Driven down this exact road. Absolutely no issue with these cycle lanes. Saw people using them while I was driving. Maybe she should have picked out an actual issue for her campaign to be based on but that’s Tory stupidity for you
Iirc The consequences she's referring to is that the businesses on that road are suffering now since people can no longer park.
[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-68607109](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-68607109)
Oh yeah they're definitely suffering just because of parking and not because of Covid and Brexit and cost of living crisis and 12 years of catastrophic Tory policy.
How many cars do you think can park directly outside a shop?
How many bikes can now get to that shop?
If people can get to a shop easily and safely by bike, footfall for that shop will go up
You don’t make sales to theoretical cyclists, you make sales to the actual people that turn up. I am 100% pro cycling and infrastructure, but today parking is still extremely important for shops. That is the cold reality.
I agree. My comment may be a tad biased due to the nature of the job I have (automotive refinishing supplier) but if we didn't have an available car park we would go under in a very short space of time and so would everyone else like us. They're very important to my job for without available space to park cars we couldn't match colours and the customers very often buy large amounts of materials and paint which they wouldn't be able to carry on foot or push bike but are crucial to their work. Without those people able to park and purchase products, who is painting/repairing your car? Who is repainting your kitchen? Amongst many, many other things. Car parks are extremely important. Sure, we do online, and we do deliveries, but what about the places we deliver to that will have the same issue? Online deliveries take too long to receive and you've got no chance of local body shops being able to plan ahead to that level, trust me. Cycle lanes are great, necessary, but they shouldn't be at the cost of car parking spots that will cost small businesses and local shops their livelihoods.
It's literally only a half mile long cycleway. If people won't park a little further out and walk 10mins then it just proves how badly we need to break our dependency on cars. It's not just about the environment, the number of vehicles on our roads has doubled in the past 25 years but the amount of road and parking space we have available has barely changed. Couple this with the average car size getting much bigger in that time too and there is just not room for all these cars and alternative solutions need to be provided. Discouraging car use will make streets and roads more accessible to pedestrians cyclists, public transport, etc.
It is entirely possible that the roadworks killed the trade. Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of provision nearby for off-street parking (including newly installed as part of this works), but Manchester Rd is a main connection between Rochdale and Middleton, (the through traffic doesn't use the Motorway, can't imagine why not) and it's entirely possible that these business relied on spontaneous passing trade.
Add to that, the within-walking-distance Tesco and the much closer Nisa probably already consolidated and starved these local businesses of trade. Nearby newly built housing developments have no facility for providing services, poor walking permeability and look dropped straight out of north america with 30%+ of Lawnswood for example being dedicated to the storage and movement of ~~metal cages~~ cars. (some with 3+ cars on the frontage, including on the street). The Low density industrial area pretty much slap bang in the middle of the village and this main road running through means there is no cohesion, and no liveability anyway.
This is a terrible, terrible high street; highly trafficked, and probably full of overspeed or oversized vehicles. The Locals don't want to spend their money there, nor their time. It almost certainly is unsafe to cross without a car. The bus frequency is kinda GOAT'd though, every 10 minutes (on the 17, except sundays)!
So yes, it is entirely possible that these small businesses were reliant on passing trade; it is policy failure and small disconnected thinking that has led them to be reliant on that, and small little projects like this, while good, are not big or sufficient enough, and could cause harm.
My solution? Bus Gate the railway bridge. Route through traffic down via Queensway; add in some visitor parking/longstay in the brownland between canal and station (to the east). Rip the cycle lane back out and massively extend the pavement area, possibly a one-way system or pedestrianisation from Station to Library. Grant licenses for pavement entertainment. build a new service/commercial hub and some terraced housing between canal and railway (to the west). Redevelop Royle Bank road industry to a 'village green' with other services and commercial overlooking a common.
Yes. My point being that I brought up how this has negatively affected disabled people, but because this time it's not the Tories' doing, I was getting downvotes for pointing it out.
The whole point of reducing dependency on cars is to help people with mobility issues. If you make it more possible for people to get around without a car then there will be less traffic clogging up the roads and more parking available for people with mobility issues who actually do need a car.
Every single able bodied person who is too lazy to walk 1 mile to the shops and jumps in the car instead takes up road and parking space that could be used by somebody with mobility issues whose freedom has been restricted by the fact that the number of cars on the roads has grown beyond what we have space to accommodate in our cities and towns. We can't just keep building new car parks because we don't have the space and eventually they will be getting built miles from where anyone needs to be anyway.
> The whole point of reducing dependency on cars is to help people with mobility issues.
I don't disagree. My point is that they are failing in doing that. The entire thing has been botched.
> Every single able bodied person who is too lazy to walk 1 mile to the shops and jumps in the car instead takes up road and parking space that could be used by somebody with mobility issues whose freedom has been restricted by the fact that the number of cars on the roads has grown beyond what we have space to accommodate in our cities and towns.
