Weeks of Manchester traffic misery could be solved by cycling, say campaigners

I've been to quite a few of the city council's Cycle Forum meetings. Everyone is welcome and you usually find councillors, council officers, TfGM representatives and representatives from local cycling and campaigning groups.

For a while I found the meetings quite positive, reassured by pro-utility-cycling rhetoric - the council gets it, they do care, things are getting better! And then I paused to wonder what has actually changed in the time I've been in Manchester (and attending meetings)? Even the Metrolink hoardings feature adverts about things improving for cycling. But on the road, nothing's got better and a *lot* of things are worse. Oxford Road is taking forever. Upper Brook Street is more dangerous and less pleasant than ever. The city centre is grim and showing no signs of improvement. Cycle lanes have actually been removed from St Peters Square and Princess Street. Portland Street is a nightmare with no planned provision for cycling. Developments like media-city spring up with no thought for cycling facilities (and no, I don't include the "Hubs" as improvements - the main expensive Piccadilly hub isn't even open past 17:00 at the weekend). Will NOMA be any better?

Millions spent on Metrolink and station refurbs, but cyclists are expected to live on crumbs from the table and "jam tomorrow". It's no wonder hardly anyone cycles. The lack of cycle infrastructure is bad enough, but the council's hypocrisy is salt in cyclists' wounds.

Ah yes. The Manchester Cycle Forum. You too can spend two hours every three months getting fobbed off with excuses and comments along the lines of "look how much money we spent" and "we'll ignore that at the next planning review".

It's not just about the money. It's about how it's spent. bikeboy76's comment about road surfaces is particularly pertinent. Also some of the "bike" stuff on Wilmslow Road is positively dangerous, and does bugger all the address the dangerous bits that are Still. Bloody. There. One small positive - the paintwork on the Moseley Road junction.

Sod 'em. Haven't used it for months. I prefer to mix it with rush hour traffic on a dual carriageway. It's faster and safer and way more fun.

Here's an open offer for TfGM. I'll take a day off work, and they can spend a day riding with me between Lapwing Lane and Deansgate. It's about twenty minutes each way, and there's coffee shops either end. Also four bike shops and a Minor Injuries Unit for running repairs. Six hours of dodging left hooks, T bones, double parking, vehicles parked in bike lanes, close passes, suicidal pedestrians, road surfaces that make you wonder if the Luftwaffe ever left, some of the most dangerous bike infrastructure since Clarkson stopped playing with Duplo, and random unannounced Uturns, doorings, and cars coming out of parking bays.

Spending priorities might adjust a little after 6 hours of that.

Anyone who holds the fallowfield loop up as an example is an idiot. It's OK, but it's only half the width it needs to be and is regularly interrupted by pointless maze-like bollards. In winter, it is covered in slippery wet leaves that nobody bothers to clean up. I asked if sustrans could ask the council to sort it one year, sustrans said I should get a brush and do it myself.

I'm glad he mentioned Oxford Road. Here their plans are presented: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oD709NSsZ-8

It's taken well over a year to start on wilmslow road and I have no confidence that it won't be parked on anyway.

GMP don't enforce any traffic violations which makes cycling more dangerous than it needs to be. The city centre is surrounded by an inner ring road that is akin to a motorway.

In addition there are some sections of society that will simply never get out of they're cara incase anyone judges them adversely.

I live in socially mixed part of Manchester and the other kids that cycle to school are the Europeans ones.meanwhile the Somalis drive (the catchment area is a third of a mile).

I've seen the sort of cycle network they are building in Fallowfield-Withington. It features segregated lanes, which in theory sounds good, but in practice are just a series of pinch point, left hook opportunities and reasons for cyclists to have to give way. I doubt any cyclist has been consulted on this. What is worse is the money is being spent on raised curbs but zero, ZERO money has been spent on resurfacing. The road surface down Wilmslow road is shocking after years of patches and buses trashing up the edge of the road. I do not see how they can now resurface it, or if they will ever see the need to resurface the cycle lane. The whole thing is a disgusting waste of money and will not leave us with better facilities or safer ones; yet at the end if you don't use the lane motorists can point over at the cratered cycle lane and complain, why aren't you using that, look at all the money we spent on you.

"Nick Hubble, of Greater Manchester Cycling Campaign, told the Manchester Evening News
...
“People are complaining about it taking two-and-a-half hours to drive 1.5 miles home form work - it’s those journeys that we’d like to see people doing by bike.”"

I wouldn't even bother getting the bike out for that. How insane do you have to be to drive for two and a half hours when you could walk it in half an hour?