The Velotard Thread.

[EpsomWolf]

Thi

I would say infrastructure is the biggest obstacle to getting people out of their cars and onto bikes. The roads are just too intimidating. A white strip of paint just doesn't cut the mustard.

This is true, but it’s extremely costly and brave putting the infrastructure in place in the hope you are going to tempt the public in significant numbers - I think electric bikes and scooters will play a massive part here and open that option up to those less willing/able to cycle, plus of course lengthening the realistic journey distance/time for everyone too.

Would just say though, that here there is quite a nasty vibe between drivers and cyclists. The City council has always been very pro-bike and anti-car and there’s no shortage of investment in cycle lanes etc, but the anger and resentment from motorists comes from an unashamedly deliberate attempt to make life as difficult for motorists as possible to force them out and onto bikes and buses. It’s quite brutal at times but getting stuck in traffic becomes such a ball ache you find you just can’t be arsed so jump on the bike proving that for some it does actually work.

Seems the days of running about in our motors as we please are coming to an end. Depends on what side of the fence you sit as to the rights and wrongs of that, but it’s going to be very interesting to see how that pans out over the coming years for sure.

 

[machin05]

Yeah, I think ebikes could be very important. I would love to see more companies give incentives for employees to use them for commuting. However, it all comes down to infrastructure becuae people won't want to use them with the roads as they are.
It's a real catch 22. Government won't plough the money in if the demand isn't there (even if they weren't obsessed with making money from fossil fuels and energy companies), and the surge in demand won't happen if there's no safe infrastructure to use.

 

[Nando]

I'd love to be able to cycle into work, but Bristol's cycle infrastructure is shambolic and I'd be dead within a month.

They've recently completed a huge upheaval of the road system around Temple Meads and if anything, it is even worse for cyclists than before. That's a once in a generation opportunity to improve the infrastructure from the South West's main public transport hub gone as all of the residual space is to release BCC landholdings.

 

[machin05]

That's crazy. I thought cycling was really popular in Brizzle?

 

[MARKakaJIM]

For me the bigger issue would be infrastructure at my place of work.

No cycle storage, a single male shower that I'm aware of and that looks like it hasn't been cleaned in my lifetime, nowhere to store my sweaty clothes.

 

[machin05]

Again, this is where eBikes can help. You could arrive at work without being a sweaty mess.
Secure storage is obviously an issue, but one that is easy to sort out.

 

[Doctor Doog]

Got back to my bike last night after a night out to find someone had made a good attempt at stealing it. Managed to carry/wheel it the 2 miles home and I've just had a good look at the damage. Rear tyre slashed, rear mudguard snapped, disc brake buggered, and the lock cable cut. Bastards. The price of living in Cambridge I suppose.

 

[machin05]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1437488908552392705

Reiterates the point I was making before about how the investment in infrastructure is needed before the demand for it grows.

 

[EpsomWolf]

Got back to my bike last night after a night out to find someone had made a good attempt at stealing it. Managed to carry/wheel it the 2 miles home and I've just had a good look at the damage. Rear tyre slashed, rear mudguard snapped, disc brake buggered, and the lock cable cut. Bastards. The price of living in Cambridge I suppose.

Just saw this, sorry to hear that. It’s a real bitch when that happens. As mentioned previously we're up to 6 on the stolen bike count, although to be fair that is over a good number of years.

Bike crime is a huge problem everywhere but does seem to provide rich pickings here. I can’t even be arsed checking the stats as from personal and anecdotal experience there are only a very small percentage of thefts that are even reported (2 of 6 for us).

A good lock and being parked in a cctv area seems to help, but these small, portable battery powered angle grinders can demolish a £100 lock in seconds and render an expensive lock useless. Difficult to know where you go from there. Like many we’ve gone for the good lock and bland appearance combo for a town/to the pub bike and keep anything decent for dedicated recreational use.

The theft thing is a problem that isn’t going to go away unfortunately and it does play on your mind. Hopefully you got your bike sorted ok and the bastards eventually get caught. We can only live in hope.

 

[machin05]

Birmingham to become a super-sized low-traffic neighbourhood

Council plans to divert car traffic from city via a ring road while providing more buses and cycle lines

www.theguardian.com

 

[Throbber3]

For me its two fold. I think cycles should be MANDATED to use cycle paths if they are available. Cambridge has invested heavily in a cycle network and still cyclists use the roads when a path is available and safer. Hills Road has Paris style cycle lanes but you still get cycles on the main carriageway risking themselves and clogging traffic. I have a folding e bike and often drive to the edge of town and then cycle in to avoid the congestion. Park and ride sites are free to use so its fine. We now have an abundance of these rent-a-scooters which I thought were still illegal but no-one seems to care ( they will when someone gets killed using one). Maybe they have changed the law?

 

[BillyDee]

Privately owned motorised scooters are illegal on anything other than private land. There are a limited number of government run schemes where scooters can be rented and are legal to use within specified conditions and areas (generally not on pavements or public areas).
Police obviously have better things to do than chase after illegally used scooters though, but they are increasingly a menace.

