Silly Commuting Protest

Initialised

So...

Who turned up today?

10,000 pedal for action in biggest bike protest



I couldn't due to being ~300 miles away riding up some hills in County Durham

optimisticbiker

Wanted to go, but SWMBO wouldn't give me a pass as I'm on a training ride tomorrow and had to do other stuff today...

suzyb

Snap http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-e ... e-17880541

iPete

Yup, was wet and cold for a good 5 hours! Didn't plan for the fact it was going to be walking pace! but still found the energy to go the long way around RP on the way home. :twisted:

Impressive Scottish turnout and kind of funny that it was sunny up there and pissing wet in London

This image astounds me, it was hard to get a sense of scale from ground level.


The Big Ride - so many cyclists by beenbrun, on Flickr
From: http://ibikelondon.blogspot.co.uk/2012/ ... -ride.html

Ben6899

A great way to ease tensions between cyclists and motorists.

iPete

Ben6899 wrote:

A great way to ease tensions between cyclists and motorists.

:roll:

A great way to get all mayoral candidates to add political weight to the cycling agenda.

You'll also find some parts of embankment were closed, ride or no ride and given one stretch has seen 2 fatalities in as many weeks, not such a bad thing it was closed for a few hours!

Ben6899

iPete wrote:

Ben6899 wrote:

A great way to ease tensions between cyclists and motorists.

:roll:

A great way to get all mayoral candidates to add political weight to the cycling agenda.

It's a fine line, mate.

Tell me honestly that you don't think this will have p1ssed off 90% of drivers and then you can roll your eyes.

iPete

Honestly?

:roll:

Apart from the initial traffic caused by people crossing from Hyde Park to Park lane i]with the green man[/i there wasn't much disruption. The Blackfriars underpass being closed caused more traffic and I'd wager a Sky ride causes more chaos.

It was a wet wet Saturday in the city; you can't take away from the fact 10,000 people turning up from all backgrounds and all of the positive news stories since puts this on the right side of your fine line.

Edit. Can't put it better than Cyclist in the Cities latest blog:

In fact, I reckon that the majority of Londoners aren't that fussed about 10,000 people pitching up on bikes in the middle of the capital. What they're worrying about is the fact that there's a massive tail back on the A4 this morning because the Hammersmith flyover is closed. 

http://cyclelondoncity.blogspot.co.uk/2 ... s.html?m=1

DonDaddyD

So this is why it took three hours to get across London yesterday. Another bicycle protest. Bloody cyclists. These protests are almost as frequent as tube strikes.

veronese68

DonDaddyD wrote:

So this is why it took three hours to get across London yesterday. Another bicycle protest. Bloody cyclists. These protests are almost as frequent as tube strikes.

Should've gone by bike. ;-)
It was a wet Saturday. It wasn't in the middle of the week so not that many people would have been inconvenienced. It was a properly organised ride to raise awareness without causing maximum chaos. I'm all in favour of it and don't see what the problem is.

DonDaddyD

It was a wet Saturday. It wasn't in the middle of the week so not that many people would have been inconvenienced.

How do you come by that logic, do we suddenly stop doing things of importance during the weekend? I work to fund (provide) a good personal life/style. I would argue that my personal life (encompassed by friends, family, loved ones, hobbies etc) is more important. Therefore I would rather be inconvenienced during the week - just saying...

It was a properly organised ride to raise awareness without causing maximum chaos. I'm all in favour of it and don't see what the problem is.

Personally, I think something positive and inclusive like the London Freewheel/Skyride does more for raising awareness to cycling. Than something fundamentally negative like a protest. Just saying....

rick_chasey

DonDaddyD wrote:

It was a wet Saturday. It wasn't in the middle of the week so not that many people would have been inconvenienced.

How do you come by that logic, do we suddenly stop doing things of importance during the weekend? I work to fund (provide) a good personal life/style. I would argue that my personal life (encompassed by friends, family, loved ones, hobbies etc) is more important. Therefore I would rather be inconvenienced during the week - just saying...

