“Please train your drivers better” cyclist tells DPD after tailgating courier traps bike under van (+ DPD promises “further action”); Ineos plot audacious Remco transfer; RideLondon entries open; Marginal games; Ned’s PM patter + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
"Please train your drivers better" cyclist tells DPD after tailgating delivery driver traps bike under van
‘Your parcel is out for delivery, if you are not in call to rearrange delivery or update your settings to leave it with a neighbour… PS, your parcel may arrive with an unwanted bicycle as our driver tailgates cyclists.’
@DPDgroup_news Yesterday, one of your vans in Oxford tailgated me. I stopped, hoping to talk to the driver and explain how frightening that is. Your driver then (I presume accidentally) trapped my bike under your van. I’m fine. Please train your drivers better. pic.twitter.com/UsIkmM0m45
— Fred Thomas (@fred80649578) September 27, 2022
Another rider promptly chipped in…
I dont want to turn into one of those car hating cyclists but I can see it happening. pic.twitter.com/Y8P06r8N2O
— Kate Lee ♀️ 🦖 (@kleephotography) September 27, 2022
Don’t fear though, DPD is on the case…with the universal social media PR message of nothingness…
Translation : ‘get it off a public forum as this is a PR nightmare for us’
— David (@TwoWheelsGoodOK) September 27, 2022
Some replies quickly suggested the police might want to hear about the incident, while others wondered if DPD, Dynamic Parcel Distribution, if you care, really stands for something more apt…
DPD = Damn Poor Drivers Group right?
Give the drivers more time and fewer drop may help them to drive better mind?— ffalabalambadoo 💙 (@ffalabalambadoo) September 28, 2022
They have form for bad driving pic.twitter.com/csdq6MFe1m
— Amanda Phillipson (@amandajp17) September 28, 2022
“trapped your bike” is a very charitable way of saying “deliberately drove over your bike”
This driver is an absolute danger
— brixton hatter (@BrixtonHatter) September 28, 2022
We’ve contacted DPD who have asked for a report from the local depot so we’ll update our coverage with any updates later in the day…
RideLondon entries open
Entries for the 2023 RideLondon-Essex 100 on Sunday 28 May are open. The first 10,000 places are available on a first come, first served basis via the RideLondon website. Once they’re gone a ballot, which closes at 17:00 on Friday 28 October 2022, will decide the remaining entries.
Marginal games
Guess who… pic.twitter.com/16uuJof60u
— Geraint Thomas (@GeraintThomas86) September 28, 2022
Operation Desert Recon: Populating Komoot trail view on the Badlands 2022 route
Cyclists call for proper infra to keep kids safe just hours before teen injured in hit-and-run
Kidical Mass, an organised ride highlighting the need for proper active travel infrastructure to enable children to cycle safely, returned to Portsmouth on Sunday…
Went to see the start of #KidicalMass in Portsmouth this morning. Amazing to see the varied types of cycles and people wanting safer infrastructure for #ActiveTravel around our city @PompeyBUG #ACityToShare pic.twitter.com/R9nxFXYORI
— Nai Srednuas (@luvvielighter) September 25, 2022
A group of 40 set off from Victoria Park at 11am with many kids on the road too, in trailers or on their own bikes, as part of the wider Kidical Mass weekend which saw more than 200 cities in 15 countries host similar rides.
One Portsmouth participant, Agata Blazevic told The News: “Our city desperately needs better cycling infrastructure, a network of safe, segregated, connected and direct cycle paths that a five-year-old and a 99-year-old could cycle on.”
Sadly, as if to prove the point, just hours later between 6.15pm and 6.30pm, a 13-year-old boy was injured when he was hit by a driver who also failed to stop at the scene. The boy suffered “minor injuries” to his head and face.
