It was National Cycle to Work Day last week so we thought we’d look at cycling and air pollution.
We only found out about the Day at the last minute and belatedly joined the Strava club. There were a few comments about why it was timed in the middle of the school holidays, which was fair. And some people noting that every day is cycle to work day! But if the idea is to get more people into the idea of cycling, then it makes sense to do it during good weather and at times of less traffic.
Tracking the Air
Sacha regularly cycles to work, even when he used to be an hour’s cycle away from the office. These days, an e-bike is part of the mix. He’s been regularly tracking his exposure using AirTrack, showing where the worst pollution is and helping him consider alternative routes.
Unfortunately, according to MobilityWays’ Commuter Census, cycling to work rates have reduced by 21% in a year. While safe and affordable infrastructure can encourage cycling, a persistent concern is the impact of air pollution. Many people we speak to believe that cyclists are more exposed than car passengers - understandable given the sensation of sitting amongst the fumes. However, while polluted, the air is essentially infinite, whereas pollution can get trapped within cars (and to a lesser extent within shared transport). So you are better off cycling or taking other forms of active transport. For more stats, do check out our Air Aware Labs article today about pollution exposure while commuting.
Bringing it back home, we’ve been looking into Lambeth Council’s approach to cycle storage. While it works for some to hire bikes, and for others to keep their own bikes on their property, these options aren’t available to everyone so on-street storage is crucial. This can particularly apply if you need to adapt your bike in some way, perhaps to transport children or otherwise. Nonetheless, on-property storage can lead to some creative solutions!
Lambeth was previously criticised for the cost of on-street bike storage, which in effect was more than a car permit, given how many bikes can be stored in a car-sized hangar. They recently brought it down, for that reason. Availability has also been an issue - in the same article, they count 2,538 cycle spaces, with the aim of getting to 5,000 by 2026. It’s quite hard to get data on the length of waiting lists but this and word of mouth suggest it has been years - hopefully this is now shortening. And adapted hangars have been rolled out over the last year, to take account of special needs. This is all part of the kerbside strategy which include EV charging and parklets.
Start them young
We’ve done cycle training with our children, though we still worry about safety for them while cycling. There are initiatives to set up cycling (or walking) buses to schools, although we are not aware of any locally. Lambeth also helps to raise awareness of cycling for children with another mid-summer-holiday event just two days ago: a cycle ride for children from Brockwell Park to the Oval. Looked like a lot of fun!