H'lo, long term lurker but this is my first post.
I have to say, no bit of bike infrastructure that is shared with cars or pedestrians can ever genuinely be described as good.
I'm generally pretty positive and I believe in encouraging people when they're doing their best. But the modern, shiny infrastructure in Edinburgh is still stone aged compared to how is should be.
Something I've been doing lately is randomly dropping into roads and junction in the Netherlands on Google streetview. (Sad, but recommended). And what I constantly find is bike paths seperated from both cars and pedestrians by kerbs and reservations. Also, here, when a bike path reaches a road junction it's always, always the cyclist who has to give way, even to the side-road. In the Netherlands it's never like that - the side-road gives way to both the main road and the bike path alongside it.
As for sharing with pedestrians, if the cars don't have to do it then why should I? Even a fat old slowcoach like me will cycle at a steady 12mph or so, much faster on downhills/ with prevailing wind/ when late for train. That's too fast to come up behind pedestrians. And painting a white line down the middle of a moderately-sized path and sticking an occasional wee white bike or person in each lane is a joke, really. It's never going to be observed, and the bike bit isn't even wide enough for passing.
Until we get anything like what the Dutch take for granted, anywhere in the city, then we shouldn't be bigging up the improvements, because they're not good enough.
Someone should take the council officials in charge to somewhere like Rotterdam and say "that. Do that".
posts
