Brompton Bicycle CEO Urges UK Cities to Invest in Cycling Infrastructure

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Brompton Bicycle CEO Urges UK Cities to Invest in Cycling Infrastructure

Will Butler-Adams, CEO of Brompton Bicycle, called on the UK government to invest money in cycling infrastructure to make UK cities greener, more sustainable and safer "world-class cycle hubs."

Butler-Adams said in an interview last week with Stephen Day, co-founder of 100% renewable energy provider Pure Planet, that the coronavirus crisis served to give people a glimpse of how life with fewer cars in British cities might be experienced He said. [The coronavirus showed us what cities can be like. We were born in a zoo, we were born in a cage, we were born in this stench and we expected it to be normal," Butler-Adams said, suggesting that the cyclist's urban experience before the blockade was one of limitation due to the priority given to cars and large vehicles.

"Now that we are liberated, we have seen what these cities can be. The air is good, the streets are calm, you can cycle with your kids and not be afraid. Why can't we do that?' ' [Indeed, cities are for the people who live there, not for the few who are in a square box called a car."

The Greenford, West London-based folding bicycle manufacturer, founded in 1975 by Andrew Ritchie, now employs 450 people and manufactures just under 50,000 bicycles a year, exporting almost three-quarters of them.

Butler-Adams asked, "What are we doing spending billions of dollars on a slightly faster rail trip from one city to another?" to the British government and its continued commitment to the HS2 high-speed rail project. He added, "Let's spread those billions of dollars to 20 cities all over the UK so that everyone living in that city can live in a great environment. I make that (train) journey regularly, but I don't care about the 20 minutes (saved).

"Build the infrastructure and people will come," he continued, paraphrasing a line from the Kevin Costner movie Field of Dreams. 'Once they've been through it, they'll love it.'

Butler-Adams said he would like to see resources directed to "nice places to live, where the air is clean and walking and biking is a priority."

"That would have a dramatic effect over time on the burden on the NHS [UK's National Health Service]," he added. The reason we spend most of our money supporting the NHS is because our lifestyles are extremely unhealthy."

Butler-Adams decried that politicians in this country are only thinking of the immediate future and their own positions.

"If we the people get frustrated enough, we will create political leadership because we want it," he said. 'That's why this opportunity at this point is so important. We have seen what we want, we have seen what we need to do as a society with this enlightenment. And [we] need to say to the government that what you are currently offering is totally unacceptable."

Click here for the full video interview with Butler Adams.

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