Non cyclists need recalibrating
- Thread starter Drago
- Start date
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ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
I just did a search and found this plan showing 139 spaces, including 4 P&C (parent and child?) spaces, 10 disabled spaces, and 2 electric vehicle charging spaces. No mention of bike spaces!
PS The charging spaces are in a different place to where they are shown on that plan. Maybe there is a more recent document than that one?
- Location
- Glasgow
Well, yes if you work irregular hours with irregular days off.
Lucky here in Scotland all is open mostly 24/7, with a bit of organization and with the internet I manage fine to feed myself, the cat, buy unnecessary stuff even when I am on shift 2 weeks in a row.
Once we had an unplanned event at work, I left for half an hour to go to my hairdressers appointment (just as well she was on site), while another colleague went home (10 min walk), took his Tesco delivery in, came back to work
I have an agreement with my postman to leave parcels in a safe place, I also make extensive use of the click and collect services, pick up the stuff on my way home with the bike.
There is a local shop just across my door, opens long hours, still some weeks I leave before they open, get back after they close.
Not condoning the short distance driving, btw: I don't have a car, and the (less than a) mile to Aldi's gets walked unless I'm already out on the bike.
Johnno260
Guru
- Location
- East Sussex
I would imagine most people have time constraints, I work, have 2 children, and a wife who is an NHS nurse working shifts.
I plan ahead is all, cycle in the mornings before work, like you said with delivery’s I make use of Amazon lockers on my route home things like that.
I plan ahead is all, cycle in the mornings before work, like you said with delivery’s I make use of Amazon lockers on my route home things like that.
snorri
Legendary Member
- Location
- East coast, up a bit.
Get in touch with the Local Authority Planning Department and ask them why the store was permitted to open without cycling parking. My Planning Office gave me a contact at Lidl and after a friendly conversation their new buildings department promptly installed covered secure cycle parking with adequate capacity.
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
I'm going there again tomorrow so I'll have a good look to make sure that I didn't cycle straight past some bike stands. If I still can't find them, I'll see if I can speak to a manager and find out if there is a plan to fit some. If I don't get any joy then I'll contact the council.
The new store's trolley storage area has a nice roof over it. I'll suggest that the cycle parking should be covered too. I will also emphasise that for bike security it would be good to have any stands near the store's entrance and not tucked away in the far corner of the car park. There is a rear entrance to the car park from the Rochdale canal towpath, which I think is a good thing, but it would also be a good way for would-be bike thieves to nip in and nick bikes if they were located over there.
snorri
Legendary Member
- Location
- East coast, up a bit.
IME, the local store manager had minimal awareness of site construction works, that was the responsibility of a dedicated group based in a central office somewhere.
I had hoped the LA Planner would have leaned on Lidl, instead he gave me the contact number for the new building construction group who cooperated fully.
Globalti
Legendary Member
It's not simply laziness, there's a multitude of reasons why people wouldn't dream of cycling.
Imagination: I don't mind admitting that when I lived just outside Paris I was 2km from my office along flat, quiet, leafy boulevards yet for two years I drove every day even though it could take 40 minutes thanks to traffic on the main road. It simply never occurred to me to get a bicycle because I kidded myself that I needed the car for work. I walked one day when it snowed.
Culture: the son of my Pakistan agent, a student in the UK, rang to ask my advice on buying a car. Once I'd explained that you need insurance (!) I suggested he bought a cheap bike to ride to college. The hiss of indrawn breath and the shock was palpable. A bike is poor man's transport so he was horrified at the idea. Most people judge their position in society by the car on their drive, which is why they are such suckers for boot badges and willy-waving sporty upgrades and accessories.
Discomfort: most people tried cycling as a child and did not have the luxury of a correctly-sized and fitted bike so they dont know how easy it is to ride a good bike and cycling remains something they did for play for a few years as a child.
Luggage: "How would I carry all the shopping/children/dog/etc.?"
Distance: more than childhood distances look impossible. My colleagues are astonished when I cycle 22 miles from my neighbouring town, which is another world to them.
Security: the bike would be stolen.
Safety: "There are so many idiots on the road; I want solid metal around myself/my spouse/my kids."
Weather: "What if it rains?"
Clothing: "I have to wear a suit/skirt/posh shoes/a smart hairstyle to work. How could I cycle?"
Fitness: "Riding a bike makes you hot and sweaty because it's difficult and anyway I've got this dodgy hip/shoulder/knee."
And so on.
Imagination: I don't mind admitting that when I lived just outside Paris I was 2km from my office along flat, quiet, leafy boulevards yet for two years I drove every day even though it could take 40 minutes thanks to traffic on the main road. It simply never occurred to me to get a bicycle because I kidded myself that I needed the car for work. I walked one day when it snowed.
Culture: the son of my Pakistan agent, a student in the UK, rang to ask my advice on buying a car. Once I'd explained that you need insurance (!) I suggested he bought a cheap bike to ride to college. The hiss of indrawn breath and the shock was palpable. A bike is poor man's transport so he was horrified at the idea. Most people judge their position in society by the car on their drive, which is why they are such suckers for boot badges and willy-waving sporty upgrades and accessories.
