Merseyside Transport Plan! Act Quick!

A Transport Plan is being drawn up for Merseyside to cover the period 2011 - 2024, and there is currently public consultation until 30 November.

Why not have your say by emailing info@transportmerseyside.org using the Title “LTP3 Consultation” and just use the suggested text (edit as applicable):

==============================================
Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to give my view concerning Merseyside’s Third Local Transport Plan.

(a) I would like the speed limit in the road where I live to be 20 mph / 30 mph (delete as applicable)
(b) I would like the speed limit at my local shops to be 20 mph / 30 mph
(c) For every £100 of my taxes spent on the roads, I would like £*** to be spent on facilities for motor vehicles and £*** to be spent on walking and cycling (fill in)
(d) My post code is ***

I also think ***

***Name***

Next Ride Friday 12th November

I haven't heard anything on the grape vine about an apres ride event this month. Can anyone help out??

Everyone is part of the mass, so if you've got an event on, or want to organise something then let people know on the facebook group or comment on here, or get chatting at the next mass. In the past we've had film nights, summer picnics, warehouse parties with homebrew and of course the general pub fun.

Bring yourself and your ideas to the next mass and lets make it one to remember.

See you then.

Summer 09 Picnic Ride

Just found this from Alex. Enjoy.........

Summer time Party

This August is going to be a great mass.

First up, there's a new soundsystem in town. Built by bodgers and general good guys extrodinaire Luke and Pete, We'll get some pics up soon. Apparently it's LOUD, can't wait to hear it.

After the August mass there is definitely the option of a beer or two in friendly surroundings, but rumours are growing about some party! More details when confirmed.


Anyway, Chinese Arch 6pm Fri 13th Aug. Meet likeminded cyclists and have an enjoyable ride with the safety and company of lots of others.

Bike Parking at Liverpool Southparkway

See below the message from Andrew Grimbley of the Merseyside Cycling Campaign. Try and roll out of bed early on Weds and make it down.

We need your support on Wednesday 22^nd July at 0815. It would be great to have as many people as possible turn up at the cycle stands next to the main road facing entrance of Liverpool South Parkway rail station to show that we are not impressed that the previously excellent cycle facilities have been removed to make way for a Business Lounge. Please join me at 0815 sharp for photo opportunity where as many bicycle as possible will be locked to the available Sheffield Stands to show that the present cycle parking is inadequate.

Further to the recent works carried out at Liverpool South Parkway rail station, Merseyside Cycling Campaign has been in correspondence to Merseytravel to express disappointment that has resulted in fewer less secure cycle spaces at the station. We are also disappointed that Merseytravel carried out no consultation before removing the previous cycle parking, especially in the case of a station that has won many awards and accolades for sustainability. We will be using the photo opportunity to ask for improved secure station cycle parking at stations across Merseyside.

The excellent bike parking as it was;

And as it is now;

New Bike Shop in Liverpool

Tucked away near the Cains Brewery a new bike shop has opened in Liverpool. Under the CUC Novas building, it seems to sell just Giant Bicycles. In the recession, boosted by track cycling's Olympic success, cycling shops have bucked the trend and the industry has continued to grow, even with the weak pound making imported Japanese (all Shimano gear)very expensive.




Go and check it out!!

If you thought we have it bad.........

Checkout this video from Paris. I've been there and it is that crazy, with mopeds all over the place. It highlights well that in congested areas of cities, no amount of paint on the road, or rules (if you can understand the french) will help at all, if poor driver behaviour isn't tackled.




Compared with some of these french drivers, even the most inconsiderate Liverpool drivers look like angels. Don't even get started on cycling contraflow systems as at around 4:00

Mobile Phone and Driving Petition

Critical Mass is excellent as a statement that we want our roads to be safer, more sociable places and less intimidating for non motorised traffic and pedestrians. Although we have great fun in the sun (and rain...) meeting up once a month at the Chinese arch, it has often said that Critical Mass doesn't in itself achieve any of the above aims.

Please have a look at this petition on the number 10 site, and sign it if you agree. It only takes a couple of minutes. http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/mobilemenaceban

The petition is supported by Roadpeace who have some excellent articles regarding road safety and driver behaviour. They are refreshing in their "radical views" that perhaps 3000 people killed on the UK's roads and twice as many seriously injured each year may be too high a cost to pay for our convenience of movement. http://www.roadpeace.org/

It must be stressed that cycling is a very safe activity on the majority of roads in the country. It is important that we help to keep it this way.

Manchester Critical Mass

Manchester's Critical Mass is going from strength to strength. This video is from last month, which was the closing party of the I Bike MCR Festival. They congregate at the central library at 6pm on the last friday of each month. Next one is on Friday 29th May.

