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A STRONG DETERRENT to the proliferation of motorcycles

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Bhud
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PostPosted: 00:47 - 19 Oct 2022    Post subject: A STRONG DETERRENT to the proliferation of motorcycles Reply with quote

Are motorcycles "incompatible with pedal cycles"?

I get a huge amount of joy from riding a "pedal cycle", and find there's a direct transmissibility between motorcycle riding skills and pushbike riding skills. I recently went down a flight of steps on my mountain bike and it was great!! At the same time, motorcycles are the absolute business...

Therefore, I was surprised to receive this missive from MAG in my inbox. Apparently, the world works differently in Cambridge, and you can't have motorcycles and pushbikes at the same time... "There can be only one!" "This town ain't big enough for both of us, mister!" Is this really the case? Are you from Cambridge or the surrounding area? Are MAG exaggerating or overreacting? Let me know your thoughts. From my personal pov, there's good reason to take an interest in this consultation and share your views, because an organisation called the "Greater Cambridge Partnership" is proposing a rather radical and at the same time absurdly irrational objection to motorcycles, contrary to what's been put in place in other cities such as Oxford and London, in its introduction of a Clean Air Zone for Cambridge... I am rather flabbergasted, tbh. Isn't this just Twitter-style tribalism? I have read the proposals and I think this time MAG may have a point.

MAG wrote:

GCP Sustainable Travel Zone consultation: ’Making Connections’ with prejudice.

The Motorcycle Action Group (MAG) claims that the Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) proposals to charge motorcycles to enter a Sustainable Travel Zone are based on misinformation and prejudice. GCP launched its Making Connections consultation on 17th October. Included in the consultations are plans to charge all motorised vehicles, including motorcycles, a flat rate of £5 per day to enter what is being billed as a Sustainable Travel Zone.

MAG activists in Cambridge caught wind of the plans to consult on a sustainable travel zone weeks before the consultation launch. They quickly found that the proposal was to charge motorcycles the same £5 charge as cars. Approaches were made to open dialogue with GCP, which they ignored.

A Freedom of Information (FOI) request showed that a formal presentation delivered to Cambridgeshire County Council listed reasons to charge motorcycles, including that the charge would be a “strong deterrent to proliferation”. Arguments against a full exemption for motorcycles are listed as “Lack of £ disincentive may encourage uptake as people switch from car” and “Inherently less safe mode; incompatible with pedal cycles”. Arguments against a reduced charge for motorcycles included the statement that “rear-plate images are harder to accurately capture”.

A technical note discussing exemptions assesses motorcycles as having “no significant impact on congestion reduction, sustainable travel or air quality and safety benefits”.

Commenting on the findings, MAG’s Director of Campaigns & Political Engagement, Colin Brown, said:

“Once again, we are dealing with what can only be described as anti-motorcycling prejudice. Claims that motorcycles are inherently less safe and incompatible with pedal cycles are unfounded. I have checked the figures for Cambridgeshire: in 2021 there were 58 motorcycle casualties on urban roads in the county compared with 172 cycle casualties. Claiming that motorcycles are incompatible with pedal cycles naturally implies that pedal cycles are incompatible with motorcycles, yet that argument is not made. I would like to see any evidence base for these incompatibility claims. And saying that you cannot apply a lower charge due to difficulties with ANPR cameras reading rear plates is sheer stupidity: how do they intend capturing rear plates for the full charge?! Had the council been willing to engage with us we could have provided plenty of evidence for motorcycles reducing congestion and improving air quality. It seems that Cambridgeshire would rather engage with bias and misinformation than take the time to speak to those who actually ride motorcycles.”

MAG is calling for all riders in the region to make their views known by responding to the consultation and writing to councillors. MAG will continue to press for dialogue with the council in an attempt to bring a balanced view of motorcycling to the decision-making process.


