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New cycle lane in Manchester's Portland Street removed amid safety concernsManchester Portland Street cycle lane (picture via Twitter user Racco).JPG

New cycle lane in Manchester's Portland Street removed amid safety concerns

Campaigners say their warnings of danger posed by buses were ignored
by Simon_MacMichael
Wed, May 11, 2016 15:53
11

A cycle lane in Manchester city centre has been concreted over only seven weeks after it was installed after cycling campaigners said it made conditions more dangerous and “sandwiched” cyclists between buses.

The lane, on Portland Street, formed part of a multi-million pound initiative aimed at making the city’s roads safer for people on bikes – but as shown in these images posted to Twitter in March, buses make them impossible to use.

Campaigners say their concerns about cyclists being squeezed between buses were ignored at the consultation stage, while the leader of the city council has also criticised new cycling facilities elsewhere in the city, reports the Manchester Evening News.

Nick Hubble from the Greater Manchester Cycling Campaign (GMCC) told the newspaper: “Although GMCC and others raised very legitimate concerns over the proposed design at the planning and consultation stage, these were largely ignored and the scheme was built in full awareness that it would put cyclists at risk.

 “However, once built the council quickly realised that cyclists’ concerns were justified.

"Within a few weeks of the road reopening, a dangerous stretch of cycle lane that forced people to ride between a bus lay-by and a bus lane at the Oxford Road junction was removed, and this weekend a stretch with the same design outside Dawsons music shop has similarly been painted out.

 “We urge the council to take the lessons learned from this debacle forward and in future only to implement designs that will truly balance the needs of people on buses, in cars, on foot and on bikes,” he added.

The cycle lane was installed as part of the Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) bus priority scheme, which also includes segregated cycling facilities being put in place on Oxford Road, which link to the Wilmlsow Road Cycleway.

But earlier this week, the leader of the city council, Sir Richard Leese, said on Twitter: “Just cycled from Town Hall to Didsbury and back using new cycle paths on Wilmslow Road. Not a pleasant experience.”

Shortly after the Portland Street cycle lane was completed in March, Manchester City Council’s executive member for environment, councillor Kate Chappell, said it had been “designed to ensure buses and cyclists can use the road safely,” and acknowledged road users, whose feedback she invited, would need time to get used to the changes.

Following the decision to scrap the lane, she said: “Removing this section of cycle lane was a simple change that we feel provides more flexibility for cyclists and drivers at a point in the highway where bikes and buses interact closely.

“Portland Street will be monitored continually to observe how the changes to the highway are bedding in,” she added.

“Further up Portland Street, near Newton Street and Piccadilly for example, we are working with TfGM to address the issue of buses obstructing the cycle lane when stopping for passengers."

Manchester
Portland Street
TfGM
Simon MacMichael

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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11 comments

Avatar
Zebulebu | 8 years ago
0 likes

I used to live in Chorley and cycle to/from Manchester for work. It's saying something when 20 miles of the A6 was preferable and less dangerous than the two miles I suffered in central Manchester.

Poorly-planned roadworks, seemingly taking place all at the same time; bus lanes that appear to be designed without any thought for cyclists, cars OR buses; pedestrians walking straight into the middle of the road to avoid endless obstacles on the pavements; road surfaces that wouldn't look out of place in Iraq; traffic lights phased by someone on acid - the list is endless

Avatar
burtthebike | 8 years ago
1 like

It seems to me that there is a systemic flaw in our highways departments, which is that they have absolutely no idea how to design properly for cyclists, and they certainly don't listen to cyclists.  I made this point at the Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy consultation meeting in Bristol last week, that unless they train the planners, most of the tiny amount of money they are proposing to spend on it will be wasted.

I also made the point that they have to listen to consultation, as my council, SGlos, regularly consults, and then does exactly what it proposed in the first place, and there is nothing you can do about it.  There has to be some method of holding councils to account for failing to follow their own policies and failing to listen to consultation.

Avatar
crazy-legs replied to burtthebike | 8 years ago
1 like
burtthebike wrote:

It seems to me that there is a systemic flaw in our highways departments, which is that they have absolutely no idea how to design properly for cyclists, and they certainly don't listen to cyclists. 

Partly that and partly that there is no national standard for stuff to be built to. If you tried to build a motorway saying "oh this'll do" and "well they can just dismount here", it'd be thrown out before it got off the drawing board. Yet with bikes, it's a case of "oh, some green paint here!" and this can be passed as "fit for purpose" by people who have never ridden a bike and never had to design for one.

