Effective public policy to keep bike lanes free from cars

The mayor of Vilnius is a keen bike rider. His passion for this popular mean of transport has led him to design a sophisticated public policy intervention to deter car drivers from parking on bike lanes in the city.

Check it out by clicking here

Since the mayor of London is also a keen bike rider, will he consider implementing in London this example best practice that Vilnius has shared with the rest of the world!?




P.S. Did Mao Tze Tung's quote "punish one, educate hundreds" inspire a similar policy to keep bike lanes free in China!?

Britain Bike Week (18-26th Jun 2011): Everyday cycling for everyone!

What an "every-rich" motto for the Bike week initiative in the UK, which is held yearly in June all over the country!

While zipping to work this morning I bumped into a stall advertising the initiative in bike-friendly Fitzroy Sq. By the stall were an employee from Camden council and an officer by the Met Police.

In about 5' they kindly stamped on my bike frame an "anti-theft" unique ID with permanent ink, that the police officer ensured it has been tested against the latest bike thieves' "entrepreneurial ideas" and technology. My bike details, as well as my contact details, are now in a database by the Met police.
My dear old Pinncle also has a flashy sticker flagging thieves that my bike is tagged, and not worth their effort.


Most impressive of all the police officer confidently knows stat.s about the share of bike stolen out of the total no. of bikes in town, which the police adjusts for underreporting to the police w.r.t. all bikes that are stolen in town. This share is in the range 20-30%.

Two hat tips:
1) Go and get your bike tagged! You can search the closest stall by postcode in http://www.bikeweek.org.uk/

2) Listen to London while you read top 10 bike maintenance tips !

A puncture in my tyre: Keynes, Smith and GDP in the UK

I've just fixed my bike, after the second suspicious puncture in the back wheel tyre. Suspicious as it occurs at night: romance, chance, or more likely cheap financing, as per recently surveyed by the Guardian?

Adam Smith wrote about the needle factory in 1776, perhaps similar sharp objects hit my wheels tonight. Just a coincidence or is a new Industrial revolution, the 3rd to date, forthcoming!?

I got my wheels punctured twice in less than three years:  you need to be street-smart and bike-street-smart in London!

If active bike thieves keep punching tyres at a sustained pace, how many bikes will they reap by so doing? How much money to bike shops, and any unintended actions there!? Enough to revive stagnating domestic demand (for tyres) in the UK? Would John Keynes agree on similar reasoning, and Mr Cameron?