Sheffield Cycling on the increase

[Cyclone 10]

Experience isn't enough. The cycling infrastructure in the city is atrocious, especially for new cyclists/newcomers, how many students do you see on a bike?

 

Agreed, the infrastructure is poor, and the hills don't help.

 

You don't see as many as I'd expect, although if you go to the gym at the uni you will find that the bike rack is always full.

[tzijlstra 11]

So how exactly do you tell which cyclists are students then?

 

By frequently working for the uni.

 

Agreed, the infrastructure is poor, and the hills don't help.

 

You don't see as many as I'd expect, although if you go to the gym at the uni you will find that the bike rack is always full.

 

The biggest group that I'd expect to see on bikes more frequently and don't are the Chinese students, having said that, they don't cycle everywhere in China either, so maybe Katie Melua was lying

[Cyclone 10]

I get the impression that the foreign students are often quite wealthy. So they have cars.

[Klondike Kid 10]

[quote=jezzyjj;

 

So how do you tell which bit is the cyclepath then?

A. It's the bit the pedestrians are walking on.

 

So true, happened to me at Ladybower, fella complaining at cyclists using the road while standing on the cycle lane sign. You had to laugh, there again you can't legislate for stupidity.

[WalkleyIan 10]

Seen a big increase in students cycling over the last few years.

 

Racks are full to capacity in term time, the cyclehut repair service is always busy, and the student bike sales sell out in hours. There is a big investment in a central cyclehub and storage building.

 

What’s causing this?

 

Lot more student accommodation in the city centre and S3, cycling makes a lot of sense for those journeys

 

Impossible to park in the University car parks, squeeze on the spaces around the campus, and let’s face it you've got to be a well off 19 year old to run a car these days.

 

Many European students for whom cycling is a normal way of traveling.

Cyclechic and retro cool has to be a factor judging by the number of Dutch bikes with baskets and 80s racers in the racks. MTBs less common these days.

 

Against this we have an infrastructure that’s at best patchy. How often is that Hounsfield Rd cycle lane blocked by cabins?

 

Big changes are planned around the campus, with an emphasis on pedestrians but also for cyclists. Removal of many of the small car parks. That land in S1 is too valuable to have cars stuck on it all day, but the new multi-storey on Durham Rd will keep capacity for those who have to drive

 

Short term there will be wider pedestrian / cycle crossings on Upper Hanover & Western Bank where the crossings are already way over capacity.

 

More pedestrian & cycle only streets, eg Hounsfield Rd and creation of a pedestrian / cycle route from the Station to the Campus.

 

In the long term major changes around Clarkson Street, and Western bank are planned a well

 

---------- Post added 02-07-2014 at 11:57 ----------

 

I get the impression that the foreign students are often quite wealthy. So they have cars.

 

This seems to be true of he Chinese and Malaysian students who have to be pretty well off to afford to come anyway.

[Jmack 10]

I get the impression that the foreign students are often quite wealthy. So they have cars.

 

:hihi::hihi: Seriously? I doubt many students have cars. Especially foreign ones, what do you think they do? Land in Sheffield and go looking round car lots. Or maybe they import them.

 

So basically a pedestrian stepped into the road, which was NSL, and the cyclists stopped at the scene.

 

Frankly the pedestrian is lucky it was a cyclist and not a car!

 

Even the pedestrian isn't blaming the cyclist

 

 

 

 

If you were trying to 'counter' the story about hit and run drivers, then that's a massive fail on your part. Or perhaps you mean to imply that being a hit and run driver is okay, because sometimes pedestrians step in front of cyclists?

 

---------- Post added 02-07-2014 at 08:24 ----------

 

 

And the 80% of cyclists who are also motorists? Are they like Jekyll and Hyde?

When has a cyclist tarred all drivers with the same brush?

 

Your proving my point mate. Cycling threads remind me very much of religion threads. To sides who will never agree with a small proportion on each side who can't stand each other. My Mum was knocked over by a cyclist who got on his bike and rode away. Do I think that guy was a scumbag? Yes. Do I think all cyclists are bad people as a result? Absolutely no. Same with Car drivers, some car drivers are loons, who are a danger to other motorists as well bikes and pedestrians. I just accept that the roads are full of idiot motorists. Idiot cyclists. And Idiot pedestrians. I don't get why others don't do the same.

