Mayor Mashaba to abandon bicycle lanes...

[i24]

Use the lanes, fight for the lanes by picking up a telephone and speaking to the local authorities / councilors, etc and voice your opinion .... use social media, but do not do nothing about it!

 

If you compare the traffic on the M3 in Cape Town during school holidays, verses the traffic during term time, it is grid lock verses free flowing. Every school uniform in a car represents four trips per day for the driver. To school and back in the morning and again at home time. Now if we could get all the scholars on bicycles, think how much better the traffic would flow! But first, we need effective safe cycle paths.

 

Which is a better investment, cycle paths, or widening the M3 with an extra lane? Doing cycle paths right is difficult. But that does not mean we should give up doing them at all.

[GLuvsMtb]

If you compare the traffic on the M3 in Cape Town during school holidays, verses the traffic during term time, it is grid lock verses free flowing. Every school uniform in a car represents four trips per day for the driver. To school and back in the morning and again at home time. Now if we could get all the scholars on bicycles, think how much better the traffic would flow! But first, we need effective safe cycle paths.

 

Which is a better investment, cycle paths, or widening the M3 with an extra lane? Doing cycle paths right is difficult. But that does not mean we should give up doing them at all.

The short term answer is to get the Myciti routes to the schools and back close to home for these kids. Rather subsidize bus fares than plough funds into bike lanes. Buses can get operational fairly quickly while lanes and stops are built (they had temp stops on the West Coast for a couple of years before the roadworks and permanent stops came into being). The challenge for municipalities is that they have 2 years to prove to their voter base that they are deserving of their national and provincial vote. They'll basically get half way with the bike lanes before elections roll around and then have to defend the spend on bike paths during an election campaign.

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

The short term answer is to get the Myciti routes to the schools and back close to home for these kids. Rather subsidize bus fares than plough funds into bike lanes. Buses can get operational fairly quickly while lanes and stops are built (they had temp stops on the West Coast for a couple of years before the roadworks and permanent stops came into being). The challenge for municipalities is that they have 2 years to prove to their voter base that they are deserving of their national and provincial vote. They'll basically get half way with the bike lanes before elections roll around and then have to defend the spend on bike paths during an election campaign.

THIS. 

 

The voices here (wynberg) against the extension are very loud and completely vicious in their personal attacks on anyone saying it's a good thing. It NEEDS to happen. 

[scotty]

As mentioned,pick your battles

 

Johannesburg - Under the Democratic Alliance, the city of Johannesburg would do away with the construction of bicycle lanes, while the Johannesburg Metro Police Department has been be instructed to desist from “harassing” residents who owed e-toll fees, mayor Herman Mashaba said on Tuesday.

“In our city there will be no co-operation between JMPD and Sanral on e-tolls, and I have received a commitment from the JMPD that there will be no harassment of our motorists about outstanding e-toll payments,” Mashaba said to a loud round of applause as he delivered his acceptance speech during a council meeting.

http://www.iol.co.za/motoring/industry-news/cops-wont-harass-e-toll-defaulters-mashaba-2067679

[Duane_Bosch]

The most dangerous people on SA roads are bakery delivery drivers.

As a biker. White women in SUV's. There I said it.

[mudda]

I avoid the sandton cycle lanes ... its too dangerous and actually ends up going nowhere ... I would not recommend them to any cyclist.

 

There are many options to use to cycle to sandton and none of them need a cycle lane, but do require a MTB to be safe... a road bike is useless for that commute.

 

They should focus on cycling from the townships to places of work and school  and how to make it safe for the poor and those that only use bicycles as transport  ...

 

I was in roodepoort the other day, and there were loads of commuters ...it actually surprised me at the amount.. if they ever need a study, I would start there.

[Danger Dassie]

Very narrow minded to ignore the cycle lanes because of the previous administration and to make the statement "maybe when all roads are tarred" is patently stupid. 

Sure, suspend further rollout pending some kind of audit or review. But don't kick the entire project and ignore what's currently in place. 
It's not perfect, but it's something that takes time (Holland took 40 years) there are sections that work pretty well and forms an arterial route to a few of the lower income areas and town. 

Can't help but think this is more of a political football between the dicks up top, meanwhile it's the constituents that deal with the fall out.

[kosmonooit]

Lets get back to Jhb 'cycle' lanes, I drive the roads that have them quite often all times of the day, (Braamies, Brixton, Auckland Park) I have yet to see a cyclist on them. I drive because I have to, work related.

 

Its not a case of build it and they will come. The intention might have been good (to an extent) but the fundamental problems are:

 

1) They were not constructed on routes that were being used in anyway by commuters in any significant numbers

 

2) They were constructed on existing roads, narrowing traffic and frustrating drivers. Most of the time in Braamies they were being parked on. All whilst pavement space is abundant and unused but some nincompoop bureaucrat could only conceive of bike lanes as being part of a road. As long as they are, people will not cycle, here anyway. Everyone knows who dangerous it is, even in a car.

