Petition launched to save £2m New Forest ‘Boris Bike’ scheme, set to be scrapped partly due to anti-cycling sentiment

I have lived and cycled in the New Forest all my life, more than 40yrs. My family have lived here for more than 150yrs. The people who complain about cyclists in this area do not represent my views at all and Ii suspect the vast majority are holiday home owners who arrive on a friday night in their 4x4s and get frustrated at not being able to charge round the forest roads in them due to the cycling events. There is very little working traffic at the weekend, it is all tourism. The ponies that are killed in accidents are killed by idiots driving over 40mph. These Nimbys should remember that William the Conqueror created the Forest as a sporting venue, therefore historically the sportives are more in keeping with its intended use than farming or keeping a fugging holiday home for spoilt brats!

Just a thought, but if all those who like to ride in this area were to leave their bikes at home for a weekend and drive their favorite routes instead, would the ensuing gridlock influence the views of that small but influential minority?

I'm not really surprised that this scheme has fallen flat.

I can't imagine a lot of New Forest locals using hire bikes. I don't know the area brilliantly but it doesn't seem like the kind of place where you might, for instance, get off a a train and use a hire bike for onward travel to your destination. Do oportunities for this sort of application exist in the New Forest? For those who wish to make standalone journey's by bike I would expect that owning a bike would be a more attractive option. Perhaps they would be used for the once-yearly pootle around the woods, avoiding the hassle of pumping up tyres and oiling chains but that's the only real use I can envisage by locals.

For the tourist market the scheme makes more sense. Taking a bike on holiday can be a hassle, especially if you don't plan to cycle extensively. You need to keep it safe overnight, get it in/on the car etc. etc. however if a real demand exists I would expect it to be filled by shops offering bike hire or other private schemes as we see in other areas poular with tourists. Tourists are unlikely to need to hire/return a bike in the middle of the night or to collect it from one location for a one-way journey to another so the shop-hire model seems well suited.

I'm in no way opposed to the scheme, I'm just not sure I understand the point of it.

I guess a New Forest Velothon is not on the cards then

Funny how other parts of the country can really embrace cycling (Yorkshire, Surrey, Wales, etc) but a few NIMBYs in the New Forest can derail really good ideas.

If I lived in that area I may be asking questions about how much money this has cost so far in preparing & submitting the bid, if they weren't serious about it?

I wonder what they find to occupy the time of John Lynn, cycling projects manager at NFPFA, if it isn't cycling projects?

There appear to be 4 aspects
“the financial viability of the scheme," which should have been fully considered by the authority & DfT in the bidding process, if not why not

"the recently emerged sentiment in the Forest towards cycling in the wake of large scale events,” irrelevant to a bike hire scheme and sentiment is never a good basis to reach such decisions on?

“insufficient confidence that the project would now be financially sustainable "" see first point, either economic conditions have changed or the bid was financially flawed in which case someone needs to won up and take the consequences

"or receive sufficient local support, and therefore be appropriate for the New Forest at this time.” Look at business case was it aimed at getting local bikes for local people or a genuine tourism initiative in which case again totally irrelevant

But unless Govt intervenes or the decision is challenged by judicial review I doubt they will change their minds

Critical Mass in the NF anyone?

Seriously though, although this sounds like a nice idea, I would like to be convinced that it would actually get much use.

It would probably also suffer more vandalism than the Boris bikes

Can we have the money for a scheme in the Yorkshire Dales please!

Signed.

In fairness, the New Forest is a lovely part of the country to cycle in. Yes, there's a couple of busy trunk roads through it which are best avoided, and places like Lyndhurst get ridiculously snarled up with traffic even at fairly quiet times, but there's miles of other far quieter roads to use which, in my experience of cycling there, are an absolute joy. Some tough hills too.

Besides, these bikes look like they're designed more for off-road than on-road use anyway, so presumably they won't bother the weekend locals blasting about in their BMW X5s?

Aren't these designed to be mostly used on the traffic-free off-road trails within the forest?

Lovely area,but i have never come across such a group of vicious people, to go to the lengths of covering the road with slurry, tacks etc, is something i have never come across before, the trouble is what will they do with time they spend organising all this mayhem if they do stop sportives move on to setting fire to holiday homes.

"In the New Forest a major anti-cycling sentiment...."

I doubt this very much. The opposition is from a small but very well organised group of people who are incapable of ever presenting a sensible reason for their anti-cycling rhetoric.

Unfortunately they make enough noise for it to have an effect, as demonstrated here.

The scheme sounds like a good idea, give it a go.

This seems absurdly self-defeating. What better way to deter the alleged high-speed risk-taking helmet-wearing wannabe-racers that upset locals than flooding the area with a load of cheerful casual relaxed upright-sitting hire-biking holiday-makers? Just look at the abuse for Boris bikers on certain "serious" cycling forums (including some road.cc discussions). This project could transform cycling in the New Forest and calm things down, but no, they'd rather keep the roads clear for racers.

It even hits local people who want to cycle to work or college, and especially those who would love to be one less in the time wasting, polluting and resource draining traffic jam that locks up the Western road approaches to Southampton daily. They are afraid to make daily cycle trips on the local roads.

The best thing for the New Forest would be a robust enforcement of the 40 mph speed limit, and management of the car parking which obstructs the movement of all traffic or causes other nuisance, and if there is a problem with large events that put a concentration of activity, then be more robust about regulating these rather than taking ill-judged action which suggests a lack of willingness and/or competence to tackle the actual issues.

Shame it's not possible to surround the area with barb wire and landmines. Lets keep people out, as long as the locals are kept in. Then they can play with their ponies and drive like nutters all day long and not have to worry.

Minds will be soon changed once tourist money stops rolling in, the local shops close down and the ponies become food sources.

I love the idea that the locals in opposition are actually concerned about the 'safety of on-road cycling', rather than their own convinence

I think you will find they are concerned about the safety of the cyclists from themselves and other locals.....

Having recently cycled around the New Forest and Hampshire for the first time, I cannot believe there aren't more fatalities. Bugger the Boris bikes, the only way I'll ever cycle there again is if I can have handlebar mounted machine guns. Hats off to all of you who cycle that area regularly, the locals are mental.

I love the idea that the locals in opposition are actually concerned about the 'safety of on-road cycling', rather than their own convenience.

Signed.

Of course it won't get local support, and that's exactly why it's needed.
The New Forest is traffic jam central this time of year but strangely enough you don't hear the bumpkins complaining vociferously about the number of cars, caravans etc. on the roads

Oh for f...