Lots of good aims, including:
In promoting low carbon transport, there is no lower carbon or healthier means of getting from A to B, besides walking, than cycling. Cycling has for too long been the Cinderella of transport policy – adored but neglected, when in fact it ought to be central to our thinking and planning if we are serious about a low carbon and healthier future.
and:
I am looking forward to discussing with Philip Darnton of Cycling England how we can bring about a step-change in numbers getting their bikes out of the shed or the garage and into use.
The full speech, including encouraging sections about the railways, is here:
http://www.dft.gov.uk/press/speechesstatements/speeches/transportmanifesto
Sadly the current government is forced to have an election in the next year, and it doesn't look likely that Lord Adonis will be around long enough to do what he wants to. It all eerily echoes the aims of Sir George Younger (the "bicycling baronet") at the end of the last Conservative period in power: it seems that just as government realises what a good transport policy looks like, it loses power. Let's hope that this time the incoming party don't forget the lessons learnt.
