Streets Ahead

It's fair to say this issue has been rumbling on a while. In the 1970s 70% of 4-11 year olds walked to school. Now less than half do. Three quarters of parents say 'side road zebras' would help them walk their kids to school more.In countries around the world white stripes, painted on the roads where side streets meet main roads, give pedestrians confidence, and drivers a reminder, that pavement users have the priority. However, in the UK any 'zebra crossing' as we call them, needs a flashing orange beacon and zig-zag lines at either side, to be legal on the roads. While 40 times cheaper to deliver, and tried and tested worldwide, 'side road zebras' without the lights or extra lines have been rattling around the pinball machine of British transport legislation for around eight years, so far without an outcome. While they exist in supermarket car parks without incident, the public roads are a different matter.Chris Boardman, England's walking and cycling commissioner, talks to Adam and Laura about the idea, which he's backed for some time, first working in Manchester as active travel commissioner, and now, in the national role. While he says caution in transport policy helps stop stupid things happening, he believes it is now the time to move forward. For context, we've had six transport ministers in the time it's taken to mull this issue.Adam and Laura also spoke to Westminster City Council's Cabinet Member for Streets, Max Sullivan. Max is overseeing trials of ten side road zebras in the heart of London, including outside the Houses of Parliament and the Department for Transport's HQ, which he says is a coincidence.A whopping 29% of pedestrians have been hit or nearly hit by a driver at a side road. Trials in Greater Manchester found drivers give way at side roads 30% more when there's a side road zebra. Additional polling found 76 per cent of parents of 4-11-year-olds would feel safer about their child walking to school (or allowing them to walk independently) if there were zebra crossings on side roads.We also visit the issue of pedestrianisation of Oxford Street by the mayor of London, Sir Sadiq Khan, against Westminster City Council's wishes.For ad-free listening, behind-the-scenes and bonus content and to help support the podcast - head to (https://www.patreon.com/StreetsAheadPodcast). We’ll even send you some stickers! We’re also on BlueSky and welcome your feedback on our episode: https://bsky.app/profile/podstreetsahead.bsky.social

Terence Bendixson was the Guardian's planning correspondent in the 1960s when he wrote a piece that propelled him into walking campaigning. In 1969 he joined Living Streets (then the Pedestrians' Association) when he and its founder hit it off.Foley, a London-based journalist, founded the Pedestrians Association in 1929, when motor vehicles were proliferating; he was concerned about the dangers they posed. In 1939 Evelyn Waugh described Piccadilly Circus as 'still as a photograph, broken and undisturbed'.In its early years the charity shaped road safety law, including the introduction of the first Highway Code and the driving test, 30mph speed limits and pedestrian crossings. Post-war 'The Peds' were involved in the first zebra crossings and the new offence of drink driving As TransportXtra reports.Terence Bendixson was part of the hugely successful Homes before Roads movement, as told by Steve Chambers, of Transport for New Homes https://planningtransport.co.uk/2020-03-08-homes-before-roads.html. Bendixson's book, Instead of Cars, is 50 this year:On Living Streets’ pavement parking campaign; on CEO Catherine Woodhead being appointed in April 2024.Ben Plowden joined in the late 90s; he and Bendixson applied to the Esmee Fairburn Trust for £69,000, which paid for premises, staff and a rebrand. Plowden became CEO of CPRE in 2025.Dr Amit Patel: https://www.dramit.uk/; On removal of the Leicester flyover .For ad-free listening, behind-the-scenes and bonus content and to help support the podcast - head to (https://www.patreon.com/StreetsAheadPodcast). We’ll even send you some stickers! We’re also on Bluesky and welcome your feedback on our episode: https://bsky.app/profile/podstreetsahead.bsky.social

We speak to Dr Alex Chapman, Senior Economist at the New Economics Foundation (NEF); Alex focuses on the economics of climate change, nature recovery and inequality. The Government has announced that growth is its key priority and followed up with its backing of major transport projects, such as the expansion of Heathrow Airport. We ask: do big transport projects always lead to growth, and at what cost?If you want ad-free listening, behind-the-scenes and bonus content and to help support the podcast - head to (https://www.patreon.com/StreetsAheadPodcast). We’ll even send you some stickers! We’re also on Bluesky and welcome your feedback on our episode: https://bsky.app/profile/podstreetsahead.bsky.socialIf you're reading this, please can you take 1 minute to give us a rating and review? It helps us more than you probably think!

