Alex Nurse

My reading rate collapsed when I moved close enough to the office to ride my bike every day.

My wallet didn't mind so much, mind you.

Here's a new one - I'm pulling references from Google Scholar to endnote, based off a written reference list.

I'm going so fast, Google Scholar has blocked me thinking that I'm a bot.

Nicking that for my lectures in the autumn!

E-Bikes: Convenience, Annoyance, or Menace? Are E-Bikes a Convenience, an Annoyance, or a Menace? Yes, yes they are. The answer depends on your point-of-view. If you are a e-bike user, such as a commuter, recreational traveler, or deliverista, it must be a convenience (otherwise why do it). If you are the consumer of warmed over restaurant meals delivered by e-bikes, you probably agree. But, if you are not, the answer is less clear.E-bike (used for deliveries on Train (T8 line) inconveniencing those who want to exit train. That big battery there is not overly reassuring either. It’s an ORCA bike and certified, but nevertheless. As a pedestrian, I find e-bikes being ridden on the footpaths (or “shared paths”) at a minimum an annoyance, even if the rider is legal and under 16, which in my experience they mostly are. I find the collection of shared e-bikes abandoned on footpaths even more of an annoyance due to its frequency. A collection of shared e-bikes at the top of the hill in my suburb. Clearly the user is happy to walk downhill to the station, but takes the e-bike uphill. This is easily fixed with prices (free trips to return bikes to train stations), but the world’s best and brightest cannot be fussed to actually solve that in their app, and so periodically send a truck around to collect these bikes and reposition them at the train station. Progress! I am not alone in not being thrilled with all these new e-bikes, one only needs to see the Letters to the Editor of the local St. George Leader for examples of e-bikes being ridden in what-to-fore were pedestrian spaces to see the issue writ large. * Close call with e-bike for Cronulla man recovering from shoulder surgery * Stabbing victim hospitalised in Bondi Beach after alleged teen machete attack triggered by e-bike argument: The argument is believed to have been sparked by e-bikes. I see drivers complaining about e-bikes darting in and out-of-traffic. One only needs to read the articles (and comments) in the Daily Telegraph1 or other local media to see that lots of people feel that way. The youth have organised themselves for fun days out, which not everyone appreciates. * Hoons in death-defying stunts on Sydney motorway - A group of unregistered dirtbike riders have been caught undertaking death-defying stunts on one of Sydney’s busiest freeways, popping wheelies and weaving between motorists. * Popular Sydney golf course vandalised by e-bikes I think something needs to be done about the growing number of e-bikes, especially the high powered ones, on the roads and especially footpaths. I think the number of deaths and injuries per km driven on e-bikes puts them in the same arena as automobiles in terms of safety implications, and dismissing this by just looking at the numerator (fatalities), without also considering the denominator (exposure, such as km ridden) is misleading. Unfortunately, we don’t actually know the denominator, though we can surmise it is still much lower, though rising fast. An obvious, first-best solution that most professionals and bicycle advocates support is to build more bike lanes and lower speed limits on local roads. I agree with this. I think mandatory training and licensure is probably safer than its absence, and enforcement of traffic rules is even more critical. People with drivers licenses should not be immune from e-bike licensure, driving a car and an e-bike are not the same thing. The NSW government is doing something, perhaps it should do more. * Regulation on e-bike power is underway: Under the standard, e-bikes must have a maximum power output of 250 watts and power assistance must cut out at 25km/hr. * Age limits are probably coming in too. * Illegal e-bikes will be seized and crushed. Another obvious solution is to take parking spaces from cars for the corralled storage of shared bikes off the footpaths, with geofenced enforcement on the part of the bikeshare operators. Sadly, after some 8 years of shared bikes in the City of Sydney, this has yet to happen. E-bikes have popped up in Bayside Council in recent months. No serious effort has been made to corral them in Bayside either. A third obvious solution is to give the youth some place to act out that doesn’t annoy the oldth. I agree with this, but I believe the whole point of most youth acting out is to annoy the oldth, so good luck with that. HOWEVER, we have not actually built a comprehensive bike lane network in Sydney. The all-powerful bike lobby has yet to deliver for us. This leaves us in the realm of the second best: in the absence of bike lanes, how do we regulate this new vehicle type for the good of all in the here and now. When cars came in more than 100 years ago, we regulated pedestrian movement in the name of safety, but in reality for the convenience of cars. This greatly reduced pedestrian access. We are at risk of doing the same today, converting pedestrian-only footpaths to shared paths so that fast electrically powered bicycles driven by adults are legal in even more pedestrian spaces, discouraging more people from walking. I hope we can do better. FYI * BicycleNSW position * WalkSydney Position FIN 1 Yes, I know. Nevertheless, the readers and commentators are people who vote. Read more

E-Bikes: Convenience, Annoyance, or Menace?

