Protected cycle lanes?

[guerney]

I don't see how this is possible in most areas without widening roads, and/or making our many too narrow roads one-way. They won't spend trillions buying and demolishing property to widen all roads. Making narrow roads one-way to sequester protected cycle lanes would anger drivers, something this government will surely wish to avoid. I'd love to see this happen in the UK, but don't think it ever will, much.

Sustrans calls for protected cycle lanes – Pedelecs – Electric Bike Community

www.pedelecs.co.uk

SUVs are wider, taller, and heavier than small goods vehicles - SUVs are a highly unnecessary and inefficient means of people transport. All cars should be restricted in width and weight. Personally I would like to see all motor vehicles made half width, with a single file seating arrangement... because our roads are not lacking in length. Long vehicles could be robotically articulated.

 

[Benjahmin]

It would be great to see this happening but I think it'll be many years if ever.
Over the last few years, the council around here has closed all village and small schools. They have built one massive school that covers from infant to 6th form and it's built on what was good pasture. Coaches are used to bus kids from all over, together with all the cars, this causes a twice a day pollution emitting traffic queue at the gates going into the massive (about 3 acres) car park. Where kids used to walk they are now bussed or taken by car some with more than an hours journey. There are no cycle lanes.
This is the product of the bean counting must be at scale mentality that has produced an exam factory.
No doubt the youngsters are taught all about the failing ecology whilst overlooking a rammed car park.

Will this industrial mentality produce or see the value of protected cycle lanes?

 

[flecc]

Sustrans aren't engaging their brains and looking at what actually exists. In our towns and cities where most of the population live we do have enough road space inthe areas we live in to provide segregated lanes next to pavements.

Trouble is they are full of parked cars and vans, a problem that dates back to the stupidity of the authorities early in the 20th century in allowing street parking to ever develop in the first place.

Nobody with a horse and cart, carriage or trap ever street parked, they had to have offroad space to stable the horse and vehicle, and it should have been kept that way for motor vehicles. The roads are for travelling on, not for long term storage.

Therefore Sustrans, you cannot at present have your protected lanes in school approaches, they are already cluttered up with parked vehicles.

There is a solution for the future, but once again the authorities have made a crucial mistake in the planning for electric cars. They are idiotically installing street charging points for them, thus ingraining the street parking habit still further.

The change to E-cars needs a very different approach:

1) The ban on new i.c. cars after x dates.

2) No permission to own a registered e-car without an off road parking and charging space for it.

3) Gradually reduce all street parking by enforcement.

In that way we would gradually reduce private car ownership and gradually clear our streets of parked vehicles, thus in many cases doubling the space for travelling on.

With all that extra travelling space and far fewer cars anyway, we may not even need protected lanes any more, but there would be plenty of space for them if and where needed.
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[Ray Winder]

I don't see how this is possible in most areas without widening roads, and/or making our many too narrow roads one-way. They won't spend trillions buying and demolishing property to widen all roads. Making narrow roads one-way to sequester protected cycle lanes would anger drivers, something this government will surely wish to avoid. I'd love to see this happen in the UK, but don't think it ever will, much.

Sustrans calls for protected cycle lanes – Pedelecs – Electric Bike Community

www.pedelecs.co.uk

SUVs are wider, taller, and heavier than small goods vehicles - SUVs are a highly unnecessary and inefficient means of people transport. All cars should be restricted in width and weight. Personally I would like to see all motor vehicles made half width, with a single file seating arrangement... because our roads are not lacking in length. Long vehicles could be robotically articulated.

It's easy to make sweeping statements, but I live in the Yorkshire dales we have a bus service less than once per hour which ends about six o'clock. The local council no longer grit the roads in winter and in bad weather 4 x4 vehicles are a necessity for safe transport.
It often seems that our government is so london centric and imagine that everyone has busses every 10 minutes until after midnight so let's slap more green levies on fuel and then everyone will just jump onto the abundant public transport.