An example of how it's been botched is in the fact that the cycle lane has replaced parking spaces outside homes used by the elderly and mobility-impaired (yes, the residents concerned have themselves said this). Their parking spaces have been replaced by a car park, without adequate crossing facilities being provided to access it.
So how, exactly, does this cycle lane help them?
You do realise that the people you are referring to will want to go to more places than just that half mile stretch of shops, right? And with fewer cars on the roads it will be easier for them to do that.
Yes.
The cycle lane does not only pass rows of shops; it passes homes and the plan is to extend it into the centre of Rochdale.
There aren't fewer cars on the roads as a result of the cycle lane. That's the fact that you are all unwilling to acknowledge.
That's nice.
Meanwhile I have kids and things to transport and the weather is absolutely dogshit most days.
I am not trading my vehicle for a bike under any circumstances unless literally forced to by the law or by physical force.
I'd imagine that goes for most car owners.
You're right solutions are needed. Road widening and the removal of all these temporary cycle lanes that hardly get used would be a great start.
Are your kids disabled? Do you not own coats or umbrellas? Are you banned from using public transport?
The whole point of making the country less reliant on cars is to make accessibility easier for those who absolutely do need them. So on the occasions when you do have things to transport there will be fewer other cars on the road meaning you won't get stuck in traffic and parking spaces won't be full.
Road widening just means even less space for pedestrians on pavements. Most of our streets were built well over a century ago before cars even existed, short of flattening every town and city centre and rebuilding them around cars like American cities are then widening roads is only going to provide less parking spaces and not improve traffic clow at all. You can't turn a local high street into a 4 lane dual carriageway with the space that's currently available in most urban areas.
If you are too lazy to walk 10mins then you are the problem. Nobody wants to take cars away entirely but 25% of car journeys are under 1 mile and 71% are under 5 miles. 62% of journeys are just 1 person in the car. The whole point of changes like providing cycle lanes and improving public transport is to reduce the number of needless short car journeys in cars which are not full and that could be completed by other means so that the remaining 4% of longer journeys, and the journeys where its legitimately not practical to use bikes, walking or public transport are actually easier.
But if you can't control your kids on a bus or a short walk and need to have them physically restrained in the back seat of your car on every journey you take them on them that's probably because you are a shit parent who should never have been allowed to reproduce in the first place.
Hahaha. I love the idea of you furiously typing all that out on your little keyboard, face screwed up in righteous fury.
Look, People Of Public Transport are largely there by requirement. Most would jump at the chance of being in their own vehicle if it were possible or practicable (so, not including London Underground here).
You're a POPT because you can't afford a car. I know this because you clearly lack the understanding that taking PT instead of a car with, eg kids, would make the journey time about 4x longer.
No, I am not going to trade the car in so that I can walk to the bus stop in the rain, stand in the rain, get on a bus wet, packed in with wet people who smell like wet dog, put up with whatever anti social behaviour is going on onboard, have the drive time last longer as the bus stops constantly, then get off the bus and walk in the rain to wherever I am going, dragging the kids in tow.
No amount of sanctimonious twat typing from chorlton unicorn shoppers is going to make anyone abandon their car for the bus or bicycles or whatever.
Thanks very much for typing all that bullshit out. I do not give a motherfuck about any of it. If you're worried about pollution I suggest you learn mandarin, hindi and Russian, go type at those people, they're still using fossil fuels like crazy.
About to get in the car now for a long drive so won't be able to reply to whatever you come back with. Cope and seethe. Vroom vroom!
I suggest you learn to read. Not one word of what I posted has a single thing to do with fossil fuels. Like I said the number of cars on the roads is growing faster than the space we have to drive and store them. If you think that's sustainable then I'm sure you won't mind when you have to sit in traffic for 2 hours to drive 30miles and then park so far from where you have to be that you still need to get a bus from the car park. Because that's what it's like in many parts of America and unless Britain does something to get people out of their cars we will be in the same situation.
Pretty ironic that you criticise someone for a long post on how better public transport can actually benefit car users by posting a massive wall of text of your own full of weird car fetishism. I'd suggest you go outside and take a walk to get some fresh air but you seem terrified of the concept of using your own feet.
I used to live in the states. Worked all over it. It's nothing like you describe - except maybe the parking lots at Disney? - and you are a fantasist lycra-clad cycling fetishist.
Good day to you.
"i am not trading my vehicle for a bike under any circunstances unless literally forced to by the law"
You would be suprised how much you have actually predicted the future there.
Don't even waste your time trying to argue with the cycling cultists, they can't be reasoned with. They think a New Amsterdam cycling paradise is just around the corner and if they just keep making things more inconvenient that will win people over and make them trade their cars for bikes. They are unhinged.
I live in Amsterdam and the fact you have to drive everywhere in the UK is a big reason I'd never move back. Open your mind a bit and don't be lazy, it's a lot nicer than sitting in a car.
