djs76
Conductor
Posts: 104
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Post by djs76 on Jul 4, 2024 6:03:55 GMT
Go on any cycling forum and the general view will be that far more cycling facilities are needed in Central London. I now work near Tottenham Court Road and use both TCR and Holborn. For the past 2 months, every single working day (and I go in all days of the week), I have seen cyclists behaving very aggressively at various times of the day. Not just 1 or 2 bad eggs but entire sets of cyclists jump through red lights, shout at pedestrians for “getting in the way” (during pedestrian green phases if I may add!), showing the finger if told off etc etc. While driving I now have so many instances of cyclists jumping red lights or not following rules in general that I have stopped bothering recording dashcam footage (was a fairly regular contributor!) Please don’t start defending cyclists by saying that it’s only a minority of cyclists who evade traffic rules. If you spend even a few minutes in the area you will be shocked as to how poorly behaved / aggressive the cyclists are, and they are in packs, in humongous majority amongst the cyclists So yes, the Lycra louts deserve every bit of the bad reputation they get and some more. I am quite vehemently opposed to any new cycle lanes by now I was a regular cyclist between 2011 and when the pandemic hit, used to commute 3-4 days a week between Streatham and my office in Mayfair before relocating to Covent Garden. It was enjoyable when I first started but when cycling became more popular, I started enjoying it less and less. I used to obey the road laws, stopping at red lights etc, but saw a huge increase in cyclists I'm general and those that didn't seem to care about anyone else but themselves. On more than one occasion I had abuse shouted at me or suffered from aggressive driving by motorists that seem to tar all cyclists with the same brush. However it has become harder and harder to defend cyclists in London and I don't commute that way anymore because it became unpleasant. I myself almost got hit by a bike that jumped a red light near Blackfriars recently and then was on the receiving end of some foul mouthed abuse for not looking. The general feel towards cyclists hasn't been helped by the number of people using the various hire bikes available these days who just seem to think they rule the roads (and pavements!)
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Post by greenboy on Jul 4, 2024 6:26:34 GMT
I now work near Tottenham Court Road and use both TCR and Holborn. For the past 2 months, every single working day (and I go in all days of the week), I have seen cyclists behaving very aggressively at various times of the day. Not just 1 or 2 bad eggs but entire sets of cyclists jump through red lights, shout at pedestrians for “getting in the way” (during pedestrian green phases if I may add!), showing the finger if told off etc etc. While driving I now have so many instances of cyclists jumping red lights or not following rules in general that I have stopped bothering recording dashcam footage (was a fairly regular contributor!) Please don’t start defending cyclists by saying that it’s only a minority of cyclists who evade traffic rules. If you spend even a few minutes in the area you will be shocked as to how poorly behaved / aggressive the cyclists are, and they are in packs, in humongous majority amongst the cyclists So yes, the Lycra louts deserve every bit of the bad reputation they get and some more. I am quite vehemently opposed to any new cycle lanes by now I was a regular cyclist between 2011 and when the pandemic hit, used to commute 3-4 days a week between Streatham and my office in Mayfair before relocating to Covent Garden. It was enjoyable when I first started but when cycling became more popular, I started enjoying it less and less. I used to obey the road laws, stopping at red lights etc, but saw a huge increase in cyclists I'm general and those that didn't seem to care about anyone else but themselves. On more than one occasion I had abuse shouted at me or suffered from aggressive driving by motorists that seem to tar all cyclists with the same brush. However it has become harder and harder to defend cyclists in London and I don't commute that way anymore because it became unpleasant. I myself almost got hit by a bike that jumped a red light near Blackfriars recently and then was on the receiving end of some foul mouthed abuse for not looking. The general feel towards cyclists hasn't been helped by the number of people using the various hire bikes available these days who just seem to think they rule the roads (and pavements!) That's a good point about hire bikes and there have certainly been a lot of complaints in Beckenham about the number of lime hire bikes abandoned on the pavement.
