tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7664661573678938905.post7946266065810655750..comments2024-03-01T12:31:07.967+00:00Comments on Cottenham Cyclist: Testing Cambridge's Safer Cycle NeworkCottenham Cyclisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04341822746581357047noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7664661573678938905.post-62454273722314219232013-03-28T19:08:43.641+00:002013-03-28T19:08:43.641+00:00I think you're misquoting me there, Simon.
I...I think you're misquoting me there, Simon. <br /><br />I wasn't using that argument to back up the "cycle network before infrastructure" concept, I was using it against your insisting that nothing should be done anywhere until we have adopted a notional cycle network "to the minimum level of functioning" (whatever that means). <br /><br />I went on to say: "So the answer is: isolated bits of infrastructure where they’re most needed (junctions, fast/busy roads) then join up the gaps, in order of neediness."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7664661573678938905.post-63561243739742178972013-03-27T12:44:17.069+00:002013-03-27T12:44:17.069+00:00I completely agree, David. But let us bear in mind...I completely agree, David. But let us bear in mind as well that <a href="http://bikemapper.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/daring-to-redistribute-space-and-means.html" rel="nofollow">mobility is not just about getting from A to B safely and conveniently, but also, "more importantly", about knowing how to get from A to B</a>.<br /><br />I have found your <a href="http://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/search?q=cambridge" rel="nofollow">blogs on Cambridge</a> most useful. A couple of comments caught my eye:<br /><br />"What makes cycling attractive in Dutch cities [...] could be replicated in British cities if only the will existed to ask for it. What has been done is very simple. Long term planning is key - the same policies have been followed for many years."<br /><br />"I have argued for many years that there needs to be a more strategic view amongst cycling campaigners. That people need to be shown what is best so that a decision can be made with more information. Campaigners need to have vision. Fighting little battles over minor issues repeatedly does not make progress."<br /><br />"Perhaps most importantly, because [the Chisholm Trail] is a "one off", it's not part of a plan to build the one thing that made cycling really take off in the Netherlands. i.e. a tight grid of very high quality cycle paths. Because of this, the positive effect of this path will be limited only to people whose journeys are sufficiently lined up with its route."<br /><br />When I first published my proposed design for a strategic cycle network for Cambridge, you wrote: "The problem with your suggested network of routes is that there are not nearly enough of them." There were just 16 routes on that first version. The <a href="http://data.mapchannels.com/mc4/18420/camscn11_18420.htm" rel="nofollow">latest incarnation</a> incorporates 26 routes, which I hope you would agree is much more like it.<br /><br />Ideally, this network (or something like it) would be developed to an appropriately high standard overnight, with just a click of the fingers, but as Schroedinger's Cat has recently noted, "That's not feasible, is it?' Given this, presumably this is why <i>Cycling: the way ahead</i> suggests that "introducing" this network of routes to a minimum level of functioning "is a prudent course to follow". <br /><br />In practice this means installing interim measures first, and this causes a great deal of angst amongst cycle advocates. They worry that these temporary measures would become permanent, that accepting these measures would set a bad precedent, and that it undermines their campaign for segregated cycle facilities. <br /><br />I accept your view that, <i>in the worst cases</i>, inadequate improvements can set bad precedents. But the development of a cycle network, albeit one which functions at a minimum level to begin with, hardly strikes me as an inadequate improvement. Rather, it seems to me to be "a basic precondition".bikemapperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16902775699101288384noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7664661573678938905.post-41888163680557487852013-03-27T12:07:04.091+00:002013-03-27T12:07:04.091+00:00You're quite right about the link between Mamo...You're quite right about the link between Mamora and Natal Roads. I don't even like to use it during daylight. Bookslingerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14907666714283753928noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7664661573678938905.post-15175699507809228092013-03-27T11:06:10.633+00:002013-03-27T11:06:10.633+00:00It is a fundamental failure of policy that people ...It is a fundamental failure of policy that people are expected to choose between safety and convenience. The convenient should be safe and the safe should be convenient. That's how cycling is made accessible to all.David Hembrowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14543024940730663645noreply@blogger.com