Barriers at Work

[nilling]

Since the clampdown on 'pavement cycling' there is now a security guy stood at the drop curb. If he's going to stand there he may as well sit in the booth with the barrier up, checking passes - just like the good old days

 

[jonny jeez]

This sort of thing really pisses me off. If it were me, I'd refuse to go through other than by the road entrance and I'd tell my boss that security wouldn't let me in and that I was going home until it was sorted out. A cyclist should have the same rights and access as a motorist, and if the barrier is not safe for cyclists, they need to install one that is.

its not clear whether this is on exit on entrance (it sounds like entrance when you read the last para)...it may feasibly have as much to do with limiting bike theft as anything else...and is therefore a good thing.

 

[Miquel In De Rain]

I've been where I work since Feb 1989 and we have always had problems when locking our bikes (purges and stuff,when they got bored),they have also put turnstiles in now,but I had so much trouble and grief in the past I had already found alternative places to put my bike.Now I have heard we may be getting our own place.Locked it in there the other week though and the shutter failed.Took me half an hour to find someone to help me get my bike out.Haven't locked it there since,though.

 

[Sheepy1209]

I work at the same site as the OP!!
This is nothing to do with the security guards; I won't say too much on a public forum but basically cyclists weren't considered or consulted when the new barriers were put in so the 'dismount' cop-out was adopted. Treating this with the respect it deserves (i.e. ignoring it) worked fine for months until there was apparently a 'near miss' - the pavement goes past the door to the gatehouse so I can see why that might happen.

I tried to put some reasonable points to facilities but was basically shouted down - they won't accept that they're targeting the symptom, not the cause. A simple suggestion to provide cyclist bypasses was rejected out of hand even though that's the way it's done at our client's local sites - and at our other north-west site the barriers stay open all day!!

This is on both entry and exit - worse on exit because there's no path on the left so we have to approach the inward barrier facing oncoming vehicles in order to get to the path.

nilling - I'll send you a message with my email address

 

[CopperBrompton]

Discrimination is discrimination.

You seriously don't get how offensive you are being here?

 

[doctornige]

Which is probably the same sort of reasoning white folks in the US southern states used, before the 1960s, to get black people to sit at the back of the bus and use 'blacks only' benches and water fountains.

Question: is the issue above even in the same league as the barrier incident?

 

[Nigeyy]

I can see that if it's of little inconvenience, just dismount and walk the bike. However, I also appreciate that sometimes when you see a situation that is manufactured and is *their* fault, you do want to work a way round.

To that end: any chance you can cycle slowly up to the barrier with 10-20 cars behind you waiting to get in, leisurely dismount, check your tyres, unclip helmet, wipe your forehead, look aimlessly up into the sky, sigh heavily, think of England, and then move away from the barrier? Do that a couple of times and I'm sure they'll change the policy (but beware: they may change it to something worse!).

Really though, it's best to try to work it out -and if you don't get luck, it's up to you to decide whether the aggravation involved in making a point is worth it. Honestly, if it's just a couple of minutes, I guess I'd just accept it as part of the commute.

 

[jonny jeez]

Which is probably the same sort of reasoning white folks in the US southern states used, before the 1960s, to get black people to sit at the back of the bus and use 'blacks only' benches and water fountains.

They probably also claimed that those who complained were not being adults - just childish and 'uppity' negros.

Discrimination never seems like a big deal when you aren't the one suffering from it.

Ian I appreciate your point and respect your desire to defend it. but i think its time you take on board that your comparison is way out of whack and franklly more than a little offensive.

After all, I discriminate against the weeds in my garden...am I also a racist, sexist, bigot and anti semetic.

There are "degrees" to to be found.

 

[CopperBrompton]

After all, I discriminate against the weeds in my garden...am I also a racist, sexist, bigot and anti semetic.

No, but your weedist standpoint has been noted, so you'll be first up against the wall on the day of the Triffids.

 

[fossyant]

Time for some Danny McAskill skills boys. Hop on the barrier !

 

[Deleted member 1258]

You are doing better than us, we have a total ban on cyclists using the drive that leads into work, going in we have to dismount at the bottom and walk in, going home we have to walk to the bottom and then get on the bike, its a good 100 yards, it pisses me off no end.

Someone's complained, I've been told that I have to walk down the drive and onto the road then mount, I was walking most of the way down the drive then hopping on.

 

[BentMikey]

Time for some Danny McAskill skills boys. Hop on the barrier !

Aaaah! *Penny drops*

That explains why your voice is reedier than Magnatoms, stacking whilst you learned how, yes?