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Post by ronnie on Jul 4, 2024 7:54:57 GMT
I now work near Tottenham Court Road and use both TCR and Holborn. For the past 2 months, every single working day (and I go in all days of the week), I have seen cyclists behaving very aggressively at various times of the day. Not just 1 or 2 bad eggs but entire sets of cyclists jump through red lights, shout at pedestrians for “getting in the way” (during pedestrian green phases if I may add!), showing the finger if told off etc etc. While driving I now have so many instances of cyclists jumping red lights or not following rules in general that I have stopped bothering recording dashcam footage (was a fairly regular contributor!) Please don’t start defending cyclists by saying that it’s only a minority of cyclists who evade traffic rules. If you spend even a few minutes in the area you will be shocked as to how poorly behaved / aggressive the cyclists are, and they are in packs, in humongous majority amongst the cyclists So yes, the Lycra louts deserve every bit of the bad reputation they get and some more. I am quite vehemently opposed to any new cycle lanes by now Who can say how many cyclists break the law but I suspect it is very much a minority and they are the ones who tend to get noticed. The term 'lycra lout' is a bit outdated, years ago it was probably only the alpha male who would contemplate cycling in London but as it's become safer it's attracted a lot more people including females and professional people including doctors, I can't believe they go from law abiding citizens to reckless lunatics when they get on a bike. There doesn't seem to be this stigma about cycling on the continent where cycling is very popular particularly with the Tour de France currently on. I would politely differ. What you say might be theoretically right (we are all law abiding people in general) but stand near TCR any day to watch the carnage unfold. Every signal break has at least 1 cyclist sailing through with no respect for the signal Even 49.9% is minority as an FYI . The point also is that a very vocal minority is more than enough to cause disruptions (aka the Lycra louts!). Am sure there are sensible cyclists somewhere but they are …. Hidden
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Post by capitalomnibus on Jul 4, 2024 10:17:23 GMT
Go on any cycling forum and the general view will be that far more cycling facilities are needed in Central London. I now work near Tottenham Court Road and use both TCR and Holborn. For the past 2 months, every single working day (and I go in all days of the week), I have seen cyclists behaving very aggressively at various times of the day. Not just 1 or 2 bad eggs but entire sets of cyclists jump through red lights, shout at pedestrians for “getting in the way” (during pedestrian green phases if I may add!), showing the finger if told off etc etc. While driving I now have so many instances of cyclists jumping red lights or not following rules in general that I have stopped bothering recording dashcam footage (was a fairly regular contributor!) Please don’t start defending cyclists by saying that it’s only a minority of cyclists who evade traffic rules. If you spend even a few minutes in the area you will be shocked as to how poorly behaved / aggressive the cyclists are, and they are in packs, in humongous majority amongst the cyclists So yes, the Lycra louts deserve every bit of the bad reputation they get and some more. I am quite vehemently opposed to any new cycle lanes by now They are a menace to society imo and hardly have respect for the majority of them. I would say less than 10% of them are decent cyclists. The rest are plain simple psycolists. Eleven cyclists a day fined for running red lights in London as police get tough on law-breaking ridersPolice are backing tougher laws to tackle cyclists who are a ‘danger’ to pedestrianswww.standard.co.uk/news/crime/cyclists-london-running-led-lights-met-police-crackdown-b1168569.html
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Post by ronnie on Jul 4, 2024 11:09:13 GMT
I now work near Tottenham Court Road and use both TCR and Holborn. For the past 2 months, every single working day (and I go in all days of the week), I have seen cyclists behaving very aggressively at various times of the day. Not just 1 or 2 bad eggs but entire sets of cyclists jump through red lights, shout at pedestrians for “getting in the way” (during pedestrian green phases if I may add!), showing the finger if told off etc etc. While driving I now have so many instances of cyclists jumping red lights or not following rules in general that I have stopped bothering recording dashcam footage (was a fairly regular contributor!) Please don’t start defending cyclists by saying that it’s only a minority of cyclists who evade traffic rules. If you spend even a few minutes in the area you will be shocked as to how poorly behaved / aggressive the cyclists are, and they are in packs, in humongous majority amongst the cyclists So yes, the Lycra louts deserve every bit of the bad reputation they get and some more. I am quite vehemently opposed to any new cycle lanes by now They are a menace to society imo and hardly have respect for the majority of them. I would say less than 10% of them are decent cyclists. The rest are plain simple psycolists. Eleven cyclists a day fined for running red lights in London as police get tough on law-breaking ridersPolice are backing tougher laws to tackle cyclists who are a ‘danger’ to pedestrianswww.standard.co.uk/news/crime/cyclists-london-running-led-lights-met-police-crackdown-b1168569.htmlI counted >11 cyclists running through red lights in my 8 min walk from the tube station (TCR) to the office If I were the police (or the council) I would start actively fining cyclists. Given the rate of non-compliance I would expect millions to be raked in within a few days. That would fill some of the funding gaps!
