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Bikes? Bikes? BIKES!?

hash tag said:
It would be great to see more peds n bikes and less cars in the city but we want less people on buses and trains at the moment so not sure this is the way to go Large areas of London to be made car-free as lockdown eased
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Yeah, but London traffic was over capacity before the pandemic. You’d be batshit to drive in the centre. It is essentially an impossible dilemma if you want to get a majority of people back to work in the same places.

Of course those ever adaptable markets will solve this by building out of town work hubs, housing people near where they work, adjusting shift times, encouraging employees to keep WFH, using economies of scale to commission consignments of electric bikes etc, and - of course - pouring money into further development of public transport. Yep, those wonderful, reliable markets.
 
The cultures many of us profess to admire in terms of their cycling levels, chiefly the Netherlands and Denmark, instill that ethos from an early age. As much as commuter routes, infrastructural focus needs to be on access to schools and colleges, and those are more often than not are within the residential areas of conurbations, away from the arterial routes. Whilst it may not fit with the 5 year electoral cycle, it has the potential to deliver positive results in many areas in the long term.
 
www.bbc.co.uk

How coronavirus is driving a revolution in travel

Manchester is spearheading a new effort to create space for walking and cycling.
www.bbc.co.uk

"We hope that pedestrians and cyclists will reclaim the streets of this city", councillor Angeliki Stogia, Manchester's lead member for Transport and Environment, told the BBC.
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Some motorists see what is happening as a land grab, conducted under the cover of covid and designed to create "new facts on the ground".

"What is worrying about this is that it feels anti-motorist, anti-cars, anti-lorries, anti-vans", says Rod McKenzie of the Road Haulage Association.
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Oh I do hope so.

"We have consulted with the community and they say want to make this area a nicer place to live", says Levenshulme resident Pauline Johnson.

She said the response from local people has been overwhelmingly positive.

"They say they want this to be somewhere where children can play safely in the streets."
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Ken Foster says his bike shop, Foster's Cycles, in the Manchester suburb of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, is the busiest it has been since his grandfather opened it back in 1954.
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"What is worrying about this is that it feels anti-motorist, anti-cars, anti-lorries, anti-vans", says Rod McKenzie of the Road Haulage Association.
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Considering the massive reduction in passenger trains from the norm at the moment, has anyone heard anything about upping the rail freight movement significantly? This would seem like an opportunity to decrease the load on motorways and duel carriageways, especially those close to residential populations otherwise exposed to the diesel fumes.

I transgress somewhat, as this thread is about bikes.
 
And a bit of hype and hope about electric bikes:

www.bbc.co.uk

Electric bikes 'could help people return to work'

A rise in electric-bikes would extend the range of cyclists using them to commute, a study finds.
www.bbc.co.uk

I had an electric bike sometime in the 2000's, I quite liked it but I didnt like the roads and I had poor posture and gave myself too much backache. But I would like to return to this sort of transport at some point.
 
This is a short video about cycling in Utrecht in Holland, it has taken fifty years to implement as well as having the consent of the population.
Consider how long it may take to implement in cities in the UK, besides the cost.
I would love to see something like this here, cyclists, pedestrians and traffic separated and less conflict. But I fear it will not be in my time.
Also see how few are wearing helmets and Lycra.


 
Like sprocket said, not a drop of lycra in sight. That's why their system works, because their cyclists aren't absolute bellends, most of whom only ride bikes so they can show off their ball sack to other cyclists.
 
Saul Goodman said:
Like sprocket said, not a drop of lycra in sight. That's why their system works, because their cyclists aren't absolute bellends, most of whom only ride bikes so they can show off their ball sack to other cyclists.
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I'm gonna bite and probably will regret it....

The reason why most commuters on bikes in this situation are able to wear normal clothes is because of the separation from the traffic. This means they don't have to try and match the speed of surrounding vehicles in order to manoeuvre safely. Hence they don't need to wear Lycra, they can pootle along at low speeds without worrying about being side swiped by a hgv.
 
Saul Goodman said:
Like sprocket said, not a drop of lycra in sight. That's why their system works, because their cyclists aren't absolute bellends, most of whom only ride bikes so they can show off their ball sack to other cyclists.
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How would you encourage enough non-bellends to take up cycling such that they form the majority?
 
stavros said:
How would you encourage enough non-bellends to take up cycling such that they form the majority?
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I don't know... Maybe It'll happen in the same way drink driving became unacceptable. When enough people stigmatise bad riding. Maybe then people will take it up?
It might be worth Googling something like 'Why does everyone hate cyclists', which brings up this, from cyclists.
www.icebike.org

The 15 Types Of Cyclists We All Hate

Of course, this is a problem on a website about, and for bikes. There’s a real possibility the list could end up with nothing more than why cyclists rule
www.icebike.org www.icebike.org
Even cyclists hate cyclists. Everyone hates cyclists. Fix that, then come back to me.
 
Saul Goodman said:
I don't know... Maybe It'll happen in the same way drink driving became unacceptable. When enough people stigmatise bad riding. Maybe then people will take it up?
It might be worth Googling something like 'Why does everyone hate cyclists', which brings up this, from cyclists.
www.icebike.org

The 15 Types Of Cyclists We All Hate

Of course, this is a problem on a website about, and for bikes. There’s a real possibility the list could end up with nothing more than why cyclists rule
www.icebike.org www.icebike.org
Even cyclists hate cyclists. Everyone hates cyclists. Fix that, then come back to me.
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My experience of being a pedestrian, cyclists and driving is everyone hates everyone and we're all fucks.
 
On the one hand I dont want to give my loonspud of a boss the excuse to get us all back to the office but if I should need to go in for the odd day I wont use PT if I can help it so options are walk 2.5 hours each way, borrow electric scooter or buy an electric bike with my refund from my annual travel card. I used to cycle a shorter work route about 10 years ago but I dont remember feeling any fitter after a year of it. I'm older fatter and much less fit than then too.

More important than work I could use it to go see friends.
 
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co-op said:
Their system works because their car drivers aren't absolute bellends and that's because their transport planners aren't absolute bellends and that's partly because they aren't being driven by anti-cycling bellends like - er - someone on this thread.
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Except look, no lycra.
 
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