London Cycling Works: How Savvy Campaigning Got 180 Employers to Support Bike Lanes
When I met up with Londoner and self-professed “Streetfilms fan for ten years” Chris Kenyon in New York City recently, he had a great story to tell.
In 2014, there was an intense bikelash in London in reaction to groundbreaking, high-quality protected bike lanes in the city center. Chris’s advocacy group, London CyclingWorks, played a critical role in countering this pushback, gathering endorsements of the new bike infrastructure from a wide range of businesses in central London. The campaign was so effective that afterwards the mayor and Transport for London told Chris it led the city to implement its full plan for “cycle superhighways,” which Londoners are now using in droves.
So of course, I made him tell the story on camera. In this short interview, he explains how the campaign came together and why he thinks it can be replicated in other cities. Hopefully other advocates can learn from this model to build political support for streets that work for biking and walking.
Oh, and thanks for watching Streetfilms all this time, Chris!
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