure but could only take a few days (I reckon) to train a cyclist to ride with what is already there......

Potholes. There is a direct telephone line to the council for reporting any dangerous pothole. Once reported, the council is obliged to repair it within a tight timescale. The phone number is on the Cycling Map.

"Peering down side roads I thought I might spot the odd 20mph zone but none were to be seen".  There are a few 20 limited roads but none on the routes I use.  From an entirely personal viewpoint that doesn't 'bother' me at all.  Here, 20mph roads are usually engineered by speed humps across the full width of the road, un-bypassed chicanes and pinch points etc. which make MY cycle journey slower and more difficult! In any event, of all my many years of cycling in Birmingham I have never had any issue from the speed of a vehicle - impatience and poor observation maybe, but never speed of itself. I  am usually held up by cars travelling slowly!  Currently I understand that the council has no plans for city-wide 20 limits, although there are localised campaigns in some areas, eg. Moseley.

"Adventurous shared space sections, when you get to the Central Library things become somewhat confusing". Although there are no formal signs, the area Centenary Square, Victoria Square is by 'common accepted practice' 'shared' by cyclists and pedestrians and there are certainly no 'No Cycling' signs! Each should travel with observation and caution.  The Central Library is to be moved to Centenary Square so building works and diversions are now present.

Of course I live here so I do not regard on-road cycling as 'crap' - yes,  there are fewer 'cycling facilities' than some towns have but as an experienced cyclist I ride with attention to positioning and observation, and that is the advice I pass on to anyone who wishes to cycle.  Push Bikes holds annual meetings where cyclists are invited to 'shout at' the council and we make notes of their issues on large maps. These notes are passed to the Cycling Officer for action or replies. Push Bikes also meets the council at the quarterly Cycling Advisory Group. 

I am surprised that you make no mention of cycle lanes ie the lack of them. There are several stretches of lane in the city, and "more cycle lanes" is the most frequent call at the meetings just mentioned. But it was also acknowledged that there would never be a cycle lane along every road and that, in the words of the city's Cycling Officer, "there was no substitute for competent cycling" and I agree with that. Infrastructure changes take many months, usually years but if more adults took National Standard training and were made more aware of positioning etc we could increase the number of cyclists in a few weeks! Training is available and offered to the less-experienced cyclist but the take-up is very low indeed.

Musings about Sustrans

There is still some antipathy towards Sustrans from other major organizations in the world of cycling. A lot of this seems to be aimed towards John Grimshaw, who is one of those charismatic characters that you either love or loath. John stood down as Chief Engineer (or whatever it was he called himself) around two years ago but his legacy seems to live on. The CEO of Sustrans is now a rather unassuming chap called Malcolm.

Talking to people who currently work for Sustrans, there seems to be two camps forming in the organisation – the engineers who want to continue building cycle routes and the newer people who favour ‘soft’ measures – training, and interventions in schools and with women and the like. Further controversy was caused when BikeBelles, a subsidiary organisation specifically targeted at women, organised a petition calling for more off-road cycle routes as a way to get more women cycling. When challenged on this Sustrans pointed out that this was what women they had surveyed said- not ‘the usual suspects’, but via the WI and the like  - and that they were responding to this. Other groups believe that it is driver behaviour that needs to be tackled if we are to get more people cycling. Nevertheless, I am left with a feeling that there is a fair amount of sexism and patronising behaviour around cycle campaigning.

However, talking to other people about Sustrans is a bit like talking to Londoners about the Mayor. If you ask them what they think about Boris they have to preface what they are going to say with a ten-minute rant about Ken, either how great he was or how terrible he was depending on your point of view. Eventually you have to interrupt them and say “but I asked you about Boris!”Likewise, if you ask the old-school cycle campaigners about Sustrans you get a ten-minute rant about Grimshaw and what an autocrat he was.

It’s time people recognised that organisations can change, and recognised the role that all the cycle promotion groups can play in changing the hearts and minds of the UK population and getting them out on their bikes.  

A pootle around Birmingham.

