Radio Bristol v. the bicycle

I did a live phone link to Dave Barrett's morning show on BBC Radio Bristol last week. I was sitting in a packed railway carriage on my way to Paddington Station. I was shouting into my mobile while the rest of the carriage was quiet, so I did feel a little, erm, self conscious.

For those not in the know, Dave Barrett is not recognized for being sympathetic to the cause of Bristol's cyclists. On the contrary, WE exist to flout the law by riding on pavements, up one way streets and ignoring red lights, etc. You get the picture. So I was invited to contribute to the discussion as an advocate of the bicycle, who also had a vested interest in getting people on bikes because I sell them.

The general theme of the show concerned the £23million Bristol City Council has to spend on provision for cyclists as a result of the successful Cycling Demonstration City bid. And how that was outrageous in light of the collapse of the education, health and welfare systems where the money would be so much better spent.

Well, I tried to make my point whilst standing on my metaphorical soapbox in Carriage D of the 08:00 to London that, a) ultimately we should all respect the individuals right to choose how to travel, on the condition that, b) we all have similar or equally fair provision for the way we do choose and, c) that those choosing to cycle are a lot more vulnerable as road users than other road users and that we therefore need a bit more...investment.

I'm not sure how it came across. Mr Barrett was very polite and I guess he's dealing with a lot of pretty polarised opinions. I'm no raving anti-car fascist (unlike some cyclists), in fact I like cars. In some respects I'm a bit of a petrolhead. But for getting about Bristol my annual bike mileage is 2 or 3 times my car mileage.

That was my point. Sure use a car. But also try and use a bike some of the time. Perhaps more of us will if the £23million makes it a little less hostile.

Jerry