PSA: Multiple Space For Cycling rides this Saturday – show your support!

There are Space For Cycling and Pedal On Parliament[/url] mass rides happening across (the northern bits of) the country this Saturday, 25th April 2015.

So if you like the sound of the goals above and are keen on the idea of a better environment for every day cycling (and walking) then please join your local ride.

In the run up to the election it’s a great time to remind politicians that cyclists are voters too.

Rides that I know about:

Newcastle/Gateshead: Space For Cycling Civic Ride #civicride2015
Newcastle Civic Centre at 10am
http://www.ctc.org.uk/event/newcastle-upon-tyne-space-cycling-ride-2015
http://newcycling.org/event/space-4-cycling-ride-2015/
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/geordies-space-for-cycling-mass-ride-sat-25th-april
https://www.facebook.com/events/805289226173586/

Sheffield: Space For Cycling[/u]
10:30am Barkers Pool
http://www.ctc.org.uk/event/sheffield-space-cycling-ride-2015
http://www.spaceforcyclingsheffield.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/events/354892881367183/

Edinburgh: Pedal On Parliament
Meadows at 11:30am
http://www.ctc.org.uk/event/pedal-parliament
http://pedalonparliament.org/the-route/getting-there/

Aberdeen: Pedal On Parliament
Hazelhead Park at 12 noon
http://www.ctc.org.uk/event/aberdeen-pedal-parliament-cycle-ride
http://aberdeencycleforum.org.uk/index.php?pf=news.php&nid=173

Bumpity for the evening crowd.

Hmmm not getting a lot of interest here.

One more bump for luck. Last one I promise.

Rides are tomorrow!

Newscastle ride has been cancelled because the council have decided that riding on the road is too dangerous. 😯

Awesome sense of irony there

wtf! Really?

Yep…

The official Civic Ride will not go ahead due to safety concerns the Safety Advisory Group (Newcastle Council, Gateshead Council and Northumbria Police) which met this morning (Friday 24 April 2015). They say in an email to us:

“The Members of the Safety Advisory Group made the decision that they were unable to support the event on live carriageways due to Public Safety. The event manual did not address the concerns of The Safety Advisory Group or the risk involved of cycling on live roads in a large group of riders.”

Needless to say that we are absolutely gutted. After months of preparation and engagement, we are disappointed that the ride has not been given constructive support due to the perceived risks mentioned above.

We will still be gathering outside the Civic Centre from 10:00 – and we’d ask everyone to come along too for a chat, some announcements and, of course, to collectively show our support for safe protected Space for Cycling in our city.

So please come and join us. While we may not be able to ride, we can still come together to show solidarity and unity for a smarter healthier city, and strength of voice for change and action to create high quality cycling infrastructure.

More than ever we need to make our call for Space for Cycling heard loud and clear!

— http://newcycling.org/event/space-4-cycling-ride-2015/

Cancelled with less than 24 hours to go despite months of planning and the fact we have held two previous rides under the same conditions with the same “event manual”. 👿

….and if 300 people all just happened to go for a bike ride at the same time, who could prevent this?

Thanks for the heads up ref the Sheffield one.

As they have accepted that the roads are not safe presumably they can be pressurised into doing something about this ?

They must also realise it tos late to cancel and a lot of annoyed folk are just going to cycle anyway.

Either way a shitty thing to do this late in the day by them.
None near me but I support them as a better approach than reclaim the streets

Cheers to all who attend.

They didn’t even arrange one down here cos its so dangerous!

As they have accepted that the roads are not safe presumably they can be pressurised into doing something about this ?

Oddly Newcastle council are (relatively speaking) supportive of cycling (in words at least).

We have 60-something percent of councillors signed up to the Space For Cycling goals, we won a Cycle City Ambition grant, and the leader of the council actually came on the last mass ride.

So this last minute cancellation is a bit weird.

A cynic may suggest that some people don’t want large scale “protests” in the run up to an election.

How did it go?

The sheffield one was great. About 400 there.