This time we’re talking about delivery riders. There are roughly 100,000 couriers in the UK, whose working lives are governed by apps like Deliveroo, UberEats and JustEat. 88,000 of these work for UberEats alone (though many riders complete tasks for multiple platforms simultaneously). These app-based delivery services act intermediaries between you and your takeaway, using algorithms to assign one of an army of riders, but the way they operate is highly opaque. While some riders favour the flexibility of the work, more than half of gig economy workers earn less than the minimum wage, and the per-job rate on app-based delivery work can vary by 45% - and this exploitative scenario is worsening. Meanwhile the law backs the app firms, by classifying riders as self-employed, and as such they don’t qualify for sick pay, holiday pay or even a minimum wage. The Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain fought for six years to have Deliveroo riders classified as workers, before losing the case in the supreme court in November 2023. Laura, Ned and Adam talk to Callum Cant, a British author, researcher and labour rights advocate Cant wrote about his time as a delivery rider in his book Riding for Deliveroo: Resistance in the New Economy. Laura also meets a delivery rider who seems happy with his work, despite earning far less than the minimum wage. Links: You can buy Callum's book here https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/riding-for-deliveroo-resistance-in-the-new-economy-cant/1684228 'Opaque' algorithms' impact on working lives: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jan/20/food-delivery-apps-ubereats-deliveroo-justeat-urged-to-reveal-how-algorithms-affect-uk-courierss-work and https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jan/21/its-a-nightmare-couriers-mystified-by-the-algorithms-that-control-their-jobs Half of gig economy workers earn less than minimum wage https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/may/11/half-of-uk-gig-economy-workers-earn-below-minimum-wage-study-reveals Spanish riders' law ends 'false freelancers': https://techcrunch.com/2024/12/03/delivery-app-glovo-bends-to-spains-riders-law-will-hire-thousands-of-couriers/ An AI system used by the UK government incorrectly singles out certain groups for benefit fraud investigations: https://ti-insight.com/briefs/delivery-drivers-set-to-gain-more-rights-under-new-eu-law/ If you want ad-free listening, behind-the-scenes and bonus content and to help support the podcast - head to (https://www.patreon.com/StreetsAheadPodcast). We’ll even send you some stickers! We’re also on Bluesky and welcome your feedback on our episode: https://bsky.app/profile/podstreetsahead.bsky.social If you're reading this, please can you take 1 minute to give us a rating and review? It helps us more than you probably think!

Ned and Laura join a bike bus! This celebratory, festive episode of Streets Ahead includes an East End bike ride with tinsel, some Christmas tunes, and a joyful pedal through the streets of West Ham with adults and kids, to Park Primary School.A bike bus is simply a group ride to school, with both adults and kids joining at different points on set days, similar to a school bus. Except everyone pedals, or wheels their way together. Some bike buses are weekly, some fortnightly, some monthly. The idea is to make the cycle, wheel or scoot to school safe and fun - and to spread the word that cycling to school is possible.Bike buses began in earnest in 2019, with a handful of pioneers riding to school in groups. Our own Adam Tranter ran a bike bus with his wife and kids after fellow parents expressed an interest in their cargo bike commute: https://www.forbes.com/sites/carltonreid/2019/10/11/pr-company-bosses-lead-20-child-pedal-posse-to-show-council-that-cycling-to-school-is-unsafe/As pandemic-era school streets were introduced by more and more councils in the UK, restricting motor traffic at the school gates for the start and end of the academic day, more streets felt safe for cycling, and more families formed their own bike buses. There are now an estimated 70 of them - at least those that are publicly advertised.Because a bike bus is simply people riding to school together, not all of them publicise their activities. They can be as informal as a few parents or carers and their kids getting together.Some bike buses are registered on www.bikebus.org - there are an estimated 50 of these, for inspiration.Thank you to Hamish Belding, for his advice for this episode. You can follow Hamish's adventures here: https://bsky.app/profile/bikewalkscoot.bsky.socialFRideDays Bike Bus is hosted by active travel charity Sustrans, and offers support for organisers, with materials like marshal tabards and a free guide. Find out more here: https://www.sustrans.org.uk/campaigns/fridedays-bike-bus/. There are around 20 of these bike buses. Hamish says Cardiff x 8, Swansea, Caerphilly, Pembroke, Plymouth, Cheshire, Lancashire, Yorkshire, Dorset, Reading, London and Edinburgh. There are more Bike Buses in pipeline to be launched during Spring/Summer term – potentially in London, Wolverhampton, Tonbridge and Cardiff.Thank you to Better Streets for Newham for the photo of Ned in action: https://bsky.app/profile/betterstsnewham.bsky.socialThank you for tuning in for 2024! We appreciate all of our listeners and supporters and look forward to more adventures in 2025.If you want ad-free listening, behind-the-scenes and bonus content and to help support the podcast - head to (https://www.patreon.com/StreetsAheadPodcast). We’ll even send you some stickers! We’re also on Twitter and welcome your feedback on our episode: https://twitter.com/podstreetsaheadIf you're reading this, please can you take 1 minute to give us a rating and write a review? It helps us more than you probably think!

