Key cycle route has a huge Hill, help with design please

[alastairbayliss]

Hi,

I'm part of a group promoting active travel in Haslemere. A key destination, Woolmer Hill senior school, is up a monster hill. Well it's not that big, but it is very steep and quite busy with traffic. It is a significant disincentive to cycle. The school is on the edge of town and for many the walk, perhaps 30-45 minutes is too far. Cue much driving.

This is a typical route to school;
https://www.cyclestreets.net/journey/74629766/

Any suggestions for designing a route to tackle this? Lateral thinking welcome, but a monorail is probably a step too far.

Thanks

Alastair

[Jdsk]

Trondheim has a lift...

https://www.visittrondheim.no/bike-lift
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... manageable

Jonathan

[simonineaston]

awsome!

[Richard Fairhurst]

And Luxembourg has a rather more traditional lift: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pfaffenth ... c_Elevator

[thirdcrank]

Some years ago I had a site meeting in Morley with a Leeds highwayman. He explained how he had ridden up the A62 Gelderd Road and mentally devised a sort of funicular to tow riders up the hill. That confirmed to me that he had indeed ridden up.

[squeaker]

Trondheim has a lift...

https://www.visittrondheim.no/bike-lift
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... manageable

Could be tricky on a recumbent

[Jdsk]

Discussion for Bristol. I knew that I'd seen this somewhere.
https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bris ... ke-4303224

And in our archives: "Cycle lift":
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=139134

Jonathan

[Pete Owens]

Suggestion 1 - get a granny gear ring
Suggestion 2 - you can avid the steepest incline by riding through the housing area to the west and up Hatchets Drive (obviously further - you still have to gain the height)

[Mick F]

We have equally steep hills locally, but why not take a different route?
There are some hills round here that people avoid even walking up them.

Mind you, take Calstock village for instance.
Loads of children cycle there, but not many adults. It's down by the river, rural and pretty, but the only way out is UP.

Main road is narrow and steep and busy with buses and cars, the quiet road is way too steep, and the third way out is steep and long.
Rest assured, that I have cycled up and down those hills, but it's not easy (even for me).

The roads are too busy and/or way too narrow to fit a lift as per the Trondheim link.

[alastairbayliss]

Thanks for all the responses. I'd love a lift, but the bean counters are going to say no!

Very interesting that there are lots of cycling kids in Calstock.

I'm thinking the alternative route is more likely successful than I first thought. Just needs a bit of belief built in.

[[XAP]Bob]

Trondheim has a lift...

https://www.visittrondheim.no/bike-lift
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... manageable

Could be tricky on a recumbent

Not sure, I can't recall what force is required to keep the footplate engaged, but it looks convenient to grab onto with one hand.

[[XAP]Bob]

Thanks for all the responses. I'd love a lift, but the bean counters are going to say no!

Very interesting that there are lots of cycling kids in Calstock.

I'm thinking the alternative route is more likely successful than I first thought. Just needs a bit of belief built in.

"For bicycle diehards, the CycloCable may seem like a cop-out. But the system, which costs about as much as a bike lane to install, could encourage more cyclists on intimidating topography. A 2007 survey of Trondheim bike lift users found that 41 percent were biking more often because of the lift."

[Stevek76]

As much as a bike lane. That varies a great deal, paint is peanuts, a quality cycle track is perhaps £1m/km.

I suspect any lift is closer to the latter, it also won't do anything about the traffic danger problem, something that is a non issue on that street in Trondheim.

I don't think the hill is really the issue here (and even if it was, it would be cheaper to get some ebikes to loan out!), hills aren't a problem if people have the space to tackle them at their own pace without the traffic danger.

If the school is anything like most, the school run will make the roads to/from it a dangerous mess of distracted parents rushing their little preciouses to school, many in ludicrously oversized panzerwagons not really caring about anyone else's who might be in the way.

If you want to make an actual difference you'll need to filter some roads, either permanently, or at school start/end times as a 'school streets'. Anything else is rearranging deck chairs and you may as well resign yourself to the car carnage.

[thirdcrank]

My big note of caution is please, pretty please, don't install anything which implies it's the designated route for cyclists and ipso facto they shouldn't be using other nearby roads.