 

[flecc]

It's easy to make sweeping statements, but I live in the Yorkshire dales we have a bus service less than once per hour which ends about six o'clock. The local council no longer grit the roads in winter and in bad weather 4 x4 vehicles are a necessity for safe transport.

Although I was born in London and lived here much of my life, I know what that is like since I once lived in the country in the 1940s with one bus a week. 10 am in the morning on Wednesdays to go the 13 miles into town, 2pm sharp to get the bus back.

It often seems that our government is so london centric and imagine that everyone has busses every 10 minutes until after midnight so let's slap more green levies on fuel and then everyone will just jump onto the abundant public transport.

It's not that they are London centric, it's Tory policies that privatised bus services that has led to the bus companies concentrating where the most money can be made and ignoring the loss making areas.

Bring all the buses back into council ownership and they will provide for their local electorate. The only reason our public transport services are so good in London is that the GLC has its own transport company, TfL, having overall control of the bus companies serving our routes. When they don't perform, they get chucked out.
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[StuartsProjects]

It often seems that our government is so london centric and imagine that everyone has busses every 10 minutes until after midnight so let's slap more green levies on fuel and then everyone will just jump onto the abundant public transport.

Well, our Government, or MPs at least, may not have the same view of public transport as the rest of the population.

As far as 'travel to\for work' is concerned my understanding is that MPs get all travel expenses paid. So if there is no bus or train available, I guess a taxi is summoned, probably a 4 wheel drive one in winter.

 

[Ray Winder]

I think if you check London has large subsidies on transport which are disproportionate to the other regions of the UK Look at how much is being spent on new underground lines measured in billions while HS2 north was strangled at birth and a few millions were given to level up the north south divisions.

 

[StuartsProjects]

While HS2 north was strangled at birth and a few millions were given to level up the north south divisions.

Well, perhaps we should believe the politicians and assume that the 30minutes HS2 will save for the Birmingham - London commute is worth the billions and billions it will cost.

Or perhaps not.

 

[slowcoach]

Where i live, we have one bus an hour. Quite normal for a village.

However, one day last week, our 10 am bus, a very busy bus, did not run. They were short of buses/drivers. By removing that bus, they were able to maintain the bus every 10 minutes in town.
So it is clearly better to leave people waiting an extra hour in the villages than townsfolk an extra 10 minutes.

 

[guerney]

Bus timetables lie all over the place! I've wasted many sets of 1 hour or more waiting with a crowd for a bus to arrive as advertised. Even their so-called "GPS bus trackers" lie - they switch to a more profitable route. All public transport should be brought back into public ownership IMHO, and operated on a non-profit basis.

 

[flecc]

I think if you check London has large subsidies on transport which are disproportionate to the other regions of the UK Look at how much is being spent on new underground lines measured in billions while HS2 north was strangled at birth and a few millions were given to level up the north south divisions.

Agreed, but it is not a subsidy. London's financial services earns some £50 billions a year which is then taken by central government and used throughout the country.

Once in a while we are allowed to have back enough for a major project, like the £9 billions for Crossrail, but that was once in almost a decade and a tiny fraction of what we earned for the UK in that decade.
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[Ray Winder]

Crossrail costs to top £19bn as bosses confirm 2022 opening

Board admitted it would miss 2021 opening date last month

www.building.co.uk

Funding - Crossrail 2

We estimate that Crossrail 2 would cost around £30bn in today's prices, explore our funding proposal in more detail

crossrail2.co.uk

 

[flecc]

Crossrail costs to top £19bn as bosses confirm 2022 opening

Board admitted it would miss 2021 opening date last month

www.building.co.uk

Funding - Crossrail 2

We estimate that Crossrail 2 would cost around £30bn in today's prices, explore our funding proposal in more detail

crossrail2.co.uk

Still less than half of one year of our surplus from earnings through the construction decade.

Of course we could do without our good transport and stop earning that £50 billions a year, but it wouldn't be us squealing if that surplus vanished.
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