"
Cycle lanes lunacy! More and more are being built across Britain, causing gridlock and pollution. And the maddest thing of all? They're often empty
"
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Debate!
Same old (DM) cycle lane story
(36 posts)-
Posted 8 years ago #
-
There are facts, assumptions and interpretations (and blinkered bias) -
"
It is now estimated that nearly 9,500 people die early each year in the city due to long-term exposure to air pollution.
The reasons behind increased congestion are complex. Despite a growing population, car traffic is falling in Central London.
But there has been a growth in other vehicle numbers.
Since 2012, the number of vans has risen by 8 per cent, largely thanks to online shopping deliveries.
There has also been an increase in private-hire vehicles — owing much to taxi app Uber — with numbers said to have almost doubled in a year.
"
That later 'fact' is enough to justify doubling the amount of segregated bike lanes!
Posted 8 years ago # -
Shock, horror -
Only ONE bike in this pic
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2016/10/05/01/008F466800000578-0-image-a-59_1475627282351.jpg
(And ALL that room for just one van and motorbike!)
Posted 8 years ago # -
A quick look on Google maps shows that is not a recent image.
2009 - lanes not blue: https://goo.gl/maps/QH2SRpGhChL2
2012 - lanes painted blue: https://goo.gl/maps/Wk2Qmo7U5sj
So the pic was taken some time prior to 2012 - hardly representative of the vast boom in London cycling numbers. (Shock, horror, newspaper with misleading information)
Also, scary the number of tipper lorries in this pic (Jun 2016): https://goo.gl/maps/JiFHn1ZAgCN2
Posted 8 years ago # -
Our journalist asked CABBIES and WHITE VAN MEN about cycle lanes and what they said will SHOCK you!
Against this background, motorists are struggling to understand how spending money to further reduce the capacity of the roads can possibly be the way to solve an immediate problem.
Meanwhile, everyone else is wondering how to increase the motor-traffic capacity of the Embankment. Perhaps a motorway on stilts over the river?
I strolled the Embankment a couple of Saturday evenings back and the lovely cycle track was quite busy with ordinary punters heading home to the East End with shopping and after work.
Posted 8 years ago # -
A nice contrast: https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/oct/05/blame-bike-cycling-contribute-city-gentrification
Posted 8 years ago # -
Perhaps it's just me - but if every day involved me sitting in a car, crawling along at 2mph alongside an "empty" cycle superhighway, I would eventually give it a go.
One of the great things about cycling in central London is you don't even need a bike. £2 gets you a day's worth of Boris biking - and there are annual passes available.
Also, having used the new E-W route I can say it is the best cycle facility I have ever used and it seemed really popular.
Posted 8 years ago # -
‘We are not anti-cyclists by any means, but when you take away something like 25 per cent of the capacity, as they have in some places, nothing moves,’ he says.
Except that the capacity of the road hasn't been reduced by 25%, it has in fact been increased due to 25% of the space being allocated to more space-efficient vehicles.
Posted 8 years ago # -
But this “cycling segregation” is a product of city planners prioritising the demands of real estate developers.....Rather than build bike lanes to connect marginalised communities with public transport, cycle paths are often used to encourage investment in gentrifying neighbourhoods.
This, one thousand times, as a theme for PoP. If cycle tracks only lead from Merchiston to Gogarburn and Watsons then they'll just be decoration.
Posted 8 years ago # -
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2016/10/05/01/008F466800000578-0-image-a-59_1475627282351.jpg
Nobody on the opposite pavement. Get rid of it.
Posted 8 years ago # -
"If cycle tracks only lead from Merchiston to Gogarburn and Watsons then they'll just be decoration.
That's a nice line.
Not entirely true of course, but gets the message across.
Posted 8 years ago # -
Or to put it another way!
"
Minorities are just as likely to cycle but often live in areas that lack bike infrastructure, says Stein. “We need to prioritise those with the most need by putting bike lanes into more working-class and immigrant neighbourhoods.”
"
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/oct/05/blame-bike-cycling-contribute-city-gentrification
Posted 8 years ago # -
"If cycle tracks only lead from Merchiston to Gogarburn and Watsons then they'll just be decoration. "
Please can we have one of those.
Posted 8 years ago # -
Of course 'decorated' cycle paths are nothing new -
http://www.sustrans.org.uk/ncn/map/national-cycle-network/art-network
Posted 8 years ago # -
"Against this background, motorists are struggling to understand how spending money to further reduce the capacity of the roads can possibly be the way to solve an immediate problem."
