Hinderance, mainly. I live in the Isle of Man (not really UK, but certainly UK adjacent) and on a recent trip to Morecambe on the ferry with our bikes, it was notable how much better the cycling infrastructure - and there wasn’t really that much of it - was in one the most deprived parts of England compared to the much more wealthy Isle of Man. The route into Lancaster along the route of the former railway line was fantastic, hard surfaced, free of debris, had street lighting - whereas our old railway routes you need a gravel bike.
The facilities we have are just not joined up. For instance, to go from my old work into Douglas, you can take some quieter routes and some cycle paths, and even the brand new cycle path that was physically built to LTN-1/20 standards, but then dumps you out at a busy junction leaving you with the option of (a) illegally riding on the pavement, or (b) making a dangerous crossing to the painted cycling gutter on the side of the road you really need to use. It’s safer and faster just to ride in the road with the cars - they’ve actually achieved the dubious goal of making a LTN 1/20 cycle path more dangerous than just riding in the road.
The poor quality and un-networked cycle paths have in the most part made things worse here not better, because it has made motorists more aggressive (“Why aren’t you using the cycle path”). Motorists seem convinced that massive amounts of money were spent on the ~3 mile “cycle path” along Gansey Bay, when in reality they just slapped some paint on the pavement and didn’t even resurface it (while doing major work on the adjacent road, making it billiard table smooth). It’s too narrow to be a shared use path - in most places a pedestrian and cyclist cannot pass without one riding/stepping aside into the long grass. The surface is also very rough, and there is frequently sections covered with fragments of broken glass from car crashes which neither the motorist responsible for the crash, their insurance company, nor the DoI see fit to clear up (they clear it up pretty quick off the main carriageway though). But whenever the police post a road safety message on social media that mentions cyclists, out come droves of motorists complaining about “how cyclists aren’t using the cycle path on Gansey Bay after all that money was spent on it”.
I’ve asked my local MHK (our equivalent of an MP) but the answer I got back from the DoI is that active travel has been defunded. Right now I would prefer if they removed all the useless cycle infrastructure, maybe it would stop motorists from doing “punishment passes” when we’re not using the not-fit-for-purpose bike lanes.
They hope to expand our population by another 15,000 people. That’s going to mean 10,000 more cars on the road undoubtedly trying to get in and out of Douglas every day unless they re-think transport.
It’s completely shit where I am. I don’t understand how the council can be so bad at this. There’s an excuse, I’m sure, but it’s out me off wanting to ride a bike. Plus it’s Bristol so any bike is going to go missing pretty quickly.
Dedicated joined up cycle lanes, clearly marked, not shared, with safe and secure storage to stop the scum thieving bikes. Is this too much to ask?
When I lived in Sheffield there pretty much wasn’t any bike lanes except around the inner ring road. but I cycled anyway and made it work for me despite crossing the university roundabout occasionally and similar madness.
Here in Leeds the cycle infrastructure gets better every year. However because I WFH or drive in I only cycle occasionally. This makes it all the more unpleasant when I get close passed or sweaty or rained on because I’m just not used to it anymore.
The cycle superhighway along my part of the A10 is an ill thought out mess. Most of it is on the pavement (both lanes on the same side), and guess what. Pedestrians don’t give a damn and continue to stroll along it, meaning you have to cycle at a snail’s pace and may as well walk.
So I use the bus lanes on those parts, except they’re usually full of massive potholes for months.
Further along we get a lane on the road, except there are cars parked on it.
I’m not even sure if there’s a point to it. Just seems like a big gimmick. “Hey, look, we’re doing something!” I see a few bikes on the cycle lane, but most of us just use the bus lane anyway, and the adult-babies use the pavement on the other side of the road, because it’s too much trouble to use the cycle lane on the opposite side.
In Aberdeen there are a few disused railway lines that are brilliant if very busy allot of the time. Most of the inferstructure in the city is disjointed painted bike lanes that end as soon as you get to a major junction and just kick you out into a 3 lane roundabout. You mention bike lanes and everyone starts shouting about “how will they get to the city centre”. I hope it changes one day