I think now smart city leaders recognise that energy independence (e.g. transport) insulates you and your citizens more from these shocks.

Like planting trees: The best time to do it was yesterday. But the second best time is now, and you certainly don't have to wait until the wolf is at the door.

The Strawberry Fields gates.

Sometimes it's nice to be a tourist in your own city.

Cafe #1 has closed. Cafe #2 had no seats. So we're on to next week's plan, and after this week I think we're by bike...

A wooded bridleway, with a metal fence on one side and a sandstone wall on the other.

Diamond Head - Lightning to the Nations 2020

Good morning.

I've inevitably spent a good chunk of my weekend reading about the 70s oil crisis.

My sense is there is quite some way to go before it gets that bad, and we shouldn't be so giddy to get there...

My prediction: an energy crisis > we don't have enough power > greyouts and brownouts > data centres can't run > AI tanks and the bubble finally pops > stock market crash.

Good morning, Monday.

Errr. Yeah!

Ive had a warming watch for about 4 or 5 years now. Solid. Dependable. I'd have another.

Just works as a watch as well as it does for exercise (I use mine for commutes)

Agree. Even eventually getting as far as Hunts Cross is vital for transport orientated development.

Speedrun?

On the tunnels it was suggested during Covid. There was a feasibility study in some form or another.

Are there any other cities with a river where you can't cross for free at all?

I'd accept an intervention might not be "full" width, but there clearly is space to intervene.

It's desperately sad it got whipped to a frenzy.

My aunty lives just off higher road and doesn't own a car. What about those people?..

A road outside a school, with hatching that is evidently a car's width wide.

The hatching tells me that it is *not* too narrow, though.

On one hand I absolutely understand why more papers are charging for online content.

That does make it harder to read more broadly, and I'm grateful for institutional subscriptions like the FT.

However it's also hardened me even more to clickbait journalism, esp orgs want you to *pay* for it.

The real desperate shame is the next bit up the road is the bid that would really benefit from this piece of safe infra the most... the school...

I'm not sure who in @knowsleycouncil.bsky.social needs to see this, but the 2nd phase of the @lpoolcityregion.bsky.social Higher Road scheme is very nice.

Loads more enjoyable to cycle up/down now.

Webinar | Joined Up Sustainability Transformations: Mapping the current landscape YouTube video by JUST Centre

🗺️ RESEARCH | JUST's first major report explores who, where, why and how a fair, low‑carbon future is being built in the North of England and beyond.

📑 Read the full report: bit.ly/4cwMRKW
🎥 Watch the webinar replay: www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTg8...

I can try?

I can send you an under review book ch which analyses where the funding has gone, assessing against Plan for Neighbourhoods and seat changes in 2025.

It largely paints PiP allocations as an extension of Towns Fund/Levelling Up Funds, and responding to/shoring up political volatility.

This has inadvertently shattered a bit of knowledge i thought i had from the Widnes music scene, about a guy @kennrushworth.bsky.social and I both know who claimed some tenuous link to this record...

Myth busted.

a woman in a blue and white dress with a braided ponytail ALT: a woman in a blue and white dress with a braided ponytail

The city here recently changed the provider, who made grand promises of only being able to leave a scooter/bike in a designated GPS area.

An e-scooter parked in the middle of a path over a tactile kerb near a junction.

As much as I hate pavement parking, I hate this.

I hate the ethos of the person who looks at that and thinks "that'll do. Sound".

JUST’s Merseyside team had a fantastic day at the University of Liverpool’s Sustainability Fair 2026.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by, we’re excited to build on these conversations and the new connections made 🌱

Read the news story: www.just.ac.uk/news/2026/02...

For the first time since I can remember (before covid?) both days and both legs of my inter city rail journey ran entirely to plan. No delays. No cancellations.

Remarkable in its unremarkableness.

I followed this up with a really nice letter sent as a resident and Dad, offering fairly clear support and really just begging for some safe road crossings so my child and others don't get run over.

No response.

And you wonder why people get cynical about politicians.

Seeing it up close, the HS2 infra going into Birmingham City centre is CHUNKY.

It's a shame that's as far north as it's going at the minute...

A screenshot of an email with two separate emails from the MDPI journal Sustainability asking to edit or submit to special issues.

Do you ever get the sense MDPI journals might be a bit... predatory?