Cargo Bike Ben
@cargobikeben.bsky.social
Utility cycling & active travel advocate. Passionate about ending car dependency (not banning cars), reducing urban sprawl + how bikes are the easiest and most cost effective way to achieve that. Former journalist turned software developer. r/fuckcars mod
Suburban sprawl in the West is having a reckoning. What we are learning is that half-city, half-wild is a recipe for conflagration. You have to either build a city, or not a city at all. Otherwise you're just providing the fire a new fuel type.
Kelcie Moseley-Morris@kelciemmorris.bsky.social · 3d agoI was expecting a high number. I wasn't expecting it to be that high.
A person enjoying a park isn't really impeding other people from enjoying a park. And all of us benefit from children having access to education, whether we have kids or not. A person storing a car on the street is, in fact, impeding that space from being used by other people and for other things.
David Dilbert@candyman718.bsky.social · 4d agoSome people don’t use the parks but also pay taxes to maintain them. Some people don’t have children in public schools but pay taxes to fund them. That’s how it works.
I was driving along Chester Road, Stretford the other day, when I saw a child cycling safely along the new cycle lanes. Alone, no adult with them. And I rejoiced, because this is precisely what the new lanes are FOR. 🙌 (Adults can use them too! 🤣)
High quality and well located bike parking doesn’t just benefit convention bike and ebike riders. It can help reduce the number of cars on the roads in other ways.
The full "cabinet statement" on devolution is out. It represents a huge change to the way our state is organised. www.gov.uk/government/p...
Sam Freedman@samfr.bsky.social · 5d agoToday's devolution announcements show that this govt is serious about doing it right. My post from this week on why I'm optimistic and the five big challenges to making it work. samf.substack.com/p/burnhams-d...
Three letters. CPO. One of the key issues facing the Wirral is incredibly inefficient land use. There are far too many detached and semi-detached homes directly next to supermarkets and high frequency bus stops where there should be denser developments. www.birkenhead.news/wirral-vows-...
Wirral vows to protect green belt
Wirral Council has recommitted to protecting its vast green belt, in the face of heightened housing targets and as developers continue to draw up plans for new homes. In the…
birkenhead.news
I also find it interesting that "it's difficult to cross Walton Breck Road" argument has salience here. My personal experience with LCC when crossing a major road outside a primary school is that the council couldn't give two ****s about the issue.
Misleading title from the BBC here. The planners aren't minded to refuse anything - in fact the planners have recommended the opposite. It is the political committee who is making that decision... www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Planners 'minded to refuse' Liverpool FC bid to keep road closed
The Anfield Road application must return to councillors before a final decision is made.
bbc.co.uk
More than happy to show any Beeb or local journo the emails from LCC about "managing expectations" when asking for a safe crossing for primary age children on a road with 12,000 cars per day. Or to to show any journo the horrific data collected from hundreds of parents about their experiences...
Sir Julian Lewis of the New Forest shit-stirring on floating bus stops. Maybe he should try cycling on the terrifying roads of his constituency which don't have cycle tracks, let alone floating bus stops.
DfT Answers@dft-answers.bsky.social · last wk.A question on #BusServices #Cycleways tabled by Sir Julian Lewis on 13-07-2026 has been answered by Simon Lightwood. https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2026-07-13/17935
Argentina fans were broadcast making monkey noises at one of the most popular English language streamers on the planet, that wasn't US Democrats, bub.
The Guardian@theguardian.com · last wk.Javier Milei accuses US Democrats of financing ‘anti-Argentina campaign’ at World Cup
"One of the most expensive commodities in Massachusetts, land, is needed in enormous amounts for every single home that we built... A duplex shouldn't require an act of god or a miracle before the zoning board of appeals to get built." - State Senator @juliancyr.bsky.social
How many times already this photo could have been taken. The Times front pages the image and slams Net Zero 🤷🏼♀️ As a species we increasingly have the intellect and survival instincts of a peanut.