It was a properly organised ride to raise awareness without causing maximum chaos. I'm all in favour of it and don't see what the problem is.

Personally, I think something positive and inclusive like the London Freewheel/Skyride does more for raising awareness to cycling. Than something fundamentally negative like a protest. Just saying....

You wouldn't be inconvenienced on Saturday or just generally on your bike if conditions were better for cycling .

jonginge

Whole swathes of london were closed off for the marathon the week before #justsaying

PT always does maintenance at the weekends and over public holidays because it inconveniences fewer people. Those fewer people get more p!ssed off, for sure, but it's a numbers game.

bigmat

I was there - showing some visitors the tourist sights of London in the p***ing rain. I found the cycle protest slightly embarassing. It wasn't clear what they were protesting about, just that they were making a big fuss about something by riding very slowly with a whole load of hi-viz going on. Just another protest really, alongside the Malaysian human rights protest we saw, and the Ugandan protest we saw - I'm guessing those guys had rather more to complain about. Still, I'm sure it had a point and all looked very peaceful and well organised.

rjsterry

DonDaddyD wrote:

So this is why it took three hours to get across London yesterday. Another bicycle protest. Bloody cyclists. These protests are almost as frequent as tube strikes.

<shrugs> If you're daft enough to drive through central London in the middle of the day...

For comparison it often takes us more than an hour (sometimes 1½hrs) to do the 20-odd miles out to the M4/M25 to head to Bristol when there's a race on at Kempton Park. That's just a single, normal everyday sporting event that f***s up most of outer west London. A Chelsea match clogs up everything within a 2-mile radius for an afternoon. Stuff the inconvenience.

The sheer volume of people - clearly not just a handful of lycra-fetishists like us lot - shows that this is an inclusive movement. I'd guess a majority of those at the ride also drive cars, so let's drop this ridiculous cars vs. bikes thing.

iPete

rjsterry wrote:

The sheer volume of people - clearly not just a handful of lycra-fetishists like us lot - shows that this is an inclusive movement. I'd guess a majority of those at the ride also drive cars, so let's drop this ridiculous cars vs. bikes thing.

Amen.

And in the build up to the ride five of the key mayoral candidates agreed to endorse the movement. Just saying...
http://lcc.org.uk/articles/johnson-narr ... ch-demands

DonDaddyD

It's not a car vs bike thing. On that day I found it an inconvenience. I said nothing about the impact the protest had.

It does seem that there are a lot more bicycle related protests happening. Now I'm all one for protests but seriously wasn't there one like a month ago?

mybreakfastconsisted

There were no reports of long delays for motorists, what was your route that took three hours? Driving into central London on a Saturday isn't sensible if you don't like traffic jams.

The protest was about people dying, not shopping trips being delayed.

rjsterry

DonDaddyD wrote:

It's not a car vs bike thing. On that day I found it an inconvenience. I said nothing about the impact the protest had.

It does seem that there are a lot more bicycle related protests happening. Now I'm all one for protests but seriously wasn't there one like a month ago?

Well, that's for a number of reasons: The Times has put it's weight behind cycling; the mayoral/GLA elections are coming up; the numbers of cyclists are reaching a level where we are on a par (demographically) with other road users. There are probably more. I hesitate to use the term critical mass as it has other connotations, but I think that is what we are seeing.

DonDaddyD

rjsterry wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

It's not a car vs bike thing. On that day I found it an inconvenience. I said nothing about the impact the protest had.

It does seem that there are a lot more bicycle related protests happening. Now I'm all one for protests but seriously wasn't there one like a month ago?

Well, that's for a number of reasons: The Times has put it's weight behind cycling; the mayoral/GLA elections are coming up; the numbers of cyclists are reaching a level where we are on a par (demographically) with other road users. There are probably more. I hesitate to use the term critical mass as it has other connotations, but I think that is what we are seeing.

I just think there are other more productive ways to get people to accept cycling and cyclists on the road. Equally I think there are other ways to get motorists to 'think bike' and cyclist to be more responsible on their bikes. For me protests exude a negative qualifier which the mass are protesting against.

