The response from local CTC Right to Ride Representative David Holman to the WCC City Centre Public Realm consultation is out now and available on this website.

The submission from Wolves on Wheels itself is in the final stages of preparation.

The closing date for comments is Friday January 25, 2013. Two paragraphs from every cyclists picking up the main problems - loss of 2-way cycling on key routes and an absence of any recognition of the value of cycling and local people riding into, through and around the city centre - sent to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it will make a big difference. 

The scheme is to improve traffic flow when the new Sainsburys is completed.

This junction is very close to the A449 Penn Road, a dual carriageway close to the Wolverhampton Ring Road.

Although there seems to be a lot of interest with the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) regional elections and Corby, there is also an uberlocal being played out in the suburbs of Wolverhampton.
The Park Ward by-election is on Thursday 15th November.

Roger Gray (Liberal Democrat)
Jenny Brewer (Conservative)
Craig Collingswood (Labour)
David Mackintosh (UKIP)

Publicity Officer for Wolves on Wheels and Resident of Park Ward SY asked all four prospective candidates in the by-election three questions. 

1. When is the last time you rode a bicycle?
2. What do you think of the proposed city centre plan to reduce cycle-able routes in central Wolverhampton?
3. How would you increase cycling in Park Ward?

Here are their responses :

WoWcc have published on its website today a Briefing note on the draft proposals for the City Centre Traffic Changes. It's in the document archive under Wolves on Wheels Reports [second page].

please email asap Cllr Waite at martin dot waite AT wolverhampton dot gov dot uk [do the obvious] with your experiences and how the new one way system proposed will affect you and your family. 

Proposal draft shows that it will be really difficult to get around the city centre and reach the station. The proposal is about improving the "public realm", making a café culture and bring life back to the shops BUT does not value the custom of cycling visitors by making riding to the shops completely inconvenient and the station impossible to reach. NCN81 becomes one way - that's a GET LOST message to cycle tourists starting their trip to Shrewsbury and the Welsh Coast!

An emergency meeting has been called tonight 3 November upstairs at the Lich Gate [you can still cycle to it] from 7pm by CTC Right to Ride Rep David Holman. A councillor has asked for comments from as many cyclists as possible to represent our views on Tuesday night at the Sustainable Communities Scrutiny Panel meeting where the formal consultation in to the City Centre proposals opens.

We regret that the document exceeds the 5MB Joomla upload limit to this website

The Wolverhampton City Cycle Forum will be meeting on the following dates in 2012 :-

 26 January

26 April

19 July

18 October

All Thursdays and most likely at the West Midlands Cycle training centre at the rear of Aldersley High School.

Details from Ric Bravery at WCC tel:-01902 555698

 The next WoW rides are to the Vine in Wednesfield on Friday 14th January and the Beacon Hotel in Sedgeley on Friday 10th February. Participants have historically made the trips regardless of the weather!. Further details on the Wolves BUG Yahoo group or from David on 01902 773747.

Keep Posties cycling

Please act now to save Royal Mail's cycle delivery, before Royal Mail invests in trolleys and vans to replace the bikes. Royal Mail's bikes are an important part of our country's cycling heritage, and cycle delivery has the potential to be important in the future by reducing congestion and pollution, and encouraging active travel. Simply visit the Keep Posties Cycling webpage and complete the short form. Then, we will send you an email with your letter attached. Print it out, pop it in the post and CTC will do the rest.
 

Cycling for all event on 10 December 2009

CTC Cycle Champion Beccy's first event is from 12 noon at Aldersley Leisure Centre. A range of adapted cycles to suit people with different handicaps and mobility difficulties will be available to try out. MORE DETAILS HERE.

    Cycling For All Invitation

Cycling can be healthy, relaxing, exciting and most of all fun! I’m Beccy and I would like to provide the opportunity to experience cycling regardless of a disability. This is why I am introducing the ‘Cycling For All’ project with the help of BIG Lottery funding for the Cycle Champions project.  I am the Community Cycling Development Officer for the Charity CTC, and it’s my job to give everyone the chance to enjoy cycling just as I do myself.

