Whats the solution to cycle lanes being blocked?

Tenzor07

MysticMonk wrote: »

Back to the default response of deflecting by blaming motorists...i never mentioned motorists or people in cars.
This forum will never brook any kind of critcism of cyclists or their behaviour as long as there's other road users to blame.
And it seems to me the moderators are the ones who lead the deflection.
Hardly objective now is it?

Not deflecting, merely pointing out unfair criticism!

Beta Ray Bill

Interesting post OP

Most people post giving out about stuff like that, however few actually offer solutions.

Muahahaha wrote: »

However we can moan about it all day but really what is the solution? On my way home most offenders are the "I only popped into the shop for one minute" brigade and it is obvious that enforcement by the Gardai and fines issued etc would quickly solve that problem.

I don't think this would work, as there will ALWAYS be people doing this, I'd say it's very rarely repeat offenders.

Muahahaha wrote: »

Taxis are allowed to ply for hire on the side of streets and when they have a situation where cycle lanes are running for several kilometers what exactly are they supposed to do? If they just stop without pulling in they then create a hazard between the passenger and cyclists and even more so if they just stopped on a road and allowed a passengers to swing a door into a cycle lane.

That's a tricky one too, I don't think there is anything that can be done about Taxi's. They'll pull in anywhere as soon as they see a hand go out.
If they don't do that, there is chance they'll lose the fare and hence money.

Muahahaha wrote: »

Delivery drivers are another one. It is very frustrating to see a huge delivery van blocking a cycle lane but they also have a job to do.

I've said for years now that deliveries around the city centre should only be made between 9pm and 6am. The amount of traffic it would take off the road during rush hour would be huge.

Muahahaha wrote: »

So what do people think would be the actual solutions to the above problems?

Ultimately the problem is going to get worse. Dublin City council have managed to make an absolute balls of traffic planning around Dublin City in the last few years:
Coast road reduced to 2 lanes of traffic, no bus lane.
Can't turn right off Samuel Beckett Bridge, and cant turn left onto it.
East link toll bridge, still a "Toll" bridge.
O'Connell Street messing this weekend.
Quays reduced to one lane for cars.
The list goes on and on.

And when questioned about it they encourage people to use Public Transport (Not Cycle btw!)
What people in DCC don't get is that people in Dublin like using their cars, they don't like public transport.
It's been seen time and time again that people are prepared to sit in their cars for hours so long as it means they don't have to use Public transport.

So as long as the above stupidity from DCC continues the problems you mention above for cyclists is going to get worse and worse.

Harrybelafonte

Get rid of them. End segregation now! Raises fist to the sky!

Chips Lovell

grahambo wrote: »

And when questioned about it they encourage people to use Public Transport (Not Cycle btw!)
What people in DCC don't get is that people in Dublin like using their cars, they don't like public transport.
It's been seen time and time again that people are prepared to sit in their cars for hours so long as it means they don't have to use Public transport.

Except that's not really born out by the figures. Number of people driving into town is dropping while number of buses, cyclists and pedestrians is increasing.

I think DCC knows people like driving, it's more a case of realising that we're running out of capacity for cars so need to encourage a more efficient way of getting workers in and out of city.

Weepsie

MysticMonk wrote: »

Back to the default response of deflecting by blaming motorists...i never mentioned motorists or people in cars.

This forum will never brook any kind of critcism of cyclists or their behaviour as long as there's other road users to blame.

And it seems to me the moderators are the ones who lead the deflection.

Hardly objective now is it?

But you're giving out to cyclists for using the road they are perfectly and legally entitled to use.

This thread is giving out about private cars blocking up cycle lanes which are generally not allowed to park in at given times.

I get along great with the motorists I'm sharing the road with. I don't get along with those who block up infrastructure and make things worse for everyone. Even if you're driving, people parking these bike lanes are a nusiance as they throw on the indicator last minute to get back into that tiny gap in traffic and ad to the slow down. They're the same people who scoot up a bus lane and duck in at the last minute.

tomasrojo

grahambo wrote: »

And when questioned about it they encourage people to use Public Transport (Not Cycle btw!)
What people in DCC don't get is that people in Dublin like using their cars, they don't like public transport.

There are more people arriving in Dublin city centre on public transport (50% modal split) than in cars (37% modal split). In particular, on the north quays there are about ten times as many people in buses as in cars, and there are more cyclists than people in cars.

magicbastarder

worth pointing out that the quays being reduced to one lane for cars is largely a reaction to the fact that the luas is going to reduce carrying capacity for the quays anyway, as the luas will be crossing every three minutes.

plus, when you've a scarce resource (space on the quays), it's bleedin' idiotic not to prioritise the most efficient use of that resource.

