Cycling in Groningen

1. Socialist Health Association • Manchester • Transport & Obesity
The art of the possible: Cycle hell in Manchester?
Groningen chose
cycling heaven
Richard Armitage
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3 in 5 journeys by bike within
City of Groningen: 3km radius of city centre
cycle city 2002 data: 37% of all trips
Pro-cycling actions since 1970s
Key city in north Netherlands
Residents: 180,000+ and rising
Large student population
Regional economic powerhouse
Cycling investment has had no
adverse economic impact
Slide Richard Armitage • Friends’ Meeting House, Manchester • 8 October 2007 Slide Richard Armitage • Friends’ Meeting House, Manchester • 8 October 2007
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Supermarket bike park Afternoon school run
Slide Richard Armitage • Friends’ Meeting House, Manchester • 8 October 2007 Slide Richard Armitage • Friends’ Meeting House, Manchester • 8 October 2007
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2. How much road for
pedestrians and cyclists? Bike + pedestrians can mix
Slide Richard Armitage • Friends’ Meeting House, Manchester • 8 October 2007 Slide Richard Armitage • Friends’ Meeting House, Manchester • 8 October 2007
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Cars not allowed through
the city centre
It will
be
multi-
storey
bike
parks
next
Slide Richard Armitage • Friends’ Meeting House, Manchester • 8 October 2007 Slide Richard Armitage • Friends’ Meeting House, Manchester • 8 October 2007
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Putting your bike
10,000+ on level 2 is easy
bikes at the
rail and bus
interchange
Slide Richard Armitage • Friends’ Meeting House, Manchester • 8 October 2007 Slide Richard Armitage • Friends’ Meeting House, Manchester • 8 October 2007
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3. Finding it later is harder Cycling traffic
management
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3,000 bikes in lock-up, Cycle route signs
beneath the rail station
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Public realm transformed -
More new bike parking
cycle investment continues
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4. It’s part of the culture
Slide Richard Armitage • Friends’ Meeting House, Manchester • 8 October 2007 Slide
Quick chat, then off home
Richard Armitage • Friends’ Meeting House, Manchester • 8 October 2007
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Cycle heaven: divine Why so little progress on
intervention not required! cycling in the UK…
In Groningen: Poor leadership
1969-1972 GM’s LTP2 draft - decline in walking!
– all political hues accept new traffic policy
Scraps from the funding table
– city centre - no through route for cars
But the M6 widening gets approval
1976 Verkeerscirculatieplan- 42% of
budget spent on cycling facilities Cycling engineers & promoters
1989-2000 c.£15m (would have been Low salaries, lowly status, no support
£210m in Greater Manchester) Media bias
2006 €5.5m (GM equivalent: £52m) Journalists wedded to their cars
Slide Richard Armitage • Friends’ Meeting House, Manchester • 8 October 2007 Slide Richard Armitage • Friends’ Meeting House, Manchester • 8 October 2007
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Imagination…
The missing ingredients
Ambition, imagination, vision
Strategic plan (is this the TIF?)
Large scale investment
Programme lasting 20+ years
Marketing (at ‘car’ levels)
Multi-agency joint action plans
Sense of urgency
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5. Vision… (of Ambition…(making
loveliness) the bus cool)
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Visit: www.fietsberaad.nl,
go to Rapporten, Manchester Utd. After the
and download:
match 20 September 2012
Continous and integral: The cycling
policies of Groningen and other
European cycling cities
Fietsberaad-publication no. 7, April 2006
Richard Armitage Transport Consultancy Ltd.
Oxford House, Smithy Fold Road, HYDE, SK14 5QY
Tel: 0161 368 6603
richard@ratransport.co.uk
www.ratransport.co.uk
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