It was heartening to see that the authorities seem at last to be getting the message regarding the need for alternative transport options. During the May Day march in Nottingham last Saturday police were seen marching alongside us and chanting ' Stop the Cars, Stop the Cars' !

PRESS RELEASE 02/05/2012 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Photo opportunity: colourful activities featuring a dozen people promoting alternatives to cars. Photographs are also available on request from the organisers.

CYCLISTS PROPOSE TO PARK THE CAR… FOR GOOD!

Climate Change and rising petrol prices on agenda as activists raise questions about ‘car-culture’ on cycle tour of Midlands

Summary: As Petrol prices hit record highs [1], and the UK experiences the hottest March day and the wettest April on record [2], bicycle activist collective Bicycology [3] are coming to Birmingham, Coventry and Leicester as part of a cycle tour of the Midlands from 10th -14th May to raise questions about whether cars are the best way to organise transport in the 21st century. As part of their tour, Bicycology have organised a film and discussion evening, where they will show three short films and discuss the question ‘Can we park the car for good?’

Members of Bicycology, a cycling collective formed in 2005 that regularly appears at events and organises tours promoting cycling and environmental activism, are riding from Birmingham to Leicester, via Coventry and Rugby, under the slogan “Parking the Car… For Good!” [4]

Cyclist and cycle-activist Peter Pannier said the tour was all about “raising questions about the dominance of the car in UK transport, society and culture, and exploring alternatives.”

Transporting their bodies and their equipment entirely by bicycle, with no motorised support, the dozen members of Bicycology are hoping to bring their message to both cyclists and drivers, as well as to transport activists and community leaders. They are organising pedal-powered film nights, and reclaiming space from cars with what they describe as a “unique brand of creative and educational direct action”, and travelling between events in a riot of colour and music, thanks to a sound-system they pull with one of their bikes.

In Birmingham, the group have organised a film and discussion evening titled “Can We Park The Car For Good?” which will take place on Thursday 10th May, 2012, from 8.30pm Ort Cafe, 500-506 Moseley Road, Balsall Heath, Birmingham, B12 9AH. The event is free and all are welcome.

In Coventry, on Saturday 12th May 2012, the activists are set to take “direct action” to “reclaim car parking space as a public space”. The location is to be announced on the day.

In Leicester, on Monday 14 May 2012, the group have organised a further film and discussion evening, from 7.30pm, this time at The Western Pub, Western Road, Leicester. LE3 0GA (between Bede Park and Narborough Rd).

Patrick Nicholson argued that “the dominance of the car is neither inevitable nor desirable. The dark side of car culture is huge. From obesity to lung disease, climate change to strip mining, and a million lives tragically cut short globally every year, largely the young and the poor, cars are incredibly damaging [5]. But for some reason we put this out of mind”.

As more and more people struggle with rising petrol prices, Mr Pannier said, “It doesn’t have to be this way. When you think about how reliant on cars we’ve become, it can feel really daunting to even consider alternatives. But if we designed our world a little differently, we could free ourselves from the feeling that we need cars. Creating a world no longer dominated by cars won’t be easy, but the first step to making it happen is to understand the necessity of change, and to see that change is possible” [6]

Mr Nicholson added: “How has our society become so entwined and dependent on car culture? If you are wondering about the steps we could take to begin real changes and to free ourselves from this deadly embrace, please join Bicycology at one of our events [7] and help us map out a safer, cleaner, healthier future. Everyone is welcome!”

Notes for Editors:

[1] The average price of a litre of unleaded petrol in the UK reached a record high of £1.40/litre in March, followed by a new record high of 142.48p/litre in April. A survey at the University of Southampton has found that high petrol prices are partly responsible for an increase in people using their bicycles, with a third of 1,300 respondents getting on their bikes because of the record high cost at the pumps (see:  http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5i0aS8dQ4-bsJxPh_AZ-PC6AvzvUg?docId=N0000731335793414226A). In an article by the BBC, RAC technical director David Bizley was quoted as saying that “there is no end in sight to rising prices”  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17490088.