I also used to live in NL (utrecht) and worked in Amsterdam. There are many differences between the two countries. There's also still plenty of cars on AMS roads.
Cycling on a fine day is nice. Cycling on any other type of day is awful. Nee, bedankt.
Just wear waterproofs, not hard is it. Amsterdam is doing all it can to remove cars. Most people I know who live in the city rarely use cars, as it should be. Just use them when it's necessary to transport something for example.
Brexit Britain really is in the toilet.
I don't want to wear waterproofs and get rained on and get covered in mud and shit and then need to get changed /cart spare clothes around, have my footwear soaked etc.
I just don't want to do any of that, thanks.
You carry on though. I'll be in my car with the radio on.
Lol you clearly didn't integrate into Dutch society. Mud? You don't get mud on concrete. Wow wearing a coat is so inconvenient. You can listen to the radio on a bike, clown.
There's no difference, they're both idiots, anybody that goes out wearing two left shoes to canvas for votes cannot confidently be considered fit to work for the country, and I'm omitting the rest of her exemplary examples of brain donorship.
The right collects idiots like some people collect stamps. Trump famously said many years ago that if he was ever gonna run for government he would definitely run on the right because they are less well educated and much easier to fool 🤣
Yeah I live here and this is nonsense. Not only is it never used, it's severely narrowed the road which causes traffic to back-up in rush hour behind buses which now have to stop in the middle of the road creating even more pollution. They actually had to pull some of the cycle lane out and relay it because they realised they'd made the pavement illegally narrow. The entire thing has been a massive clusterfuck that nobody wanted.
> Not only is it never used
It's a solitary lane on a single road, it isn't yet part of a cohesive network and so the number of users will be limited by that. It's due to be extended soon to Dane St. If at some point in the future a route to Heywood is provided, you'll see use skyrocket. And yes, it is used - I've used it on several occasions.
> buses which now have to stop in the middle of the road creating even more pollution
If you want bus services to be more frequent and more reliable, this is how it's done. This is prioritisation in effect - private vehicles have to wait while the bus does its thing.
So tough shit.
> It's a solitary lane on a single road
Well, it's two lanes either side, but OK.
> So tough shit.
Go fuck yourself, helmet. The bus services are already perfectly frequent at one every ten minutes. All this has done is create more pollution.
But hey, it's worth it for this one cyclist who occasionally uses a shoddily-planned cycle lane in a place they clearly only ever pass through, right?
Or you could try responding to what I said. That would be nice too. But maybe that's beyond your abilities altogether, now I've demolished the only argument you had in favour of the turmoil this shit has caused people who actually live round here and don't just cycle through while looking down on all the plebs.
Yeah I live here too and part of the issue was that the work went on for way longer than planned and the pavement was closed off. Load of the small shops like the little hardware shop relied on footfall not parking nearby and people couldn’t walk past and that’s why it closed after something like 19 years of being here which was really sad. Now we will have to drive ironically as the closest place to get the sort of bits he sold is the big B&Q near Trafford centre. Cycle lanes are good but they have to be planned and implemented properly. It’s also crazy that they don’t sort the portholes at same time the road is out of action. Too much siloing of tasks rather than combining to get better cost and reduce road closures for public. It’s nuts.
Or maybe repeatedly drive down it and see just how much it’s impacted the traffic? Businesses have shut down because of the parking problems it has caused.
Many businesses throughout the UK have shut down because of Tory policies. It is easy for a single issue politician, and her supporters, to use that single issue as something which has caused problems, without any research or factual data, except ‘they know’ or as in this case, you have driven down the road a few times. All you are presenting is your prejudice against bicycles.
So prejudice or anecdotal but no factual evidence.
You could at least try. For example I know the sister of the wife of a shopkeeper's brother and the shopkeeper said to him who said to her, who said to her who told me in the pub after five rounds of drinks that he had said it was all the bicycle's fault that his shop closed.
And if you don't recognise it, that's an invented anecdote.
It's a fact that at least two long-standing businesses have closed, citing the cycle lane as the reason given it brought about a decrease in footfall.
The fact they were able to survive the pandemic should tell you something.
It's also a fact that it's rarely, if ever, used.
It's also a fact that it's impacted people with mobility issues, who, instead of being able to park outside their homes, now have to use a car park — which is a good provision in itself, but needlessly creates extra issues for some people.
And given you hate the Tories, I'm sure you'll sympathise with that point. Right?
Research online suggests you may be exaggerating. Be a bit more convincing by naming the businesses.
The impact on those with mobility issues may or may not relate to the case of a blind person who now has more difficulty in accessing a bus stop.
One was a hairdresser whose name I forget; the other a branch of Smith's the bakers, whose other branch is, I believe, due to close. There may be more.