For the project we are aiming to purchase a fleet of specially adapted bicycles to allow everyone to enjoy cycling who may not be able to use a two wheeled bicycle. But what kind of adapted bicycles do the communities of Wolverhampton need?

That’s where you come in…………………………

I would like to invite you to a try out session, where a wide range of adapted bikes will be available to suit a variety of disabilities. With your help we will be able to choose which bikes would be most useful to purchase. Then we will be able to set up regular cycling sessions for a range of community groups.

The try out session will be held at Aldersley Leisure Village on the 10^th December and their will be two time slots;

Session 1. 12pm -1pm for related professionals and representatives from disability groups

Session 2. 1.30pm-2.30pm for local school teachers and a select number of pupils (2).

Please could you email or fax back the information table below if you wish to attend.

Fax: 01902 555467

Thank you for getting involved and I look forward to meeting you all.

Wolves on Wheels Cycle Campaign's Annual General Meeting is on 21 October 2009 and starts at 6-30pm in

The Friends Meeting House,Summerfield Road, (near West Park), Wolverhampton. All Welcome. Refreshments afterwards in Combermere Arms. 

 The Wolverhampton City Cycle Forum takes places the next evening, 22 October 2009,  6:30pm at   Smestow School, Windmill Lane, Castlecroft. Guest Speaker on subject of Staffordshire Draft Cycle Strategy Consultation.

September 2009 news

This month  Wolves on Wheels Cycle Campaign is 10 years old!

The special anniversary edition of the WoW newsletter is out now and in the Document Archive for download .The What's on Section is very busy

Our tenth birthday coincides with the largest cycle promotion that Wolverhampton has yet seen - the Wolverhampton Cycle Challenge. It launches at the Carver Marathon on Sunday 6 September and runs from 7 - 27 September. It's a workplace cycle challenge with 25 local organisations [including Wolves on Wheels where our members can join in] registered so far. Participants either accept the challenge to ride a cycle for 10 minutes and be rewarded with a free cinema ticket or log the miles that they cycle in the inter-departmental / inter company competition. Goodrich are doing well at present due to a strong, existing cycle commuting tradition among the staff.  Individuals can log miles to show their support e.g. former World Junior Track - Individual Pursuit champion Andy Tennant. 

Wolverhampton has a CTC Community Cycle Development Officer to get the Cycle Champions project going at last.  Beccy Marston has started her new post and, though employed by CTC in Guilford, has a desk in WCC Highways. Welcome. Wolves on Wheels looks forward to seeing the new community cycling projects come to fruition and will help if asked and able. 

Wolverhampton Bicycle Users Group, or Wolves BUG for short, is the social cycling club for beginners and riders who like a relaxed pace and plenty of freewheeling. It's based around a Yahoo email group so subscribers can keep in touch, arrange rides and say yes or no to e.g. 'Who's coming on Saturday's ride to Codsall Wood?'. 

Wolves BUG are putting on three Saturday Rides during September for Cycle Challenge Participants. E.g The first is on 12 Sept and is the group's favourite 8 mile loop aimed at beginners.  Details HERE. All welcome to come along.

September's WoW social ride is to the Station Inn in Codsall on 11th September. Call David on 773747 to say you're coming and arrange to meet in e.g. Queen Square just before 7-30pm. 

As well as riding out into the surrounding countryside or exploring the Black Country's canal network by bike in the lovely weather, there are a few key events to take part in.

It is really important to take part in the Midlands Metro Consulation on the proposed Wolverhampton city centre loop. Imagine trying to cycle across each of the four tram curves when the rails are wet. Southbound won't be too bad because it'll be relatively easy to line up at 90 degrees. Northbound will be a very acute angle crossing of the rails. If the project is engineered to be cycle friendly then we'll have a really useful addition to the public transport network. On the other hand, UK cyclists have a long history of coming out second or third best in big infrastructure projects. If that means more dangerous, ill-conceived bits of cycle route, like those that accompany the A41 tramway, then there's a poor outlook for cycling in Wolverhampton.

Exhibition dates are :-

 SEE ARTICLE ON CYCLES AND CITY CENTRE TRAMS in the News section of this website.

