Places in Britain with a good cycle lane infrastructure

[Threegreenbirds]

I loved the Netherlands and how it is do easy to get around by bike. I really wish the Britain could embrace this.

We are considering a move, is there anywhere in Britain with a good cycle lane system so we can ditch the cars and feel safe on the roads?

The switch to 20 limits on many stretches has nothing to do with bikes - and the more cycle lanes there are, the less there is any chance of cyclists slowing down the overall flow of traffic.

When cyclists cycle in the road instead of the cycle lane that’s generally a sign that the cycle lane isn’t fit for purpose.

This. Do you think the average cyclist wants to be dicing with, and exposing themselves to the potential wrath of, multiple one-ton hunks of metal that can flatten them in half a second?

@donkra not if traffic lanes are removed and cycle lanes built into the newly single traffic lanes. Look at what they've done to Bishopsgate. Or the Embankment. Or many other similar schemes in the centre. It isn't safer for cyclists. The Mayor can only be deliberately trying to slow traffic to below walking speed.

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER it can be hazardous if you aren’t used to it - cyclists have priority over pedestrians at pretty much all times.

@Q2C4

we were outside Amsterdam, staying at the coast. Loads - and I mean loads - of cyclists and hardly any Lycra clad speedsters. It’s just a completely normal way of getting around. we did the shopping by bike, went to the beach, cycled inland to a lakeside restaurant, did a big circuit round the tulip growers fields etc. The kids (young teens) were with us all the way. Separate cycle paths everywhere, except for one tiny section of road.

interestingly, the Dutch cycling book that DH read made this point too: if you search google images for’fiets’ (Dutch for bike) you get pictures of happy helmet-free people cycling on upright multipurpose bikes. Do the same for ‘velo’ (French, ditto) and you get pages of the Lycra clad dudes. Different understanding of what cycling is.

@Watchagotch72 but if you're cycling long distances you'll get sweaty, hence the need for sports clothes? And helmets are essential for safety surely? How to the Dutch manage these challenges?

Bristol, but it is very hilly. Bristol is also home of Sustrans the charity that runs the national cycle network.
It's possible to cycle from Bristol to Bath without using roads (part of the route follows a heritage railway line past a village called Bitton).

Stevenage has loads of cycle lanes and is really safe.

@Q2C4

i cycle back and forward to work daily and don’t get particularly sweaty, it’s not a strenuous cycle and I don’t go very fast. For the Dutch It helps that Holland is very, very flat 😁 so the cycling is very pleasant. Many people have e-bikes now too.

as for helmets…the Dutch cycle paths are almost all completely separate from cars and other vehicles. They basically have two separate transport networks. This reduces the risk hugely: in the absence of moving vehicles, people don’t tend to spontaneously fall off their bikes so badly that they need protective headgear. But in places where cyclists and cars / buses etc have to share a road, helmets are vital. Take the cars away and cycling becomes much safer.

Yes, I think journeys are generally shorter. There is huge cycle storage next to the main railway stations in Amsterdam, for example - we had a hotel room overlooking one of them - must have been hundreds of bikes day and night. From observation, it seemed people got off the train in the morning, got on their bike and cycled the rest of the way to work etc., and at the same time, people seemed to be cycling from home to the station, parked their bike, and got on a train. So I think they were mostly for the first/last mile or two of their commute.

I must admit, outside the cities, whilst there are lots of cycle tracks, they're not particularly well patronised, with just occasional cycles - you can travel a fair distance without seeing one!

A point about Amsterdam is that it's dangerous for pedestrians because cyclists are literally everywhere, including all over footpaths and pavements, so you have to keep an eye open for them. They also cycle very fast on designated cycle lanes which pedestrians have to cross, without any form of "traffic lights" etc., so you can be waiting quite some time for a gap between cyclists, especially behind the main station if you need to cross the cycle lanes to get to the ferries. That's where I got hit by a cyclist who was doing one hell of a speed weaving between pedestrians. Amsterdam may be good for cyclists, but not so good for pedestrians.

London is good

@Badbadbunny so it's not so much that the cycling infrastructure itself is excellent, it's that the public transport is good and well integrated with the cycling networks?
People aren't cycling in the Dutch equivalent of, for example, Orpington to central London (which is about 16 miles). If people are just doing a leisurely mile or two I can see why they don't need Lycra!

I agree Nottingham has a growing network of good segregated routes and a lot of shared paths.
https://fourpointmapping.sustrans.org.uk/nottinghamcyclemap/nottingham.html

My son has been doored and twice been knocked off his bike in Cardiff, wrecking the bike, fortunately without broken bones but with some ugly scarring. Once he was knocked down by a motorist cutting across the cycle lane he was travelling in - driver just turned into sude road without looking.

And the cycle lanes start and end randomly, so you're then left riding on the road anyway

Also cars are often parked on cycle lanes, ignoring double yellow lines - once again you're left riding on the road.

No, I wouldn't recommend Cardiff.

We also went to Neth this summer, hired bikes and it was fab.

York and Cambridge spring to mind but nowhere is anywhere near as good as Neth. Manchester is terrible but there are slow improvements.

Cambridge is very good, made even easier by being extremely flat and having lots of cycle parking.

Im Dutch and grew up in the Netherlands and I find cycling culture in the UK quite strange. Back home nobody wears lycra as we cycle as a means of transport, not as a sport so much. When we do cycle for leisure, we tend to take in less seriously and it isn’t like in the UK where it seems reserved for middle class older men. To answer your question OP I live in Norwich and out of all the places I’ve lived in the UK, it has to be the best for cycling, closely followed by Cheltenham!

Nowhere.

Cambridge is probably the best, although the high cycling levels there are because there's 20,000 students who are effectively banned from driving, not because the cycling infra is especially good. Still, it means the safety in numbers thing is there. On the other hand it also means the bike thieves are there.

From what I've read the average bike trip in NL is about 2 miles and 90% are less than 5 miles. Beyond that, most people take a car and some cycle to the train station.

And that actually isn't unusual. The average cycling trip in the UK is somewhat longer at 3.6 miles, but that's still a fairly short journey. Long sporting rides or cycle commutes are the exception.

Because many of them are badly thought-out if you need to be somewhere in a reasonable time. E.g the one on Boulevard de Nantes - it takes much longer to get through the bike traffic lights than being in the road.
Cycling should be a more convenient way of travelling around a city, not less

It’s very interesting that in the UK as pp say cycling in many/most parts of the country is seen as a “sport” and appeals to MIML (middle aged men in Lycra). My dh for example occasionally cycles 10 miles to work and sees it very much as a means to help him stay fit. I am 45 and see very very few other women cycling round here (outskirts of Manchester).

In Neth it’s just how everyone (including the 70+) goes about their daily lives. Amazing how there is almost NO traffic in Dutch town centres. There’s a ring road with multi storeys and within that it’s almost exclusively pedestrians and bikes only. A small about of resident permits and emergency vehicles only.

there is so much resistance to all that here . Yet go and spend a week in the Neth. And it clearly just makes so much sense.

Nottingham is not bad. But very hilly!

Totally untrue. It's the excessive amount of cars causing the traffic