An EDM can lead to a debate in Parliament if enough MPs agree to sign it.

RAV partners have long campaigned for the Wheels to Work scheme to be available nationally, as it enables youngsters to become independently mobile for either work or college, especially where poor public transport provision prohibits this.

The actual text is below. Please ask your MP to sign EDM 533 and click HERE if you aren’t sure who your new MP is.

Early Day Motion
EDM 533

WHEELS TO WORK SCHEME
19.07.2010

Stephen Pound MP

That this House notes the moped loan scheme for young people known as Wheels to Work which has traditionally received cross-party support; further notes that in the current economic climate it is more important than ever that young people have access to employment, education and training opportunities; further notes that the low cost of providing small motorcycles to jobseekers can more than offset the cost to the Exchequer of leaving young people economically inactive and claiming benefits; and calls for the Government to actively consider how it can facilitate and support individual Wheels to Work scheme efforts to gain stable funding, so enabling them to continue to provide this invaluable and cost-effective service.

• One will be examining a trainer registration scheme which we have been calling for for a number of years,

• One will be reviewing the current test booking procedure which many training schools are unhappy with and

• one will be reviewing the Compulsory Basic Training (CBT) syllabus.

The RAV team are very pleased that the DSA is willing to re-examine the current situation and particularly pleased that the requests for a registration of trainers is being addressed. This could provide control and maintenance of instruction standards and enable the UK interpretation of the 3rd EU licence directive to include a ‘training option’ as a way to graduate through the soon to be implemented stepped licence system.

Minister Penning said only last week in a meeting with Mark Williams MP, motorcycle instructors and RAV’s Paddy Tyson, that he would ensure some form of trainers register would be investigated to ensure quality of service and parity with the Approved Driving Instructors registration system.

Broadcasts by BBC television, recently, revealed that London Mayor Boris Johnson may be about to end motorcycle access to bus lanes as a result of an ill-tempered encounter with riders protesting against bike-parking charges.

Speaking on behalf of the Riders Are Voters campaign, Nich Brown said:

“Bus-lane access cannot be allowed to be treated as a political football as it did under the previous Mayor.

Around 150,000 London voters ride motorcycles or work in motorcycle-related businesses would be affected, alongside many thousands of visitors to the capital city.

Our expectation from meetings with TfL and the Mayor’s staff has been that the outcome of the current experimental study should be discussed with the groups most affected before any decision was made.

With just one month remaining before the experimental scheme must be made permanent we have had neither sight of the data and findings nor any invitation to meet the Mayor to discuss the outcomes.”

The Riders Are Voters campaign calls for the Mayor to give an urgent assurance that no decision has been taken.

Nich Brown, MAG General Secretary said; “All the effort people put in to the Riders Are Voters campaign is paying off. So many MPs and Ministers in the new Government are now aware of the isues surrounding the new test fiasco, bikes in bus lanes, parking, the need for common-sense on road safety and an end to offical disinterest. For once, we have had an earlier hearing than most of the established lobby groups that have consistently marginalised biking.”

The new Minister said he wanted to see a situation “…where biking is as pleasurable as possible, with the state interfering as little as possible”. He added that “any action government takes should be based on evidence”. Of course, most of his predecessors in the Ministerial office-suite have said much the same from time-to-time, so we listened carefully to what he had to say on some current topics:

On the expense, safety and availability of the new riding test…
We understand that the Minister visited one of the DSA’s handful of white-elephant ‘Multi-Purpose Test Centres’ to witness the new bike test for himself – just one week in to his new job. From what we could gather, it seems that what he saw convinced him that we need a better, fairer, more affordable and accessible training and testing system – just what BMF, MAG and MCI have been campaigning for.

On bikes in bus lanes…
With the results of the Transport for London Bus Lanes experiment expected at any time, the new Minister seemed convinced that letting us use bus lanes has to be good, not only for riders but for others as well. However, despite the obvious need for certainty and consistency from one town to another, there is no prospect of DfT dictating every bus lane should be opened-up – although we may see stronger guidance from DfT on the safety and mobility benefits that allowing bikes to use bus lanes can bring.

On parking…
Again the Minister talked in terms of stronger guidance from DfT about the need to provide enough bike parking of the right kind, but this will fall short of insisting on minimum standards and consistent treatment across the country. The NoToBikeParkingTax campaign have called for a mass demonstration by riders on 19th June in the form of a slow lap of the M25 (www.notobikeparkingtax.com)

On the real causes of bike accidents…
The new Minister says any proposals for an EU-wide limit on Brake-Horse Power would not tackle the real issues of road safety. Instead, he sees riders’ and drivers’ attitudes as the most important issue when it comes to preventing crashes.

On compulsory protective equipment…
The new minister clearly does not like to see riders exposing their flesh to the possibility of gravel-rash, or worse, and wants to see more use of protective clothing to prevent injury. However, he was clear that further compulsion as to the choice of helmet, high-viz or protective clothing is not on his radar and agreed that education, not regulation, is the way to achieve his goal.