May 17th Manchester #Space4Cycling

Manchester will take part in the national demonstration campaign ride for Space4Cycling.

The ride will assemble at the Boathouse in Platt Fields Park from 1pm on Saturday 17th May and will ride off at 2pm.

The route has yet to be finalised, but is expected to go down "Curry Mile" and then along Oxford Road before arriving in Manchester City Centre.



We need to get thousands of people out on this ride to protest at the lack of campaign for space for cycling in Manchester.

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Manchester's Biggest Bike Protest!

I have only lived in Manchester for the past few years and I haven't (yet) done any research into the history of cycle campaigning in the area. However, I am fairly certain that Monday night's Space4Cycling ride is the biggest cycle demonstration in a very long time, possibly the biggest ever.

Around 500 people gathered on pedal cycles in St Peter's Square. The start was fairly low key, and the start was announced by a police officer.



The ride was marshaled by people carrying, and occasionally wearing blue GMCC tabards.



The police were holding the traffic well on the main roads,



and had kept the roads around the conference centre clear of traffic.



The ride outside Manchester Town Hall.





The ride then carried on into the Northern Quarter where the smaller roads made policing more difficult, and many critical mass regulars found themselves having to plug side roads.



There were only two sound systems on the ride despite the numbers.



There were a few unusual machines like this rickshaw with it's entourage of youngsters.



The police were also much more effective than Critical Mass at holding the trams for the passing riders.



It was only a short ride and it soon returned to St Peter's Square.



The ride ended quietly, though there was a shout for a bike lift for a group photograph.



As a show of numbers the ride was very successful. However, there has not been much sign of press coverage and there was no clear leadership of the ride, nobody got up to talk about the purpose of the demonstration.

The lessons I learnt from the demo are that we can get large numbers of people out in Manchester to protest about conditions for cycling. However, we need to make sure someone is primed to welcome the riders and we need to make more of an effort to get the press involved to report on this growing groundswell of protest.

Protest to Survive - join Space4Cycling

Next Monday, 30th September, will see the first mass protest ride organised by Greater Manchester Cycling Campaign in all the time I have been in Manchester.

The ride is a follow-up from the massive Space4Cycling ride organised by London Cycling Campaign where, on the 2nd September, "for the first time in its thousand-year history, the Palace of Westminster was entirely surrounded by protestors on bicycles."


photo from LCC web site

Space4Cycling is fast becoming a national protest movement pushing the case for better conditions on our roads for people who walk and cycle, taking road space away from motorvehicles to prioritise benign transport.

The ride will meeting in St Peter’s Square, in the centre of Manchester, from 6pm and the ride will set off at 6.30pm. There will be plenty of space as Mosley St is closed to motor vehicles during the conference.

Map from GMCC

We need massive numbers out on this demonstration to send the message to local, regional and national government to stop wasting money on building roads and start relocating space for cycling. This is your chance to make an impact, bring bikes, trikes, quads, sound systems lights and a party mood. I will be there with the Brox sound system.

There are more details on the GMCC web site.

Oxford Road Flashmob

A short and sweet cycling demonstration in Oxford Road this morning showing just how much we care about the future plans for cycling in Oxford Road and the wider Manchester area.

Around 100 riders gathered at 10am sharp to cover the road with people and pedal cycles for just 5 minutes.



There were two bike lifts for the cameras.



And a sociable post event coffee and chat.



TfGM will soon be going out to consultation with their plans for bikes and buses on Oxford Road - expected start date is Monday 13 May.

It seems that GMCA & TfGM have accepted the principle of "Dutch-style" routes, and we must hold out for good quality implementation of this. The recent Greater Manchester Cycling City Ambition Grant document on Oxford Road says that "Dutch-style full segregation of cycle routes will feature prominently along a 4 mile long flat thoroughfare" (page 18)

A video by Anthony Johnson of the event.



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Update

A photo taken from above



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