It just seems that there is more negativity surrounding cycling (commuting) than there is positivity. (I trust you have noted my increasing issue with those that continually post incidents on youtube). Every news report, article, social movement usually revolves around the great deabte of cycling safety or the motorists-cyclists war. Honestly when was the last time something truly fun was done for commuters?

I fear commuting is becoming an angry man's past time...

veronese68

DonDaddyD wrote:

It's not a car vs bike thing. On that day I found it an inconvenience. I said nothing about the impact the protest had.

The inconvenience to you and your family doesn't have a major cost to businesses. Blocking roads in the middle of the week does. It's not all about you, get over yourself.

jonginge

Tweed Run is next weekend. Not commuting but fun nonetheless

EKE_38BPM

DonDaddyD wrote:

I fear commuting is becoming an angry man's past time...

And you've got it on lock!
Are you teething?

mybreakfastconsisted

Those notorious tree-hugging lentil- wearers at the CBI estimate congestion costs us £20bn a year.

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/p ... /21805.htm

Cyclists can lobby, write letters, attend meetings and yet insane stuff like this still happens:

http://www.journallive.co.uk/north-east ... -30806136/

Hit a cyclist in broad daylight and kill him and the justice system treats it with a shrug.

veronese68

DonDaddyD wrote:

Honestly when was the last time something truly fun was done for commuters?

At the risk of over-simplification isn't that kind of what the whole thing was asking for?

DonDaddyD

Veronese,

The protest was an inconvenience to me. I'm not sure why I should get over myself or how in doing so it would stop the protest being an inconvenience to me.

I like commuting the way it is. I find it fun. I'll be honest I found it more fun pre-super highway but post London Freewheel. So 2006-07 I think.

Anyway, what I'm saying is that when ever I see publicity or media involving commuters it is often negative, that is a downer.

It's all I' saying. Well that and is protesting really the best way, isn't there anything else that we could do that coudl get the same effect?

notsoblue

DonDaddyD wrote:

It's not a car vs bike thing. On that day I found it an inconvenience. I said nothing about the impact the protest had.

It does seem that there are a lot more bicycle related protests happening. Now I'm all one for protests but seriously wasn't there one like a month ago?

How is this different from the kind of disruption that happens every time there is a home game at a Central London football ground? I used to live right by Fulham and it was chaos a dozen times a year.

DonDaddyD

On those days I find it an inconvenience too. Bloody football games, fans are hooligans the lot of em!

veronese68

OK, I retract the get over yourself, a little harsh. Sorry.
What I mean is that they have organised it to minimise inconvenience, there are various protest, marches, rallies or events most weekends. The skyride probably causes more inconvenience as I think it takes longer and covers a greater distance. Not sure so I may be wrong.
You have said before that you are happy cycling on the road, as am I. But many aren't. I know a lot of people that would be more inclined to cycle if they felt safer. They don't look at videos on YouTube or most of the stuff that we read. They just don't feel safe. My 13 year old is now riding to school and I would be happier if there were better facilities for him. So, it's for these people that I support this kind of protest.
I'm not trying to get into a slanging match, contrary to appearances.

notsoblue

DonDaddyD wrote:

Honestly when was the last time something truly fun was done for commuters?

I fear commuting is becoming an angry man's past time...

Have you ever been on a cycle protest, DDD? Not a single angry commuter man to be seen. Its usually all smiles.

DonDaddyD

No slanging match. Which is why I've tried to keep things civil.

I get your point and London (everywhere but East London it seems) is could easily become oversubscribed with cyclist and that needs addressing because the congestion could quickly become dangerous.

So I do recognise and acknowledge the need to address the issue even if I do prefer to bomb along the road at 20. It's harder to do so now due to the volume of vehicles (including bikes) on the road.

My only point is to question whether protesting and reports on how dangerous cycling can be the best way to raise awareness to our needs while at the same time encouraging more people to ride their bikes?