 

3) The flow of the lanes were not thought through properly, they are not contiguous, like when they approach a busy intersection, there is no provision for cyclists crossing, the lanes simply disapear.

 

This is despite 100's of millions of public Rands being spent. My hunch is that this all went on clueless 'consultants' (with BEE credentials no doubt), or Oom Van's pals,  and the net result was some green paint on the road but hey the Mayor could now claim there are bike lanes in Jhb! And they are Green! Go Green! And other people involved suffer from acute small mindedness and lack of connection to reality, and one too many sweetheart relationships between parties involved.

 

There was no real consultation, yes they had a few big chin-wags, and all of a sudden every one is an eggspurt on the subject, but they didn't ask or listen to anyone who had any real insight.

[kosmonooit]

I avoid the sandton cycle lanes ... its too dangerous and actually ends up going nowhere ... I would not recommend them to any cyclist.

 

There are many options to use to cycle to sandton and none of them need a cycle lane, but do require a MTB to be safe... a road bike is useless for that commute.

 

They should focus on cycling from the townships to places of work and school  and how to make it safe for the poor and those that only use bicycles as transport  ...

 

I was in roodepoort the other day, and there were loads of commuters ...it actually surprised me at the amount.. if they ever need a study, I would start there.

 

 

That is so true, I avoid all traffic like the plague here in general, even when I am driving (back roads and speed bumps all the way). On my bike, if there is a pavement I will use it. And I always give way to pedestrians.

 

Another very busy bike route is coming out of Tembisa south in the early mornings. Yet they build some totally useless flagship project where no one cycles. #clueless

[mudda]

Yeah - this sums it up ...  we about 80 years away

 

https://youtu.be/Lceg9Md9sTI

[kosmonooit]

London has been moving forward with separate / dedicated lanes, wasn't like that when I spent a year there in 1999/2000 commuting  40 k's a day from West London to South Ken, cycle lanes where painted strips of the side of the road, no dedicated lanes, and intersections (esp, roundabouts) were lethal. Only the hard core took to the pedals.Many of my fellow students really wanted to cycle but it was too dangerous.

 

So its a process, but one needs people with long term vision and suss driving it and at the helm, not political opportunists. What has been achieved by Jhb with the R100's of millions spent? Few politicos have sounded off about how green they are, a few 'consultants' have got rich, and we have some useless green paint on already congested and dangerous roads.

 

btw opening tune on that vid is Bonobo - Flutter

 

Copenhagen has it sorted

 

 

and the Scotts are moving forward

 

[Tumbleweed]

R70-million - that is how much will be saved, according to The Star.

[GLuvsMtb]

I think Mashaba played it well. The bike lane thing could have turned into another toiletgate saga. Like others said on here... pick your battles.

[GLuvsMtb]

London has been moving forward with separate / dedicated lanes, wasn't like that when I spent a year there in 1999/2000 commuting  40 k's a day from West London to South Ken, cycle lanes where painted strips of the side of the road, no dedicated lanes, and intersections (esp, roundabouts) were lethal. Only the hard core took to the pedals.Many of my fellow students really wanted to cycle but it was too dangerous.

 

So its a process, but one needs people with long term vision and suss driving it and at the helm, not political opportunists. What has been achieved by Jhb with the R100's of millions spent? Few politicos have sounded off about how green they are, a few 'consultants' have got rich, and we have some useless green paint on already congested and dangerous roads.

 

btw opening tune on that vid is Bonobo - Flutter

 

Copenhagen has it sorted

 

 

and the Scotts are moving forward

 

The Cities you mentioned needed to get their public transport system sorted before they could progress to greener alternatives. We first need to get the roads sorted in the townships, then find a way to demonopolise the taxi industry (In CT they have shares in MyCiti if I remember correctly, otherwise it would never have worked) and then only can we deal with things like bike lanes, encouraging car-pooling etc. to reduce the carbon footprint.

[Edition 507]

Bicycle lanes are a f**ken joke and are such a waste of money!

Firstly, who rides a frikkin bike in town? Nobody! People don't commute on bikes in JHB and no one in his right mind goes to the city to train!

Secondly, it makes for an awesome parking spot, particularly for taxis around Braamies and Wits area, rendering them pretty much useless.

Thirdly, because they are not used by 'normal' traffic, all the debris, glass and other sh!t does not get swept away and it becomes a puncture nightmare. I prefer to ride in the road rather than the bike lane much to the annoyance of the motorists and risk to me.

[Pure Savage]

I think Mashaba played it well. The bike lane thing could have turned into another toiletgate saga. Like others said on here... pick your battles.

 

Glad I live in Cape Town