[WalkleyIan 10]

:hihi::hihi: Seriously? I doubt many students have cars. Especially foreign ones, what do you think they do? Land in Sheffield and go looking round car lots. Or maybe they import them.

 

 

They buy them when they get here and usually brand new. We have seen BMW X5s, X3s, 3 series BMWs and Audi A3s are also popular. You can see them park up on Bolsover Street . They generally belong to SE Asian students although the Post Grads from Malaysia appear to buy the most expensive . At least they tend to transport groups of friends in them, so its not unusual to see a brand new X3 turn up with 5 students in it.

 

I've no idea what they do with them when they leave, sell them or try and export them?

 

Remember up at the management school some are paying £20k in fees to do an MBA, so we are talking about some seriously well off families supporting these students.

[Jmack 10]

They buy them when they get here and usually brand new. We have seen BMW X5s, X3s, 3 series BMWs and Audi A3s are also popular. You can see them park up on Bolsover Street . They generally belong to SE Asian students although the Post Grads from Malaysia appear to buy the most expensive . At least they tend to transport groups of friends in them, so its not unusual to see a brand new X3 turn up with 5 students in it.

 

I've no idea what they do with them when they leave, sell them or try and export them?

 

Remember up at the management school some are paying £20k in fees to do an MBA, so we are talking about some seriously well off families supporting these students.

 

Well none of the foreign students I've met and I've met a lot, could even dream of getting a car.

Edited July 2, 2014 by Jmack

[Cyclone 10]

:hihi::hihi: Seriously? I doubt many students have cars. Especially foreign ones, what do you think they do? Land in Sheffield and go looking round car lots. Or maybe they import them.

About a 3rd of students have cars, at least that's the figure I remember being quoted. From the uni sports club that I teach it would seem to be a bit lower, maybe 1/5th.

 

 

Your proving my point mate. Cycling threads remind me very much of religion threads. To sides who will never agree with a small proportion on each side who can't stand each other. My Mum was knocked over by a cyclist who got on his bike and rode away. Do I think that guy was a scumbag? Yes. Do I think all cyclists are bad people as a result? Absolutely no. Same with Car drivers, some car drivers are loons, who are a danger to other motorists as well bikes and pedestrians. I just accept that the roads are full of idiot motorists. Idiot cyclists. And Idiot pedestrians. I don't get why others don't do the same.

I think they do. But having your life endangered by an idiot makes you pretty angry, and there's always the small hope that explaining to an idiot via the forum might reduce their level of idiocy.

 

You didn't really explain how the 80% of cyclists who are also motorists can be both anti-motorist and anti-cyclist. Presumably they are the more balanced individuals.

[hyper 10]

: Cycling threads remind me very much of religion threads. To sides who will never agree with a small proportion on each side who can't stand each other. My Mum was knocked over by a cyclist who got on his bike and rode away. Do I think that guy was a scumbag? Yes. Do I think all cyclists are bad people as a result? Absolutely no. Same with Car drivers, some car drivers are loons, who are a danger to other motorists as well bikes and pedestrians. I just accept that the roads are full of idiot motorists. Idiot cyclists. And Idiot pedestrians. I don't get why others don't do the same.

+1, good summary

[adamf 10]

But you DO know which is which, right, from experience... It's not like it changes. And there are blue signs up on Hannover Way to tell you.

 

The signs aren't always right, though. I've seen a few in Sheffield that are backwards, and some places where they put the sign for a striped path over an unstriped path.

 

Anyway, the two-stripe approach is basically crap. It's rare to see one where the cycling "lane" is wide enough for cyclists to cross. (I've never seen the council reduce a road to one driving lane in order to make room for pedestrians or cyclists.)

[Scabbydog 10]

Though cyclings far cheaper, and, in rush hour traffic, far faster than a car.

 

Cars are safer than cycles in actual road incidents, but in terms of obesity, fitness and general health, cycling is clearly a safer option than driving a car.

 

You make the assumption that car drivers don't excercise. It is far easier to take the family out for a hike round the Peak District if you take the car. It is also far easier to take the family for a hike round the Peak District if you didn't loose your legs in an accident whilst riding a bike in traffic. Cycling is only cheaper if you don't put a price on your personal safety.