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Post by ronnie on Jul 4, 2024 12:44:46 GMT
I counted >11 cyclists running through red lights in my 8 min walk from the tube station (TCR) to the office If I were the police (or the council) I would start actively fining cyclists. Given the rate of non-compliance I would expect millions to be raked in within a few days. That would fill some of the funding gaps! As an update I actually counted how many cyclists stuck to obeying road rules vs violation during my 8 min walk from the office to the tube station during lunchtime Saw a staggering 25 or 26 cyclists going through red lights (and 1 riding on the pavement) from a sample set of ~30 cyclists. Some jumped through multiple red lights as well. There were 5 “well-behaved” cyclists who hung back at one set to go through the red lights at the next 2 Saw only 1 woman (who also went through red lights) with all the other violators being men across the age spectrum. There were 3 delivery bikes as well, including 1 who rode on the pavement Appreciate this is one observation but I see this every day multiple times, this was the first time I bothered to count Anyone saying a minority of cyclists violate rules needs both a specsavers test and basic math lessons!
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Post by Eastlondoner62 on Jul 4, 2024 12:57:03 GMT
I counted >11 cyclists running through red lights in my 8 min walk from the tube station (TCR) to the office If I were the police (or the council) I would start actively fining cyclists. Given the rate of non-compliance I would expect millions to be raked in within a few days. That would fill some of the funding gaps! As an update I actually counted how many cyclists stuck to obeying road rules vs violation during my 8 min walk from the office to the tube station during lunchtime Saw a staggering 25 or 26 cyclists going through red lights (and 1 riding on the pavement) from a sample set of ~30 cyclists. Some jumped through multiple red lights as well. There were 5 “well-behaved” cyclists who hung back at one set to go through the red lights at the next 2 Saw only 1 woman (who also went through red lights) with all the other violators being men across the age spectrum. There were 3 delivery bikes as well, including 1 who rode on the pavement Appreciate this is one observation but I see this every day multiple times, this was the first time I bothered to count Anyone saying a minority of cyclists violate rules needs both a specsavers test and basic math lessons! Can say this is the same nonsensical behaviour I see, a cyclist saw a red and started ploughing through until I stepped out onto the road and forced him to emergency stopped as the pedestrian crossing was green. Thankfully I anticipated such behaviour but others may not have.
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Post by WH241 on Jul 4, 2024 13:37:36 GMT
I counted >11 cyclists running through red lights in my 8 min walk from the tube station (TCR) to the office If I were the police (or the council) I would start actively fining cyclists. Given the rate of non-compliance I would expect millions to be raked in within a few days. That would fill some of the funding gaps! As an update I actually counted how many cyclists stuck to obeying road rules vs violation during my 8 min walk from the office to the tube station during lunchtime Saw a staggering 25 or 26 cyclists going through red lights (and 1 riding on the pavement) from a sample set of ~30 cyclists. Some jumped through multiple red lights as well. There were 5 “well-behaved” cyclists who hung back at one set to go through the red lights at the next 2 Saw only 1 woman (who also went through red lights) with all the other violators being men across the age spectrum. There were 3 delivery bikes as well, including 1 who rode on the pavement Appreciate this is one observation but I see this every day multiple times, this was the first time I bothered to count Anyone saying a minority of cyclists violate rules needs both a specsavers test and basic math lessons! Don’t tell cycling Mickey as in his eyes motorists are wrong and those riding bikes are perfect.
