Cycling infrastructure. A pipe dream

[Mamil]

Imagine instead of battling to keep a dysfunctional railway system running in Cape Town, we converted the railway network into a bicycle highway. 

Sure we would need to devote resources to security but that would be a fraction of the cost of failing to maintain it in the way we currently do. 

 

[Shebeen]

so much of the prasa land could include a cycle track alongside the rail. it's the many pinch points that would need work.

 

full scale conversion to zero rail is definitely a pipedream

 

[gemmerbal]

16 hours ago, Shebeen said:

so much of the prasa land could include a cycle track alongside the rail. it's the many pinch points that would need work.

 

full scale conversion to zero rail is definitely a pipedream

 

what's an even bigger pipe dream is that the taxi associations will ever allow the rail system to function properly

Edited September 28, 2021 by gemmerbal

[Eugene]

Jip... It's a pipe dream. Most cyclists in SA seem to prefer risking their lives on busy roads than using the cycle paths. 

[Danger Dassie]

18 hours ago, Eugene said:

Jip... It's a pipe dream. Most cyclists in SA seem to prefer risking their lives on busy roads than using the cycle paths. 

Oh? 
Proportionally how many cycle paths are there within road infrastructure? Of those that are, how many are actually usable in a safe manner? 
 

[TNT1]

18 hours ago, Eugene said:

Most cyclists in SA seem to prefer risking their lives on busy roads than using the cycle paths. 

Really?

 

Please come show me the cycle paths on the east rand.

[Shebeen]

35 minutes ago, TNT1 said:

Really?

 

Please come show me the cycle paths on the east rand.

east rand psycopath you say?

 

[Shebeen]

oh, cyclists are also not first in line.

 

These guys in Siyahlala need to be moved first

 

 

Cape Town - Residents from the informal settlements established in between Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) railway tracks have expressed mixed feelings over plans to relocate them to Stellenbosch.

This after the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) said it had identified land in efforts to assist with the relocation of the Siyahlala informal settlement in Langa, Eyadini in Philippi, and Nonqubela in Khayelitsha.

More than 7 500 families live in these communities, which were established from 2019 after the Central Line corridor, the busiest in the province, came to a halt.

Zara Nicholson, spokesperson to DPWI Minister Patricia de Lille said an valuation process of the parcel in Stellenbosch was expected to be completed around August 20 and the valuation report will then be submitted to the new Land Affairs Board for assessment and approval.

 

lekker

[The Ouzo]

44 minutes ago, TNT1 said:

Really?

 

Please come show me the cycle paths on the east rand.

we dont need cycle paths on the east rand, we are hard out here, we sommer cycle on the highway bru

[Mamil]

20 minutes ago, Shebeen said:

oh, cyclists are also not first in line.

 

These guys in Siyahlala need to be moved first

 

 

Cape Town - Residents from the informal settlements established in between Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) railway tracks have expressed mixed feelings over plans to relocate them to Stellenbosch.

This after the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) said it had identified land in efforts to assist with the relocation of the Siyahlala informal settlement in Langa, Eyadini in Philippi, and Nonqubela in Khayelitsha.

More than 7 500 families live in these communities, which were established from 2019 after the Central Line corridor, the busiest in the province, came to a halt.

Zara Nicholson, spokesperson to DPWI Minister Patricia de Lille said an valuation process of the parcel in Stellenbosch was expected to be completed around August 20 and the valuation report will then be submitted to the new Land Affairs Board for assessment and approval.

 

lekker

Holy Guacamole

Talk about a pipe dream with a burst pipe

[NickGM]

1 hour ago, Shebeen said:

oh, cyclists are also not first in line.

These guys in Siyahlala need to be moved first

Good luck. Siyahlala literally means "We are sitting/staying". 

[NickGM]

On 9/27/2021 at 8:16 PM, Mamil said:

Imagine instead of battling to keep a dysfunctional railway system running in Cape Town, we converted the railway network into a bicycle highway. 

Sure we would need to devote resources to security but that would be a fraction of the cost of failing to maintain it in the way we currently do. 

 

Nice to see some positive ideas about this.

I'm battling to find a decent link to it, but there is an incredible success story about how the mayor of Bogota managed to completely turn transport in the city around by implementing car free days. I think he started it with a trial one sunday, and people loved it so much that it is now a permanent fixture, and also implemented permanently (not just Sundays) in some parts of the city.  This lead to a massive uptake in cycling once people realized it was a far nicer commute than in car. 

Here's the gist of it:

https://www.welovecycling.com/wide/2018/05/30/every-sunday-the-streets-of-bogota-belong-to-bicycles/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciclovía

The public open spaces between inhabited areas and the paths that connect them have existed from since before we were walking upright. These should be nice social areas where you bump into people you may know, or make friends with strangers. The advent of cars has ruined a large part of those areas. I acknowledge that life is such that we now can't get by without them, but they are also a terribly anti-social and dangerous mode of transport. It's not that different from this:

And people say "this will never work", "Not in RSA", "This place is going to the dogs" etc. One doesn't have to live in a Melbourne or Stockholm or Amsterdam for something like this to work. Bogota was a city with a lot of the exact same problems we have: huge wealth inequality, terrible violence, bad traffic, etc. But they started doing this and now a huge proportion of their population commute via bike every day. The (now) former mayor goes from city to city spreading the gospel.

It can be done if local government get behind it and civilians area not apathetic about it. It's worth a try anyway. OK I'm off to sing Kumbaya and smoke the peace pipe.  

[Pure Savage]

We should just do what the UK is doing for bike transport, reducing the supply of petrol and forcing people to get out of their cars.

 

 

[DieselnDust]

a more likely and plausible scenario is the conversion of the rail network into a BRT lane or Taxi highway.

[DieselnDust]

8 minutes ago, Pure Savage said:

We should just do what the UK is doing for bike transport, reducing the supply of petrol and forcing people to get out of their cars.

 

 

The UK is not reducing the supply of petrol, there is enough petrol. Some service stations are full and have been for days while others are experiencing panic buying

Edited September 29, 2021 by DieselnDust

[Mamil]

Our whole civilisation is like a smoker who knows that every cigarette he lights is killing him. But he keeps on chain smoking.

I seriously believe the bicycle, particularly the refinement of ebike technology is a significant part of the answer.

 

Edited September 29, 2021 by Mamil