MAG offers to help Camden grasp the benefits of motorcycles.


The Motorcycle Action Group (MAG) has offered to help Camden Borough Council grasp the benefits of motorcycles.  The Borough Council is missing a key aid to achieving its goals. 

 

MAG offers to help Camden

MAG wrote to the leader of Camden Borough Council this week with a proposal.  The offer is to share knowledge and evidence about the positive impact that motorcycling can deliver.

MAG’s Greater London members have raised concerns about changes to parking permits and charges.  The Council want to be a zero-carbon borough by 2030 and plan to reduce pollution and improve local air quality by reducing the number of high carbon emission and diesel vehicles in the borough.  They also encourage residents to use more sustainable ways of travel. 

The parking proposals will treat motorcycles the same as cars, but MAG claims that the actual impacts of cars and motorcycles are very different.  Thus the Council’s blanket approach to parking is counter-productive.

 MAG’s Director of Campaigns & Political Engagement, Colin Brown, says: 

 

“I can see that misunderstandings about motorcycles are influencing the policy makers in Camden.  This is not surprising, as these distortions are rarely challenged.  The realities, however, are a world apart from outdated views of the motorcycle.  There is a clear need to focus on shaping a better future, so we need to throw off these old ideas.  We must recognise what motorcycling offers today and in the future.

At MAG we are working hard to promote a re-evaluation of motorcycling in transport policy.  The future of transport is multi-modal, and motorcycles are a key part of that multi-modal future.  We all share the goals of reduced congestion, cleaner air and reduced CO2 emissions, but if we cannot get past prejudices and misconceptions, the goals will be much harder to achieve.”