inner city cycling

[dale]

hi, im currently working on a dissertation looking at derby city centre and the governments plans to turn it into a cycle demonstration town along with 5 other towns in the uk. just wondering what everyone thinks could/should be done to get more people on their bikes to lower pollution and congestion. has anything been done near you to encourage cycling?

[Andy Tallis]

Good cycle parking is very useful.
Especially if it's under cover to keep your pride and joy dry.
The only sort of stands that seem to work are the upside-down U- shaped ones (I think they call them Sheffield stands.) You can lock the bike to them easily and they support it well. I HATE those ones that hol the bike by the front wheel or have a funny stand and metal arm that goes through the front wheel to padlock to another part of the thing (I don't know how to explain it but they're awful. They have them in Chester I think.)

I don't know Derby so I'm afraid I can't really comment on much else, except for designing cycle tracks sensibly and providing cycle training.

[gar]

Derby is quite a good town centre for cycling,
fairly spacious, not too crowded, not too hilly.
Just a little more cycling infra/super structure and they would do good.

[Pedalling Pete]

I wouldn't waste the time on such a subject. You want more folk on bikes? See what Ken Livingstone has achieved. If Derby politicians are serious, then they simply have to kick out the cars. If the won't do that, then don't waste the money on the usual rubbish schemes; these give work to consultants and Highways Engineers - so THEY like it. It creates the impression that politicians are making Green decisions - so THEY like it. And the motorists see the cyclists being pushed off the road onto 2nd rate cycle paths that force cyclists to give way to cars at junctions just like pedestrians - so the motorists like it.

With so much support, no wonder the voices of experienced cyclists are ignored in the rigged decision making. Some 10 years ago the Planners were given free reign with an experimental town-centre scheme near me. Surveys of local cyclists showed they felt more in danger after the work. The cycle planners still claim they were successful, one now a senior engineer with the county council, the other works for Sustrans. And noone wants to sort out the mess they left behind.

There are two ways to increase cycle usage: One is to clear out the cars, the other to let them reach gridlock, so the bike becomes the only way. The planners and highways engineers are irrelevant to both those solutions, and their services should be dispensed with.

Here endeth the lesson! (from a guy with over 100,000 miles cycle commuting experience over nearly 40 years, in London, Buckinghamshire, Birmingham, Surrey, Shropshire, Leicestershire and Northamptonshire - so what do I know!).

[rampax]

I used to live in Derby when I was a student, around the time that they were starting to pedestrianise the city centre. Personally I always thought the city centre was so small that walking was the best way around. As far as cycling is concerned, I found it quite a complicated centre to ride around in, with its one way system, and 2 levels of ring road. The centre always seemed to be rammed with buses too.

I now live in Manchester, and regulary commute between Stockport and Salford, which is all on busy A roads, which are highly congested. Some sections of this route have a cycle lane which is very usefull for cutting out the traffic ques. On the sections without these lanes, the motorists, whilst queing, often get deliberately close to the pavement to stop cyclists cutting down the side of them, which is really annoying, and I am not one of these guys who jumps onto the pavement. The roads are still heaving with buses with awful road manners, but thats for another forum!!!

So - I would say that cycle lanes definately ARE usefull when they are sensible ones, ie, they are on the roadway itself, not part of the pavement, and of a decent, useable length.

[Andy Tallis]

I'd agree with cycle lanes for skipping traffic ques, but cyclists mustn't be forced into them. Many I've found are so narrow that that's the only thing they're good for - moving carefully past stationary traffic at low speeds.

[gar]

Trouble with rickshaws is that the trader does not live very long. and I have noticed that when they are put in to service in this country it attracts the same type.

I don't know whether this is a figure which applies to non cycle as well as cycle rickshaws.... probably.

[pwward]

I would support cycle lane provision if they were constructed to the standard of Holland and Denmark. In Britain building more of the same types of cycle lanes would actually hurt cycling and do nothing to encourage people to do more of it.

The resources could be all usefully spent on speed reduction, traffic calming, enforcement and green cycle advance boxes at junctions. Advertising that stresses cyclings inherent safety and versatility without dangerising it with calls to dress up like spacemen in day glow and body armour might help too.