What's going on in your city/country/region?

[Limey]

I'll let a local explain some of the council stupidity in this video: https://fb.watch/4pYEKLQGj-/

This was the way down to the shore, which the council only seem to now want to allow buses and cycles to access.
They didn't even announce those first changes and had no signs up with cars suddenly driving towards each other!

They've just redone it a second time and it still looks pretty stupid and unnecessary on what was a quiet road that didn't need fixing.

[djm]

I guess the council there are too busy covering up for that Jimmy Krankee tribute act that thinks she is Queen of Scotland to actually do anything useful with the money they steal from England.

[jyng1]

I have nothing against cycling, and certainly don't condone anti-cyclist behaviour from motorists. However cycling in my part of the world is next to useless for everyday life, it's just a nice hobby. Agree we have a lot of fatties that need to eat less and exercise more though.

I can see how cycle lanes help in London, but in the local city here the lanes are permanently empty. The busses on bus lanes are always nearly empty too. Meanwhile every measure they take to put more bus and cycle lanes in makes traffic worse, whilst generating the square root of fuck all benefit.

I can't get up and do the 20-mile round trip to drop two kids off at school on a bike twice a day and still function. Neither is it much use picking up the groceries on the way back. I also could not do my job advising on farms, or carry a tonne of stuff over fields using one.

Regards Christchurch, last time I went there (about 18 months ago) it still looked like Dresden in 1945. The re-construction from the earthquake was poorly planned and roads were being re-routed almost at random. I get how starting effectively with a blank canvas in a metro area, it is a great idea putting proper cycle lanes in from the get-go.

Smaller British towns have streets put up anywhere between the medieval period and the victorian era, built more for foot traffic or horse-drawn carriages. Trying to fit cars and also bike lanes just creates a mess.

It's probably next to useless for everyday life because the UK doesn't have cycling infrastructure.

And funny how you still can't buy a bike for love nor money in the UK... they've been flying off the shelves since the beginning of 2020.

Support for London's LTNs is also 3 times the number of those opposed and slightly higher amongst drivers than non drivers. The 16% that oppose them seem very vocal about it... https://redfieldandwiltonstrategies.com ... in-london/

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Maybe it's just because of how much time I've spent inside this year, but the early spring flowers like squill, snowdrops and crocus seem particularly large and vibrant this year.

[jyng1]

Interesting what makes the papers. A New Zealand made restroom was voted best public restroom in the U.S. Probably because it doesn't have a 2 foot wide gap in the door...

https://www.tiktok.com/@yetitears/video ... 4882366977

[djm]

It's probably next to useless for everyday life because the UK doesn't have cycling infrastructure.

And funny how you still can't buy a bike for love nor money in the UK... they've been flying off the shelves since the beginning of 2020.

Support for London's LTNs is also 3 times the number of those opposed and slightly higher amongst drivers than non drivers. The 16% that oppose them seem very vocal about it... https://redfieldandwiltonstrategies.com ... in-london/

London is one of the few places in the UK where it makes any sense, as there is a lot of congestion on both roads and public transport and low levels of car ownership and parking availability in the centre.

I spent the last few days observing the activity on the 18 miles of cycle lanes I drive past to and from dropping my kids off and picking up from school. In three days I have observed 1 bike on them. I have also seen two Ferraris, but I am not advocating having a Ferrari Lane.

On the rural back roads outside of the town that I also have to travel part of the journey on, which have no cycle lanes I have seen 18 cyclists. All of them retired people cycling for leisure.

I am not opposed to people cycling as a hobby, and it is a good healthy one. But to tout cycling as a real alternative to cars for day to day life is to fail to understand the limitations. If we all dumped cars and had 1970s Beijing levels of cycles on our roads life would not be better, working would not be more efficient and the environment would not greatly benefit. What we need (and what will happen) is development of less polluting cars and the elimination of unnecessary car use via more home working. Making roads have more traffic jams for empty cycle lanes is not helpful.

Not that i have any issue with having cycle lanes where it doesn't reduce number of lanes for cars, which is sensible.

[Limey]

Good luck riding one in my part of the city, even if there were cycling infrastructure. You'd be in a washing machine for the last week and at least the next ten days as it alternates every half hour between sunshine, cold hard wind (gusting to 50), and rain.
Even people that would want to ride a bike (and I'm a cyclist myself, except 100% off-road, out of city) -they don't want to ride a bike in this.

Maybe for 2-3 weeks at the end of June, it *might* be enjoyable to ride a bike.

Why do you think Scottish women's faces look like that, all harsh and scowling by default. A bike is only going to make that worse. I say we ban bicycles in Scotland.

[jyng1]

Why do you think Scottish women's faces look like that, all harsh and scowling by default. A bike is only going to make that worse. I say we ban bicycles in Scotland.

I had a Scottish woman stay with me a couple of years ago (before she biked home to Scotland). She had a PhD in Computer Science and certainly wasn't harsh and scowling...

Maybe it's just you.

Having biked over most of Europe, including on some very good cycling infrastructure in Alta at 69.9687° N it's just hard to understand why Europeans are so good at it and Brits are so shit. I mean how hard is this to build? If they can do it in Poland...

[jyng1]

It's probably next to useless for everyday life because the UK doesn't have cycling infrastructure.

And funny how you still can't buy a bike for love nor money in the UK... they've been flying off the shelves since the beginning of 2020.

Support for London's LTNs is also 3 times the number of those opposed and slightly higher amongst drivers than non drivers. The 16% that oppose them seem very vocal about it... https://redfieldandwiltonstrategies.com ... in-london/

London is one of the few places in the UK where it makes any sense, as there is a lot of congestion on both roads and public transport and low levels of car ownership and parking availability in the centre.

And nearly half of all car trips in London are less than 2 miles... https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default ... _final.pdf

[ashi]

It was announced yesterday that as of 30 March, everyone here over 16 will be eligible for covid vaccines so we are being inundated by people desperately trying to book appointments that are suddenly filled up weeks in advance and no one is feeling particularly patient, understanding, or inclined to treat us like fellow humans so it has been just super great.

but at least people will be vaccinated. eventually. I guess.