[2] On March 25th, The Daily Record reported that “The Met Office said it had recorded a temperature of 22.8C (73F) at Fyvie Castle near Aberdeen, which is a new record maximum temperature for March in Scotland” (see:  http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/2012/03/25/hottest-march-day-on-record-in-scotland-as-fyvie-castle-hits-22-8c-86908-23801474/). More recently, Murray Wrdrop wrote in The Telegraph that “Provisional figures from the Met Office suggest Britain has endured its wettest April since records began more than a century ago in 1910” (see:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/weather/9237788/Britain-on-renewed-flood-alert-after-wettest-April-on-record.html).

[3] Bicycology is radical cycling collective founded in 2005. The group aims to make the links between cycling and wider environmental and political issues, and to use bicycles as tools for direct action and positive social change. For more information see: www.bicycology.org.uk/ and  http://bicycology.wordpress.com

[4] Tour itinerary: Birmingham 9-10th May / Coventry 11-12th May / Leicester 13-14th May

[5] Awareness of the wide ranging harmful effects of the dominance of cars is growing. See, for example:

a) Ian Roberts “The Energy Glut”, Zed Books, 2010  http://zedbooks.co.uk/paperback/the-energy-glut

b)  http://www.roadpeace.org/

c)  http://www.bettertransport.org.uk/

[6] The World Car Free Network promotes alternatives and highlights examples of places around the world that are moving away from reliance on cars:  http://www.worldcarfree.net/

[7] Scheduled events:

a) 10/5/12. Film and discussion evening 8.30pm Ort Cafe, 500-506 Moseley Road, Balsall Heath, Birmingham, B12 9AH

b) 12/5/12. Parking Day. Direct action reclaiming car parking space as a public space. Coventry. Location to be announced: contact us for details.

c) 14/5/12. Film and discussion evening, 7.30pm at The Western Pub, Western Road, Leicester. LE3 0GA (Between Bede Park and Narborough Rd).

funny that, if you take it to it's logical conclusion, then you'd have to accept your precious bikes, made from extruded metals, plastics etc were all freighted around the globe by vehicles using carbon.

Cyling is in a way dependent on vehicles and carbon, from the roads you ride on to the expensive kit you own.

We know what "authority" dose; it bullies minorities. When ever we ask the state to do something, we ask it to use it's monopoly on violence against someone. So if we lobby the state to tackle car culture, it isn't going to hit the majority of urban car commuters going to their cushy local government jobs, it's going to hit the hill farmer who uses a "gas guzzling" 4WD to feed his sheep, making his sustainable lifestyle, manageable. Or it's going to hit the self reliant family taking their caravan to the coast, for a low carbon, no airline holiday. That's always the problem of using collective force to solve any problem. Only when we stop using coercion, the law, taxes, authority can we solve any problem without creating another.

We can't rationally consider how society has become so dependent on cars without considering the role the state has played in road building. Roads are not built to serve a market but to stimulate one, boosting the economy, tax revenue and the amount of money available for infrastructure developments like road building. The rise of car culture has nothing to do with "free markets" and everything to do with the state.

Let's not forget that the petrol price is 80% tax the state isn't going to jeopardise that income what ever they say their good intentions might be.

Thanks for commenting, but you might like to take a look at our website to better understand where we're coming from. We're more in favour of (creative) direct action than lobbying the state, and we will certainly be critiquing the role of the state in road-building and other aspects of promoting car culture.

I think both commentators would get a lot out of our old film, The Humble Magnificent (30mins) which you can watch for free here:  http://vimeo.com/18550604

You can also check out our more extensive commentary on the problems of Car Culture and potential solutions here:  http://www.bicycology.org.uk/guide_pages.htm, as well as other leaflets we have produced on topics such as Climate Change, Anarchism, Green Myths, Peak Oil, and all manner of Bike Maintenance and Cycling-related topics.

You might also like to check out our blog:  http://bicycology.wordpress.com/