Ten Glorious Years of the BCC

I've never thought of cyclists as mad, bad, or dangerous, but I've clearly underestimated our aggression, irresponsibility, and criminality. Looking back on ten years of newspaper cuttings I can now see what a threat we have posed to civilised life in Bristol. But is Bristol now more or less civilised after ten years of BCC? Well, it depends what sode of the steering wheel you are on.

BCC launched on 26 September 1991 with a huge public meeting in Bristol. There was a brief homeymoon period with the press, which found it hard to openly condemn 100 people campaigning for safer streets and the right to breathe fresh air. Even a reputation for the highest coar ownership rates in the country, and pollution levels and childhood asthma rates to match. We couldn't be dismissed as left-wing loonies. Not straight away, anyway.

But all that changed when we launched publicly with a bang by closing the M32 in the morning rush-hour on 28 November. As King Canute (a.k.a. the Grim Reaper) raised his hand, the traffic stopped, overawed by his magnificent powers -- and the wall of 200 cyclists holding their bikes above their heads. Nigel Wilson from Winterbourne told the Evening Post, I think it's disgraceful. There is no way in today's society you can do without a car. Where are you now, Nigel? Still sitting in a jam?

Councillor John Portch wanted us arrested, stating, I consider this constitutes breaking the law. It is a danger to themselves and to other people. Well, thank you for being so concerned for our welfare.

The police took a different attitude. In the days before environmental direct action such as Reclaim the Streets had shown a harder edge, the police retained what now seems a naive belief in the right to demostrate and dismissed suggestions that we should be arrested, saying that these cyclists were exercising the right to protest. Whatever happened to those halcyon days?

As the months and years rolled by the violent condemnations continued. We were simply mad according to the Western Daily Press (May 1992), which condemned cycle tracks as both trendy and dangerous to other road users. The RAC complained that Bristol was a hotbed of cucling activists. They seem to be more strident, assertive and perhaps aggressive than anywhere else. Clearly BCC was a very successful campaign.

In 1993 readers of the Bristol Journal read that BCC declares war on cars. It was a strange war, as 200 cyclists, jugglers, a brass band, and Morris dancers held an impromptu festival on Bedminster Bridge in the morning rush-hour, turning a dangerous roundabout that had claimed several lives into a safe and pleasant environment for humans.

As our strength and reputation grew, we became more audacious. Whilst a group of elves blocked car exhausts with Xmas puddings, yet more action was being planned. In the days before traffic polluction was an issue, we bought the monitoring equipment and did it ourselves. The results confirmed that much of Bristol exceeded legal limits and so we sought a European court judgement to ban further road building in the country. We didn't have the resources to take it to its conclusion, but all the local policy makers were now listening to BCC and taking us seriously. The new Cycling Project Team became braver and gradually provided more cycle lanes, drawing the usual unimaginative name-calling and bullying criticism from the Evening Post. The cycle land alongside the bottom of College Green seems uncontroversial now, but at the time was condemned by the Post as absolute madness, another case of car bashing and a waste of money. The prize for the daftest but most illuminating comment must go to Nick Street of Tytherington, who complained that If you reduce the width of any road it's more likely that drivers will collide. That must be the best argument for removing cars altogether from the centre of Bristol.

The following year we created our own 20 mph signs, plastering the town with signs which Highway officials said looked just like the real thing. They took them down, of course, accusing us of breaking the law. We replied with a mass ride paced at 20 mph - fast for us, but unbearably slow for the motorists behind us.

And then there was Critical Mass, started by BCC, which also helped to initiate the first Reclaim The Streets, and more and more.

So what have we achieved in ten years? The answer is lots, though we still have far to go in order to achieve cycling nirvana. Our demands ten years ago were radical but achievable:

• a halt to road building;
• a 20  speed limit in urban areas;
• a ban on single-occupancy cars entering Bristol in the rush-hour;
• a ban on all traffic entering Bristol when pollution endangers health;
• a safe network of cycle routes.

Ten years ago all cyclists in Bristol were invisible. Ten years on we have a cycle network good in parts, fragmented in others; cycle parking galore; and some dedicated cycle crossings. Cyclists are visible at last, and there are more of us. True, we do have a new ring road, but we helped the campaign to stop if for almost ten years with a series of legal challenges. We have a growing number of 20 mph zones, and South Gloucestershire has introduced restrictions on single-occupancy cars on one section of the ring road during rush hours. But we also have more cars than ever.

BCC's future is assured for the next ten years. No need to hang up the campaigning cycle clips yet. The council claims to have a transport policy that prioritises safety and the environment. However, much of what it does is a compromise, with its good intentions overridden by the power of the motoring lobby and the Chamber of Commerce. If we are to edge significantly nearer to a city free of danger from the overuse of the car, we must rediscover our radical roots, give non-motorised citizens a louder voice, and set the Council's agenda for the years to come.

Grim Reaper