After the last cyclenation board meeting, held at the excellent FOE Warehouse building in Digbeth, Birmingham (a short hop from New St station, and even closer to Moor St) I thought I’d go for a ride around Birmingham. I’ve found in the past that a great way to get to know a place is to try to find the National Cycle Network without a map, as this can often be somewhat obscure!

I’ve come into Birmingham on NCN5 before, so I’ve got a vague idea where it went, and thought if I headed south I’d be able to pick it up and follow the route back up through the City Centre. So I soon found myself on the Ring Road – not a particularly nice place to cycle although I found that the drivers were pretty considerate – but failed to pick it up, so found myself having a bit of a tour around Balsall Heath, Sparkbrook & Moseley. I have to say I found cycling conditions around this part of Brum pretty poor. There was a lot of traffic, a distinct lack of cycling infrastructure such as ASLs, no signage for cyclists & no cyclists! A noticeable feature was poorly installed speed cushions, with practically every one featuring a pothole just where you would want to cycle. Peering down side roads I thought I might spot the odd 20mph zone, but none were to be seen. OK, it was raining a bit, but it was the first day without snow on the ground, so I thought the occasional Brummie might have ventured out.

However, perhaps my mood was affected by the light but persistent spots of rain that had been falling ever since I left the Warehouse. Having taken what looked like a good bet I found myself pointing at the city centre yet again, so I checked the map, turned around and headed for Edgbaston as this looked like another good bet. Climbed up through  Moseley and back down, avoiding small hooded kids who think it’s a good idea to walk out in the road and go ‘boo’ at cyclists, and found myself at the entrance to Cannon Hill Park.

This I recognised as part of Route 5, and in one of those twists of fate, as soon as I turned into the park it stopped raining, the sun came out, and the world seemed like a  nice place again, Ignoring my original plan I took the Rea Valley path south to Bourneville, enjoying the sunshine and dodging the odd pedestrian and dog. Coming out near a derelict factory site (and how sad it is to see so many derelict sites in Brum) I turned around and headed back towards the Centre. All went well until I reached the centre, passing a spot where I could have picked up the NCN first time round, but the signage that would have enabled that wasn’t there, and going through the centre the route was not very clear. Although there were some adventurous shared space sections, when you get to the Central Library things become somewhat confusing.

I had an inkling that I needed to be on the canal, so heading for Brindley Place was the right thing to do, The route follows the canal towpath, nice and straight for a mile or so, until branching out, one route heading for Wolverhampton, and, eventually, the Welsh Borders (must check with Wolves on Wheels how that’s getting on) while route 5 veers to the north. The junction point is readily identifiable, being next to Smethwick Galton Bridge station, with two lines intersecting, and a Thomas Telford bridge spanning the valley, apparently the longest single span bridge when it was built  - a remarkable place. So I climbed out of the canal cutting and found myself crossing the bridge which is now part  of the cycle route, and taking some slightly dodgy paths around a large motorway junction  found myself back on some residential streets before doubling back and getting into Sandwell Country Park. Although by now it was getting dark this did seem like a very pleasant place to cycle, and with decent surfaces underneath and a good light on my Brompton I felt confident to proceed. I did get slightly lost gong through the park, but as this took me past Sandwell Priory and subsequently on a long fast downhill on a minor road I felt this was par for the course. The route negotiates the M6/M5 junction successfully and coming out on the outskirts of Walsall I decided to head for the nearest train station. This turned out to be Tame Bridge Parkway (interesting how many rivers are called Tame, there being one in Manchester of course and I believe there is one in London with a similar name - then there are rivers called Teme, Team & Tamar. Another popular name for rivers is Afon, this being of course the Welsh name for river). A ticket back to New St turned out to be a mere £2 - a very fair price I thought - and I had time to find a decent pub and buy a kebab (sadly I didn't have time for a Balti) before heading home. 

So this was an interesting day's cycling in Birmingham, but I was left wondering, why is the on-road cycling in the city so crap, while the Sustrans routes are memorable and pretty decent? Perhaps someone from Birmingham Push Bikes could explain?


(Please note that in this blog post I am not intending to criticise (or praise) anyone unduly, just reporting honestly what I found)