Anyone come across this

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TheJollyJimLad

Active Member
Ah - the CEGB. A group of people who think they are *the* experts on cycling and that the answer is to separate cyclists from other traffic...

You're a cheerful old bark aren't you?
 

awjr

Regular
Honestly, not sure what planet you lot live on, but living in Bath, when you look at where people in the city commute to work by cycle the most, it comes down to having access to a good traffic free route (River path) into the city centre.
http://datashine.org.uk/#zoom=14&la...TTT&table=QS701EW&col=QS701EW0010&ramp=YlOrRd

You may be happy with riding in traffic, but you will never win the argument that it's something the average person will want to do.

It will be interesting to see the effect the two tunnels has on bike use in the next census.

Start putting yourself in the position of a 10 year old kid trying to ride to school. Then ask yourself, is what we have good enough.
 

Drago

Legendary Member
Well done ajwr. Now, where are you going to get the billions from to remodel every town in the country to accommodate this?

It's a lovely idea, but it's simply not feasible. Therefore, we want politicos and planners to.makes the very best.of what we have, not spend time daydreaming about something we don't and never will. It's called reality.
 

Archie_tect

De Skieven Architek... aka Penfold + Horace
Location
Northumberland
Having visited Bath a few weeks ago, I hadn't appreciated how steep sided the Avon valley was... the only places suitable for informal cycling out of the city centre follow the contours or are down by the river... it's not all to do with infrastructure. I was surprised how little the city uses it's river frontage, it's quite secluded and walking alone on the river path felt isolated and remote.
 

srw

It's a bit more complicated than that...
Honestly, not sure what planet you lot live on, but living in Bath, when you look at where people in the city commute to work by cycle the most, it comes down to having access to a good traffic free route (River path) into the city centre.
http://datashine.org.uk/#zoom=14&la...TTT&table=QS701EW&col=QS701EW0010&ramp=YlOrRd
http://datashine.org.uk/#zoom=12&la...TTT&table=QS701EW&col=QS701EW0010&ramp=YlOrRd
Bristol - North-east Bristol. No nice traffic-free path, up a hill.

(Oh - and the stats are seriously dodgy because they don't capture anyone who does a train-bike combo commute)
 

awjr

Regular
Well done ajwr. Now, where are you going to get the billions from to remodel every town in the country to accommodate this?
A Department for Transport (DfT) report has announced plans for an extra 900 lane miles for Britain's roads by 2021. There will be £24 bn investment which is the biggest investment sine the 1970s.

Note this money has been allocated based on DfT traffic increase predictions that have always suggested traffic will increase year on year. They've actually been flat for the last 30 years.

Extreme view: This money could actually provide 240000km of 3m wide new bitmac cycle/shared paths. (Cost is 100k per km)

Realistic view: More roads will be built, traffic will increase due to induced demand, little will change, people will continue to get fat.

Idealistic view: Money should be reallocated to repair our existing network of roads. Fast roads (50MPH+) should have segregated cycle infra installed, cities and towns should identify 'major' routes and provision of protected cycle routes at the expense of car parking on those routes should be implemented. Green traffic free 'flat' routes should be developed to connect rural communities.

Reality on this forum: I can ride in traffic I don't see why 10 year old kids can't. Nothing we can do to change that....
 

Profpointy

Legendary Member
Honestly, not sure what planet you lot live on, but living in Bath, when you look at where people in the city commute to work by cycle the most, it comes down to having access to a good traffic free route (River path) into the city centre.
http://datashine.org.uk/#zoom=14&la...TTT&table=QS701EW&col=QS701EW0010&ramp=YlOrRd

You may be happy with riding in traffic, but you will never win the argument that it's something the average person will want to do.

It will be interesting to see the effect the two tunnels has on bike use in the next census.

Start putting yourself in the position of a 10 year old kid trying to ride to school. Then ask yourself, is what we have good enough.

well I used.to cycle round Cardiff when I was.10 and I think bike awareness and town-speeding from cars was much worse, although there's certainly.much more traffic these days. However I generally disagree with the whole cycle lane thing, as they make the journeys more hazardous and less convenient - and encourage a "get off the f$^@&$g road attitude" "Good" cycle lanes are so rare as to be almost a theory-only concept. The only good one I've ever.seen is the Birstol-Bath path -
 

Profpointy

Legendary Member
Bristol is a rather different beast. They take cycling as a mode of transport seriously. Not just a leisure activity.

True - but even here, apart from the aforementioned Bristol-Bath I'd say all the facilities are "a bad thing". The general courtesy and sensibleness of drivers and popularity of cycling make the daily commute a pleasure - notably the A38 dual carriageway to Almodsbury could appear very cycle unfriendly yet the daily pelaton of which I'm a member seem to fund it OK.
 

summerdays

Cycling in the sun
Location
Bristol
It's interesting zooming in on the map, I thought there would be higher cycling in the areas next to the path, and for some reason there seems to be a small hotbed in both Emersons Green (not sure why) and the new houses by UWE/HP/MOD which I can understand as it is near cycle routes.
 

stowie

Legendary Member
Money is available for cycling (at least in London). For example £30M has been allocated to each area which won the "mini-holland" bid. This is not an insignificant amount for cycling infrastructure.

The problem has always been political will and the re-adjustment of transport agencies from treating road usage as an engineering problem which is "solved" when the maximum number of vehicles are squeezed through a particular roadspace.
 
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