tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1828166865647185633.post3435904225021947203..comments2024-03-29T04:56:21.385+00:00Comments on The Ranty Highwayman: The Red Bank Holiday HerringThe Ranty Highwaymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17361350433158148025noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1828166865647185633.post-71167195843671744352017-09-03T14:20:14.149+01:002017-09-03T14:20:14.149+01:00Having [more thoroughly re-]read that other post, ...Having [more thoroughly re-]read that other post, I'm more convinced than before that you <strong>do</strong> have a blind spot about this—and then some. Or, at least, you are interpreting those numbers in a way I can't comprehend. The individual circles overlap, big time, to cover very nearly all of the inhabited parts of UK? IIRC, only something like 50 % of the UK population does live in towns and cities. If cycling is enabled—i.e. easy, attractive & safe—within one circle (the 66 %-ile), it is enabled across the overlaps too (towards the 100 %-ile), unless you're proposing to do something very strange at each edge. Most people mightn't cycle outside ‘their’ circle most of the time, but e.g. <a href="https://aseasyasridingabike.wordpress.com/2015/08/13/talking-about-danger-again/#comment-32665" rel="nofollow">LEJoG riders</a> would be traversing nothing but circles.<br /><br />No doubt towns and cities <strong>are</strong> the low-hanging fruit (densest overlap of circles), but it is unconscionable to discriminate against those outside them. You wouldn't do that with schools, hospitals or—more pointedly—motoring facilities…<br /><br />IMO, the real problem is that ‘we’—predominantly meaning you and your colleagues—are <strong>only</strong> willing to provide circles for motoring (multi-layered circles, too: money no object) and small ones for walking, but <strong>never</strong> cycling. Town or country. I doubt that is anything other than ideologically driven. Cycling is <a href="https://aseasyasridingabike.wordpress.com/2017/07/20/londons-enormous-cycling-potential/#comment-41588" rel="nofollow">deliberately suppressed</a>, hence the current low numbers in the tables. You can't infer that more <strong>and</strong> longer cycling journeys wouldn't be undertaken by <em>normals</em> if the conditions were adequate.<br /><br />If the cycling circles were a thing; there would probably, before too long, be induced demand and bank holiday meltdowns throughout <strong>them</strong>, too—and the economic growth would be through the roof 😉!Mark Williamsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1828166865647185633.post-55367595555301578272017-07-10T18:55:23.852+01:002017-07-10T18:55:23.852+01:00My proposed solution is to get towns and cities wo...My proposed solution is to get towns and cities working for the journeys 66% of people are making journeys of less than 5 miles. That will get the greatest mode shift;<br /><br />http://therantyhighwayman.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/invest-for-66.html<br /><br />Intercity routes are also needed, but without decent town and city provision, then it's going to be awful for most people at each end. <br /><br />Cambridge is a good UK example of doing a reasonable amount of city work and then looking at connections to outlying villages, although that's really an extension of Cambridge travel than intercity.<br /><br />I don't think I have a blind spot, I think I am being realistic to say that with the data we have on travel, the sub-5 mile trips should be targeted.The Ranty Highwaymanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17361350433158148025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1828166865647185633.post-90121478442928773552017-07-09T18:03:58.398+01:002017-07-09T18:03:58.398+01:00‘Get away’ days are a bit of a ‘red herring’ for c...‘Get away’ days are a bit of a ‘red herring’ for current [vehicular, by necessity rather than preference] cyclists, too. We just overtake all the motoring ‘congestion’ as though it wasn't there. SRN, or otherwise. To a first approximation, our journey times are completely unaffected by it. In some ways, I find it much more pleasant than having the speeding psychopaths graze past my elbows the rest of the time. Makes the beer (or ice-cream!) all that much more enjoyable ☺.<br /><br />Yes; I realise this ‘choice’ is not considered an ‘option’ by the vast majority of people—at any time. No; it is not an argument for retaining the <em>status quo</em> or continuing the current trajec⋅tory. But it <a href="/2017/05/whataboutery.html" rel="nofollow"><strong>is</strong> an argument</a> for either banning motor vehicles from existing roads on bank holidays (difficult to enforce) or providing a comprehensive, nationwide, properly-built, fully-protected cycle network available ~365–6 days per year. I get the impression that you have a bit of a blind-spot regarding active travel for anything other than very short & local & frequent journeys and an unwillingness to seek anything other than the lowest-hanging fruit. What is <strong>your</strong> proposed solution?Mark Williamsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1828166865647185633.post-77810916262505595092017-05-30T07:19:09.571+01:002017-05-30T07:19:09.571+01:00Yes, BA was interesting; the perfect storm of lots...Yes, BA was interesting; the perfect storm of lots of people moving and a problem!The Ranty Highwaymanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17361350433158148025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1828166865647185633.post-58581618103566810522017-05-28T17:10:12.216+01:002017-05-28T17:10:12.216+01:00Ditto Bank Holiday railway engineering works. The...Ditto Bank Holiday railway engineering works. Then journalists of course desperately hoping it will overrun on Tuesday morning. A nice change therefore to have BA airport chaos.Adamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06764801041477493876noreply@blogger.com