First and foremost, the country needs a national minimum standard of infrastructure, not a token 70cm wide bit of paint and not a carte blanche for councils to do whatever they want. Sustrans has to take some of the blame for this too, they've constantly been pushing the "anything is better than nothing" line to councils and they've signed off some truly atrocious schemes that pass as infrastructure and people (well, councils) come to expect that they can get away with this shit.

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alexb | 8 years ago
1 like

I travel to Manchester for work pretty regularly.

It is massively polluted for such a small city. The road conditions are absolutely terrible as well. If the council were really serious about safety they could simply start with a road resurfacing programme. That would go a long way to giving cyclists a choice over the physical space on the road they can safely occupy. As it is, most of them look as though they are having to zigzag from one strip of smoth road to another, doging traffic and potholes on the way.

Manchester is pretty unpleasant as a pedestrian as well, with complex and confusing road layouts and very few options to cross streets in one go.

Avatar
crazy-legs | 8 years ago
3 likes
Quote:

Removing this section of cycle lane was a simple change that we feel provides more flexibility for cyclists and drivers at a point in the highway where bikes and buses interact closely.

Just what I want when I'm on a bike, it's my favourite part of any ride - close interaction with a bus...  no

Avatar
Manchestercyclist | 8 years ago
4 likes

I cycle down there every weekday on my way to Oldham, both before the lanes were added and after. There was no improvement at all but I'm not suprised, it seems to me that all the 'cycle lanes' created by Manchester council are little more than bus priority packages, they're just misappropriating cycle funds.

None of this comes as any suprise, every morning the mandatory cycle lane on Oxford road is parked on by an articulated lorry and the corner by the casino parked on by taxis, there is no enforecement in Manchester and no decent lanes.

Take the lane, it's your only option

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Accessibility f... | 8 years ago
2 likes

This is Manchester City Council don't forget, who designed such brilliant features as a Velodrome with no easy access for cyclists.  They're absolutely addicted to cars, they won't close major thoroughfares like Deansgate (which has a very close dual carriageway ring road) because they're too frightened.  The city has massive pollution problems from standing buses around Piccadilly Gardens, and don't even start on the gardens and the massive grey wall that EVERYONE hates...

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DrJDog | 8 years ago
5 likes

Kate Chappell doesn't sound like the sharpest tool in the box.

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P3t3 replied to DrJDog | 8 years ago
10 likes
DrJDog wrote:

Kate Chappell doesn't sound like the sharpest tool in the box.

 

Its a shame they feel they have to spin it up into a positve story every time

Quote:

“designed to ensure buses and cyclists can use the road safely,”

this just nonsense - its been designed by painting on the road for one or more of 3 reasons: a) because anything else was expensive, b) it had no impact on vehicular traffic because at the end of the day its just paint or c) they ware just too plain lazy or incompetent to do anything else.  

 

Then for :

Quote:

“Removing this section of cycle lane was a simple change that we feel provides more flexibility for cyclists and drivers at a point in the highway where bikes and buses interact closely."

read: actually our first design was worse than useless and we just don't have the imagination or inclination to do anything else

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pmanc replied to DrJDog | 8 years ago
0 likes
DrJDog wrote:

Kate Chappell doesn't sound like the sharpest tool in the box.

Actually, I like Kate.  She's done a lot to promote sustainable transport, and everyday cycling, and she's taken quite a lot of stick (eg bikelash) for it.

But yes, she lets herself down by supporting crap like this.  The lane in question was a step backwards, so by removing it they've just put it back to being as crap as it always was.

P3t3 is bang on when he says "Its a shame they feel they have to spin it up into a positve story every time". 

And I totally agree with Peowpeowpeowlasers as well.  Manchester is making some efforts, but it's generally pretty lame.  The new curry mile stuff is fitted in around everything else, making it narrow and winding - they should have got rid of on-street parking.  The new Leigh guided-busway cycle facility has a crappy surface to keep the occasional horse rider happy.  The town centre is a nightmare.  They should close Deansgate to through-traffic...but that's going to be a hard sell to the businesses along there.

Basically the council needs to be bolder and more forthright, and stop sticking up for rubbish.  We could look at the nice new wide cycleways through the middle of London.  That's what we should aspire to.

Avatar
brooksby | 8 years ago
7 likes

I am so glad that councils listen to the public, and don't just plough on regardless and waste money... yes

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