The bicycle is the ultimate urban vehicle: fast, compact, flexible, silent, emission-free, and incredibly efficient. No other mode of transport moves people through cities better.

On my way, Clacton.

It's forecast to hit 40 degrees centigrade in some parts of the UK this week. Just to put this insane temperature into context, today it is 44 degrees in Death Valley.

I honestly think Summer Streets are the best events in NYC, and possibly the world. 10 miles of car free walking, riding, and jogging through all of Manhattan, completely free. Just unbeatable.

As already warm cities become more and more vulnerable to extreme heat events, or just the “new normal” of hotter and hotter cities every day, here’s just one more reason why more street trees and other greenery are good for streets & cities. It’s just common sense, really. Cooler, cleaner, smarter.

The anti-Trump

Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani@mayor.nyc.gov · 5mo ago

Today, I signed an Executive Order temporarily repealing bedtimes in the City of New York so that kids of all ages can watch our team in the NBA Finals. As Mayor, you’re forced to make many difficult decisions. This was not one of them. Go Knicks.

It’s all kicking off in Richmond.

When the bike lane is only paint.

BBC has started to use “e-motorbikes” instead of “e-bikes” and the accuracy continues with agency now used for crashes. See, journalists, it can be done! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

“After analyzing crash data over a 13-year period in areas with separated bike lanes on city streets, researchers estimated that having a protected bike facility in a city would result in 44% fewer deaths and 50% fewer serous injuries than an average city.” Safer for ALL. Via @usa.streetsblog.org

Separated Bike Lanes Means Safer Streets, Study Says — Streetsblog USA

Cities that build protected lanes for cyclists end up with safer roads for people on bikes and people in cars and on foot, a new study of 12 large metropolises revealed Wednesday.

usa.streetsblog.org

Sneaking a giant screen into the flagshagger march is one of the funniest things @ledbydonkeys.org have ever done. "STAY HYDRATED" 😂🤣😂

Back to Blitz Beach, north of Liverpool, an incredible place.

Bold Street, one of Liverpool’s best loved shopping streets. Once choked with cars, now filled with people browsing the shops and sitting out at tables and chairs, with local businesses thriving. Nobody would suggest bringing the cars back to Bold Street. More streets for people not cars! 🌞

Prime Minister Péter Magyar inaugural speech: "The psyche of the whole country was poisoned by politics that was artificially inciting hatred. The Hungarian state is not allowed to do anything like this ever again... This era is, once and for all, finished."

Walkable neighbourhoods aren’t scary, they’re convenient. #UrbanTruth

“One mile on a bike is a $.42 economic gain to society, one mile driving is a $.20 loss.” “Which means that Copenhagen, a city of 1.2 million people, saves $357 million a year on health costs because something like 80% of its population commutes by bike.” #CityMakingMath Some costs aren’t costs.

One mile on a bike is a $.42 economic gain to society, one mile driving is a $.20 loss

Copenhagen, the bicycle-friendliest place on the planet, publishes a biannual Bicycle Account, and buried in its pages is a rather astonishing fact.

grist.org

Birkenhead Park – the inspiration for New York's Central Park – once again proving that car free places bring lots of people out; even on a cold winters' morning. When you don't have to worry about cars, you get runners, dog walkers, and kids learning to ride a bike.

And another bites the dust? The BBC World Service will run out of funding in just seven weeks. Its funding arrangement with the Foreign Office finishes at the end of March. There is no plan for what happens next. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The Guardian view on the BBC World Service: this is London calling | Editorial

Editorial: With just seven weeks before its funding runs out, the UK’s greatest cultural asset and most trusted international news organisation must be supported

theguardian.com

One of the most successful pedestrian streets in the world, the Strøget in Copenhagen, was filled with cars until a 2 year pedestrianization pilot project in 1962. The opposition argued “no cars means no business,” but the street has been a massive retail success, the city’s busiest shopping street.

Really enjoyed talking to @alexvont.bsky.social about the novel. Do have a listen. And if you’d like to hear my thoughts on the film I will also be on Front Row tonight to review it.

The Bunker podcast – Your daily news Deep Dive@bunkerpod.bsky.social · 8mo ago

🪾 NEW EPISODE 🪾 The Full Brontë – Why are we still arguing about #WutheringHeights 170 years since it was written? @samanthaellis.bsky.social & @alexvont.bsky.social get out on the wily, windy moor to discuss it. 💔 HEATHCLIFF!! It‘s me, I’m Cathy on your phone (or other device) linktr.ee/bunker_pod

Yesterday morning kids were sent running from their bus stop in panic because ICE showed up. This guy at today’s ICE Out of Lindenwold protest is a must watch 😭. @maddow.bsky.social

Just checking, it's now ok to flee your homeland, because you're afraid for your safety, and seek refuge in another Country? Glad we've cleared that up. Let's hear no more about immigration and refugees then.

I'm firmly of the opinion that if you use you car as a weapon then you shouldn't ever be allowed to drive again.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. If you're going to attack somebody, you've got a better chance of a lenient sentence if you do it in a car. A suspended sentence for a what amounted to attempted murder.

Driver described as "otherwise decent individual" spared jail after ramming cyclist off the road - Cycling News | Bike Reviews | road.cc

A driver who cut across a cyclist before ramming into him was described as a “decent individual” as he was handed a suspended prison sentence.Asif Laher, 55, was driving through Bayswater, London in F...

road.cc

The news from Scotland

Brilliant to hear how local campaigners successfully stopped the building of a dual carriageway right down the middle of Rimrose Valley Country Park in Sefton. Now, thanks to @rimrosevalley.bsky.social it's teeming with wildlife and walking and cycle paths for everyone to enjoy. Have you visited?

The victim blaming of people walking or cycling and injured or killed in road collisions is off-the-charts shocking. It seems motor normativity is so ingrained that people desperately clutch at the language of “accidents” or worse just blame the victims.

Four bicycle riders stop for a photograph on the Alameda Avenue Bridge, Denver, Colorado ca. 1905

Let’s shift the narrative: focus on drivers — with better legislation, clearer guidance and stronger communication — so harm isn’t normalised or dismissed as “cycling is risky”. It’s long past time to prevent harm, not explain it away. Less victim-blaming.

road.cc@roadcc.bsky.social · 9mo ago

On today’s live blog: “It is not cycling that is dangerous, but driving”: Author slams ‘be safe, be seen’ hi-vis cycling campaigns Plus: Tulip cycle lane wars; Dodgy car drafting at the AlUla Tour; NI’s new driver laws; TT rules tinkering + lots more!

So no, 15-minute cities are not restrictions Restrictions on car use are normal and have been in place for decades in one form or another A congestion scheme is NOT the same thing as a 15-min city The ability to DRIVE wherever you please, whenever you please is not an inalienable human right👍🏼 24/