Most subway lines were dug after the city they go under was built, and, for example, there’s a whole lot of London on top of the London Underground. Very difficult to dig upwards, very expensive to dig downwards. In the above ground sections you’d have to rebuild all the road bridges.

Much easier and cheaper to run the most efficient service possible with a high throughput of trains.

The office where I work in central London, UK has bike parking for 300 and only eight vehicle parking spaces. We also have a fitness suite. There’s two (male and female) locker rooms with showers, towels provided, a drying room.

At least one of the green building standards doesn’t give you the top rating unless you have provision for active travel, institutional investors won’t buy your shiny new building unless it’s rated “Excellent” or “Platinum”, tenants are looking for added extras which encourage their staff to come to the office rather than WFH.

And Westminster Council charges business rates (property tax) on parking spaces.

The bike probably has a chain guard and wheel guard.

the New World Order, the World Economic Forum, you won’t be allowed to leave your neighbourhood because 15 minute cities are coming with guards and checkpoints.

Why not use oil lamps or candles in wind-proof lanterns? Red glass for rear, clear glass for the front. My grandparents rode bikes back in the days before reliable battery lamps were a thing and that’s what they used.

There’s been a few different suggestions, I’m not sure what the current iteration says.

As I understand it, the big problem with any Oxford Street pedestrianisation is the diverted bus routes. Everything would have to go down Wigmore Street, which would have to be converted back to a two-way street.

If it’s an illegal electric motorbike (which is what is being referred to here, electric assist pedal bikes aren’t illegal), you can’t insure it.

Thanks. I’ve only been to York once that I can remember but I can see immediately why it failed. Something whizzing along silently in a crowded pedestrian area with narrow pavements so people will be stepping into the road without looking, is fairly obviously going to be a disaster.

Cross-posting my comment from the other community:

I think what our mate Darin is referring to by “e-bikes” is throttle-operated, no need to pedal, capable of going 30-60mph electric motorbike which, like any other motorbike, you need a licence and protective gear to ride, and no, they’ve got no business being in the bike lane with people noodling along at 10-15mph, and definitely not on the pavement with pedestrians.

Unfortunately, Darin is an idiot who can’t string a sentence together and so he’s just told everyone that my electric assist pedal cycle, top assisted speed of 15.5mph, no need for a licence or insurance, is also illegal. Thanks, Darin.

This House of Commons briefing from 2019 lays out what the issues are with e-scooters, in that because they’re not legally classed as a bicycle, they have the same legal requirements as a motorbike, which is clearly nonsense for a scooter with a top speed of 15.5mph, however, the law has not yet caught up with reality. Since that briefing was written, various trials have started in cities with hired e-scooters provided by third parties to see how the law needs to be updated and what needs to change in order to make them legal on UK roads, but the trials seem to just keep getting extended with no conclusions drawn. As we’re currently in election purdah, nothing’s going to happen until July anyway, and I highly doubt that “sorting out e-scooter legality” will be top of the new government’s priority list.

I think what our mate Darin is referring to by “e-bikes” is throttle-operated, no need to pedal, capable of going 30-60mph electric motorbike which, like any other motorbike, you need a licence and protective gear to ride, and no, they’ve got no business being in the bike lane with people noodling along at 10-15mph, and definitely not on the pavement with pedestrians.

Unfortunately, Darin is an idiot who can’t string a sentence together and so he’s just told everyone that my electric assist pedal cycle, top assisted speed of 15.5mph, no need for a licence or insurance, is also illegal. Thanks, Darin.

This House of Commons briefing from 2019 lays out what the issues are with e-scooters, in that because they’re not legally classed as a bicycle, they have the same legal requirements as a motorbike, which is clearly nonsense for a scooter with a top speed of 15.5mph, however, the law has not yet caught up with reality. Since that briefing was written, various trials have started in cities with hired e-scooters provided by third parties to see how the law needs to be updated and what needs to change in order to make them legal on UK roads, but the trials seem to just keep getting extended with no conclusions drawn. As we’re currently in election purdah, nothing’s going to happen until July anyway, and I highly doubt that “sorting out e-scooter legality” will be top of the new government’s priority list.

Not all e-bikes are illegal to use on the public road, so Darin is also wrong.

The UK does a “bike to work” scheme, you get an interest free loan from your employer that is repaid directly from your salary before your tax is deducted, so it reduces your tax bill every month. The loan money can be spent at any bike shop on any bike that meets the criteria. It’s extremely popular and works well.

They’re doing something like that in France - all new and existing car parks with space for more than 80 cars have to have solar panels https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/09/france-to-require-all-large-car-parks-to-be-covered-by-solar-panels

Emergency services vehicles’ journeys are faster and easier if the roads aren’t cluttered with private vehicles.

They can get closer to the scene if they aren’t having to negotiate on-street parking full of cars.

They will be called to fewer severe road traffic accidents.

Yes. Minister in charge of the money and the country’s budget.

He is terrified of upsetting the car lobby. As Chancellor of the Exchequer he kept the fuel duty freeze which has so far robbed the Exchequer of £100 billion pounds since it was introduced in 2011.

And he lives in a low traffic neighbourhood himself, it’s not like people are driving up and down Downing Street all day, since it’s gated at both ends.

“58% of people didn’t even know they live in an LTN.” I am dead.

But actually that tracks. I live in a post-war housing estate which is effectively an LTN, and most of the residents had no idea until they were losing their minds about the LTN the council were installing round the corner.

I live in one of the most deprived London boroughs. The council is installing LTNs, school streets, and a borough-wide 20mph limit. Many of the existing housing estates are already LTNs, but because that’s how the estate was built, people don’t recognise it as an LTN, it’s just the estate.