Sweden is another country

[Redvers]

Sweden is another country, they do things differently there.

Cambridge gets an honourable mention but the UK is still failing to put
‘It’s bicycle where it’s motor car is’

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8393475.stm

 

[XmisterIS]

Sweden is another country, they do things differently there.

You're joking!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8393475.stm

That could so easily be done in our cities and cheaply too.

 

[Cab]

Its an attitude thing. Even in Cambridge, its 'normal' and 'acceptable' to be hostile towards cyclists. We have to crack that.

 

[Norm]

Great town, we have an office just north of there and I've used that train station in the BBC video a couple of times.

It's not just pro-bikes, though, it's non-car and there is much more walking than we do here. Last time I was out there, I said that I'd walk the 4 miles to the hotel from the office rather than take a taxi. It's through a lovely part of town and along the Oresund coast and I wanted to take some pix. Not one person raised an eyebrow. When I was walking in London, people used to think me barmy if I suggested walking more than about 100 yards.

 

[Bollo]

Yep, that was my experience doing the Vatternrundan this year. Totally an attitude thing.

I stayed in Lund for a couple of days on drive back to the UK. It is a big university town so that's bound to increase the proportion of cyclists, but the treatment of cyclists is very different. A total pleasure to ride around, although my titanium road bike was a little ostentatious.

Just to put that attitude in context, here's a picture I took of the local secondary school in Motala. Nothing dodgy!!! The showers and changing rooms were used for the Vatternrundan. Can you imagine a UK school doing this?

 

[psmiffy]

The guy in the video hit the nail firmly on the head - 40 years (same for Holland Germany and Denmark) - unless somehow the polls can be rigged at the next election in favour of the National Peoples Cycling Party then a small year on year amount of growth is the best that can be expected in this country

Note in the video not a glimmer of lycra or bling

 

[Cab]

So nice to see an article on cycling on the bbc that doesn't end with some warped concept of 'balance', i.e. 'But some are opposed to cycling, here, listen to some muppet rant about a bloke he saw go through a red light once'.

We need more media coverage like this.

 

[Lurker]

What's the climate of Lund like compared to - say - London (or any large UK urban area)? If they can do it there....

 

[Norm]

What's the climate of Lund like compared to - say - London (or any large UK urban area)? If they can do it there....

Lund is chilly! Below freezing for 6 months of the year, it makes you happy to be temperate in comparison.

 

[upsidedown]

I said that I'd walk the 4 miles to the hotel from the office rather than take a taxi. It's through a lovely part of town and along the Oresund coast and I wanted to take some pix. Not one person raised an eyebrow. When I was walking in London, people used to think me barmy if I suggested walking more than about 100 yards.

That sums it up perfectly. In this country bikes are seen as being ridden by people who have neither the means or the intellect to own and drive a car.

On the school fornt, our local school (primary and secondary on the same site) ha a no bikes sign up at the gate with some explanation underneath about it being fo the safety of the children. What chance have we got ?

 

[Redvers]

The UK might be 20 years behind the best of Europe on this issue
but sadly Guernsey is running 20 years behind the best of the UK.

We currently have 2 or 3 modest cycle lanes where we should have 100
We suffer from political myopia on environmental matters generally and from a complete lack of political moral courage when confronted by a powerful car lobby.


We have an excellent, modern and cheap bus service but most commuters still insist on driving into the town, and clogging up everything.

We have some very narrow lanes where cyclists, pedestrians and horse riders have priority, this priority is ignored by many motorists.

Cycling is growing fast here but the idea of 45% of commuters using bikes, as in Lund, seems like a pipe dream.

I am sure that there are many towns in the UK with similar problems but with Copenhagen up and running this week and calling for dramatic change, world wide, from everybody, we sadly still have a long, long way to go.

 

[MacB]

That sums it up perfectly. In this country bikes are seen as being ridden by people who have neither the means or the intellect to own and drive a car.

On the school fornt, our local school (primary and secondary on the same site) ha a no bikes sign up at the gate with some explanation underneath about it being fo the safety of the children. What chance have we got ?

I'd like to see the stats on kids injured via cycling to/from school and kids injured through school run traffic.

 

[Stephenite]

There's hope for us yet.

Yep, that was my experience doing the Vatternrundan this year.

Thinking about doing that next year. How long did it take you? I wont be breaking any records myself.

There's, also, the Birkebeiner and Nordsjørittet in Norway lined up for me. So its going to be a busy year.

 

[upsidedown]

The UK might be 20 years behind the best of Europe on this issue
but sadly Guernsey is running 20 years behind the best of the UK.

We currently have 2 or 3 modest cycle lanes where we should have 100
We suffer from political myopia on environmental matters generally and from a complete lack of political moral courage when confronted by a powerful car lobby.


We have an excellent, modern and cheap bus service but most commuters still insist on driving into the town, and clogging up everything.

We have some very narrow lanes where cyclists, pedestrians and horse riders have priority, this priority is ignored by many motorists.

Thart was my experience of Jersey this summer too. Terrible traffic congestion in an infrastructure that is totally unsuited to the car. I guess money talks.

 

[HelenD123]

Yep, that was my experience doing the Vatternrundan this year. Totally an attitude thing.

I stayed in Lund for a couple of days on drive back to the UK. It is a big university town so that's bound to increase the proportion of cyclists, but the treatment of cyclists is very different. A total pleasure to ride around, although my titanium road bike was a little ostentatious.

Just to put that attitude in context, here's a picture I took of the local secondary school in Motala. Nothing dodgy!!! The showers and changing rooms were used for the Vatternrundan. Can you imagine a UK school doing this?

Yes, we took over a local school for the Grimpeur des Wolds. There are some photos here . The Vatternrundan looks fantastic, right up my street.