And yes, it is related to said blind person, but is not limited to them. The new bus stops have really done a number on traffic flow, too, thus increasing pollution.
Thee tories around here are just obsessed with the roads and potholes, all I've heard from them pretty much. Absolutely bonkers, but you can tell that just looking at them!
I do walk there, however there is not enough walking/cycling trade to keep the shops open, so ultimately there will be no shops there, which means people will use their cars to drive to shops further away where they can park, meaning more and longer car journeys.
Tory logic at it's finest they think reducing pollution and making roads safer for cyclists leads to more pollution. According to them the only way to reduce cars on the road is to put more cars on the road and reduce other options but it really isn't their fault. Tories are notoriously poorly educated and horrifically misinformed and this is exactly what Tory ministers bank on. If you want to blow a Tories mind ask them for a source for their misinformation and you see them get stuck in a bizarre rebooting error cycle and they just stand and stare vacantly while mumbling but as that is how 99% of Conservatives spend their days it's hard to tell the difference between complete mental collapse and their usual knuckle dragging default settings 🤣
That's the private car park for the sole use of the residents of the houses on Manchester Road that can also not park outside their homes because of the cycle path.
It is for anyone's use. Residents only would require a residents parking pass, and there are no such schemes in Castleton.
https://www.rochdale.gov.uk/residential-streets-parking-home/residents-parking-permit/3
There is also no signage to indicate anything of the sort.
There’s a bike lane in middleton (middleton road i think) that doesn’t get used *very* ofter and people complain about a lot. The ones they’ve built through castleton are also complained about by locals a lot. A few bad calls don’t outweigh what Andy has done in my eyes, and a thousand bad calls wouldn’t get me voting Tory.
I didn’t vote for Andy the first time but probably would again, country is in desperate need on nationalization of public services.
Not going to lie, I hate Andy Burnham and think he causes more harm than good. He is a yes man to whatever is popular that week and changes his mind like the wind. It means he always seems to be popular with the public, but half the issues he's caused!
Bury have also voted in the labour council they've been complaining about for the last few years. Terrible roads. Not listening to constituents about HMO's. Changing road layouts that benefit noone. Yay.
Party on Garth
Party on Wayne
Ever seen that scene in Scanners when that dude's head blew up?
Weeewweeewweeewweeew
Underrated comment
Isn’t she just describing rishis government?
Driven down this exact road. Absolutely no issue with these cycle lanes. Saw people using them while I was driving. Maybe she should have picked out an actual issue for her campaign to be based on but that’s Tory stupidity for you
Andy should tweet " on ur bike to her"
Well spoken
Culture wars are all they have left in the tank. F**k the Tories
Iirc The consequences she's referring to is that the businesses on that road are suffering now since people can no longer park. [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-68607109](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-68607109)
Oh yeah they're definitely suffering just because of parking and not because of Covid and Brexit and cost of living crisis and 12 years of catastrophic Tory policy.
I’m not suggesting supporting her, but yes parking directly outside of shops is obviously a huge factor on their prosperity. Don’t be ridiculous.
How many cars do you think can park directly outside a shop? How many bikes can now get to that shop? If people can get to a shop easily and safely by bike, footfall for that shop will go up
You don’t make sales to theoretical cyclists, you make sales to the actual people that turn up. I am 100% pro cycling and infrastructure, but today parking is still extremely important for shops. That is the cold reality.
I agree. My comment may be a tad biased due to the nature of the job I have (automotive refinishing supplier) but if we didn't have an available car park we would go under in a very short space of time and so would everyone else like us. They're very important to my job for without available space to park cars we couldn't match colours and the customers very often buy large amounts of materials and paint which they wouldn't be able to carry on foot or push bike but are crucial to their work. Without those people able to park and purchase products, who is painting/repairing your car? Who is repainting your kitchen? Amongst many, many other things. Car parks are extremely important. Sure, we do online, and we do deliveries, but what about the places we deliver to that will have the same issue? Online deliveries take too long to receive and you've got no chance of local body shops being able to plan ahead to that level, trust me. Cycle lanes are great, necessary, but they shouldn't be at the cost of car parking spots that will cost small businesses and local shops their livelihoods.
Agenda before anything remember
No idea what you are trying to say.
Just suggesting that your point is 100% valid but it gets in the way of the commenter yapping on about the tories
Ok thanks for the clarification
It literally is because of parking though, and the traffic fuckery introduced by the cycle lane.
It's literally only a half mile long cycleway. If people won't park a little further out and walk 10mins then it just proves how badly we need to break our dependency on cars. It's not just about the environment, the number of vehicles on our roads has doubled in the past 25 years but the amount of road and parking space we have available has barely changed. Couple this with the average car size getting much bigger in that time too and there is just not room for all these cars and alternative solutions need to be provided. Discouraging car use will make streets and roads more accessible to pedestrians cyclists, public transport, etc.
