CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 16years old!
Well done to ALL posters
It soon became useful and entertaining. There are regular posters, people who add useful info occasionally and plenty more who drop by to watch. That's fine. If you want to add news/comments it's easy to register and become a member.
RULES No personal insults. No swearing.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-25549789
Plans to build a network of cycle paths high above the streets of London are being put forward for consultation.
SkyCycle is a 136-mile (219 km) route, with the first phase, proposed from east London to Liverpool Street Station, costing more than £200m....
Seems a sensible enough idea, forgive me for what I am about to say ... can't see a groundswell of momentum to "get it off the ground" though!
If this ever happens, it will be very interesting. Until then, it is really just pie in the sky, almost literally.
Sounds like something from Metropolis.
I can just imagine barreling along on my elevated London cycle-highway, raised above the railway lines - and then, when a road crosses the railway, there'll be a little square blue sign, saying 'Cyclists Dismount' and I'll have to walk down the road to the crossing, wait to cross, back up the road, squeeze past the roadworks signs on the pavment and then back on to the super-cycle-highway. It'll be just like living in the future.
The fact that this project is being proposed at all shows just how impossible it appears to be on this island to imagine taking away road space from motorists.
That's what needs to happen. That's what happens in every other country that wants to encourage cycling. But no, here we have to do things differently. Here we have to reinvent a failed model from the early days of cycling, from before motor vehicles (raised cycleway in NYC early C20th). Here we have to propose this ludicrously expensive 'solution' just to avoid having to take space away from motor vehicles. Here we are so afraid of inconveniencing motorists the proposal is to build the cycleways over the railways instead.
The only reason this is being taken even half seriously is because a famous architect is involved. That doesn't make it a good idea.
Sounds like a nice idea in some ways, but what I thought when I saw some of the mock-ups was "brrrr, windy"
Alternatively, maybe they have come up with this ridiculous "solution" to justify taking space away from motorists. If people see that the alternatives are crazy, other ideas seem more sane.
Something as expensive as this is going to need a commercial sponsor. I wonder if they have anyone in mind ? Would certainly bring a whole new meaning to the Skyride.
"would take about 20 years to complete"
Good to see they'd be giving it top priority.
On the other hand, £200m is cheap compared to other public transport enchantments. Viewed as an alternative to road building or a new tube line, it's neither that mad or that expensive.
£200m? You could get a tram system that goes from Edinburgh airport to Corstorphine for that money...
What would £200m of "proven" bicycle infrastructure, backed up with the political will to implement it at the expense of motorist space buy in comparison though?
Royal College Street in London was £100,000 per km, so £200m would buy quite a lot of 'light segregation'... (dealing with junctions would presumably bump up the cost). Even at the more expensive figure of £1m per mile of proper cycle track, you'd be looking at a pretty extensive bike network. Cycling infrastructure is cheap - but only if you're prepared to take the space away from cars.
So about 2000km of light segregation, or 200 miles of Dutch/Danish style cycle track, or 3 to 4 miles (approx.) of 'Skyride' flyover on top of railways...
Hm. Tough choices, eh?
Another solution is how much traffic enforcement does that buy? 200m is quite a lot of "Police Hours" You could make the roads better and safer for every one by really enforcing road laws.
True, but you have to pay for the police enforcement over and over again, whereas once you've built something decent (and self-enforcing) it's there for decades.
Ha - take that Amsterdam and Copenhagen. Didn't think of this - did you!
Wait...what did you say? This is a ridiculous idea, without any financial backing dreamed up by architecture's biggest self publicist?
Okay, sorry about that - I probably was getting a bit carried away...
And another thing, would you feel safe using a cycle track up in fhe sky out of sight of anyone else in the town after hours ? I know I wouldn't. And there's a double whammy in this, if you decided that you'd rather not run the risk of being mugged or worse on the cycle track, I would expect provision for cyclists at ground level to be non existent.
Let's hope they don't take inspiration from the 1960's proposed 'inner ring road' route
And how do you pop into a shop on the way home if you're suspended up in the sky ?
How would you buy a fridge...
I know it's a running forum joke, but does anyone actually still buy white goods and move them home in their own car? All the stuff we've bought in recent years we've had delivered to the house, and the suppliers have removed the old ones. I mean, who in their right mind would move out car child seats, lift things in and out (assuming your car is big enough), risk damaging your bodywork/trim... crazy!
"but does anyone actually still buy white goods and move them home in their own car?"
It's a good question, but you need to ask the ENews commenters who say 'I need my car because ...'
I've not been able to move anything bulky since the first offspring arrived. Even prior to that I couldn't get the new child seat in the car without removing it's packaging!
As you say smudge taking seats out is such a pita. It's got to the point where I've not been mtbing since my 406 died, none of my more recent cars can take a bike without dropping seats or fitting a bike rack.
Although now you mention it the focus is a bit beat up any way so no harm in a boot rack with that...
does anyone actually still buy white goods and move them home in their own car
I do.
who in their right mind would move out car child seats, lift things in and out (assuming your car is big enough), risk damaging your bodywork/trim... crazy
I can get a washing machine in my boot very easily, including when it is packaged up. I prefer to collect these items myself as it is preferable to waiting in all day for a delivery man to not turn up. I also feel more confident about installing these things myself than letting Joe Random install them.
One week into the first child's existence we brought a washing machine back from the shop in a Seicento when it died trying to wash its first load of nappies. The old one went to the tip in a car. My dad transported a fridge-freezer for us a few years ago as what would not fit in a Seicento easily fitted in an Astra estate. When we moved a wee freezer came over on a car and was then taken to and from temporary storage in our in-laws garage in Ayr via a car.
Smaller white goods easy to transport by bike:
e2013-04-08_20-17-20_6973 by wingpig, on Flickr
Yes, Volvo 940 wagon has had freezers, fridges tumble driers etc in the back. It's never had a washing machine.
I prefer to collect these items myself as it is preferable to waiting in all day for a delivery man to not turn up.
It depends. If your kitchen/utility room is on ground level, easily accessible with no steps to get up, and no need to carry the appliance any distance, then fair enough. We live in a top floor tenement flat with several flights of stairs to lift appliances up. So I prefer to get them delivered. The delivery men take away the old appliance too and dispose of it.
You must log in to post.
Cycling in Edinburgh Flickr group
Video embedded using Easy Video Embed plugin
posts