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Post by SILENCED on Jul 4, 2024 13:48:43 GMT
As an update I actually counted how many cyclists stuck to obeying road rules vs violation during my 8 min walk from the office to the tube station during lunchtime Saw a staggering 25 or 26 cyclists going through red lights (and 1 riding on the pavement) from a sample set of ~30 cyclists. Some jumped through multiple red lights as well. There were 5 “well-behaved” cyclists who hung back at one set to go through the red lights at the next 2 Saw only 1 woman (who also went through red lights) with all the other violators being men across the age spectrum. There were 3 delivery bikes as well, including 1 who rode on the pavement Appreciate this is one observation but I see this every day multiple times, this was the first time I bothered to count Anyone saying a minority of cyclists violate rules needs both a specsavers test and basic math lessons! Don’t tell cycling Mickey as in his eyes motorists are wrong and those riding bikes are perfect. Oh the bonnet jumper. How the guy was never convicted of perjury for that (edited?)video claiming he was hit by a car when a video from a car parked in the opposite direction clearly showed he jumped on the bonnet! Case dismissed!
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Post by vjaska on Jul 4, 2024 14:17:58 GMT
I counted >11 cyclists running through red lights in my 8 min walk from the tube station (TCR) to the office If I were the police (or the council) I would start actively fining cyclists. Given the rate of non-compliance I would expect millions to be raked in within a few days. That would fill some of the funding gaps! As an update I actually counted how many cyclists stuck to obeying road rules vs violation during my 8 min walk from the office to the tube station during lunchtime Saw a staggering 25 or 26 cyclists going through red lights (and 1 riding on the pavement) from a sample set of ~30 cyclists. Some jumped through multiple red lights as well. There were 5 “well-behaved” cyclists who hung back at one set to go through the red lights at the next 2 Saw only 1 woman (who also went through red lights) with all the other violators being men across the age spectrum. There were 3 delivery bikes as well, including 1 who rode on the pavement Appreciate this is one observation but I see this every day multiple times, this was the first time I bothered to count Anyone saying a minority of cyclists violate rules needs both a specsavers test and basic math lessons! This tallys with my own experiences and this is coming from a pedestrian who has nearly been hit by several cyclist when crossing on the green man. Most in Brixton run through the lights on a daily basis, only a few actually obey the rules. The worst place for recklessness from all sorts of road users though is the big junction by the town hall - a number of cyclists like to run the red light here, people try to cross at the widest point away from the crossings which did result in a decapitation of one pedestrian after being hit by both a lorry and a bus in the same instance not long ago and there is a banned left turn from Brixton Road into Coldharbour Lane that some motorists flout which has resulted in me having to stand in front of them and give them an earful previously.
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Post by enviroPB on Jul 4, 2024 15:57:20 GMT
Can I ask what happened to the charging scheme for route 69 at the Canning Town and Walthamstow stands? It feels as if it has quietly been dropped, in which case the 69 and 147 should revert to its previous standing arrangements. I assume drivers aren't too happy losing stand time by looping the bus station twice before serving the first stop.
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Post by WH241 on Jul 4, 2024 16:42:54 GMT
Can I ask what happened to the charging scheme for route 69 at the Canning Town and Walthamstow stands? It feels as if it has quietly been dropped, in which case the 69 and 147 should revert to its previous standing arrangements. I assume drivers aren't too happy losing stand time by looping the bus station twice before serving the first stop. The charging scheme would have been decommissioned years ago especially after the 69 was awarded standard electric buses in 2021 so not sure what you mean by quietly dropped.
Why should the 69 and 147 revert? The current arrangements work fine. The 147 drops off at the 309 stop and then proceeds to its stand and departs as normal. If the 69 was take the current 147 stand it would need to drop off passengers then double run to the stand as buses can't get to the stand from the last stop at the bus station. I am sure the 69 departure time takes into account the fact they have to double run to serve the first stop for departures towards Walthamstow.
