Dates for your diary

Free cycle ride round historic York

Friday 26 July, 6:30pm

Free for YCC members: A social/historical bike ride is being offered by Cecil Pugh from York Cycling Tours on from the main visitor entrance of York Minster. It will be a one hour, slow, paced ride with occasional stops along the way. Final destination Brew York Walmgate.

The ride will be limited to 25 riders. First come basis, so booking is required. To book a place, please email Leah.

Monthly social ride

Friday 26 July, 6:30pm

Meet at York Minster just outside the Visitor’s entrance (West end) We’ll ride at a steady pace for 30 minutes before retiring to a pub or cafe. Please join us – there is no need to book, just turn up. The more the merrier!

Bike security marking

Saturday 20 July 10am – 12pm

Tuesday 20 August 4.30pm – 6.30pm

The British Transport Police will be marking and registering cycles at York Railway Station in the short-term car area on the days shown above. If you can help at the YCC recruitment stall that will be running at the same time, please contact Leah.

York Environment Week(s) will encompass four weeks of activities and events: from Saturday 14th September to Saturday 12th October 2024.

Kidical Mass Ride

Sunday 6th October (new date)

Marshalled, family-friendly ride: 10:30-12 from Hungate to Cycle Heaven

Registration and more details here.

Local Transport Strategy: vision and delivery

Photo credit: Andy D’Agorne

On 8 July, 40 members turned out to hear from Councillor Kate Ravilious – the Executive Member for Transport – and Tom Horner – Head of Active and Sustainable Transport at the Council. Kate explained what’s been happening behind the scenes in terms of developing the Local Transport Strategy and the Movement and Place Plan Framework. We will keep you updated about the plans, which are due to progress through the Council’s decision-making machinery between now and Autumn. You can read a fuller account of the meeting on our website.

Planning consultation: have your say

Photo courtesy of Cycle Streets

We urge members to respond to a consultation about the entry to/exit from the Cocoa Gardens development on Wigginton Road just north of Crichton Avenue. Anyone using the non motorised-user route between Foss Islands Path and New Earswick via Bootham Stray will cross this entry/exit, and a matter of principle is also at stake. The developers are suggesting a design that does not meet the LTN/120 guidance or provide cyclist priority at the junction, with part of their submission reading “the mild inconvenience to cyclists of temporarily dismounting is not sufficient grounds to maintain a highways objection”. One of our members suggests a continuous (“Copenhagen”) crossing with coloured tarmac over the junction for non motorised users. An example of such a crossing is the rather faded one on James Street passing Lidl. It gives priority to ‘ahead’ users i.e. people on the off-road route alongside James Street. Deadline for responses is Monday 29 July 2024.

Hope springs eternal on cycle barriers

At the 8 July meeting on the local transport strategy, asked about cycle barriers during the Q&A, Tom Horner said that those that can be simply dealt with by a person with an angle grinder have been identified, grouped into areas, and should start being tackled in September.

Raising the path at Millennium Bridge

Many of you will have noticed that work is underway between Millennium Bridge and Butcher Terrace to improve accessibility and to allow the route to stay open for longer when the river levels rise. The works will:

• Raise part of the path (the dip that usually floods) by 60cm to level it out.
• Install pipes under the path to drain flood water from the route.
• Widen the space between the bollards (to match current policy) and adjust the tactile paving to increase accessibility.
• Widen and straighten the path to create more space for people.
• Remove the speed humps.

There are minor signed diversions around the works so the route over the bridge remains open. The work should be completed before the end of July.

YCC becoming a charity: have your say

The YCC committee is thinking that it might be a good time for YCC to become a charity. Charitable status would give YCC status and financial benefits (e.g. ability to claim gift aid and participate in the Big Give) and it would not limit our campaigning activities. CamCycle (Cambridge), Cyclox (Oxford) and Exeter Cycling Campaign – amongst others – already have charitable status.

If you have views on this let us know now on this Google form.

In order to make this move, we’d need – amongst other things – to register with the Charity Commission, hold an EGM and recruit trustees. If you have experience of gaining charitable status, being a charity trustee, or similar and would like to help please contact us (with charity status in the subject line).

Nunnery Lane crossroads trial

The Council is due to trial giving greater priority to pedestrians at the junction of Blossom St and Nunnery Lane. They are asking for volunteers to help gather data before and during the trial, to understand the impact on pedestrians, cyclists, buses and drivers. Please sign up via the doodle poll to help during July, August and September. Volunteers will be fully briefed nearer the time.

Latest plans for station access

Image credit: CoYC

The York Station Gateway project has issued an updated map outlining its current plans for station access. However, it should be noted that these are continually being updated.

Cities shelve on-street parking

Six major cities are moving against on-street parking in a bid to make themselves safer and create more space. The exemplars include the usual suspects (Amsterdam, Copenhagen) but also cities that are perhaps more surprising such as São Paulo.

Bikepacking through Scotland

Read about Catherine and Andrew’s wonderful week bikepacking from Inverness to Carlisle. They cycled 400 miles through Scottish weather and midges, and are already planning more cycling adventures.

Safe cycling and walking to school

YCC and Walk York believe that all York’s children should be able to walk, wheel or cycle to school on safe routes (with their parents or – from late primary – on their own). On a positive note, City of York Council say that once they get legislative powers to enforce traffic restrictions they plan to trial “school streets” (controlling motorised traffic access to key commuting routes for children cycling/walking to school). We’re planning a brainstorming session in a convivial pub on a weekday evening to discuss safe routes and (i) identify what we want from the Council to make this a reality, and (ii) how we might achieve this. If you are interested please contact us and we’ll set a date.

Bad experience with a driver? Report it

One of our members had a near miss near York city centre as a result of dangerous driving. Unfortunately, she had no witnesses nor video, just the car’s registration. Nonetheless, she completed the online form to report a crime to North Yorkshire police (incidentally, this form also allows you to report motorised vehicles pulling up in advance stop lines). A police officer rang to check the exact location in case there was CCTV (there wasn’t), and he subsequently called back to say he had spoken to the owner, who remembered the incident and apologised. Hopefully, having the police make contact will make the driver more careful in future, and shows that it is worth reporting such incidents even if you only have the car registration.