"There's a car park 20 metres away": Cyclists slam cycle lane parking putting riders in danger

Just for reference: the Park Row lane was completely unusable this evening. Two cars at the end by the Dojo, three others at the other end.  Then on the second cycle lane further toward the Triangle, a van and car loading/unloading. F-ing ridiculous! It would be so nice if the council would ever bother to enforce the parking restrictions.

What is the state of that Tarmac? Just how poor is the city of Bristol?

Park Row business owners respond to parking row saying cycle lane is 'killing' trade

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/park-row-business-owners...

Quote:

... ex-cricketer David ‘Syd’ Lawrence (Dojo nightclub? - brooksby) said that drivers stopping in the designated cycle lane literally have nowhere else to park. The former English cricketer and Gloucestershire County Cricket Club president has had a business on Park Row for over 20 years, and said there is no allowance for cars and vans which are dropping off or collecting.

“These cars which are stopping there are not random, they are connected to the businesses along the road. I have kegs and gas which are delivered,” he said, adding that should he double park, he would be in the path of any emergency vehicles going to the hospital. He said: “I don’t know where you are supposed to park, we pay our business rates.

“We could park in the middle of the road, but common sense must prevail. Anyone who parks there is generally connected to a business.

“Cyclists don’t take businesses into consideration. We are all struggling businesses and it’s about some give and take,” he said. He suggested a consultation needs to take place to find a solution, which could include specified delivery times allowed along that stretch of road.

I wonder how he coped when customer's cars from the other business were all parked there?  When it wasn't a cycle lane, it was pay-and-display parking all along there.  It was never kept clear for loading.

And

Quote:

Yet another owner, who was busy offloading across the road in Park Row when Bristol Live visited the area (across the road is also an advisory cycle lane, with double yellow lines and no loading marks on the kerbs - brooksby) , claimed there were very few cyclists using that cycle lane as it's uphill, largely used by electric bikes. Another agreed, saying: “It’s a gradual burn, it’s all uphill.

“It’s taken away parking for anyone who came to get a sandwich, you have to use the multi-storey car park, so everyone loses except the electric bikes. No-one can park here, so no-one wants to use these facilities,” he said.

A staff member at another business said customers complained about being unable to park or having to park in the car park which was “too expensive”. The stretch of road affected by the cycle lane and suspended parking are mostly service-related including takeaways, cafes, hairdresser and beauty therapy salons and a barber.

So it seems that all these businesses on a busy city centre road next to a multi storey, claim that all of their customers must drive there and park right outside.

That rattling sound is my eyeballs rolling... 

Bristol mayor tells drivers to stop being 'selfish' by parking in cycle lane

And calls on both drivers and cyclists to be decent about sharing

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/bristol-mayor-tells-driv...

Quote:

Member of the public, Haydn Gill, quizzed the mayor about the Park Row Active Travel Scheme and with regard to drivers stopping in the pop-up cycle lane, he asked: “"Currently there is a driver, I can guarantee it, parked in the Park Row bollard scheme, what do you say to that driver parked in that scheme at the moment?".

The mayor responded: "Don't be selfish. Just like I’d say to anyone in a vehicle whether it be a car or a bike, behave as though there are other people trying to make use of the space that you are using - whether cyclists using shared spaces with pedestrians, or whether its cars using shared space on roads with cyclists."

Which is an odd comment, in that a protected cycle lane is not a shared space... 

Makes me laugh that the same people moaning about cyclists pointing this stuff out, will be the same people that moan that cyclists never use the cycle lanes . ..

If Bristol is anything like Derby, it would appear that double yellow lines and a continuous white line denoting a cycle lane count for nothing. Whether loading, or not, vehicles of all kinds are allowed to park wherever they like with absolutely no chane of enforcement measures against them.

It makes me wonder what the actual point of putting cycle lanes in at all, is all about. Are councils really that hard pressed that they will take any government funding available, whether needed or not, just so that they can go through the exercise of ticking a box or two and believing that they are doing their bit.

There is one 20 metre contraflow section in Derby city centre that is constantly full of private hire taxis every Friday and Saturday night, where you are already dodging pissed up revellers then turn a corner to find the cycle lane full of cars and a bus coming headlong at you with nowhere to go.

I've queried this lack of enforcement with the groups of police that wander the streets keeping the pissed up yobbos from scrapping and all you get is a shrug of the shoulders or "try walking if you don't like it"!!

Perhaps we could invite Danny MacAskill to ride over the offending vehicles?

Re: loading and unloading, popping a couple of shopping bags in isn't supposed to count, it is supposed to be of significant volume or weight, of a commerical nature.

Pick up and drop of of passengers is not loading and unloading, so the general public shouldn't be loading and unloading except in exceptional circumstances, such has heavy furnishings.

Another piece of law that has faded into disuse, so we now have yellow lines that don't work so they've invented red lines, but they don't work either (see central Birmingham as an example).

People don't understand clearways either, people regularly park on the clearway just south of M42 J5 for example.

Grumble.

"There's a car park 20 metres away"

Twenty metres?!  You expect me to walk twenty metres?!  Quite, quite mad.

Who are you supposed to contact about this sort of thing??

The police website says it's the councils problem.

Councils website says it's the polices problem.

??

There are several cars parked on the solid line cyclelane on my route to/from work every day. It really bothers me when nothing is done about it. People I've spoken to about it usually respond with "I didn't know you weren't allowed to park in a cycle lane"

Ignorance is not an excuse to break the law, however I do think Bristol council could help remove any form of doubt, by putting a cover over the parking meter so drivers don't see the parking sign on its side and think its okay to park there.

Didn't realise we're now in the USA

I'm doubtful that no parking can't be enforced - there's double yellow lines there so surely that counts for something?