leedscyclingcampaign's blog

The M&S food store in Guiseley doesn't have cycle stands. It does though have a massive car park. You could try chaining your bike to the trolley racks but this would get in the way. 

M&S advertises its environmental and ethical morality. Food is sourced sustainably, their lorries are nciely rounded to reduce fuel consumption etc, but should you actually want to spurn that most environmentally disasterous choice of the motor car, in Guiseley at least, you are out of luck.

We needs your skills! We have so much to do, and so little time… the Cycle Cities Ambition Fund bid needs to be ready by the end of April, Bike Week happens in June, and in eighteen months the Tour will come roaring through the city.

So, can you get stuck in and help us turn Leeds around? We need people with helmet cams to buddy other cyclists and start a video library of Crap Commutes. We need volunteers to visit their councillors and talk them round to cycling. We need a great vision of cycle friendly Leeds.

Introduction

New Generation Transport (NGT) is the trolleybus scheme that is the latest in a series of proposed “rapid transit” schemes for Leeds. The proposed trolleybus route starts on the North side of Leeds, with a park and ride site at the old Bodington Hall site with space for 800 vehicles, and runs South along the A660 Otley Road / Headingley Lane, through the city centre and along Hunslet Road to Stourton where a second park and ride with 1500 spaces will be sited.

Current transport choices along the proposed NGT route

On Monday evening a variety of folk descended on The Carriageworks in Leeds to discuss the rising excitement about cycling and Leeds. Le Grand Depart in 2014 is going to be *massive* for Leeds in just about every way. Tens of thousands of tourists will decend on Yorkshire, as well as several hundred lycra-clad cyclists with obscene thighs. Roads will be closed, barriers erected, food and beer will be sold and a great deal of fun had. But what else can we do to widen invovlement? And what afterwards? 

Increasing the number of people cycling, as part of a sustainable transport strategy, is good for the health, economy, and environment of any city.  Cycle-friendly planning is good for property values, retail vitality, local businesses, and has wider economic benefits due to reduced health-care costs and absenteeism.  It reduces CO₂ emissions and improves air quality, has a low impact on the built environment, and alleviates noise pollution.  Cycling reduces levels of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and cyclists live, on average, two years longer with fitness levels of people t

"Our roads are not here for automobiles. Our roads are here for people to get around."

Big Apple's Mayor Bloomberg again shows the sort of leadership we so desperately need in Leeds.