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Post by greenboy on Jul 4, 2024 17:07:13 GMT
I now work near Tottenham Court Road and use both TCR and Holborn. For the past 2 months, every single working day (and I go in all days of the week), I have seen cyclists behaving very aggressively at various times of the day. Not just 1 or 2 bad eggs but entire sets of cyclists jump through red lights, shout at pedestrians for “getting in the way” (during pedestrian green phases if I may add!), showing the finger if told off etc etc. While driving I now have so many instances of cyclists jumping red lights or not following rules in general that I have stopped bothering recording dashcam footage (was a fairly regular contributor!) Please don’t start defending cyclists by saying that it’s only a minority of cyclists who evade traffic rules. If you spend even a few minutes in the area you will be shocked as to how poorly behaved / aggressive the cyclists are, and they are in packs, in humongous majority amongst the cyclists So yes, the Lycra louts deserve every bit of the bad reputation they get and some more. I am quite vehemently opposed to any new cycle lanes by now They are a menace to society imo and hardly have respect for the majority of them. I would say less than 10% of them are decent cyclists. The rest are plain simple psycolists. Eleven cyclists a day fined for running red lights in London as police get tough on law-breaking ridersPolice are backing tougher laws to tackle cyclists who are a ‘danger’ to pedestrianswww.standard.co.uk/news/crime/cyclists-london-running-led-lights-met-police-crackdown-b1168569.html I'm glad they are being fined just as drivers should be for running red lights but this is just the same old rhetoric really, people who don't cycle regard cyclists as a nuisance just as people who don't use buses often regard them as a nuisance!
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Post by mondraker275 on Jul 4, 2024 17:30:50 GMT
Can I ask what happened to the charging scheme for route 69 at the Canning Town and Walthamstow stands? It feels as if it has quietly been dropped, in which case the 69 and 147 should revert to its previous standing arrangements. I assume drivers aren't too happy losing stand time by looping the bus station twice before serving the first stop. The charging scheme would have been decommissioned years ago especially after the 69 was awarded standard electric buses in 2021 so not sure what you mean by quietly dropped.
Why should the 69 and 147 revert? The current arrangements work fine. The 147 drops off at the 309 stop and then proceeds to its stand and departs as normal. If the 69 was take the current 147 stand it would need to drop off passengers then double run to the stand as buses can't get to the stand from the last stop at the bus station. I am sure the 69 departure time takes into account the fact they have to double run to serve the first stop for departures towards Walthamstow. I have fallen foul of the additional time for buses to get to the first stop a couple of times for the SL2, which has a long way to go. I keep missing buses at the first stop, say the 6:30am bus because they are scheduled to leave 6:26 or something from the stand and as there is no traffic they are at the first stop 2-3 minutes early. On the 69, I always think about the charging every time I wait for the SL2 coincidently at bus stop E. It is weird that it went away and we are now trying the pantograph with the 358 which is in essence trying to solve the same problem.
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Post by LD71YLO (BE37054) on Jul 4, 2024 18:49:30 GMT
The charging scheme would have been decommissioned years ago especially after the 69 was awarded standard electric buses in 2021 so not sure what you mean by quietly dropped.
Why should the 69 and 147 revert? The current arrangements work fine. The 147 drops off at the 309 stop and then proceeds to its stand and departs as normal. If the 69 was take the current 147 stand it would need to drop off passengers then double run to the stand as buses can't get to the stand from the last stop at the bus station. I am sure the 69 departure time takes into account the fact they have to double run to serve the first stop for departures towards Walthamstow. I have fallen foul of the additional time for buses to get to the first stop a couple of times for the SL2, which has a long way to go. I keep missing buses at the first stop, say the 6:30am bus because they are scheduled to leave 6:26 or something from the stand and as there is no traffic they are at the first stop 2-3 minutes early. On the 69, I always think about the charging every time I wait for the SL2 coincidently at bus stop E. It is weird that it went away and we are now trying the pantograph with the 358 which is in essence trying to solve the same problem. Not quite the same problem. The 69's problem as I understand it was that there were no electric double deckers on the market at the time, and the virtual electric scheme was said to be more environmentally friendly than hybrids. Pure electric technology has advanced so much since 2016, so this technology have been rendered effectively redundant in London. However the 358's problem is that there were no electric single deckers on the market at the time which had a great enough range to run the whole route for an entire day without recharging (although I don't get this, surely a bus is out for fewer rounders on a longer route, so spends the same amount of time on the road?) and also to reduce emissions in manufacturing electric buses, as smaller batteries are required, which are more environmentally friendly to produce.
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