Pinch Flat

magicbastarder wrote: »

worth pointing out that the quays being reduced to one lane for cars is largely a reaction to the fact that the luas is going to reduce carrying capacity for the quays anyway, as the luas will be crossing every three minutes.

plus, when you've a scarce resource (space on the quays), it's bleedin' idiotic not to prioritise the most efficient use of that resource.

I hear you. But there's a lot of people that insist in driving from the end of their driveway to their place of work - ideally, to their own desk if they could get away with it. A lot of people haven't joined the dots that Dublin is making no new provision for private cars and, instead, eating into the space they occupy to avail of more efficient transport means i.e. buses and luas.

It's going to be painful for the solo car commuter for the coming years until eventually they find alternative means to get to work.

C3PO

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

If you take a look at the Road Traffic Regulations, they're perfectly entitled to park in a cycle track to make deliveries or to load (for a limited time) where no loading bay is available.

If you are see this 'almost every morning', you should be expecting it and take up an appropriate position in good time and use a bit of assertiveness.

Asking a 'big brand' why they hate cyclists is a bit naive IMO and does the rest of us a disservice. What would you suggest the driver do?

Hmm .. wasn't aware of that! Better stop yelling abuse at the guy who delivers to the Chinese opposite Blackrock College at about 4.15pm everyday so!!

tomasrojo

It's not a lot of fun being a public-facing member of DCC, I get the impression.

Chips Lovell

tomasrojo wrote: »

It's not a lot of fun being a public-facing member of DCC, I get the impression.

My favourite DCC story involves a drainage engineer who fielded a call from a member of the public complaining about blocked drains in her house. Frustrated, he eventually asked her if she'd tried calling the guards. "No, why would I call them?" was her reply. "Because they've about as much to do with it as we do".

Beta Ray Bill

Jep Gambardella wrote: »

Except that's not really born out by the figures. Number of people driving into town is dropping while number of buses, cyclists and pedestrians is increasing.

I think DCC knows people like driving, it's more a case of realising that we're running out of capacity for cars so need to encourage a more efficient way of getting workers in and out of city.

I agree with those figures quoted, but the traffic is getting worse.

We used to be able to get into town for 8am if we left at 7:30am
Now if we don't leave by 7am, we may forget it.

I use a bicycle and user a motorbike and I can say for sure over the last 4/5 years the traffic is getting worse and worse.

My Ex would never ever use public transport or cycle, it's a concept so foreign to her that she could never accept it.

The other problem is that it's expensive to use Public transport if you have somewhere else to go rather than work
IE dropping off/collecting kids
Public transport just inst an option, to expensive.

Chips Lovell

Traffic is heavier alright, which is the reason more and more people aren't driving.

There's a lot more efficiencies to be found I think. While I accept that there's some people who have no alternative but to drive, going by census data there's still a lot of car journeys being undertaken when there are realistic alternatives, e.g. children being driven to school when the school is within walking distance.

magicbastarder

grahambo wrote: »

I use a bicycle and user a motorbike and I can say for sure over the last 4/5 years the traffic is getting worse and worse.

i don't think there's any argument there. employment figures are up. there are more people trying to get to work.

tomasrojo

Jep Gambardella wrote: »

Traffic is heavier alright, which is the reason more and more people aren't driving.

"No-one goes to that club anymore. It's too crowded."

Tenzor07

Solution is that Gardai are out on bikes, or foot ticketing motorists for parking in cycle lanes...

As you can see one car driver decides to stop and look at his phone and 20+ cyclists have to push out into the main traffic lane because of one person!

AndrewJRenko

MysticMonk wrote: »

I don't understand the need to hurtle everywhere at breakneck speed when there are pedestrians and other hazards around.

And yet, when they ride on the road, the place least likely to have pedestrians and other hazards around, you complain about that too?

Shouldn't all those drivers be on the M1 anyway? I mean, we build all these motorways and they won't bloody use them!

CatFromHue

I'm fairly live and let live on this.

It can be annoying but when I'm walking on the path I have to sometimes step on the road to get around obstacles, when I'm driving I sometimes have to go into the other lane/side to get around an obstacle and I don't see why it shouldn't be the same when cycling in a cycle lane.

It's all about how you adapt to obstacles when out on the road.

Slow down, look over you shoulder to make sure it's safe, and then go around it.

uck51js9zml2yt

Was cycling up O'Connell Street yesterday and had a motorist beeping me and refusing to use the other empty lane.
Kept telling me to use the cycle lane that was jammed with cyclists.

Beta Ray Bill

Tenzor07 wrote: »

Solution is that Gardai are out on bikes, or foot ticketing motorists for parking in cycle lanes...

As you can see one car driver decides to stop and look at his phone and 20+ cyclists have to push out into the main traffic lane because of one person!

I get what you are saying but at the same time, I'd rather them pull over and look at their phone rather than keep driving and look at it.

People need to be able to pull over. Clearly looking at a phone might not be that important.