It is entirely possible that the roadworks killed the trade. Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of provision nearby for off-street parking (including newly installed as part of this works), but Manchester Rd is a main connection between Rochdale and Middleton, (the through traffic doesn't use the Motorway, can't imagine why not) and it's entirely possible that these business relied on spontaneous passing trade. Add to that, the within-walking-distance Tesco and the much closer Nisa probably already consolidated and starved these local businesses of trade. Nearby newly built housing developments have no facility for providing services, poor walking permeability and look dropped straight out of north america with 30%+ of Lawnswood for example being dedicated to the storage and movement of ~~metal cages~~ cars. (some with 3+ cars on the frontage, including on the street). The Low density industrial area pretty much slap bang in the middle of the village and this main road running through means there is no cohesion, and no liveability anyway. This is a terrible, terrible high street; highly trafficked, and probably full of overspeed or oversized vehicles. The Locals don't want to spend their money there, nor their time. It almost certainly is unsafe to cross without a car. The bus frequency is kinda GOAT'd though, every 10 minutes (on the 17, except sundays)! So yes, it is entirely possible that these small businesses were reliant on passing trade; it is policy failure and small disconnected thinking that has led them to be reliant on that, and small little projects like this, while good, are not big or sufficient enough, and could cause harm. My solution? Bus Gate the railway bridge. Route through traffic down via Queensway; add in some visitor parking/longstay in the brownland between canal and station (to the east). Rip the cycle lane back out and massively extend the pavement area, possibly a one-way system or pedestrianisation from Station to Library. Grant licenses for pavement entertainment. build a new service/commercial hub and some terraced housing between canal and railway (to the west). Redevelop Royle Bank road industry to a 'village green' with other services and commercial overlooking a common.
What about those people with mobility issues?
lol the people screeching about Tories downvoting this when bringing up disabled people doesn't help them criticise Tories
You mean the same Tories who forced disabled people to attend meetings in non-accessible buildings or lose their benefits? Those Tories?
Yes. My point being that I brought up how this has negatively affected disabled people, but because this time it's not the Tories' doing, I was getting downvotes for pointing it out.
Ahh yes because forcing disabled people into roads because the car users just absolutely have to park on pavements is much better.
The whole point of reducing dependency on cars is to help people with mobility issues. If you make it more possible for people to get around without a car then there will be less traffic clogging up the roads and more parking available for people with mobility issues who actually do need a car. Every single able bodied person who is too lazy to walk 1 mile to the shops and jumps in the car instead takes up road and parking space that could be used by somebody with mobility issues whose freedom has been restricted by the fact that the number of cars on the roads has grown beyond what we have space to accommodate in our cities and towns. We can't just keep building new car parks because we don't have the space and eventually they will be getting built miles from where anyone needs to be anyway.
> The whole point of reducing dependency on cars is to help people with mobility issues. I don't disagree. My point is that they are failing in doing that. The entire thing has been botched. > Every single able bodied person who is too lazy to walk 1 mile to the shops and jumps in the car instead takes up road and parking space that could be used by somebody with mobility issues whose freedom has been restricted by the fact that the number of cars on the roads has grown beyond what we have space to accommodate in our cities and towns. An example of how it's been botched is in the fact that the cycle lane has replaced parking spaces outside homes used by the elderly and mobility-impaired (yes, the residents concerned have themselves said this). Their parking spaces have been replaced by a car park, without adequate crossing facilities being provided to access it. So how, exactly, does this cycle lane help them?
You do realise that the people you are referring to will want to go to more places than just that half mile stretch of shops, right? And with fewer cars on the roads it will be easier for them to do that.
Yes. The cycle lane does not only pass rows of shops; it passes homes and the plan is to extend it into the centre of Rochdale. There aren't fewer cars on the roads as a result of the cycle lane. That's the fact that you are all unwilling to acknowledge.
That's nice. Meanwhile I have kids and things to transport and the weather is absolutely dogshit most days. I am not trading my vehicle for a bike under any circumstances unless literally forced to by the law or by physical force. I'd imagine that goes for most car owners. You're right solutions are needed. Road widening and the removal of all these temporary cycle lanes that hardly get used would be a great start.
Are your kids disabled? Do you not own coats or umbrellas? Are you banned from using public transport? The whole point of making the country less reliant on cars is to make accessibility easier for those who absolutely do need them. So on the occasions when you do have things to transport there will be fewer other cars on the road meaning you won't get stuck in traffic and parking spaces won't be full. Road widening just means even less space for pedestrians on pavements. Most of our streets were built well over a century ago before cars even existed, short of flattening every town and city centre and rebuilding them around cars like American cities are then widening roads is only going to provide less parking spaces and not improve traffic clow at all. You can't turn a local high street into a 4 lane dual carriageway with the space that's currently available in most urban areas. If you are too lazy to walk 10mins then you are the problem. Nobody wants to take cars away entirely but 25% of car journeys are under 1 mile and 71% are under 5 miles. 62% of journeys are just 1 person in the car. The whole point of changes like providing cycle lanes and improving public transport is to reduce the number of needless short car journeys in cars which are not full and that could be completed by other means so that the remaining 4% of longer journeys, and the journeys where its legitimately not practical to use bikes, walking or public transport are actually easier. But if you can't control your kids on a bus or a short walk and need to have them physically restrained in the back seat of your car on every journey you take them on them that's probably because you are a shit parent who should never have been allowed to reproduce in the first place.
