Ride in the Sky

[compo]

This looks interesting. Never happen though!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-lets-riders-commute-far-railways-London.html

 

[Biker Joe]

Definitely not in my lifetime.. Maybe the great grand children may see something like it. But by then London will probably be underwater from the Great Global Warming floods.

 

[young Ed]

tell them to go to Holland tonnes more cyclists with slightly lower traffic levels but it they works in harmony with each other and everything works smoothly! simples
Cheers Ed

 

[Hacienda71]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-25549789

Pie in the sky or cycleway in the sky?

 

[L14M]

Tbh, seems like a brilliant idea. But, too much money for it imo!

 

[Scoosh]

All that just to keep the rail lines clear of the 'wrong kind of snow', leaves etc.

Now, if they were to put a cover over it, to keep the rain/ snow off - and heat the surface so no ice - and add anti-head/crosswind barriers ... well maybe more cyclists could be persuaded to use it ...

 

[buggi]

How steep is the slip road up to it?? They think average Joe Bloggs on a Boris Bike is gonna manage that??? Another dumbass idea

 

[zimzum42]

Looks great, and if the slip slopes are so steep that Joe Fattie can't get up there then all the better, more room for cyclists that HTFU...

 

[Gravity Aided]

I was shown more something like a great glass tube the cyclists would ride in. Pound a trip, according the Daily Mail.

 

[atbman]

They've missed out the bit where there are giant horizontal cones at each end of the Heathrow runways to collect the outlet products of the jet engines and divert them (via those handy sewer pipes into the end of the glass tube to push the cyclists along (all paid for by the new B.E.D.)

 

[Gravity Aided]

Every now and again, they talk about bicycle licensure and taxes,
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_BICYCLE_TAX?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Must say Mayor Emmanuel of Chicago does a pretty good job, but I think it is seen as useful for keeping cars off the streets. But a raised cycleway looks scary to the acrophobic.
New York has a nice idea worth looking at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Line_(New_York_City)

 

[DiddlyDodds]

Totally impractical - it won't go where cyclists want to go. It would be better to spend the money on restricting traffic and making some of the side roads into cycle only ways.

They said the same thing about trains , and then went and put them in the sewers and look how popular that became.

 

[shouldbeinbed]

The jury's out here but tending towards no. There's the concerns above and you'd still be on the road at either end getting to and from the on / off ramps with ground level vehicles feeling an even greater sense of entitlement & 'get orf moy laaaaand' attitude towards us. Especially those that couldn't or wouldn't pay or for whatever reason don't or can't climb 30+ fairly steep or spiralling feet up (its got to be, for economic & space saving) to reach the rooftop lanes. The off points would need a significant segregated reintegration zone or you're going to have a lot of gravity pushing you straight into pedestrians or onto roads, not good either way - or hefty and annoying chicaines on the off ramps that would likely scupper recumbents and trikes. Are they going to have dedicated teams of police and paramedics to protect and help users conveniently hidden away from the general view up there & at the on/off points? They would need to be laned and strictly enforced so the occasional Boris bikers and happy pootlers aren't in conflict with the strava set or crashing into similar coming the other way.

 

[icky]

3 story pathways very practical on breezy days don't fancy being blown of top tier not quite knowing which one below I was about to land on . Although could be the birth of a new form of Sportif cycle skydiving

 

[Gravity Aided]

With today's technology, could make a go of that. The C5 is very popular with some people, still
http://www.sinclairc5.org/
http://www.c5owners.com/