Can Johannesburg reinvent itself as Africa’s first cycle-friendly megacity

[Gandalf]

Would be super awesome to see more bicycle commuters.

[Bonus]

You are right, nothing sorts out a shitty day at the office like a good cycle home.

 

a good ride can fix anything! Even a bad ride fixes more things than most! :-)

[Catatonic_Joe]

sheesh,

 

I have 350 in, and 270 out, over 21kms each way total of 42 then

the afternoon feels like 500m, mainly because going up rustenburg road, and 1st ave in linden.

 

Edit: clarified total distances.

 

I started taking a detour everyday on my way home to get some extra mileage, down the Sentech hill and back up to Brixton on my way home. Do you commute on a Titan MTB by any chance?

[RocknRolla]

I started taking a detour everyday on my way home to get some extra mileage, down the Sentech hill and back up to Brixton on my way home. Do you commute on a Titan MTB by any chance?

 

nope, white on-one.

and my commute is very sporadic.

 

I try and do it as often as I can, but clients interfere significantly with my plans

[simpythegimpy2]

I would LOVE to see it but the current bike lanes (UJ-area) are not working and are unused...

 

Like Rea Vaya, this may be another great idea by the CoJ that's sunk by poor planning, bad routing and terrible implementation.

 

What exactly would you say is 'unused'. Because I use them all the time and I regularly see people using them. 100 odd years of urban, car-centric planning isn't going to get hordes of cyclists. These things take time. Long, long, long time.

[nonky]

What exactly would you say is 'unused'. Because I use them all the time and I regularly see people using them. 100 odd years of urban, car-centric planning isn't going to get hordes of cyclists. These things take time. Long, long, long time.

 

I agree that it will take time to undo Jhb's planning and car culture.  

 

By "unused", I mean that i never see anyone on the cycle lanes around Melville, Campus Sq, UJ and Auckland Park...

[sierrrd]

Last July I was in the Netherlands for the TDF. What was startling was to see groups of children and teenagers riding between villages in the evenings, not a care in the world. No thought given to physical or personal safety.

 

We can but dream.

 

How I grew up. Did 10k out, 10k in just to get to school. Got so fed up with the wind, that I started hitch-hiking. That escalated, as I hitch-hiked from The Netherlands to Cape Town a few years ago. 

 

Remembering Johannesburg, I respect you guys out there cycling to work. It's the first step. You show a need. And if you know anyone with close ties to the government, get them to learn about Strava Metro, so they can see where the need is great.