Most Bike friendly town or city?

michaelm

I'm currently working on a project with some planners in my local (provincial) town to make the area more bike friendly. I genuinely feel I have the ears of some of the decision makers. I would be really interested in looking in detail at initiatives in other areas. What towns, cities or regions have people visited that are particularly bike friendly - and why?

Thanks in advance.

kenmc

Netherlands
Fantastic infrastructure, priority given to bikes at junctions, cycle specific traffic lights, well delimited cycle tracks, and something that no-one will ever be able to plan in, a mindset that gives cyclists rights. Pedestrians and motorists treat cyclists with the respect they deserve, peds don't walk on the cycle tracks unless they're UK or Irish tourists, and car's dont tend to pull stupid braindead cyclist-killing manouvers.

studiorat

Berlin.
Public transport access, cycle path system, on street bike rental, tradition of cycling as a viable transport and it's flat!

blorg

Apart from these I would look at Paris and Barcelona which have both launched very successful city-wide bike rental schemes.

I would also look at London as a city that if not as perfect as for example the Netherlands has made great strides towards bike-friendlieness in the last 10 years or so.

Bear in mind that measures not directly related to cycling such as reducing traffic volumes and speeds have a big positive impact on cycling. Probably more so than cycling "facilities" - it's about promoting a safer and less intimidating road environment condusive to cycling. This is very much the case for Paris and London over the last decade or so.

ednwireland

when i was a student (many years ago) nottingham was pretty good seperate bike lanes, bike activated traffic lights, wonder how its stood the ravages of time

http://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/sitemap/services/transport_and_streets/cdt_cycling.htm

bobtjustice

Copenhagen.! Pro cycling city!!

blorg

bobtjustice wrote: »

Copenhagen.! Pro cycling city!!

Pretty bad congestion in rush hour though

oobydooby

blorg wrote: »

Pretty bad congestion in rush hour though

At about 1.12 there's somebody cycling on the path:p I think this is a Danish thing, they have a 'green wave' for cyclists during rush hours. Clever people.

In Berlin I noticed a lot of people cycled on the paths, which of course are much wider than the ones here. I got a bit huffy the first time when somebody nearly cycled into me but then just relaxed when I realised it was very common. And they have proper bike lanes too.

Notice in that video too, the slow moving cart or whatever in the bus lane. The bus just overtakes it. In Ireland that cart thing would probably be forced in front of the cyclists.

OP good luck with the project but be careful what you wish for! Where will you lock your bike if it catches on?

bobtjustice

blorg wrote: »

Pretty bad congestion in rush hour though

Bloody Hell :eek:! No cycling the wrong way down a one way street at 30km an hour there anyway.
Then again they mostly cycle on cruiser style bikes over there so a nice easy pace. Still I'd rather be chugging along on a bike than sitting in a car in traffic.

When I was in Copenhagen I found peoples attitudes, cyclists and motorists very positive.

petethedrummer

bobtjustice wrote: »

When I was in Copenhagen I found peoples attitudes, cyclists and motorists very positive.

Excellent, thats where I plan to start my cycling holiday this summer.

Ghost Rider

Decent bike locking facilities are extremely important. (And if by chance you also have the ear of any senior Gardai, it would be helpful if they started to give a f*ck about bike theft - especially when you consider that the amount of money many folks spend on their bikes would exceed the value of many cars.)

Properly restricted (whether physically or "logically") bike lanes, designed for the protection of cyclists rather than the liberation of motorists, are essential. In Dublin, alas, they're as rare as elephants' elbows.

Pedestrian and cycle-only streets would be great, but I fear such notions are far from the minds of our planners.

Rentable bikes (as they have in other European cities e.g. Oslo) would be great but I personally have a small problem with their being privately run, and would rather they were owned and operated by town councils.

cantalach

I was a very happy cyclist for three years in Perth, Western Australia. Perth has an extensive network of 'shared paths' which can be used by cyclists and roller bladers as well as pedestrians. All of the freeways and most of the major dual carriageways that criss-cross the city have these shared paths running along side, and government policy requires that they are constructed from the outset along new stretches of such roads. So if your commute can make use of a shared path, and most can, you'll have minimal interaction with motorised traffic for much of your journey. The system certainly isn't perfect (older stretches of shared path in dire need of resurfacing, friction between the different types of shared path user, etc.) but it's a heck of a lot better than anything Ireland has to offer. Perth is admittedly very spread out when compared to many European cities, but if you're a roadie or triathlete you'll just see this as an opportunity to get some extra miles in the legs. The climate also causes it to be a very windy place at times, but the flip side to this is virtually year-round sunshine. What was the reason I moved back again?

simonw

Everywhere in Holland is fantastic for cycling, and a completely different culture towards cyclists, as someone mentioned above