Congratulations to Worcester's new MP, Tom Collins!

The General Election is over, we have a new Government formed by the Labour Party and the constituency of Worcester has also changed from Conservative to Labour, with Tom Collins being elected as our Member of Parliament. We start this blog with a hearty congratulations to Tom, and the team at Bike Worcester look forward to working together with him to improve the city.We're extremely proud that we have an MP who is a member of Bike Worcester and regularly uses a bike as a mode of transport, including navigating the city with children on two wheels. As a result he has first hand experience of the many problems encountered by those of us trying to travel around Worcester by bike, and the real and perceived barriers that exist that stop us enabling and encouraging others to do the same.A fact possibly not known beyond those that, errr, already know, is that Tom has also been one of the parent volunteers that set-up the Nunnery Wood Bike Bus in Worcester, and remains a regular on the route, including taking part on the morning of the election! Maybe he's the first Bike Bus Member of Parliament (we'll endeavour to verify this)? They say 'Actions speak louder than words' [Who are they? Ed.] and this is a great example...of what they say. We're incredibly proud of all the children and parents that have taken part in a bike bus, plus all of the Bike Worcester volunteers that turn out every day of the week, come rain or shine, in addition to all of the guests that have attended. It's fantastic that Tom was an early adopter of the Bike Bus concept, and is clearly doing it to be the change, rather than for publicity or a nice photo for an election leaflet.A quick shout out to Robin Walker, the city's previous MP, who did join us at North Worcester Primary School a couple of years ago, and took a spin on Rob's cargo bike (now has different owners, but still used regularly to transport children around Worcester). See picture below.Also a shout out to some of the other candidates. We've been working closely with Mel Allcott in her role as City and County Councillor to move forward the first School Street in the city (this may have happened this term without a General Election getting in the way). Marc Bayliss has been incredibly supportive of Bike Worcester through his role as deputy Police and Crime Commissioner, and has provided grants to help reduce road danger through funding of Pass Pixis and bike mounted cameras, and Tor Pingree is currently working to help setup more Bike Buses in her City Council ward. As always, we look forward to working with councillors of all political persuasion to continue to improve Worcester, and to enable and encourage more people to travel by bike, and for everyone to reap all the benefits this brings.Let's wrap it up there. And one more time, put your hands together for our new MP, the first Bike Bus Member of Parliament, TOM COLLINS!(crowd goes wild with applause and cheering, Tom track stands on a BMX, pops a wheelie, then cycles off stage right waving and ringing his bell)