The image Michael reposted comes from the TFL blog and relates to the Peddle My Wheels bike trial scheme (it is easy to lookup via Google Lens / Image Search), and there's a street sign in the image so obviously not Chiswick (Abbeville Village in Clapham).
The quote and image appears to be from Louise:
"We trialled the Babboe Mountain cargo bike for three months from Peddle My Wheels and have been thanking our lucky stars that we found them! It’s a massive expense to buy outright and we use it for our 14-mile round trip commute to school. We needed to be sure that we’d use it in all weathers and that the bike would cope with all the hills and the distance. I’m happy to say we all love it and thanks to the trial, we’re absolutely sure we want to keep it"
For context, this was a discussion with Michael that started when he challenged whether a bike lane could have an eco benefit if it resulted in the removal of a tree.
While he declined to respond to my points regarding CO2 or particulate emissions, Michael made the point that bicycles were impractical to do a school commute with two children at two different schools:
"What about a household consisting of two children one aged 5 and one aged 6 one of whom attends a school 1.5 miles due East, and the other attends a school 1.5 miles due West ?
As its clearly irresponsible to leave a 5 or 6 year old child at home alone, this means that one child will travel 4.5 miles to school and 4.5 miles back every day accompanied by a parent who will cycle in total 12 miles every day. Half of which at a pace which will determined by the slower of a 5 or 6 year old.
Its maybe just as well they don't have to try and earn a living on top of all that eh ?
It's all part of this great "modal shift, innit !"
My response was that this 12 mile journey would save even more CO2 (than an earlier example I'd worked through for him) and that far from being impossible (and bear in mind Louise's round trip was 14 miles — 2 miles longer than Michael's hypothetical), it was quite feasible with a cargo bike:
"Then your hypothetical family would emit far less CO2 and pollution if they switched to a bike for that journey — equivalent to the annual carbon sequestration of almost 16 mature trees in a standard car or 22 mature trees in a large SUV.....For very young kids, individual bikes may not be appropriate and if you venture out on C9 you'll see a growing number of these [I posted the image of the cargo bike] on the school run — rain or shine."
Michael declined to respond to my points and immediately pivoted to cycling safety, pointing out:
"So how comes the woman in the picture, "Mum" presumably, is wearing a helmet, while the children in the carrier on the front of the bike who are clearly the most vulnerable, aren't ?* Ooops!"
I note he's continued this point on this thread.
The important thing to remember is that those on the anti-cycling side who deploy arguments about cyclist safety, particularly helmets, are not doing so because they care about cyclist safety. Their intention is only to delay or reverse further road space allocation to active travel.
We saw this when our local OneChiswick element came out to heckle cyclists at the opening of the C9 extension.
Very strange ... you go on a happy family cycle, and a random passerby on the pavement starts shouting that everyone should wear a helmet. Most were anyway! This person completely ignores the danger from motor vehicles, and focuses on families out having a safe and healthy ride. pic.twitter.com/Cl1E9cS0qR— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) December 19, 2021
Ed Saper ● 1713d