Labour investment in cycling and walking will be unprecedented, says Louise Haigh

24 comments

1. Aye, right. I’ve heard this too often as a cyclist to believe it.

2. It’s good there is gonna be funding but…
   My city council just waste the cash in a tick box kind of way without making cyclists life safer or easier. For example, a ‘cycle lane’ that’s just a very thin strip of road marked by a paint line. The width is around 60cm. So now cars pass in ‘their’ lane, not giving the required 1.5 meters from the cyclist. This has MASSIVELY increased close passing. I’d sooner they’d not bothered. Told the council…no response. Another one. Cycle lane on shared use pavement. Multiple side roads with car traffic priority. Having to stop every 50 meters is a huge pain, I’d sooner just use the road. The infrastructure is so piss poor it’s a frustrating mess. No one from the council will talk to any interested group. Utter shite. Unfortunately you could get a dog voted in if it’s got a red rosette, the corruption has also been wild.

3. Funding is half the problem.

   If the people running the schemes are morons, that’s a lot of wasted money.

   If this money goes to the private sector, we may as well mulch the notes.

4. Yes I see it in many places in the UK when driving around, empty bus and cycle lanes and 500 cars lorries and taxis stuffed into one lane.

   Hospitals included in the congestion and low emission charges.

   Its not practical for families in most cities unless you exclude all other forms of transport. In my early working days I would cycle 15 miles to work through countryside up enormous hills and through rain and snow, it wasn’t practical but it was necessary.

   If I was staring out today as a 17 year old I wouldn’t even attempt it, just to dangerous now

   Cycling is a great idea, but were not Netherlands, amend the infrastructure as well ffs

5. I don’t care how much investment there is. I’m taking my car, not a bus with the plebs, not a bike and certainly not walking. Fuck your 15 minute cities. I’ll take my money and my business elsewhere.

6. It has to be done right, we can’t have councils pulling up trees to make cycle paths

7. As much as I wanna make a joke over how useful walking and cycling investment will be to this disabled wheelchair user….

   Better/safer bike paths and access could be rather useful for me in my chair.

   Wait and see what happens I guess.

8. Funding could come from taxing cyclists and use this to create proper cycle lanes on roads, same as cars are taxed

9. So we have no money for the old folk to stop them freezing, we can home and feed people but we can do a huge project for walking and cycling?

   I’m not against it I just think we have more pressing issues.

10. That’s all very well. The U.K. has an aging population. There’s no way I’m getting on one of those mobility scooters. I’m taking my little Nissan Micra that I worked so hard to get after both hip replacements and knee surgery. I can walk fine until my asthma kicks in and I can’t breathe.

11. Maybe they should make the train companies put their trains back on properly instead of fucking around trying to make people cycle in the rain.

    I’m not cycling 20 miles every day in the rain and I never will.

    Out of touch idiots.

12. My local council seems to begin to understand some simple truths: They are upgrading (or downgrading according to the locals) a dual carriageway that is a complete pain to cross and invites car drivers to speed through the heart of Arbroath to become more cyclist/pedestrian friendly, bringing the lanes down to two again and providing more space for other road users They have also run consultations on connecting Arbroath to the other communities by exclusive cycle/footpaths that are separated from the main roads.

    Get it done. If you want people to cycle, you have to provide a safe environment, it is as simple as that and it is a win/win to get more cars of the roads.

13. After Khan wasted millions in London on this the government is looking for ways to waste millions more.

14. Hopefully they find a way to stop range rovers trying to kill me on country roads.

15. Can someone explain to me why I have to legally pedal my electric bike, but electric scooters travel the same speed and now seem to be everywhere.

16. Usually means making things as awkward as possible for the other 90% of people that travel in cars

17. I will believe it when I see it, we could be like the Netherlands right now if we had made better choices in the past.

18. Can they invest in creating a minimum standard for cycle lanes first?
    A Minimum width, NOT just paint, not disappearing as soon as a road crosses it or when it gets difficult…. Etc etc.

19. Stand by, the shared use paths are coming to an area near you!

20. I love cycling but a bike is a toy not a mode of transport for any real distance. My drive to work and back is 60 miles and as much as I like cycling I don’t fancy that in the rain 😂

    This is a person who has cycled thousands of miles but driven about half a million.

21. I’m fine with Cycling as long as I doesn’t impact the road so using a car is like fighting a bull in a glass shop. Some of the changes round me have made the roads unusable and dangerous. In one area they have increased the foot path width to such and extent two buses can no longer pass on the road. In another they have taken a wide road with plenty of passing space, made 1/3 of a cycle lane and now any one turning or a bus stopping just backs traffic up, and the worst part is right out side a school. So traffic is worse, more dangerous and the pollution is worse because of standing traffic. Oh and the best part you still see cyclists on the road not the cycle path.

22. My local roads are full of cycle lanes but the cyclists always just cycle on the pavement instead. I’d be happy for my cycles rains to come about but I’d also like to see their use enforced.

23. How about we get cyclists to actually use the cycle lanes as well? There’s several in the city that I work in and I never see them getting used, instead they cycle on the road. These are new cycle lanes as well so it’s not like the crappy little ones. These are purpose built with 2 lanes, have a kerb to stop crap going on them.

24. Some more painted lines for motorists to ignore. Awesome.