Bikes on buses.

Bikes on buses.

Regular bus services that carry bicycles in a trailer operate in the summer months in Ribnitz,  north Germany, near the baltic coast.

Some buses in Switzerland and Germany carry bikes by hanging them on the back of the bus. A few will accommodate a couple of bikes inside the bus.  

Merry Christmas!

Letter to BBC South East News Desk

It is not just potholes you know, excavations more like. And, it is not just cars that are affected, cycles too.

Much of our country lane network (rural roads) are in an appalling state; they make it very difficult to cycle, and often downright dangerous.

 If another car is passing they don't have that much room.

One third of the road is covered with debris.

Edges broken away, debris in the centre, there is enough space for a car, but very limited space (with a cliff edge) for a cyclists.  In practice this is a nightmare scenario. 

This is due to years of neglect.

Looking up a fairly steep hill, near Westwell; very dangerous for cyclists especially those descending.

And there is plenty more. It is going to take years to clear this up, and cost many millions. We shouldn't consider any new road building if we can't maintain the ones that we already have.

Copy of email sent to the BBC which was reporting on potholes:-

There is much more to it than just pure potholes.

3 cartoons

Things have improved a little since 1996

Grossmutter

Through a forest along the cycle friendly Baltic coast.   Rostock to Swinemünde/Swinoujscie (in Poland) then down south to Stettin/Szczecin.

And it was 'Grossvater' who took this picture.

Letter to Ashford Herald

Ashford Herald Nov 27^th. 2014. page 3.

Report entitled: “Residents worried as cars drive on footpath (and cycleways).”

KCC were reported to have stated that they ‘had to improve safety only where there had been recorded incidents’. So does this mean that where residents are concerned about road safety, KCC will not take any action to reduce the danger until someone is killed or seriously injured? This is what Roadpeace refer to as a ‘body-count philosophy’, and it is not acceptable. The aim should be to prevent incidents before they happen, and not to wait until they do, to make a sacrifice just to prove a point.

In this same article the police were quoted as saying that vehicles parked on a cycleway (and footway) are not a matter for the police to enforce. If the police wont, then who should?

A cycleway is a public highway, and it is an offence to obstruct it. It is also an offence to drive onto a pavement, and to obstruct that.

Pedestrians and cyclists are treated as third rate-citizens. Good footways, and quality cycleways are in short enough supply, without those we do have being obstructed by motor vehicles.

Ted Prangnell CTC, member of Roadpeace, and Living Streets.

On road - on cycleway obstruction

On road - on cycleway obstruction

The Renaut was parked on this cycleway for at least 4 days.  On a very busy road, it causes cyclist to pull out into the stream of very busy traffic, which is wrong.   

The Police said that it should be reported to the council for them to remove it, but this is the case of the plain obstruction of a highway (a cycleway is a highway), and that should be a matter for the police to deal with.  My argument was that if a bike was stood in the middle of a road, then they would soon get it moved.   Well after my argument it was moved, but I don't know if it was as the result of my lobbyling.