A rant about MK cyclists (and peds, for that matter)

[mjr]

Therefore the official figures for the town of Northwankton are somewhat lower than the figures for the actual physical settlement.

I assume that's been figured in and it's why Northampton's settlement population is higher than the borough population.

They're both sheetholes, whichever way you look at it.

I wonder what places you like! Northampton figures in some of my fondest memories, but sadly the town's government does seem to have rather lost the plot with screwup after screwup (Sixfields payments, anyone?) and expansion that looks like an unplanned anytown sprawl, even though I assume it's not.

Different approaches to cycling, though. Northampton is mostly your average English town with naff all cycle-only routes except a former railway, a riverside, an intermittent inconsistent "get 'em orf my road" effort alongside its ring road and some substandard pavement paint-and-sign jobs. It's one of the few places I know where cycling is banned from a section of non-motorway road.

Northampton has approximately average cycling levels. Milton Keynes has above-average levels. So I suggest that while an above-average network is not sufficient to cause high levels of cycling, it does at least nudge things the right way.

 

[hatler]

there's a cycle path on the south bank of the Thames from Putney through (eventually) Richmond. The unwritten convention there is to ride on the right. Everybody does it. Is there some natural tendency in humans to do this?

I did that one a couple of weeks ago and held left all the way, and didn't have a bother with anyone coming at me on my side of the path.

 

[dellzeqq]

I did that one a couple of weeks ago and held left all the way, and didn't have a bother with anyone coming at me on my side of the path.

fair do's. Times change. I just wondered if there was some bodily, or neural imperative.

 

[Drago]

Theatre 'district'? That's a laugh. I guess 'theatre hectare' doesn't sound so slick.

 

[uphillstruggler]

Theatre 'district'? That's a laugh. I guess 'theatre hectare' doesn't sound so slick.

I must say that I never liked the theater district. There's so much more possibility in mk than the massive soulless pub chains around there. It may be different if I was a twenty something bloke looking to get drunk and laid.

Edit : But back on topic, I like the red ways . I find them easy to use (but I have lived here most of my life)

 

[Drago]

I also quite liked them. They were far from perfect, but the network is extensive, some are useful, and some are quite pleasurable to use. A 100% improvement over most towns with zero designed in cycle networks.

 

[stowie]

One big problem for MK is that it's falling apart. A lot of public buildings and roads were built at the same time and they are now in need of serious money. The Theatre District is knackered - Wetherspoons, which used to fuel my day with their extraordinary breakfasts has just closed down - now how bad do things have to be before Tim Martin pulls the plug? So.....who is going to throw lots of dosh in to regeneration when they can just go on and on building low-rise housing over countryside? No private sector money, no S.106 money, and not likely to be until the Council ups the density and fills the gaps - which they will not do.

Derek Walker bought in to the American Dream with other people's money - if he were still around today he'd see that there's a thousand midwestern towns telling the story of low downtown land values are a disaster in the making. Give it ten years and that axis from the station to Campbell Park is going to have tumbleweed.

Ditto with Harlow, except Harlow started to fall apart about 10 years earlier.

I fear I might be one of the cyclists that is being complained about with the original post. Since the introduction of the Santander Bikes, I have taken to getting the train and then hiring a bike for the couple of miles to the office. I fear I might be meandering in a daydream - certainly the bikes don't lend themselves to rapid progress.

On the plus side, riding a Santander bike was a bit of a celebrity buzz. People would stop me to ask about the bike, how the scheme worked, how much it cost. I think it is really becoming popular with commuters from the train station.
.

 

[mjr]

I feel Harlow had bigger challenges to overcome, being in the domain of the much more anti-cycling Essex County Council and not having as many preceding new towns making mistakes they could learn from.

On the plus side, riding a Santander bike was a bit of a celebrity buzz. People would stop me to ask about the bike, how the scheme worked, how much it cost. I think it is really becoming popular with commuters from the train station.

Sounds like the early days of the London cycle hire. More than once, I explained the basics at the dock opposite King's Cross. Sometimes I guided people fretting about missing their train due to the lack of open spaces to the nearby one in St Chad's Street - I think at least one gentleman feared that I'd led him to Southwark or something, judging by the pace he set off running along Gray's Inn Road despite having plenty of time before his train!

How's the one in MK working out? I know they're different operators but is there any user advice on the handlebars like on the London ones?

 

[uphillstruggler]

I haven't had occasion to use one of the hire bikes, although I would do if there was a docking station near to where I live as there are occasions that the train I get stops at cmk and it would be quicker than waiting for the next connection to Wolverton.

I agree with @Drago that the red ways aren't perfect but I would rather use them than ride the main carriage ways. Drivers just are not expecting cyclists on those roads rightly or wrongly it's a case of self preservation to stay off them.

 

[CharlieB]

I've not yet seen a Santander bike on any of the Redways. They're not the problem - I just wish the other loonies would slow down if they must ride like eejits.
As there are obviously a few people passim who've worked out my route, here are the worst black spots, then, from the station to Fox Milne, in order.
The trouble starts at the crossing of the ways at the CMK end of Campbell Park - no- one looks either way at that crossing. If they're going across South-North, they're moving quite fast downhill into the subway into CP
The dip and sharp bend past the children's playground, where people come out from the left (from Campbell Park?) without a glance.
The blind S bend where the path diverges from Childs Way to the right - that's more of a nightmare in the afternoon, because people come down into it at quite a pace.
The crossroads in the middle of the roundabout just before you enter Willen Lake. AARGH!
The blind bend at the top of the path out of Willen Lake where it meets Childs Way again on the other side.

Going to try the railway route next week into Wolverton, but I've only another week to go in MK.

Sorry and all that, I actually quite like MK apart from the local cyclists!

 

[mjr]

Sorry if I'm repeating myself, but do you have a bell to wake up the dozers?

 

[CharlieB]

Of course. But they're all wearing headphones, so they're not going to hear it! I kid you not.