Bronchs = exciting clean fast cycling

imagine that
a bargain is struck for commuters: if they get to and from work at no cost to the environment then the city will provide them with clean air passages for travel, called the bronchs after the passages to human lungs. They are like motorways designed for cyclists rather than cars. Cross winds, traffic interruptions, and rain are eliminated. The bronchs are the lungs of the city, and fit alongside rivers ...

Thames bronchs

excitement between railway stations 

We arrive at Kings Cross station, pick up bikes and cycle up the gentle incline from the platform into the bronchs system. On the section to Victoria we relish speed through banked corners as we swing past the British Museum at second storey height, through Soho, around Buckingham Palace, and down onto to a platform at Victoria station. It only takes quarter of an hour.

our lungs are clean, and we're fitter

Fresh air keeps us cool and we're thrilled by the sights of London. No pollution!

imagine political will to achieve this ...

Why not? Already there's movement

FairTrade, pollution, and ... bronchs

When FairTrade started it seemed a bit of a joke.  Now it competes in the marketplace of goods, and in the marketplace of ideas.

Their first offerings of tea were a bit rough, rather like drinking brewed straw, but now products are excellent.  I especially appreciate the quality of wine, coffee, and chocolate.

When it comes to reducing pollution by cycling, it is too easy to think that our efforts are insignificant but they do make a cumulative difference.  What might appear token begins to affect change.  And there is change.

New roads include cycle tracks.  Cities are evolving cycle-friendly infrastructure.  Disused railway tracks are converted into cycleways.  But as yet radical design is unsupported.

We desperately need ideas like SkyCycle and the bronchs to be built now.

I wish,
Elder Adok

Kings Cross to Victoria in 15 pollution free mins

Getting across London can be tediously slow.  Either we burrow underground and melt in the humid heat, or we breath in particulates as we walk, cycle, or drive.  Imagine a practical alternative of reducing pollution by cycling inside fresh air bronchs.

London's Kings Cross looking up
© Darrell Godliman

It would only take 15 minutes of fascinating views to travel from Kings Cross to Victoria.  The passage is highlighted in Brighton Evening which is a chapter from a futuristic but realistic novel.

Virtually every week we hear news of a major city having to take drastic action to reduce suffocating pollution.  If we fly into many cities we are greeted by a whimper of yellow haze.  Imagine clean cycleways (not coloured tracks) designed specifically for uninterrupted travel in clean air.  They would not be heavy structures and could easily plumb into existing infrastructure.

All it needs is the imagination, and political action.  We lack both, but spread the idea!

Here's to true cycling liberation,
Elder Adok

A glimmer of hope after 7/7

The bombings on 7/7 brought 52 lives to an end, and injured many more.  However, that ghastly day in 2005 may in the end have saved some lives because cycling increased markedly.  The memorial looks like a collection of garden fence posts, but Alex Bamford sees it in a different light.  Perhaps we should too.

7/7 on 9/11 © Alex Bamford

Reducing pollution by cycling will mean we constantly arrive at work all hot and sticky.  That will encourage the provision of showers, secure cycle storage and airing facilities.  Imagine a world where those facilities are the norm.  

I envisage even better in chapter 03 of Serpent Dove.  The bronchs are designed for fresh air and cycling.  Arrival branches are cooled so that cyclists reach normal temperature quickly, and of course departure branches are warm to get cyclists comfortable.

On this tenth anniversary of 7/7 may those who died rest in peace; may the injured continue to find healing; may we relish the gift of life and look after our world.

Here's to imaginative investment that encourages us to do that!

I wish,
Elder Adok

Richard Branson's railroads + cycle-roads = Bronchs

Posted May 2015 as 'RB on roads for cycles ... Bronchs'

Revised August 2016

In March 2016 Richard Branson unveiled the first Azuma train for his East Coast rail franchise. He shows commitment to railroads. He has also come up trumps again with his idea to dedicate some roads for cycling only, ie cycle-roads. Trying to squeeze cycle lanes alongside existing traffic is a poor compromise. Good cycling space leads to conversation.

Picture by 105MM

Economically, environmentally, and mentally, it makes sense to invest in quality cycle-friendly designs. These will be at the expense of motor vehicles unless additional routes are built. Branson's thinking is good but it doesn't go far enough.

What would happen if he combined railroads and cycle-roads? Foster + Partners' SkyCycle design was rejected by Boris Johnson and David Cameron, who didn't have the imagination to see its potential. If cycle-roads are built above railroads there are a number of advantages:

• existing traffic flows are recognised and capacity increased
• no additional land is required
• cycle speeds are increased

Why not add fresh air and weatherproofing? SkyCycle + Bronchs is best.

Here's to freeing up our cities and citizens,

Elder Adok

Using empty platform space ... bronchs

Apart from signals and converging tracks, the end of most railway platforms are uncluttered.  How about using that space for connections into a cycle-friendly infrastructure?  Network Rail's plans for London Waterloo show the opportunity.

Instead of fighting through the main concourse and trying to grab a Boris bike outside the entrance, it would be as easy as walking in the other direction!  Smaller pods of bikes would be available safely screened from the tracks, or a folding Brompton bike could be used.  

Then it would be easy to cycle into dedicated cycleways which would gently climb above the tracks.  Such a light structure could connect to other London terminals within quarter of an hour.  These overground tubes would carry fresh air into the heart of the city ... they would be the bronchs.

Fantastic, futuristic but realistic!

Here's to that, Elder Adok

Dave, Boris, & Ed forget cyclists' vote

News reports, for example Telegraph's which party should cyclists vote for?, show that only the Lib-Dems and Greens are saying anything much about reducing pollution and investing in cycle-friendly infrastructure.

Others have forgotten that cyclists' vote, and in large numbers too.

I know Boris has introduced different coloured cycle lanes but as I've argued before they are not superhighways.  Time is running out for substantial realistic commitments to increasing cycling and reducing pollution.

Where is the political will we all seek?