Riding bikes is 10X more important than electric cars for reaching net-zero cities. And that’s just the climate emissions. Doesn’t include the massive public & personal cost difference, the air & noise pollution difference, the massive space difference, etc, etc…Via @theconversation.bsky.social
Cycling is ten times more important than electric cars for reaching net-zero cities
Active travel can help tackle the climate crisis earlier than electric vehicles – even if you swap the car for a bike for just one trip a day.
theconversation.com
All this is to say that it’s CRITICAL, even as we strive to achieve “better cars,” that we make EVERY smart move necessary at the same time (or even BEFORE/proactively), to ensure that we are achieving FEWER cars, LESS driving, more inviting transportation alternatives, & better communities/cities!
Cargo bikes might be bigger than standard bikes, but they don't take over shared spaces the way cars do. This is what it looks like to roll through a walkable area and effortlessly coexist with other people.
The American psyche explained in one Onion headline.
Conscientious SUV Shopper Just Wants Something That Will Kill Family In Other Car In Case Of Accident
PRESCOTT, AZ—Explaining that she did not have any strong preferences when it came to make or model, area woman Laura Bauer, a conscientious SUV shopper, confirmed Wednesday that she just wanted someth...
theonion.com
Can you imagine the uproar if someone's legal car was seized and immediately crushed because some woodentop made a mistake? And the Police don't even apologise or accept they made a mistake. It's good to see this go mainstream. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Birmingham man's legal e-bike seized and destroyed by police in error
The BBC finds the bike was legal and supplied as part of a scheme to reduce pollution in the city.
bbc.co.uk
Wow! No understanding of “e-bike”. An e-bike refers to a legal bike with e-assist limited to 15.5mph. An e-bike won’t move without the rider pedalling. An illegal e-bike has a throttle, is not speed restricted and moves without the rider pedalling. These need regulation.
Wandsworth Living Streets@wandsworthls.bsky.social · 2w agoRegrettably, both the BBC and the Met Police have contributed to this widespread confusion by using term 'e-bike' wrongly, e.g. see BBC report of 30 Dec 2025 on a Met Police operation in #Merton. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Despite the price cut being hailed as "a victory for people power", the new prices remain 50 percent higher than a residential car parking permit.
"High prices lock out residents who need cheap, sustainable transport the most": Campaigners welcome slashed cost of safe bike parking permits after criticism of the "most expensive bike hangars in th...
Campaigners have welcome an announcement by Cardiff Council to expand their provision of secure bike hangars whilst slashing the price of a permit.Cardiff Council was charging residents £120 a year fo...
road.cc
"Fewer parents fear their child being run over when they walk to school." #StreetsForPeople
Brent Toderian@brenttoderian.bsky.social · 2w ago“Paris has embarked on a grand transformation, planting 155k trees, adding hundreds of kms of bike lanes, pedestrianising 300 school streets and banning cars from the banks of the Seine. Parking has been turned into green space…Fewer parents fear their child being run over when they walk to school.”
This is a significant increase on the £2.7 million received from in 2025/26, because Oxfordshire County Council's active travel rating has increased from 2 to 3 - joint best in the country. www.activetravelengland.gov.uk/resources/ca...
Active travel capability ratings | Active Travel England
View the latest active travel capability ratings.
activetravelengland.gov.uk
There is no question about whether parking is free. It isn’t. That is a fact. The only question is who pays for it. When governments choose to make it free, it is both economically & politically a subsidy to drivers, paid in part by those without cars. if that makes you uncomfortable, it should.
Reclaiming the space outside people’s homes from car storage is critical to this. But in order to achieve this, we need to accept the blocker is car dependency. If you don’t solve car dependency, you can’t reduce the number of cars that are being stored. This in turn blocks returning space to play.
Alison Stenning@alisonstenning.bsky.social · 3w agoToday with 40+ other organisations and individuals, I’ve supported a vital call, for more space for children to play on their doorsteps, as Andy Burnham - central to Labour's 2008 national play strategy - is himself on the doorstep of No. 10. docs.google.com/document/d/1...
People do not buy ebikes because they are happy to spend thousands more than they would on a regular bike. People buy ebikes because they save thousands compared to the car journeys they replace. That is the key distinction that many policy makers the general public miss or don’t understand.
The main problem with Merseyrail’s ban on non folding ebikes isn’t that it’s lazy (which it is). It’s the River Mersey. The only alternatives for people commuting between the city’s suburbs on the Wirral & the city centre is by ferry, or a 70km detour - beyond most legit ebikes’ range - via Runcorn.