Against this background, cyclists are struggling to understand how 'solving' an immediate problem is anything other than a sticking plaster to ignore the root cause of the actual problem.
Posted 8 years ago # -
Oh for god's sake, this is all just so ridiculously mindless. Mind you, I wouldn't expect anything else from the Wail.
It's not a case of recording the events of the day; it's simply a case of having an agenda (immigrants, terrorism, cyclists) and creating something to record. How on earth do they continue to get away with it? The PCC is toothless, and sadly reporting them for illustrating a story with a picture from more than 4 years ago which might not (definitely won't) be representative of the situation now is ridiculous.
And why go to the expense of a photographer when a Google Maps image, which may have been captured at 7.30pm when everyone is having their dinner, the lane being full to bursting 2 hours earlier, will do the job of fitting in with your agenda?
It's an utter rag, only interested in spreading hatred and fear, and if I was in charge I wouldn't just get it shut down, with those in charge locked up for inciting that hatred and fear, I'd torch the building and replace it with a swanky free-to-stay-in asylum centre with an infinity pool on the roof, paid for from an increased tax on Middle England.
B*stards.
(sorry, I really hate the Daily Wail)
Posted 8 years ago # -
@WC. +10000
I don't click on Daily Mail links. Ever. I don't care what the "story" is about, I'm not giving them the benefit of my mouse clicks.Posted 8 years ago # -
Just noticed this hyper-nonsense from the arch climate-change-denier -
"
Back in London, the former Chancellor Lord Lawson went so far in a debate in the House of Lords as to suggest that cycle lanes were doing more damage to the capital than ‘almost anything since the Blitz’.
"
Posted 8 years ago # -
I really hate the Daily Wail
I thought I was pretty chilled out about this, but last weekend staying in a holiday cottage I was laying the fire and reached for a few pages of the newspaper that was in the wood basket. Turned out it was the Mail. Felt a bit angry. Pulled four pages out to put in the fire. This exposed a photo of a grinning Nigel Farage. Urge to kill rose. Screwed the whole newspaper up and put it in the fire so I did not have to spend any more time in the same building as a copy of the Daily Mail. Applied the match and, as the flames destroyed Lord Rothermere's organ, my anger subsided.
Posted 8 years ago # -
@IWRATS - absolutely, I completely agree - this is such an important thing to point out, as you have done many times, very well.
Posted 8 years ago # -
Applied the match and, as the flames destroyed Lord Rothermere's organ, my anger subsided.
Only to rise again when you realised the paper had so little value it failed to ignite the wood.
Posted 8 years ago # -
"
In the terms that Mrs May seeks to use, you could say that Britain has been governed by a liberal elite for much of the past two decades. And this would be a good time to ask: what has the liberal elite ever done for us? Apart from, that is, the minimum wage, greater equality for minority groups, devolving power to the people, civil partnerships, reduced crime, freedom of information, free museums and galleries, cleaner air, and, yes, more cycle lanes…
"
https://inews.co.uk/opinion/defence-theresa-mays-hated-liberal-metropolitan-elite/
Posted 8 years ago # -
@WC top class rant- agree with all of it with bells on.
@fimm agreed, no need ever to visit that dark corner of the web.
Posted 8 years ago # -
I noticed that one of the pictures was captioned "commissioned work" (i.e. they've sent someone out to take a photo of an empty cycle lane). Then someone else pointed out the lane has had a blue covering for at least the last 4 years. So we've got a made-up picture from 4+ years ago acting as evidence for "unused cycle lanes".
Hmmmm.
Posted 8 years ago # -
There has been some noise on twitter about this latest batch of anti-cycling coverage being the work of a few PR companies.
Posted 8 years ago # -
@Rob, really? I'd be interested in that. Any links to hand?
Posted 8 years ago # -
https://twitter.com/lstwhl/status/783972355827765248?s=09
https://twitter.com/AsEasyAsRiding/status/783986133403365376?s=09I don't know what evidence they have or how credible the posters are.
Posted 8 years ago # -
https://twitter.com/lstwhl/status/783968308538335233?s=09
The linked article seems a bit conspiracy theorist but still interesting.
Posted 8 years ago # -
Are people really arguing that the DM needs help in coming up with BS stories? The weight of evidence is against them on that one.
Posted 8 years ago # -
Plenty evidence here of one ES journalist using 'unnamed sources' to 'justify' scare stories-
Posted 8 years ago #
Reply »
You must log in to post.
posts
