MrHappyCyclist
Riding the Devil's HIghway
- Location
- Bolton, England
I went to visit the training centre at First Bus's Bolton depot yesterday, at their invitation. This centre trains all the First bus drivers in Greater Manchester. My full blog about it is here. I thought it was worth posting this part here, though:
I got to drive a double-decker bus as well. :-)They then showed me some of their training materials, and I was surprised to see that all their drivers undergo classroom training on the key elements of the Bikeability national cycle training scheme. That’s right: every First bus driver knows very well why cyclists sometimes ride in the primary position, in the centre of the lane. The training materials include diagrams showing the recommended path of a cyclist at a pinch point, when passing side roads, when turning corners (including left hand turns), which all involve taking primary position. I did ask why it is that some of the drivers complain about it and rant whilst pointing at the gutter. We didn’t really get to the bottom of that, but there was clearly some frustration that this happens given the efforts they put into training about cyclists.