Jeremy Vine praises cycling tsar’s proposal to BAN traffic from London’s Marble Arch to create more bike lanes… but Londoners ask ‘how will you get food to shops and bins collected’ without ROADS?
- Jeremy Vine backs cycling tsar’s suggestion to ban all traffic from Marble Arch in London’s West End
- Hamburg-based designer Jan Kamensky has revealed a reimagination of the roundabout free of traffic
- Vine says recreation is ‘inventive thinking’ after it was tweeted by West Midlands cycling tsar Adam Tranter
- Video shows cars and roads being replaced by fountains, greenery, seating areas, dog walkers and cyclists
Jeremy Vine has backed a cycling tsar’s suggestion to ban all traffic from London’s Marble Arch to create a safer space for pedestrians and cyclists, after a designer revealed a reimagination of the roundabout free of traffic.
The BBC broadcaster and cycling aficionado described the recreation of the five-lane junction in the West End as ‘inventive thinking’ after it was tweeted by Adam Tranter, the West Midlands cycling and walking commissioner.
The video shows cars, traffic lights and barriers being lifted into the air, before being replaced by fountains, greenery, seating areas, table tennis players, dog walkers and joggers – as well as cyclists using a blue cycle lane.
The 40-second clip was created by Hamburg-based designer Jan Kamensky, who is known for his Visual Utopias project which showcases short animated films of car-dominated streets turned into pedestrianised areas.
And Vine tweeted it yesterday, saying: ‘I know it’s 40 seconds but do watch this. Amazing inventive thinking by @ShimanoROAD with thanks to @jackamayorcas [Wandsworth Labour councillor Jack Mayorcas] @adamtranter.’
The 57-year-old BBC Radio 2 host, who is regularly seen cycling to work and often posts videos of his journeys, later added: ‘I’m in Nottingham where they’ve actually done it. Everyone benefits, I think. This city is amazing.’
Designer Jan Kamensky revealed a reimagination of London’s Marble Arch free of traffic, replaced by pedestrians and cyclists
Now and in the future? The comparison between the scene now in Marcble Arch (left) and a vision for the future (right)
Jeremy Vine has backed the suggestion to ban all traffic from Marble Arch to create safer spaces for pedestrians and cyclists
His initial tweet caused much debate about the merits of a car-free Marble Arch, with one Twitter user saying: ‘Now show us what supermarkets might look like if trucks are banned from delivering… unless we do it by bike.’
But another argued: ‘Who said anything about banning anything, including delivery trucks? Giving priority doesn’t mean banning something else.’ A third said: ‘Where do I put my six bags of shopping and three kids, Mr Vine?’
And a fourth tweeted: ‘How do you get food and other deliveries to shops? And the bins emptied. That clip shows no service or commercial vehicles.’ A fifth added: ‘Another way to take people’s freedom away.’
Designer Mr Kamensky was commissioned by bicycle component manufacturer Shimano to re-imagine both Marble Arch and Berlin’s Karl-Marx-Allee for its newly launched Future Cities project.
A map shows the current view of the Marble Arch area in London’s West End which features a mega-roundabout in the middle
Anna Schmalko-Methorst, a marketing manager for Shimano, said: ‘It’s clear that cities such as Berlin and London currently have too many streets and roads which are dominated by and designed around cars and not people.
‘Starting with the Karl-Marx-Allee and Marble Arch, we have created an alternative vision of the future – one where our cities our healthier, safer, and ultimately more enjoyable places to live.’
And Mr Kamensky added: ‘Transformation also begins in the way we see our world. Utopia is helpful for this. It breaks with our habits of seeing. It is disruptive. It makes us look at the present with a new eye and it helps to inform our actions. Let’s begin to see our world in a new way.’
Marble Arch has been in the news regularly in the past year thanks to the ‘Marble Arch Mound’, a failed £6million tourist attraction which was criticised by visitors and forced to close in January having only opened last July.
The fiasco, which saw the deputy council leader quit, also then led to the suspension of plans for a reconstruction of Oxford Circus which would have seen two temporary pedestrian piazzas installed on either side of the junction.
While the suggestion for pedestrianising Marble Arch has not been made in any official capacity, if so it would no form part of a perceived ‘war on motorists’ led by London Mayor Sadiq Khan since the pandemic began.
This has seen the installation of low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) which are intended to stop certain residential roads being used as short cuts, by closing them to through traffic so motorists can only drive up to them.
Motorists in London have faced £33million in fines over the last year for breaching new road rules as part of LTNs, while the emergence of new cycle lanes has also been criticised by some for allegedly increasing congestion.
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