Not a huge surprise , is it ?

cross-posted from: https://infosec.pub/post/50073559

Sometimes, I think my nearest town is doing pretty well at providing for active travel like cycling and walking, with a pretty good but incomplete greenway network. Other times, local government does stuff like this: keep pushing ahead with a large 236-space car park with a small 55-space bike shed apparently so they can say it's "active travel" and have an active travel budget pay for it, but with an "avoidable safety risks" crossroads between the bike shed (numbered 2) and the access to the greenway towards town (numbered 8).

This crazy plan was approved at an irregularly-timed planning committee meeting this morning, with no notification to objectors (not even ones who had registered on the very error-prone self-service website) so I missed any chance to speak during the meeting and few councillors spend much time in the lobby before the meeting any more. I'm also pretty sure that councillors were told the road layout had been approved as safe, or words like that, but I need to watch the video recording because surely I must have misunderstood that???

Help me find any good in this. I guess it might be slightly nicer to wait out a rainstorm in this building instead of the bike shed of a nearby building?

Sometimes, I think my nearest town is doing pretty well at providing for active travel like cycling and walking, with a pretty good but incomplete greenway network. Other times, local government does stuff like this: keep pushing ahead with a large 236-space car park with a small 55-space bike shed apparently so they can say it's "active travel" and have an active travel budget pay for it, but with an "avoidable safety risks" crossroads between the bike shed (numbered 2) and the access to the greenway towards town (numbered 8).

This crazy plan was approved at an irregularly-timed planning committee meeting this morning, with no notification to objectors (not even ones who had registered on the very error-prone self-service website) so I missed any chance to speak during the meeting and few councillors spend much time in the lobby before the meeting any more. I'm also pretty sure that councillors were told the road layout had been approved as safe, or words like that, but I need to watch the video recording because surely I must have misunderstood that???

Help me find any good in this. I guess it might be slightly nicer to wait out a rainstorm in this building instead of the bike shed of a nearby building?

Five-million Farage has flounced out of parliament in order to pause the investigations into his alleged corruption, but other major parties are refusing to contest the resulting by-election, potentially leaving him facing Count Binface as his biggest rival. With the British public's love of the underdog and refusing to do what's expected - remember Boaty McBoatface? - I wouldn't bet against it being Count Binface MP soon.

Andy Burnham picks fossil fuel lobbyist James Purnell as chief of staff. Just in case you thought energy policy might improve.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/46826019

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/57244645

Liveable Streets gets a 2.0 — the book has been updated by the son of the original author. Sarah Goodyear interviews him.

"The Hill of Hysteria" is one to re-use. He also hints at doing a "safety in numbers" videe in future. Great stuff.

Caroline Seton is the co-founder of the London bike share firm Forest.

They’re in unambiguous second place to Lime, the great global bicycle behemoth - but, famously, being second makes a firm try harder.

In today’s episode, we talk about the challenges of being a shared mobility firm in a municipal environment, the realities of whether cities actually want sustainable transport and the changes she would make to transport policy.

Above all - more bike parking and less car parking please!

Episode webpage: https://www.freewheeling.info/the-freewheeling-podcast/caroline-seton

Media file: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5fac09d64d06190a013023c0/t/69308a741979b036c2695c86/1764788864684/riverside_untitled_the_freewheeling+po.mp3

cross-posted from: https://leminal.space/post/29286202

Not quite transport but I suspect some of us use car hire to fill in the gaps.

Another floundering politician tries a bit of bike-bashing? When will they learn it doesn't work?

A story of Seattle. What can your town learn from this? Any of it not ring true for you? Do you know Seattle? Does it match your view?

Video also on youtube as well as the fediverse.

From December 13, cabins will begin carrying passengers across Limeil-Brévannes in Val-de-Marne, a suburb long served only by buses. The 4.5-kilometre route, with five stations, will take just 18 minutes end to end. Residents say they are eager to try the quiet, comfortable cabins.

There are lots of buses, but they’re just not organized in a very sensible way and don’t run very frequently or reliably. I’ve talked about this before, but I think the big reason cycling has taken off the way it has in Montreal is because the city also has such a weak bus system.

Same in many cycling towns in England, even though level take-up is limited by lack of new infrastructure.

Last day for this. If you have any link with King's Lynn and can spend ten minutes today to help cycling here, that would be great.

I'll answer any questions you have when I can. I'll also probably post more about it later on that site, introducing what's currently happening in a typical English country town.

A 21st Century Underground Rolling Stock Update - London Reconnections - https://www.londonreconnections.com/2025/a-21st-century-underground-rolling-stock-update/

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/38263766

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/44846811

Archived

Norway: Chinese-made electric buses have major security flaw, can be remotely stopped and disabled by their manufacturer in China, Oslo operator says

The public transport operator in Norway's capital said Tuesday that some electric buses from China have a serious flaw -- software that could allow the manufacturer, or nefarious actors, to take control of the vehicle.

Oslo's transport operator Ruter said they had tested two electric buses this summer -- one built by China's Yutong and the other by Dutch firm VDL.

The Chinese model featured a SIM card that allowed the manufacturer to remotely install software updates that made it vulnerable, whereas the Dutch model did not.

"We've found that everything that is connected poses a risk -- and that includes buses," Ruter director Bernt Reitan Jenssen told public broadcaster NRK.

"There is a risk that for example suppliers could take control, but also that other players could break into this value chain and influence the buses."

Ruter said it was now developing a digital firewall to guard against the issue.

According to other reports, the Chinese manufacturer has access to each bus’s software updates, diagnostics, and battery control systems. “In theory, the bus could therefore be stopped or rendered unusable by the manufacturer,” the company said.

Ruter has reported its findings to Norway’s Ministry of Transport and Communications.

Arild Tjomsland, a special advisor at the University of South-Eastern Norway who helped conduct the tests, said: “The Chinese bus can be stopped, turned off, or receive updates that can destroy the technology that the bus needs to operate normally.”

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