 

[Johnny75]

For me its two fold. I think cycles should be MANDATED to use cycle paths if they are available. Cambridge has invested heavily in a cycle network and still cyclists use the roads when a path is available and safer. Hills Road has Paris style cycle lanes but you still get cycles on the main carriageway risking themselves and clogging traffic. I have a folding e bike and often drive to the edge of town and then cycle in to avoid the congestion. Park and ride sites are free to use so its fine. We now have an abundance of these rent-a-scooters which I thought were still illegal but no-one seems to care ( they will when someone gets killed using one). Maybe they have changed the law?

Rented scooters are a government trial so not illegal. It is illegal to own and ride your own scooter still, although that is under review.

I don't understand why you want to make cyclists use paths when roads are perfectly good enough to use and anything that slows down city traffic isn't a bad thing imo.

 

[machin05]

For me its two fold. I think cycles should be MANDATED to use cycle paths if they are available. Cambridge has invested heavily in a cycle network and still cyclists use the roads when a path is available and safer. Hills Road has Paris style cycle lanes but you still get cycles on the main carriageway risking themselves and clogging traffic. I have a folding e bike and often drive to the edge of town and then cycle in to avoid the congestion. Park and ride sites are free to use so its fine. We now have an abundance of these rent-a-scooters which I thought were still illegal but no-one seems to care ( they will when someone gets killed using one). Maybe they have changed the law?

The reality is that the majority of cycle paths just aren't fit for purpose and it's far safer for cyclists and pedestrians that cyclists use the public roads.

 

[machin05]

“People don't use cycling facilities that already exist”

This can often be true – many cycling facilities around the world are of a poor standard, failing to enable safe, simple, uncomplicated journeys. Some people who choose to cycle anyway will typically avoid poor-quality cycling infrastructure, because their journey would otherwise be slower and...

cyclingfallacies.com

 

[EpsomWolf]

For me its two fold. I think cycles should be MANDATED to use cycle paths if they are available. Cambridge has invested heavily in a cycle network and still cyclists use the roads when a path is available and safer. Hills Road has Paris style cycle lanes but you still get cycles on the main carriageway risking themselves and clogging traffic. I have a folding e bike and often drive to the edge of town and then cycle in to avoid the congestion. Park and ride sites are free to use so its fine. We now have an abundance of these rent-a-scooters which I thought were still illegal but no-one seems to care ( they will when someone gets killed using one). Maybe they have changed the law?

The issues with cyclists here are the same as everywhere - jumping red lights, riding on pavements, no lights etc, however, the anger and resentment to those behaviours is massively amplified by the huge investment bias towards cyclists and openly anti-car policies from the council.

The Cambridge Cycling Campaign (CCC) are very powerful and have some heavy hitters in office at the council. Subsequently, there is no shortage of investment and the city orgasms at
the opportunity for any cycling vanity project.

Take this Dutch style roundabout on Fendon Road. £2.2 million pounds. Can you imagine your council approving that?


And then there’s this dog’s dinner ‘Ghost’ roundabout thing on Tenison Road:


I mean, I’m a car driver, van driver, motorcyclist, cyclist, e-scooter (hire) rider and the owner of several pairs of shoes, but unless I’m mistaken cyclists are the only group there that are allowed to use the public highway (to all intents and purposes) unregulated, and certainly without insurance or financial contribution to costs.

I’m perfectly ok with a balanced investment and shift towards cycling, but you can use this place as an indicator of what happens when you let the tail wag the dog. Insurance and accountability for ALL road-users would go some way to a more harmonious existence, but it does look for the foreseeable future that cyclists here are going to have their cake and eat it.

 

[Tredman]

I work for the company which designed that - the brief was to do a Dutch-style roundabout in the UK. Same works perfectly well there and the above works well here. Looks complicated from above, but in practise its fine.

 

[Keef]

Cyclists can be insured through house insurance, and pay for road use through general taxation, there is no "road tax"(that was abolished in 1937) you can also thank cycling lobby groups for originally getting roads tarmacced so it would be easier to ride them around in the 1890s early 1900s

 

[EpsomWolf]

Cyclists can be insured through house insurance, and pay for road use through general taxation, there is no "road tax"(that was abolished in 1937) you can also thank cycling lobby groups for originally getting roads tarmacced so it would be easier to ride them around in the 1890s early 1900s

Good points well made, although that didn’t help much when a language student rode into the back of my car while I was stationary in traffic. She shrugged her shoulders and pedalled off. I checked the rear which looked ok, but didn’t realise until I got home her metal basket had gouged along the rear quarter panel to the tune of £700. Sure, some car drivers are uninsured but that sort of thing leaves a very bad taste.

 

[EpsomWolf]

I work for the company which designed that - the brief was to do a Dutch-style roundabout in the UK. Same works perfectly well there and the above works well here. Looks complicated from above, but in practise its fine.

Unfortunately it doesn’t work well in practice at all. The main flaw is in busy traffic (that roundabout is near the hospital so is more often than not), as cars creep forward to the roundabout you have stationary cars in front of the cycle ‘ring’ (see the black car in picture) as well as queuing behind the zebra crossing, meaning that cyclists are obscured from view of cars exiting the roundabout - they suddenly appear from behind the stationary car and it’s terrifying for the cyclists and drivers alike.
I suspect any statistical evidence that this roundabout might be safer than the adequate one that was already there, is due to the confusion and terror of everyone using it and people adjusting their speeds accordingly. Only a matter of time before someone is killed there, I have no doubt.