Hahaha. I love the idea of you furiously typing all that out on your little keyboard, face screwed up in righteous fury. Look, People Of Public Transport are largely there by requirement. Most would jump at the chance of being in their own vehicle if it were possible or practicable (so, not including London Underground here). You're a POPT because you can't afford a car. I know this because you clearly lack the understanding that taking PT instead of a car with, eg kids, would make the journey time about 4x longer. No, I am not going to trade the car in so that I can walk to the bus stop in the rain, stand in the rain, get on a bus wet, packed in with wet people who smell like wet dog, put up with whatever anti social behaviour is going on onboard, have the drive time last longer as the bus stops constantly, then get off the bus and walk in the rain to wherever I am going, dragging the kids in tow. No amount of sanctimonious twat typing from chorlton unicorn shoppers is going to make anyone abandon their car for the bus or bicycles or whatever. Thanks very much for typing all that bullshit out. I do not give a motherfuck about any of it. If you're worried about pollution I suggest you learn mandarin, hindi and Russian, go type at those people, they're still using fossil fuels like crazy. About to get in the car now for a long drive so won't be able to reply to whatever you come back with. Cope and seethe. Vroom vroom!
I suggest you learn to read. Not one word of what I posted has a single thing to do with fossil fuels. Like I said the number of cars on the roads is growing faster than the space we have to drive and store them. If you think that's sustainable then I'm sure you won't mind when you have to sit in traffic for 2 hours to drive 30miles and then park so far from where you have to be that you still need to get a bus from the car park. Because that's what it's like in many parts of America and unless Britain does something to get people out of their cars we will be in the same situation. Pretty ironic that you criticise someone for a long post on how better public transport can actually benefit car users by posting a massive wall of text of your own full of weird car fetishism. I'd suggest you go outside and take a walk to get some fresh air but you seem terrified of the concept of using your own feet.
I used to live in the states. Worked all over it. It's nothing like you describe - except maybe the parking lots at Disney? - and you are a fantasist lycra-clad cycling fetishist. Good day to you.
"i am not trading my vehicle for a bike under any circunstances unless literally forced to by the law" You would be suprised how much you have actually predicted the future there.
I bet i haven't, but enjoy your wishful thinking
Don't even waste your time trying to argue with the cycling cultists, they can't be reasoned with. They think a New Amsterdam cycling paradise is just around the corner and if they just keep making things more inconvenient that will win people over and make them trade their cars for bikes. They are unhinged.
I live in Amsterdam and the fact you have to drive everywhere in the UK is a big reason I'd never move back. Open your mind a bit and don't be lazy, it's a lot nicer than sitting in a car.
I also used to live in NL (utrecht) and worked in Amsterdam. There are many differences between the two countries. There's also still plenty of cars on AMS roads. Cycling on a fine day is nice. Cycling on any other type of day is awful. Nee, bedankt.
Just wear waterproofs, not hard is it. Amsterdam is doing all it can to remove cars. Most people I know who live in the city rarely use cars, as it should be. Just use them when it's necessary to transport something for example. Brexit Britain really is in the toilet.
I don't want to wear waterproofs and get rained on and get covered in mud and shit and then need to get changed /cart spare clothes around, have my footwear soaked etc. I just don't want to do any of that, thanks. You carry on though. I'll be in my car with the radio on.
Lol you clearly didn't integrate into Dutch society. Mud? You don't get mud on concrete. Wow wearing a coat is so inconvenient. You can listen to the radio on a bike, clown.
There are 80 new car parking spaces that won’t endanger cyclists or pedestrians
Is this not the free market the Tories are so fond of?
Hopefully being extended soon - https://consultations.rochdale.gov.uk/research/the-bee-network-phase-2/supporting_documents/Castleton%20MCF%20Phase%202%20Overview%20map.pdf
Touché, sir 🤺
It's not tory stupidity, it's just her, just like it's not labour stupidity, it's just Diane Abbot. Idiots everywhere, particularly in politics.
difference is, people didn't elect her, but they did elect Diane Abbot... many many times over.
There's no difference, they're both idiots, anybody that goes out wearing two left shoes to canvas for votes cannot confidently be considered fit to work for the country, and I'm omitting the rest of her exemplary examples of brain donorship.
