Cycle lanes increase vehicle congestion?

[sheddy]

What a surprise
https://road.cc/content/news/journalist-anti-cycle-lane-angle-gets-more-readers-288449

 

[matticus]

I think that even the most militant cyclists should be able to admit that some of the bike lanes that that have sprung up during the The Plague have been utterly daft. Tick box lunacy from some councils.

We've had about 30 years of crap cycle lanes. Have you been active in getting those improved/removed? Or are you only interested in Plague lanes??

 

[Amanda P]

Yew wot - ? Give up the pleasure of driving my car two miles to work for the pleasure of getting stuck for half an hour in a daily traffic jam - ?
Yer 'avin' a larf - !

I was working in the Netherlands a few years ago. I'd set up a meeting with a farmer at a field on the edge of a small town, at 8am. I drove there and parked in the field entrance. The farmer then phoned me to say he'd be a few minutes late. I opened my thermos flask and settled in to wait for him.

There were fields on one side of the, road, and large "executive" homes on the other. Each house had a large, "executive"-type car in the driveway - a BMW or Audi or Mercedes. After a few more minutes, a chap in a suit came out of the nearest house. Instead of getting into his German car as I expected, he walked past it to a little bike shelter at the side of the garden, got out an 'oumafiets' and pedalled away on it down the street into town.

I chuckled to myself, thinking: you'd only see that in the Netherlands.

Another couple of minutes later, his next-door neighbour came out and did the same thing, leaving his BMW on the driveway.

The conclusion I came to was that one of the key differences in driving attitudes between us and the Dutch isn't just that everyone driving a car in NL also rides a bike sometimes. It's that, like us, wealthy Dutch folk like to own posh cars. But they don't feel they have to drive them everywhere to show them off. When the journey is short, and the weather is kind, they'll jump on the oumafiets (sit-up-and-beg, coaster-braked, all-steel bike). When it's not so kind, maybe they'll take the bus. Or share with the neighbour. The Audi will still be there, displayed on the drive for all to see, when they get home.

(The farmer did eventually arrive).

 

[sheddy]

Hopefully not a paywall
https://www.newstatesman.com/politi...theres-money-to-be-made-in-pretending-they-do

 

[DRM]

Why on god’s green earth would anyone in London drive to work, when they have so much public transport options, and the money to provide those options thrown at them by the government, if only every where else in the UK received such funding for their public transport

 

[Drago]

Why on god’s green earth would anyone in London drive to work, when they have so much public transport options, and the money to provide those options thrown at them by the government, if only every where else in the UK received such funding for their public transport

Because not only are they lazy, they are prepared to put great effort and put themselves to a lot of inconvenience in order to carry on being lazy.

After all, what kind of chump would prefer to sit in a car for an hour rather than ride a bicycle for 20 minutes?

 

[Rusty Nails]

I don't think including buses in that list is fair, 1 bus should be able to take many dozens of cars off the road.
Maybe if some of those delayed drivers tried switching their journeys to modes of transport more suited to a crowded city they might not spend so much time stuck in jams?

True, and that might help congestion but I think the police might take a dim view of it as a tactic.

 

[dan_bo]

 

[Arrowfoot]

To be honest, I am amazed that we have bike lanes and bike related facilities in the numbers that we have. This taking into consideration the amount of angst that we face from segments of the motoring publIc,

My guess is that it is pressure from EU countries such as Netherlands and Germany that has forced authorities to act to avoid looking like daffodils.

The fact that the media deliberating misrepresented the research findings is that there is wider audience within the motoring public for such negative news.

It will be the younger generation that will help the cause and leave the dinosaurs by the side of the road.

 

[Baldy]

My guess is that it is pressure from EU countries such as Netherlands and Germany that has forced authorities to act to avoid looking like daffodils.

You really think they have any influence on town planning in this anti-EU anti-common sence country of ours?

 

[mjr]

You really think they have any influence on town planning in this anti-EU anti-common sence country of ours?

Well, on average, cycling infrastructure is better in Remain areas (but not because they're Remain areas ).

But yeah, it's probably more to do with the looming health and climate crises ability to swallow the UK government budget whole if left unchecked... and maybe slightly that the UK can claim to have invented the modern bicycle.

 

[Drago]

Apparently some of the best cycle lanes in the World are in China, including some supposedly stunning long distance cycle highways. Now, I'm no geographerist but I'm pretty sure that's neither in the EU or the UK, so any supposed correlation collapse right there.

Trying to associate this sort of thing with any political persuasion in the UK is a bit pointless, because they've all had their chance over the decades, nationally, regionally and locally, and we're still left with a load of J. Arthur Rank. Indeed, politicians of all stripe are the cause of our problems, not our salvation. As the sea levels rise and we're all standing on tiptoe trying to take our last gasp of polluted air some eejut will still try and argue that it's the opposite teams fault.

It's a failure of society at large, of the will of the masses. The bulk of our population would still rather drive half a mile than take a stroll or ride a bicycle, and even if it near bankrupts them to do so they'll carry on doing it, and those masses vote in their own image.

 

[Oldhippy]

Read Peter Walker, Bike nation. Excellent.

 

[Drago]

I have. Some issues with his arguments, but broadly speaking he brings great insight and thought to the issue.

 

[farfromtheland]

Hmm, I feel I must remark first that Dutch cyclists have it flatter.

I have to say that my first reaction to this was "stop B****Y driving then!". If you don't want to get the tube, use a bike or scooter, or walk. ebikes and escooters are available now. Unless you are delivering goods, delivering services or have a blue badge, you don't need to drive in London!

Something no-one else has mentioned is that it's often more expensive to take public transport than drive, particularly if you need both train and bus and work in different places different days. Subsiding public transport is urgent.

I did used to do music sessions carrying my kit on train, bus and trolley - doable despite the expense but very stressful. Public transport needs more luggage space for trades to use it. My kit won't fit a Brompton. In San Diego you can take your bike on the bus.

Delivering goods is not usually warranted - we have the post office or cooking for that sort of thing.

I think that even the most militant cyclists should be able to admit that some of the bike lanes that that have sprung up during the The Plague have been utterly daft. Tick box lunacy from some councils.

I have never been a big fan of kerbside cycle lanes. My local council has got one or two ok after various experiments but on my work bike I am too slow and wide and annoy other cyclists and on my fun bike I am too fast and have to brake for pedestrians wandering around bus stops. I wish we'd all worked to use roads together safely rather than so much separatism. I find drivers less bike aware than ever these days. And ruder - cyclists and pedestrians too, unfortunately.