William Nicol eeek

[djvr]

kosmonooit, I have inside information on budget spending at Local government. Their priority list looks like this

 

 

 

1. oversea trips and fact finding missions

 

2. fixing potholes

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

169874598. providing cycle friendly paths

 

 

 

As you know they dont get to point 2 on their agenda. Dream on. This is not London. This is SA where the fatcats in parly dont look futher than their own pockets

[kosmonooit]

yes on a bike you get to notice all the grim detail of urban decay: what about all the open and bare mains cables in street light junction boxes that have had their covers redistributed? also mains sub boards as well. Basically any iron, esp. cast iron on the streets is fair game. World class city, right?

 

But thats only because we let it  happen.

kosmonooit2010-05-05 06:10:10

[scotty]

Long distances of cyle lane is not really required merely links between the suburbs and city centers the distance is small so not really conducive to training, i alternate my route to and from the N1 along Malibongwe and William Nichol which feeds traffic from the the suburbs out that way plus there are schools along the way which can easily become cyclist commute friendly. 

[HowellingWulf]

That is the lekker thing about cycling down Bowling Road. I stay in Sunninghill and work in Woodmead. Bowling road has a very wide sidewalk (if you can call it that) and cycling on it is a lot of fun because of all the construction, loose rocks, garbage,  holes, sand, rain damage, etc. Not recommended for road bike use though...

[kamikaze]

bike lane?

 

bike lane?

 

bike lane = exclusive taxi do what they want lane

 

 

 

i actually DONT want cycle lanes 'cause they'll build them on the verge and take away what is my playground.

 

joburg has some excellent single tracks on the side of the roads.

 

 

 

pfffft, like the goverment will spend money on a rich whiteman's sport in any way shape or form when they could rather buy another merc, go shopping in dubai with the extended family, or have a R8million banquet at one of their sandton homes....

 

 

 

do what i do:

 

hold onto taxi on uphills, free-ride the downhills, smile for the rest of the day

[Guest Big H]

yes on a bike you get to notice all the grim detail of urban decay: what about all the open and bare mains cables in street light junction boxes that have had their covers redistributed? also mains sub boards as well. Basically any iron' date=' esp. cast iron on the streets is fair game. World class city, right?

 

But thats only because we let it  happen.

[/quote']

 

I live in Nigeria..... where I see daily what things will be like in a few years to come down the line in RSA. This is called Lagos road in Benin City...... it used to be the main road to Lagos.

 

 

The really scary thing is that we only visit every four months. The visible decay in standards is really very scary. We have been doing this every three to four months since March 2005, so my reference framework is over a long period.

 

You guys there better wake up and start doing the real pro-active thing. I want to come and etire there in seven years from now!!!!!!

[kosmonooit]

Yes we have fallen into a apathetic lapse - what to do ....kosmonooit2010-05-05 07:07:57

[kamikaze]

how big H?

 

 

 

how do you explain to a proud person that he is making a balls-up of a job by spending all the money on himself and not planning ahead, and that he needs you to get it back on track?

[Andyr249]

I do not believe that Bike Lanes will work very well in South Africa. In Europe they work well where everything is within a reasonable distance. If you look at what is in a 1km radius of a place in London, Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris etc there is a tremendous amount. 1km in South Africa there is hardly anything in comparision. Places are close by in those cities, not here. Commuters in those cities do not have far to travel compared to in SA.

[Harry Potter]

Nice if we had a race track like Phakisa in Welkom. The track is 5km long and No traffic. 10 laps gives you 50km. Good luck commuters, you can only pray.

[Li Mu Bai]

 

Umm, you seem to forget that here in JHB there are no pavements. Those are actually taxi lanes (often used by other simple fools who cannot abide by the rules of the road)

 

JHB cant get taffic lights to work, or fix potholes, lobbying for cycle paths is as useful as having Julius in governenement...

 

 

As I see it a lot can be done for cycle paths on existing pavements which are unsued and unkept.

If  safe cycling passages are provided' date=' more people will commute by bike. Built it and they will come.

 

And its the right thing to do now.

[/quote']

 

 

 

[Slave]

I live in Alberton. They have some bike lanes there. The ones that are supposedly seperated from the roads by little concrete rumble things, is used more for a taxi drop off point that anything else. Where there are trees, these obstruct the path, where there are no trees, the paths are so full of loose sand, rubble and broken glass that riding there is akin to playing on the N1 with a super ball.

 

The big city of JHB have not cleaned the roads in how many years, or repaired them for that matter.

 

Now why on earth would they want to plan for and spend money on cycling lanes when there are far more important things to do.

 

Like misappropriate funds.

 

So while the masses might think they are free, I believe that the average person is far worse off today than they were 16 years ago.

 

And the stoopid idjits still vote for the con artists. Go figure.

 

This morning on my Commute, the traffic lights in the CBD are working. At every intersection on Rissik street, there is a metro cop doing point duty.

On Oxford road, there are almost no working traffic lights, and a lesser  number of metro cops. None.

 

Dumbasses.

 

 

[Gumpole]

 

I cycled from Bryanston to Rosebank this morning' date=' along William Nicol. What a horrendous experience.  No back roads because of road closures, and no verge onthe main road, no pavement.

 

Is there any organisation in Jhb that is active in and lobbying for cyclist rights here in terms of public roads?

 

When I was in London we had the London Cycling Campaign, they were doing good work: thats what we need here.  Action.

[/quote']

 

there are plenty of backroads, you just need to find a route...

a lot of the closed off roads have pedestrian gates (a squeeze to get through on a bike) or are open during peak traffic hours.

 

try crossing the river then riverclub/ parkmore/ sandhurst/ hydepark

 

[Slave]

William Nichol is probably a Kamikaze route to get to Rosebank anyway. Far too busy with motorised morons doing high speeds. You could maybe try Jan Smuts and get some good hill training in at the same time. Depends on where you are coming from  using William Nichol.

 

For the past three days I have commuted from Alberton to Melrose and back again in the afternoon / evening. Had a bit of a mishap on Central Avenue the other day with some Doris taking me off the bike. Fortunately, little damage to the bike and just a few roasties on the body.

[kosmonooit]

 

On the cycle back to pick up my bakkie at Mitsu Bryanston yesterday pm ,I did go mainly back roads, still a perilous endeavour with all the rat runners in SUV's yacking on cell phones. At least is was a nice day to be cycling. What freaks me out is that there are stretches on the main road where there is not even a path for pedestrians! They have made the road three lanes which and no path for anything else.

Our rights are being infringed: and its not only a whitey issue: there are quite a few black cyclists who commute, and of course many on foot. The culture of placid acceptance is a shame: most of these northern suburbs have DA councillors who should be making a noise about this, and I am going to write to all concerned.?

kosmonooit2010-05-06 02:22:25

[covie]

Kosmonooit yelling at a dingbat just uses energy and cuases frustration, I feel sorry for anyone in the DA since ultimatly they get most of their maintenance budgets from the central guv ment. And I garuntee you the DA is not on the top of the list when budgets get scoped.