Our AGM this year is, of necessity, going to be radically different.
Rather than our usual face-to-face meetings and Infrastructure Safaris in one city, we are going online, with Virtual Infrastructure Safaris, taking a look at the new pop-up cycling infrastructure that is appearing in response to the Covid-19 crisis.
The plan is for you to submit short videos (up to 5-6 minutes) of new schemes near where you live, keeping unnecessary travel and potential social contact a minimum. These videos can be uploaded to YouTube, or shared on Twitter, using the hashtag #VirtualSafari.
The schemes can be either pop-up cycle lanes, or newly-created low traffic neighbourhoods.Here is an example, of Park Lane in London -
The commentary can be spontaneous, while you are filming, or you can add it later - whatever works best for you.
For pop-up cycle lanes, we’ve suggested some issues you could examine -
How does it start?
How does it finish?
How is the cycle lane physically protected (if at all)?
How are bus stops/loading bays etc. handled?
How are junctions/side roads designed?
How might people with visual impairment negotiate it?
How might pedestrians cross it?
Is it wide enough for all cycle types?
How does the scheme distinguish between pedestrian space, and cycling space?
For low-traffic neighbourhoods, or area-wide filtering schemes, you could show any of the following –
How do the streets compare, before and after the filtering happened?
What form do the filtering measures take (are they fully accessible, while still blocking motor traffic)?
How is it enforced (if non-physical closure)?
Are there any effects on the roads and streets outside the scheme (good or bad)?
You could also present a map showing the area covered by the scheme, and the actual physical interventions.
As none of us are going to be free to travel around the UK for the foreseeable future, we hope this is going to be an enjoyable and informative way for us to experience what is happening elsewhere - the good, the bad and even the indifferent. We’ll be creating an online map showing the locations of all the interventions.
The AGM is planned for the evening of Friday 31st July, with potential spillover into the weekend if there is a willingness to do so. Given potential ‘Zoom fatigue’ by the end of July, we plan to keep it light and social, looking at features around the country that most of us are unlikely to see in person. We want to make positive, but critical, analysis of what is going on, so that schemes can be improved, and other areas can potentially benefit from adopting similar measures.
There's not a lot on the ground now, but with pretty tight deadlines for implementing schemes, the next few weeks should see a huge amount of exciting new cycling infrastructure (undoubtedly of variable quality) suddenly appearing. If you would like to join us, please book a ticket via the Eventbrite page.