Wolves on Wheels Meeting and City Cycle Forum

The next Wolves on Wheels cycle campaign meeting is Wednesday 22 July 2009 at 6-30 pm at the Friends Meeting House, Summerfield Road by West Park. Refreshments afterwards at the Combermere Arms.

The Wolverhampton City Cycle Forum meets Thursday 23rd July will be at Tettenhall Railway Station at 6pm for a viewing of Smestow Valley local nature reserve path improvements, main business to follow.

Wolves on Wheels Cycle Campaign is concerned for cyclists' safety with the proposals being taken forward by Centro in the Wolverhampton City Centre Metro Loop. A public consultation is in full swing from 8 - 18 July at the Queens Building, City Show and Wulfrun Centre - see Centro's website for details. WoW Members and cyclists need to get their views across to Centro.

On the one hand Midlands Metro is positive for cycling as it is an attractive alternative to the private car, reduces motor traffic and the scheme will give improved connections and convenience for public transport users. The other side of the story is cycles and tramways are a poor mixture. The A41 section shows this well today. Few riders tackle the route, the cycling-specific provision is poor [acute angle crossings, no escape routes, non-working cyclist detectors at lights etc] and much of the remaining cycling is done on the footway .

The new on-street running sections use some key cycling streets including Princess, Market and Garrick Streets which form the only north south route through the city centre. National Cycle Network Route 81 on Lichfield Street is affected too by the tramway. Cyclists will have to cross any of the four sharp tramway curves that make up the loop without falling off. 

The present 20 MPH city centre is fairly welcoming to riders and a cycle trip to the centre is highly convenient but the prospects of falling off when your tyres slip on the wet rails will make people think again about riding to the city centre. 

Key points to make when meeting CENTRO or writing to them are :-

• Continuation of two-way cycling on all streets affected by the  street-running tramway. Don't ban cycling because you're frightened of being sued each time a rider's bike slips. Instead design in safer cycling from the outset!
• Cyclists shall only cross a set of tram rails at 90 degrees. Falls occur when people make acute angle crossings. The sharp tram curves make delivering this key design principle a challenge. Jug-handled turns for riders in each direction will need laying out as advisory cycle lanes at each junctions. Innovative advanced stop line designs at signalised junctions may be necessary.
• Deliver the design for cycling integration at the Transport Interchange agreed between WoWcc, WCC and the interchange partners. Tramway crossings at 90°, two way cycling on Piper's Row and routes around the tram stops were all being planned in to the scheme inn 2008.
• Design safe passage around tram stops. Tram stops jut into the road to meet the tram. The portion of carriageway in which you're likely to be rideing then disappears! The Princess Street stop is a real tough piece of design - can riders go around the back of the stop past the Old Still Inn.
• Low tram speeds so there's no relative speed to cyclists. If they get this then we can ride between the rails and miss the tram stops.
• Escape routes - sufficient drop curves for riders to get in and out of the tramway sections.
• Avoiding routes. Best practice is to provide cycling routes to avoid slippery tram rails. WCC should deliver off-peak cycling on Dudley Street so riders can avoid the wet rails especially in the early morning between Queen Square and Bilston Street. Similarly a signed route between W'ton and Bilston via East Park to bypass the A41 tramway is long overdue.
• End rat-running through the city centre. Something has to give if trams are added to the mix. Able bodied people's cars should not have access to Market street.
• Guarantee that all cycling provision will get delivered and not forgotten because of opening day deadlines as happened for Nottingham NET line one.
• A pedal cycle is not just a bicycle. Tricycles and trailers have an important role to play and the design must include allowances for them. 

Fellow campaigners Nottingham Pedals have been through this many times with the Nottingham NET. Elsewhere on this website is slide show resulting from our trip to Nottingham NET a few years. Look out for designs of tram stops and special signs, pictures of avoiding routes and think how you would cycle across the sharp tram curve in Wilkinson street.

Above all else make your voice heard - CENTRO, design a cycle friendly tramway !

The Wolves on Wheels newsletter for June / July  2009 is out now after a long hiatus similar to that taken by our hero Yehuda Moon.

Download your copy from the Document Archive