Why Don't Cyclists Use Cycle Lanes....

j0nathon2

SteveJW wrote: »

Just out of town where I live they are improving a cycle track that runs alongside the A1035 everything is fine until the track crosses the main road, you then have to take your life in your hands crossing the road

Off topic I know, but I was planning a route along there a couple of days ago. How far have they got with the lane? My route comes out of Beverley on the A1035 then comes off it at Routh and I am hoping I don't need to use the road?

Big_G_RC

the cycle lanes north of Lincoln (UK) are terrible and very bumpy. Sound Lincoln has had a lot of money spent on the cycle path so I use those, but the north ones I don't.

Ezmondino

cubegame wrote: »

I've never found a cycle lane that I would deem safe to use at above 20mph. I will make an assumption therefore that any lane will be useless and will save my time and stick to the road.

Exactly. For those of us that cycle at a decent pace cycle lanes in the main in the UK are pretty useless. They are built for your 5-10mph plodders who don't mind stopping every 5 seconds for someones front drive. If we did it like the Dutch then we would use them.

Ezmondino

p.s. some of those photos are hilarious. Thanks for sharing :beer:

andrewf75

dzug1 wrote: »

Well yes but even where there is a good cycle lane unobstructed and with a smooth surface some cyclists still won't use them. There's one near me built a year or so at the cost of weeks of disruption and I don't know how many hundreds of K - and still the lycra brigade insist on using the road.

Some cyclists - the lycra brigade as you call them - will always do their own thing and they have been forced into this mentality because of our failure to provide proper cycling infrastructure. Go to Holland and you won't find lycra clad nutters riding aggressively through traffic, you'll find ordinary commuters using bikes to get from A to B.

Some people seem to use the way that people cycle in this country as an argument for not building more proper cycle infrastructure, but its a vicious circle. People cycle the way they do because they are not provided for adequately.

The_Angry_Jock

There's a "fancy" cycle lane I walk by along London Road (Glasgow) from Glasgow Green up towards Trongate, they spent ages building new kerbs and installing bollards to separate the cyclists and motorist, it looks great...until you get close and/or it rains. The cross-fall is pretty steep and they didn't bother resurfacing it, so the path is a patchwork of uneven surface. When it rains it's floods, probably along half it's length.

Total embarrassment. If they want get everyone on bikes they should put some effort in instead of throwing our money away on half-arsed project like that.

Cycle Lane

geordie_ben

Some awesome pictures in that OP link

I'd say I use "cycle lanes" about 30% of the time, but as others have pointed out, more times than not the condition of the road which the "cycle lane" sits over is shockingly terrible, filled with drains, man hole covers and road repairs on top of road repairs.

And I completely agree about the aggressiveness - give us kerbed cycle lanes like abroad and it'd be so much better. Although the lycra brigade would still use the road

brat

geordie_ben wrote: »

Some awesome pictures in that OP link

I'd say I use "cycle lanes" about 30% of the time, but as others have pointed out, more times than not the condition of the road which the "cycle lane" sits over is shockingly terrible, filled with drains, man hole covers and road repairs on top of road repairs.

And I completely agree about the aggressiveness - give us kerbed cycle lanes like abroad and it'd be so much better. Although the lycra brigade would still use the road

I'm probably one of the lycra brigade, but I used cycle paths a lot when abroad last summer in and around the Black Forest. They were fantastic. Completely segregated from the traffic on roads that were not busy with traffic so you could keep momentum when crossing from one path to another. Clean and smooth. Bring them on over here!

Mids_Costcutter

The_Angry_Jock wrote: »

There's a "fancy" cycle lane I walk by along London Road (Glasgow) from Glasgow Green up towards Trongate, they spent ages building new kerbs and installing bollards to separate the cyclists and motorist, it looks great...until you get close and/or it rains. The cross-fall is pretty steep and they didn't bother resurfacing it, so the path is a patchwork of uneven surface. When it rains it's floods, probably along half it's length.

Total embarrassment. If they want get everyone on bikes they should put some effort in instead of throwing our money away on half-arsed project like that.

Cycle Lane

Well, the problem of parked vehicles blocking the cycle lane should be solved? Could you approach Glasgow City Council to install adequate drainage and resurface (hopefully in that order)? It's possible that they might not know about the problems.

Just because a cycle facility has been constructed, it doesn't mean that the local authority can't review and go back to improve. Forward-thinking authorities will be doing this on an on-going basis.

geordie_ben

brat wrote: »

I'm probably one of the lycra brigade, but I used cycle paths a lot when abroad last summer in and around the Black Forest. They were fantastic. Completely segregated from the traffic on roads that were not busy with traffic so you could keep momentum when crossing from one path to another. Clean and smooth. Bring them on over here!

Yep that's what is on list to Santa...