Discomfort: most people tried cycling as a child and did not have the luxury of a correctly-sized and fitted bike so they dont know how easy it is to ride a good bike and cycling remains something they did for play for a few years as a child.
Luggage: "How would I carry all the shopping/children/dog/etc.?"
Distance: more than childhood distances look impossible. My colleagues are astonished when I cycle 22 miles from my neighbouring town, which is another world to them.
Security: the bike would be stolen.
Safety: "There are so many idiots on the road; I want solid metal around myself/my spouse/my kids."
Weather: "What if it rains?"
Clothing: "I have to wear a suit/skirt/posh shoes/a smart hairstyle to work. How could I cycle?"
Fitness: "Riding a bike makes you hot and sweaty because it's difficult and anyway I've got this dodgy hip/shoulder/knee."
And so on.
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The BBC article talks about the guy from Leamington Spa who won’t ride a mile to his nearest supermarket because it is too dangerous. About 90% of that journey is along fairly decent shared infrastructure and the missing gap in the middle everyone rides on the pavement anyway as it alongside an industrial estate. I think a lot of people are just looking for excuses.
Nigel-YZ1
Guru
- Location
- Somewhere else... maybe soon.
Penistone is turning into an open car park. Second cars are starting to fill pavements on both sides of every road. 2500 houses are planned. 3 banks have closed, so now there's none. The post office wants to convert to a pub to stay open.
It's new high price housing for commuting to Barnsley and Sheffield. Local amenities mean nothing as it's access to cities with the dream of the countryside that's being sold.
There's two primaries and a secondary school which will soon be at capacity.
The roads can't cope, older residents feel betrayed. Big SUVs rule.
We're moving out.
It's new high price housing for commuting to Barnsley and Sheffield. Local amenities mean nothing as it's access to cities with the dream of the countryside that's being sold.
There's two primaries and a secondary school which will soon be at capacity.
The roads can't cope, older residents feel betrayed. Big SUVs rule.
We're moving out.
OP
OP
Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
Everyone has time constraints, but the complainers are guaranteed to still spend several hours an evening watching mindless TV, or looking on Twitbook.
Johnno260
Guru
- Location
- East Sussex
Well my wife’s Grandma jacked in cycling to the local grocery store in her late 80’s early 90’s, it was several miles each way and she did it most days to pick up the paper and day to day items.
If she can do it, people a fraction of that age have no excuse.
If you have an injury or recovering from an op that’s different, but most people complaining are more concerned about losing screen time.
If she can do it, people a fraction of that age have no excuse.
If you have an injury or recovering from an op that’s different, but most people complaining are more concerned about losing screen time.
Randomnerd
Bimbleur
- Location
- North Yorkshire
Built-up land area of England stands at 8.8%
https://figshare.com/articles/A_Land_Cover_Atlas_of_the_United_Kingdom_Document_/5266495
Our country, however, lacks real vision for how people can live and work and move happily and well. Will Alsop, visionary architect who died this year, was the first guy to come up with a master plan. Cf Alsop Supercity 2004.
House of Lords and Commons rammed with members with vast vested interests in land; lawmakers ultimately control what is built where.
Vast swathes of brownfield land in the north. - a part of which I’ve been involved in remediating - remains undeveloped, while a one million home corridor is proposed between Oxford and Cambridge.
Locally, cycling infrastructure for me is fantastic. The human mindset locally is entirely welded to the car. Maybe ten in nine hundred households use a bike for work travel. No children cycle to school. My neighbour drives 650 yards to take kids to school.
Solution? No idea. Chip all cars and charge higher road tax for short, useless journeys via pay to play road tax? Reward walk-to-schoolers with free stuff, e.g. council tax rebate (every car mile costs local authority in repairs, and NHS in fat kids and asthmatic parents etc)
What not to do? Sit waffling on about it on a forum. I’m off to buy some milk. Now, where did I put the keys to the Range Rover. “Darling!”
https://figshare.com/articles/A_Land_Cover_Atlas_of_the_United_Kingdom_Document_/5266495
Our country, however, lacks real vision for how people can live and work and move happily and well. Will Alsop, visionary architect who died this year, was the first guy to come up with a master plan. Cf Alsop Supercity 2004.
House of Lords and Commons rammed with members with vast vested interests in land; lawmakers ultimately control what is built where.
Vast swathes of brownfield land in the north. - a part of which I’ve been involved in remediating - remains undeveloped, while a one million home corridor is proposed between Oxford and Cambridge.
Locally, cycling infrastructure for me is fantastic. The human mindset locally is entirely welded to the car. Maybe ten in nine hundred households use a bike for work travel. No children cycle to school. My neighbour drives 650 yards to take kids to school.
Solution? No idea. Chip all cars and charge higher road tax for short, useless journeys via pay to play road tax? Reward walk-to-schoolers with free stuff, e.g. council tax rebate (every car mile costs local authority in repairs, and NHS in fat kids and asthmatic parents etc)
What not to do? Sit waffling on about it on a forum. I’m off to buy some milk. Now, where did I put the keys to the Range Rover. “Darling!”
