Author: Iona Shepherd

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Is Parking really so good for Business?

Following on from the release last week of an important Transport for London study on the Economic Benefits of Walking and Cycling, GoBike members have been looking at our local example of Byres Road, to see how increased provision for active travel to the area might affect local businesses. The conclusions are really heartening – in the first of two blogs, Jim Collinson looks here at parking.

Want to grow your business? You need less parking.

For businesses to grow, streets like Byres Road in Glasgow need more capacity. Here’s why traders should demand less parking, and a street designed for people, not cars. Continue reading “Is Parking really so good for Business?”

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Public Meeting and AGM ** TOMORROW!! **

Bring yourselves and bring a friend or three! We will be sharing what we’ve encountered and achieved over the last year and will be hearing from two other really spectacular campaigners on their methods and experiences. It’s going to be a stoater – see you there!

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The Responsibility of the Media

On the 28th of October, the Sunday Herald did something that had many Sunday Herald readers checking the front page again to see that they hadn’t in fact bought the Daily Mail. They published a piece of opinion from one of their writers that was so full of prejudice, bile, and outright ignorance, that it led to four of the nine letters in the following weeks pages complaining about the piece. The subject? Yes of course you’ve guessed it, “cyclists”, or dare we say it, “cults in lycra”. We were copied into a complaint to the editor about the article, who defended the writer as “deliberately tongue in cheek and provocative”. Our complaining member responded rightly, to say that the piece was in fact gratuitously offensive. Steel yourselves, and read on if you dare. Continue reading “The Responsibility of the Media”

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20 mph Bill Survey

We have blogged before about our support for the 20 mph bill currently going through Scottish Parliament. The committee have just launched a call for evidence which includes this short online survey that will allow you to add your support for a 20mph speed limit as standard on urban “restricted” roads. There is the option to be as quick as two clicks to complete this one so if you have half a minute please give it a go.

Read on for why we believe 20mph is a good thing. Continue reading “20 mph Bill Survey”

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GoBike Public Meeting and AGM Agenda

It’s only two weeks to go now until our 2018 Public Meeting and AGM. We are really excited to welcome our special guests to share their campaigning insight with us. Please make sure and spread the word that everybody is welcome to attend the whole event!

The agenda for the afternoon will look like this:

15:15 

Doors open and refreshments

15:30 – Open AGM

Co-convenors welcome, apologies, quorum

Approval of 2017 minutes

Treasurers report

Co-convenors review of the year

Election of committee

Close AGM

16:00 – Short break and refreshments

16:15 – Public Meeting

Members awards

Presentations

Paul Gasson – Waltham Forest Cycling Campaign

Sally Hinchcliffe – Cycling Dumfries

Paired panel with led Q&A

17:30 – Close

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** UPDATE – FUNDING IS AVAILABLE! ** Councillor Tour – Newlands/Auldburn Ward

Ballie Kyle Thornton at the Auldhouse Roundabout (about to take his life in his hands to cross the Pollokshaws Rd dual carriageway)

** UPDATE **

Since we last reported on this councillor tour, we have been contacted by a wonderfully proactive staff member at Sustrans who has highlighted that funding is in fact available, specifically for junction and roundabout improvements, such as at the key accident hotspot of the Auldhouse Roundabout. We have passed this information back to Bailie Kyle Thornton and would encourage you to also highlight this information to your local councillors.

The details are as follows:

Through the Community Links programme, Sustrans Scotland can offer funding specifically for junction and roundabout improvements. We can offer 100% funding for design (pre-construction) stage, followed by 70% funding for the construction stage. This means applicants only need to find 30% of construction costs. There is no limit on the amount of funding applicants can apply for and we encourage applicants to be ambitious.

Let’s hope we can build on this pot and have our councillors take action with it!

** UPDATE END **

Continue reading “** UPDATE – FUNDING IS AVAILABLE! ** Councillor Tour – Newlands/Auldburn Ward”

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GoBike Ride – Baldernock Loop – Sunday 4th November

Sunday 4th November – Baldernock Loop

This ride will take in the East Dunbartonshire countryside around Balmore and Baldernock, but on the way out of the city we will see a couple of contrasting housing developments, both of which include cycle paths. The return will be via the Bears Way and Kelvin Walkway, arriving back in Glasgow in time for lunch. 20 miles, with a short length of unsurfaced path between Cadder and Balmore and a couple of short lengths on busy main roads. Continue reading “GoBike Ride – Baldernock Loop – Sunday 4th November”

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GoBike Live on Scotland Tonight


Did you catch us on Scotland Tonight a few weeks ago? We were asked to go live on STV to represent people cycling in a discussion about Sir Chris Hoy’s call to end the ‘Us and Them’ rhetoric sadly all too common on the roads (and in the media). Perhaps predictably, the discussion somewhat ignored this call and the questioning tried to lead the debate towards well… us and them talk about “bugbears” on the roads. We tried to steer that line towards more productive debate about the need for safe spaces for cycling…  Continue reading “GoBike Live on Scotland Tonight”

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Evidence Doth Maketh the Facts

You may have noticed recently that the GoBike website has had a swanky new make over – and very pleased we are with it too. Thank you loads to our hard working web group volunteers for helping out with it.

One new resource we’ve added on there is an Evidence section packed full of publications, statistics, fact and figures for the most discerning of debaters and anecdotal myth naysayers. Continue reading “Evidence Doth Maketh the Facts”