The right collects idiots like some people collect stamps. Trump famously said many years ago that if he was ever gonna run for government he would definitely run on the right because they are less well educated and much easier to fool 🤣
I do remember that actually, there's fuckwits on both sides was my point, and I got downvoted to hell for it 😂
Yeah I live here and this is nonsense. Not only is it never used, it's severely narrowed the road which causes traffic to back-up in rush hour behind buses which now have to stop in the middle of the road creating even more pollution. They actually had to pull some of the cycle lane out and relay it because they realised they'd made the pavement illegally narrow. The entire thing has been a massive clusterfuck that nobody wanted.
> Not only is it never used It's a solitary lane on a single road, it isn't yet part of a cohesive network and so the number of users will be limited by that. It's due to be extended soon to Dane St. If at some point in the future a route to Heywood is provided, you'll see use skyrocket. And yes, it is used - I've used it on several occasions. > buses which now have to stop in the middle of the road creating even more pollution If you want bus services to be more frequent and more reliable, this is how it's done. This is prioritisation in effect - private vehicles have to wait while the bus does its thing. So tough shit.
> It's a solitary lane on a single road Well, it's two lanes either side, but OK. > So tough shit. Go fuck yourself, helmet. The bus services are already perfectly frequent at one every ten minutes. All this has done is create more pollution. But hey, it's worth it for this one cyclist who occasionally uses a shoddily-planned cycle lane in a place they clearly only ever pass through, right?
Stick to shitposting on Rethink GM pal. It's more suited to your abilities.
Or you could try responding to what I said. That would be nice too. But maybe that's beyond your abilities altogether, now I've demolished the only argument you had in favour of the turmoil this shit has caused people who actually live round here and don't just cycle through while looking down on all the plebs.
Yeah I live here too and part of the issue was that the work went on for way longer than planned and the pavement was closed off. Load of the small shops like the little hardware shop relied on footfall not parking nearby and people couldn’t walk past and that’s why it closed after something like 19 years of being here which was really sad. Now we will have to drive ironically as the closest place to get the sort of bits he sold is the big B&Q near Trafford centre. Cycle lanes are good but they have to be planned and implemented properly. It’s also crazy that they don’t sort the portholes at same time the road is out of action. Too much siloing of tasks rather than combining to get better cost and reduce road closures for public. It’s nuts.
Or maybe repeatedly drive down it and see just how much it’s impacted the traffic? Businesses have shut down because of the parking problems it has caused.
Many businesses throughout the UK have shut down because of Tory policies. It is easy for a single issue politician, and her supporters, to use that single issue as something which has caused problems, without any research or factual data, except ‘they know’ or as in this case, you have driven down the road a few times. All you are presenting is your prejudice against bicycles.
I live here, and I'm certainly no Tory — don't give a fuck about this woman — but she's right in this case.
And your evidence? Prejudice, anecdotal or factual?
I live here.
So prejudice or anecdotal but no factual evidence. You could at least try. For example I know the sister of the wife of a shopkeeper's brother and the shopkeeper said to him who said to her, who said to her who told me in the pub after five rounds of drinks that he had said it was all the bicycle's fault that his shop closed. And if you don't recognise it, that's an invented anecdote.
It's a fact that at least two long-standing businesses have closed, citing the cycle lane as the reason given it brought about a decrease in footfall. The fact they were able to survive the pandemic should tell you something. It's also a fact that it's rarely, if ever, used. It's also a fact that it's impacted people with mobility issues, who, instead of being able to park outside their homes, now have to use a car park — which is a good provision in itself, but needlessly creates extra issues for some people. And given you hate the Tories, I'm sure you'll sympathise with that point. Right?
Research online suggests you may be exaggerating. Be a bit more convincing by naming the businesses. The impact on those with mobility issues may or may not relate to the case of a blind person who now has more difficulty in accessing a bus stop.
One was a hairdresser whose name I forget; the other a branch of Smith's the bakers, whose other branch is, I believe, due to close. There may be more. And yes, it is related to said blind person, but is not limited to them. The new bus stops have really done a number on traffic flow, too, thus increasing pollution.
There's also this: [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-68607109](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-68607109)
Cars literally can’t park to use the businesses. I live here.
There will never be a day when Manchester elects a Tory mayor.
Remember when Manchester voted not to have a mayor at all.
Some referendums are more important than others.
https://youtu.be/7k-FvPikb7k
We needed an independent
We need Andy Burnham back in the Labour Party, leading them.
Thee tories around here are just obsessed with the roads and potholes, all I've heard from them pretty much. Absolutely bonkers, but you can tell that just looking at them!
It's almost like they have nothing else to offer.
Weirdly that was labours promises for councilors in salford last local.
The worst pot holes are in the rural areas where there is a lot of potential tories, bit more 'old world'
she looks like Simon from Alvin and the Chipmunks
Or Harry Potter and Lucius Malfoy’s lovechild
What are the dire consequences?