Safety in Numbers

The CTC have launched a new campaign called Safety in Numbers. They need your help to get a motion through parliament which acknowledges that the biggest factor affecting the safety of cyclists on the roads is the "safety in numbers" effect. The more cyclists are on the road, the more drivers will expect to encounter cyclists and will adjust their behaviour accordingly. I can't wait to see the day when the majority of school children cycle to school. Sustrans is doing great work through its Bike It! project helping schools across the country adopt travel plans, introduce safer routes to schools and bike parking. It seems that some drivers have little compassion or consideration for young male cyclists, but as soon as we get the majority of children cycling to school, we expect driver attitudes and behaviour will improve dramatically. Sustrans aren't forcing them to cycle either, when surveyed over 60% of pupils wanted to be able to ride to school, yet only 2% actually did.


The important bit - please do this!!

Anyway, at the moment the MP for riverside, Louse Ellman has not yet signed the motion. It only takes 2 minutes to send a message asking for her to sign it. Please do the following;

• Go to the CTC website here http://www.ctc.org.uk/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=5236
  
• Have a look through the early day motion proposed (optional)
• Enter your postcode on the bottom of the page, it will then come up with your local MP
• Enter your details below and hit send
  
• Sit back and feel contented that you have let the person who represents the Riverside voting minority, know of your wishes!
  

This motion asks that we look at all the factors detering cyclists from the roads, including driver behaviour, and also get more cycle training for younger people. This last one is especially important. The next generation of drivers will have had a much better level of cycle training and know the issues that cyclists face. The majority of drivers on the roads now either had no cycle training, or received it back in the day when they were taught to ride in the gutter and keep out of everyone else's way!! These twisted attitudes all come from somewhere...........

CM Button Badges

You can get these small button badges from the little shop at the back of the foyer in FACT. They'll only be there for a little while as they are part of FACT's Climate for Change exhibition which gives a great space for local community and activist groups to use and showcase their work.

Skill Share this Weekend @ FACT

Hey people. This weekend, both Saturday and Sunday, Transition Towns Liverpool and Liverpool skill sharers are in FACT Gallery 1, helping people get together to learn something new. There will be some Bike cleaning workshops on Sunday, and also bike maintenance on Saturday and Sunday.

So bring down yer dirty bikes on Sunday, and get 'em gleaming for the summer. If you wanna come down and show people how to fix a puncture, or change brakepads, then get down, offer your knowledgeable services and get involved!!

May Ride

We had great fun out on the may ride. Nice to see the same faces again and get more names. I had great time. We had a guy with a camera following us by bike, filming the whole thing. Should appear on youtube sometime soon. As we went round the Albert Dock, a security guard told us that we weren't able to film on private property. I wonder if this also applies to tourists with Digicams?

The river mersey was beautiful as we wound our way round the echo arena. After, a good number found their way over the the Cain's Brewery Tap. There's great parking there and isn't that full. The Brewery tours seem to keep it propped up. Graham told tales of when he first came to Liverpool that you could so the brewery tour for less than £3, and it included two pints and a finger buffet when you finished!!

IBikeMcr Festival

Manchester's month long annual cycling festival is kicking off this friday with Critical Mass (in Manchester of course) with an opening party after including bands and Rollapaluza roller racing.



Fot the next month there is almost an event on every day, including races, fares, day rides, night rides and then more rides, until the next Critical Mass and the closing party.

See here for the full schedule http://www.ibikemcr.org.uk/?q=annual-festival-2009

Highlights are hard to pick from a packed schedule of great events, but a couple of events stand out. The Moonlight Ride to Edale (staying over in a camping barn), and week later, a showing of the legendary film, A Sunday in Hell which follows the 1976 Paris-Roubaix race.


If any of it appeals then get on the facebook group for Liverpool Critical Mass and we can get a few people from liverpool meeting up and going on the events.

20kg of Flyers

We've just taken hold of a LARGE number of flyers for liverpool critical mass. Designing them and ordereing them was definitely the easy part. If you can help with some flyering, then give us a shout and we can get some to you before the next Critical Mass, or alternatively come along to our hopefully sundrenched next edition on the 10th April and take some with you then.

February Ride Report and Upcomming Events

Great to see so many new faces at the February Mass. As soon as the weather gets better, numbers will be huge. We had to take a different route from the Chinese arch, due to the roadworks, but this opened up a view of the cobbled back streets, before we got onto our usual jaunts.
Numbers were good this month, and the mass had real presence. The pub was also great as well. Next month I think we're going to try the Cain's Brewery Tap. It's got ample bike parking, lots of outdoor seating and of course, we'll be supporting our local brewery.


Film Night - Friday 13th March
After March Critical Mass there's a film showing of the Flying Scotsman. A great film following the career of Scottish Amateur Track cyclist Graeme Obree, from being broke and losing his bike shop, to building a bike of his own design, using low-tech materials to break cycling's greatest record. Obree's DIY methods make him unfavourable with cycling's governing body and he has to fight the officials on and off the track, whilst dealing with his own personal problems and coping with his incredible rise in popularity.