There will always obstacles on the raod, ya just need to be ready for them I suppose.
Yeah it's a pain in the hole, but that city driving/riding/cycling for ya.

Tenzor07

grahambo wrote: »

I get what you are saying but at the same time, I'd rather them pull over and look at their phone rather than keep driving and look at it.
People need to be able to pull over. Clearly looking at a phone might not be that important.
There will always obstacles on the raod, ya just need to be ready for them I suppose.
Yeah it's a pain in the hole, but that city driving/riding/cycling for ya.

Yes of course, though pull over into a parking space which doesn't cause an obstruction or a hazard to other road users, and is also illegal to block a cycle lane...

cdaly_

grahambo wrote: »

I get what you are saying but at the same time, I'd rather them pull over and look at their phone rather than keep driving and look at it.

People need to be able to pull over. Clearly looking at a phone might not be that important.

There will always obstacles on the raod, ya just need to be ready for them I suppose.
Yeah it's a pain in the hole, but that city driving/riding/cycling for ya.

So, if they're going to stop and obstruct traffic to look at their phone, why not stop in their own lane? Why take the opportunity to put a whole other lane of traffic to inconvenience/danger?

AndrewJRenko

CatFromHue wrote: »

I'm fairly live and let live on this.

It can be annoying but when I'm walking on the path I have to sometimes step on the road to get around obstacles, when I'm driving I sometimes have to go into the other lane/side to get around an obstacle and I don't see why it shouldn't be the same when cycling in a cycle lane.

It's all about how you adapt to obstacles when out on the road.

Slow down, look over you shoulder to make sure it's safe, and then go around it.

So I presume you'll have no problem if all those cars and vans just stop in the driving lane instead of the cycling lane. They'll only be a few minutes, I promise. You can just get around them - no biggie, right?

PaulieC

grahambo wrote: »

I've said for years now that deliveries around the city centre should only be made between 9pm and 6am. The amount of traffic it would take off the road during rush hour would be huge.

So people who own small businesses and who work for larger businesses should be made come back into work during the night to take deliveries ? That doesn't seem too practical.

average_runner

Tenzor07 wrote: »

Solution is that Gardai are out on bikes, or foot ticketing motorists for parking in cycle lanes...

As you can see one car driver decides to stop and look at his phone and 20+ cyclists have to push out into the main traffic lane because of one person!

Be great if the gardai were out doing this and also could pull in a few of those cyclists in all black and no lights on their bikes in that clip!!

CatFromHue

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

So I presume you'll have no problem if all those cars and vans just stop in the driving lane instead of the cycling lane. They'll only be a few minutes, I promise. You can just get around them - no biggie, right?

In a lot of places where there is no cycle lane this happens and people are able to deal with it

Weepsie

CatFromHue wrote: »

In a lot of places where there is no cycle lane this happens and people are able to deal with it

An occasional instance of a vehicle pulling in somewhere in an open road, which is fairly rare in my experience, is different by to a repetitive instance of vehicles blocking cycle lanes.

It's a bad analogy.

when I'm driving I sometimes have to go into the other lane/side to get around an obstacle and I don't see why it shouldn't be the same when cycling in a cycle lane

In this earlier too. In road or on oath obstacles of course have to be dealt with, but they are often not there due to bad design. Obstacles in cycle lanes are there nearly exclusively due to bad design or because people think it's okay to inconvenience one type of road user consistently

Wishbone Ash

Weepsie wrote: »

An occasional instance of a vehicle pulling in somewhere in an open road, which is fairly rare in my experience, is different by to a repetitive instance of vehicles blocking cycle lanes.

It's a bad analogy....

I don't think it's a bad analogy. The vast majority of towns and villages throughout the country do not have cycle lanes but do have shops and other premises requiring deliveries and cyclists are able to manage. I don't think CatFromHue was referring to open roads.

magicbastarder

Weepsie wrote: »

Obstacles in cycle lanes are there nearly exclusively due to bad design or because people think it's okay to inconvenience one type of road user consistently

this is something i actually only copped recently - i live with a bus lane outside the front of the house. it's in operation 16:00-19:00, and people have no compunction in parking in it during the day.
however; it has an explicit 'red' cycle lane also; the cycle lane has a solid white line, which (someone correct me if i am wrong) means it is mandatory, i.e. cars are not allowed in it. the hours of operation for the bus lane do not apply to a mandatory cycle lane, do they?

07Lapierre

magicbastarder wrote: »

this is something i actually only copped recently - i live with a bus lane outside the front of the house. it's in operation 16:00-19:00, and people have no compunction in parking in it during the day.
however; it has an explicit 'red' cycle lane also; the cycle lane has a solid white line, which (someone correct me if i am wrong) means it is mandatory, i.e. cars are not allowed in it. the hours of operation for the bus lane do not apply to a mandatory cycle lane, do they?

Yes..that is correct (I think )