A community group has raised £75,000 to take its local council, Tower Hamlets, to the High Court. Save Our Safer Streets is seeking to retain and improve the changes to the streets in Bethnal Green, implemented in 2020, but Mayor Lutfur Rahman wants to fulfil a manifesto pledge to remove them.Laura and Adam spoke to Jane Harris, spokesperson for Save Our Safer Streets and Ricardo Gama, senior associate solicitor at Leigh Day.By the way, if you want ad-free listening, behind-the-scenes and bonus content and to help support the podcast - head to (https://www.patreon.com/StreetsAheadPodcast). We’ll even send you some stickers! We’re also on Twitter and welcome your feedback on our episode: https://twitter.com/podstreetsaheadIf you're reading this, please can you take 1 minute to give us a rating and write a review? It helps us more than you probably think!

This time Ned and Laura go behind the walls of Pentonville Prison for this very special episode. Listeners may remember Stef Jones, founder of XO Bikes, who trains ex-offenders in cycle maintenance in south London to help them turn their lives around. With UK prisons full to bursting, people like Stef, along with prison staff themselves, try to break the cycle of reoffending that sees an estimated 55% of those released going on to re-offend. That figure is halved if someone has a job to go to – but it’s not an easy journey. Pentonville Prison houses those on remand, often awaiting sentencing decisions or hearings. A rehabilitation programme is challenging in this transitory population, but the team behind XO Bikes, including ex-prison officer, Paul, have defied expectations and are working with people as they return to regular life, to try to give them a fresh start.  Ned and Laura meet a prisoner working towards a brighter future, and talk with the XO team about the power of bikes to give people a second chance in life. It’s an experience Ned and Laura won’t forget, and they hope you won’t either.Find out more about XO Bikes here: https://xobikes.com/By the way, if you want ad-free listening, behind-the-scenes and bonus content and to help support the podcast - head to (https://www.patreon.com/StreetsAheadPodcast). We’ll even send you some stickers! We’re also on Twitter and welcome your feedback on our episode: https://twitter.com/podstreetsaheadIf you're reading this, please can you take 1 minute to give us a rating and write a review? It helps us more than you probably think!

Our last episode, an interview with Secretary of State for Transport, Louise Haigh MP, caused a bit of a storm and went viral. Laura's interview was picked up by a host of UK national media including BBC News, The Sun, GB News, The Times and more.We discuss how the story happened, what it means for active travel - and why the wider media picked up on it so extensively. Helping us navigate this is Henry Zeffman, the BBC's Chief Political Correspondent and contributor to BBC Newscast.By the way, if you want ad-free listening, behind-the-scenes and bonus content and to help support the podcast - head to (https://www.patreon.com/StreetsAheadPodcast). We’ll even send you some stickers! We’re also on Twitter and welcome your feedback on our episode: https://twitter.com/podstreetsaheadIf you're reading this, please can you take 1 minute to give us a rating and write a review? It helps us more than you probably think!