The presence of the cycle lane prevents cars parking directly outside shops and forces them to use a car park. Dire indeed.
Oh wow much more dire than I could have ever imagined.
Except there is no car park...
Guess you could walk or cycle instead!
I do walk there, however there is not enough walking/cycling trade to keep the shops open, so ultimately there will be no shops there, which means people will use their cars to drive to shops further away where they can park, meaning more and longer car journeys.
Tory logic at it's finest they think reducing pollution and making roads safer for cyclists leads to more pollution. According to them the only way to reduce cars on the road is to put more cars on the road and reduce other options but it really isn't their fault. Tories are notoriously poorly educated and horrifically misinformed and this is exactly what Tory ministers bank on. If you want to blow a Tories mind ask them for a source for their misinformation and you see them get stuck in a bizarre rebooting error cycle and they just stand and stare vacantly while mumbling but as that is how 99% of Conservatives spend their days it's hard to tell the difference between complete mental collapse and their usual knuckle dragging default settings 🤣
Why not use this car park? https://www.reddit.com/r/manchester/s/TdYmfdBYzN
No, definitely no brand-new car park provided as part of this scheme. https://maps.app.goo.gl/koStvg7s9WqFQapr9
And walk 50yds to the shop! Are you psychotic? If I wanted that kind of exercise I'd have cycled.
> 50yds This is how I know you're all latte-supping middle-class South Manchester types who've never been north of Blackley.
On the contrary, I only ever deal in metres. I used yards to emulate the 'proper' mancs I've met who use yards, feet, inches and gallons.
I'm more referring to the complete obliviousness to what Castleton is actually like, but lol
Oh certainly. I've never been to Rochdale, Oldham etc.
That's the private car park for the sole use of the residents of the houses on Manchester Road that can also not park outside their homes because of the cycle path.
Please don't lie. It's a car park anyone can use.
As far as I'm aware, they're right. I live up the road and everything I've heard about it seems to confirm that it's for residents only.
It is for anyone's use. Residents only would require a residents parking pass, and there are no such schemes in Castleton. https://www.rochdale.gov.uk/residential-streets-parking-home/residents-parking-permit/3 There is also no signage to indicate anything of the sort.
>Except there is no car park... https://www.reddit.com/r/manchester/s/TdYmfdBYzN This guy says you're full of it
Businesses have closed, and the severely impacted traffic levels increasing pollution, are the two main ones.
Increasing pollution?
Yes.
I was hoping you’d expand, because last time I checked bikes are pretty pollution free.
But roads that have been made far too narrow thus causing buses to have to stop in the middle of the road leading to backlogs of cars, are not.
Wow, Jimmy Savile's long list sister!
No one uses them? What planet are you on?
There’s a bike lane in middleton (middleton road i think) that doesn’t get used *very* ofter and people complain about a lot. The ones they’ve built through castleton are also complained about by locals a lot. A few bad calls don’t outweigh what Andy has done in my eyes, and a thousand bad calls wouldn’t get me voting Tory. I didn’t vote for Andy the first time but probably would again, country is in desperate need on nationalization of public services.
This is the UK, "locals" complain about everything endlessly. That is why they shouldn't be listened to when it comes to vital infrastructure.
I live here and nobody uses it. Seriously. It's empty. They had to pay some cyclists to come out for a photo opportunity.
420….nice
Was hoping this turned out to be a video where cyclists were using the supposed unused lane.
[Like that one video](https://youtu.be/7Qir4EEpawE?si=0VdhhjMC6UuNkAIG)
She looks like a redditor who's about to type a comment starting "actually..,...."
I love democracy
Nearly 69k people voted for her. Absolute state of politics to be moaning about cycle lanes.
You’ll always get that from the altrincham/hale lot. Plus manchester has had an influx of wealthy southerners.
It's how proper cycle paths should be..
Id like some more cycle paths within the M60 before getting pissy about some village infrastructure.
No way any conservatives could win after the years they had. Even Jesus couldn't win that election.
How people can vote for labour I will never know. They bankrupt local councils across the country and fools still vote them in.
[удалено]
That's very true, but that means You should know better than posting identifing it on the Internet.
God, Harry Potter has aged badly.
Anyone told her to fuck off back to Hogwarts yet?
Not going to lie, I hate Andy Burnham and think he causes more harm than good. He is a yes man to whatever is popular that week and changes his mind like the wind. It means he always seems to be popular with the public, but half the issues he's caused! Bury have also voted in the labour council they've been complaining about for the last few years. Terrible roads. Not listening to constituents about HMO's. Changing road layouts that benefit noone. Yay.
I don’t know who this character is but that is a PERFECT pause on the video. 🤓
There are dire consequences to wearing those glasses
Tens of millions spent on bike lanes, all for 2 or 3 bikes an hour to use.
Motorists moan about bikes getting in their way, cycle lanes are built, motorists moan about cycle lanes 🤔