It will be on at the Liverpool Social Centre, 96 Bold Street (underneath News from Nowhere book shop) from 7:30pm. Hot Food and Drinks will be available as well, perhaps some popcorn if we're lucky.

December Ride Report

Setting off on time with the Soundsystem, we arrived late due to a mechanical on the towing arm of the trailer. A quick run back for a clamp and a 10 minute wait on Princes Av dressed as Santa had us sorted to go agin.

There was a good turnout, with some great tinsel, stars, decorated bikes and mulled wine........mmmm.

We hit the roads at 6:30 with around 20 riders. A wrong turn (is it possible on the mass?) at Lewis's saw us pass through the Bus and Taxi canyon of St Johns. The mass tried weaving through, but was held up by the congestion and sat there stuck. Guns & Roses welcome to the jungle was bouncing around all the walls and made sure we didn't pass unnoticed.

Up past St Georges ad over the flyover to Dale street saw us cruising along. It's so nice to be able to take a deep breath, ralax and looka round you at the lights of the city, safe in the mass and not having to worry about any traffic.

We turned left and right, again and again, round the dock areas back up into town. When getting back to the arch we we almost stopped by a police car. He got out and ordered us to ride two abreast, even through it is not illegal in any way to ride as we had been. Obviously a motorist had complained, so we rode 2 abreast but continued to take up one lane as we had before.

At the chinese arch the Policeman pulled in and chatted with us. He was friendly and understood what we were up to and why (Bonus). With the law lords recent ruling that critical mass is not illegal, it would be hard for the police to take any firmer response.

Comming up soon we will be having a film night, so keep your ears to the ground and see you soon!

Critical Mass: officially legal!

Three years back, at a London Critical Mass which I attended, the Met gave out some nasty little leaflets informing us that what we were doing was illegal. Apparently, Critical Mass constituted a procession, and since the organisers didn't inform the police of the approximate number of attendees and the route the procession was going to take, we were doing something illegal. Now, this was pretty flawed logic in the first place. In point of fact, if they were right, only the organisers were doing something illegal. The fact that CM has no organisers and no route had apparently also passed the author of the leaflet by.

Still, it made us nervous. There have been too many cases of conflicts between the police and the Mass. New York has a particularly nasty record, including a couple of cases of mass arrests. We didn't want to see our fun and positive ride turned into a tense standoff with police. I'd have been tempted to leave their claims unanswered to underline their stupidity, but somebody stepped up to the mark and a friendly action commenced.

Friendly actions are meant to prove a point of law one way or another amicably and without damages. The judgement is by long custom considered final. The judgement came down in our favour - it was a procession, but it had been running so long that it was now customary. The Met threw their toys out of the pram, hired the best silk money can buy, and appealed. This was, to say the least, rather unsporting.

Now, years later, we have an even better judgement in our favour. The House of Lords have handed down a judgement that not only is the London mass customary, but anybody starting a similar event around the country is acting within the law. The Met were slapped for trying to force a 'draconian' reading onto an old law.

I'll be raising a glass on Friday evening :D

BBC Article
Full judgement

November Ride Report

November was the first ride to start fully in the dark and numbers looked good.

The soundsystem was already there. A kids trailer packed with speakers. Then the second soundsystem turned up. It was party time......

We headed out and over the flyover to Duke Street. People really noticed us, as the music filled the streets. We successfully created a small, momentary space on a Liverpool road, which was sociable, safe for cyclists and carfree.



On duke street a CCTV van stopped for a gander as we went past, bemused as to whether we were doing anything wrong. Shortly after, the lead sounsystem suffered a Justin Timberlake moment, but the mass pulled together and saw it through. It did however get a passing bus driver dancing in his cab, opening his doors to join in.

Also there was a guy on a wobble bike. This bike hinges in the normal way with the forks, but has a 2nd hinge underthe seat. This leads to some amazing manouvres.



After the mass we stood around and chatted, tried to ride the wobble bike (with varied success), and compared soudsystem specs. Many headed of to the Punk fundraiser at the social centre.

Next Mass is on Friday December 12th, usual place and time. It's the critmass edition, everyone must bring some tinsle and I'm sure there'll be many flasks of mulled wine around.

Critical Mass Tomorrow!

Well, after a lot of time and effort, the new sound system is built. She's a beauty: the trailer base is built entirely out of reclaimed materials and using only human-powered tools. The sound system itself is made from Doug's cabs and the battery and amp from Matt's hifi trailer. We got her working for the first time in the Next to Nowhere social centre a couple of weeks ago, and after a couple of teething problems with the towing arm she's all sorted. We took her for a ride round the park the other evening, to the bemusement of the taxi drivers and joggers, but we haven't tested her in earnest in the city centre.

Bring lights and wrap up warm, and we'll have a party on wheels!