The PowerPoint slide covering motorcycles presented to the council can be found here:
https://wiki.mag-uk.org/images/5/52/FOI_Response_-_1948095_-_July_2022_-_slide_on_motorbikes_and_mopeds.pdf

The technical note on exemptions can be found here:
https://wiki.mag-uk.org/images/d/d4/FOI_Response_-_1948095_-_160922_GCP_Making_Connections_Discounts_Exemptions_and_Charge_levels_Technical_Note_Accessible_redacted.pdf
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A100man
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PostPosted: 11:20 - 21 Oct 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well they got the one of teh 'cons' right..

'Could attract criticism as motorbikes
don’t cause as much congestion, so £5
seen as excessive'


Who do we write to?
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MCN
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PostPosted: 12:18 - 21 Oct 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

Cambridge can do one.
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xX-Alex-Xx
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PostPosted: 12:57 - 21 Oct 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

"Inherently less safe mode"

So does that mean if pedal bikes are less safe than walking, they'll be banned too, or at least charged?
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gt alex
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PostPosted: 23:49 - 22 Oct 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

Do bicycles have rego and insurance ?
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Jmoan
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PostPosted: 22:53 - 25 Oct 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

Private transport is one a of a few things that's under attack as part of an agenda and the proposals in Cambridge are an extension of this.
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grr666
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PostPosted: 00:04 - 26 Oct 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

Jmoan wrote:
Private transport is one a of a few things that's under attack as part of an agenda and the proposals in Cambridge are an extension of this.

If you think that's bad, have a look at what's planned for Canterbury.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11352725/Controversial-plans-stop-cars-travelling-neighbourhoods-Canterbury-press-ahead.html
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xX-Alex-Xx
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PostPosted: 06:56 - 26 Oct 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

Once a year they will choose someone from each district to fight to the death on TV. Should be fun. [/url]
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Nute
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PostPosted: 10:33 - 27 Dec 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

I despair of this country.
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doggone
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PostPosted: 11:10 - 27 Dec 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

With no democratic mandate they are forging head with UN-WEF policies whether you like it or not.
It will be declared very popular and successful, and rolled out nationally

https://i.postimg.cc/MpKd1GBR/un-wef.jpg
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stinkwheel
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PostPosted: 11:23 - 27 Dec 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

doggone wrote:
With no democratic mandate they are forging head with UN-WEF policies whether you like it or not.
It will be declared very popular and successful, and rolled out nationally

https://i.postimg.cc/MpKd1GBR/un-wef.jpg


Get up, go to work, go to the shop, come home and make dinner, go to tai chi class, drinks after, back home. According to that diagram, that's going to be 90 minutes of cycling in driving sleet.

Presumably the next step is "Just stay at home with double pneumonia for a week.", Huge saving in carbon footprint right there.
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Vracktal
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PostPosted: 17:17 - 01 Feb 2023    Post subject: Reply with quote

Really need someone to just create one single map of the UK that includes all current and proposed vehicle restrictions for every town and city. Every large town and city seems to have something in the works, some allow motorbikes, some don't, some do but only if your bike is new enough (or old enough), some only operate at certain times, and all of them are slightly different. Journey planning in 2025 is going to be a horrendous process of trying to figure out all the respective potential charges involved...

You'd hope at least it would be standardised in some way but considering we presently have seven seperate systems for personal vehicle road tax (something managed by only one authority), I'm not holding out much hope.

(I had to actually write out all the different systems because I kept losing count, for those interested it's):

Older than 40 years (rolling) free
Younger than 40 years but made before 2001 - two tiers (cars), four tiers (motorbikes), engine size based
Made after 2001 but before March 2006 (cars only) - 11 tiers, CO2 output based
Made after March 2006 but before April 2017 (cars only) - 13 tiers, CO2 output based
Made after March 2017 (cars only) - 11 tiers unless its a brand new vehicle in which case the first year's tax is higher, CO2 based BUT ALSO secondary 2 tiers of additional road tax unless it's an EV, based on vehicle value, payable for the first five years after first registration.

Really sounds ridiculous when you write it down, come to think of it. Maybe the complexity is the point, bamboozle people into taking the train just for a quiet life.
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Old Thread Alert!

The last post was made 1 year, 55 days ago. Instead of replying here, would creating a new thread be more useful?
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