Giro d'Italia 2023 Grande Partenza — Abruzzo hosts race start with opening day TT
The road racing season may be coming to a familiar autumnal end but the Giro d’Italia has kept the flame alive by announcing a trio of stages for next year’s edition…
🎉 We can finally tell you: the #Giro d’Italia 2023 will take off from Abruzzo! 🇮🇹
🎉 Finalmente possiamo dirvelo: il #Giro d’Italia 2023 partirà dall’Abruzzo! 🇮🇹
— Giro d’Italia (@giroditalia) September 28, 2022
An 18km ITT with a punchy finish, reminiscent of recent Giro TTs in Budapest and Bologna, is the next Grand Tour stage we’ll watch…only 220 days to go…
Stage 1⃣ | Tappa 1⃣ ⭐️⭐️
⏱️ Fossacesia Marina – Ortona Costa dei Trabocchi 18.4 km #Giro 👇 pic.twitter.com/ejn8vSwdSm
— Giro d’Italia (@giroditalia) September 28, 2022
Then it’s time for the fast men…
Stage 2⃣ | Tappa 2⃣ ⭐️
🚴♂️ Teramo – San Salvo 204 km #Giro 👇 pic.twitter.com/5YfohDOWLT
— Giro d’Italia (@giroditalia) September 28, 2022
The race returns to the Abruzzo region on stage seven for the first mountain summit finish and a return to Gran Sasso where Simon Yates won in 2018…
Stage 7⃣ | Tappa 7⃣ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
⛰️ Gran Sasso d’Italia (Campo Imperatore) #Giro pic.twitter.com/e09Ay5vWMZ
— Giro d’Italia (@giroditalia) September 28, 2022
"We will identify the driver in question, carry out a full debrief and take all further action to ensure that there is no repeat": DPD statement
We got in touch with DPD and this is the statement we got back…
At DPD we take the conduct of our people very seriously indeed, including their interaction with all other road users. We would like to extend our apologies again to the cyclist and reassure readers that we are investigating this incident to find out exactly what did occur. We will identify the driver in question, carry out a full debrief and take all further action to ensure that there is no repeat of the behaviour described here.
8 tips to get started with gravel riding
"Beware of cyclists from the right"
— Ned Boulting (@nedboulting) September 28, 2022
road.cc regular Rendel’s got déjà vu…
Great minds think alike Ned, I made the same joke in 2020 using the same sign in the same spot – Deptford, right? pic.twitter.com/7kz4dz1eT1
— Rendel Harris (@Rendel_Harris) September 28, 2022
If you can't beat them... pay them extraordinary amounts of money to join you — Ineos Grenadiers reportedly interested in signing Remco
BIG transfer rumours circulating today suggest Ineos Grenadiers and Jim Ratcliffe are exploring the possibility of an audacious bid to sign newly-crowned world champion Remco Evenepoel.
VeloNews is reporting Ratcliffe is “desperate” to bring a potential Tour de France winner to the team, with Remco the number one candidate. Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl team boss Patrick Lefevere reportedly told the cycling news website that Dave Brailsford sent him a text after the Vuelta win saying to “give me a call” if “you want to sell him”.
“Brailsford texted me, and he doesn’t text that much,” Lefevere said. “He said, ‘Congratulations, what a champ, and if one day you want to sell him give me a call.’ That was it. No more, no less.
“You can’t tell if someone is joking on WhatsApp. There was no smiley, no emoji. Just a few words. Other colleagues just congratulated me, but if Dave wants Remco then he probably needs a lot of money.”
I think Ratcliffe’s $10.1billion net worth (yep, there’s an obvious joke about what that is in GBP) can handle it…
Any transfer would require a fee as Remco is under contract with the Belgian team until 2026, and Ineos would have to go through the world champ’s dad, Patrick, who represents him.
“We’ve had contact for years with them [Ineos] but there’s not been a meeting,” Patrick Evenepoel said. “There was no meeting but we had a phone call with them. We’ve had contacts with them and I know Mr. Brailsford and Mr. Ellingworth. We have known each other for years. It’s normal that they call me to say congratulations with the Vuelta and after Liège.
To the question of whether there had been talks about a potential Ineos switch Patrick laughed…”That discussion was already there three years ago.”
“I don’t know. Remco has a contract for five years with Quick-Step. I don’t know. It’s not for me to talk. We want to celebrate the Vuelta and the world championships, and what’s happening in the future, we will see what’s coming.”
Blind people in Sheffield say shared-use routes have "created problems"
Visually impaired people in the South Yorkshire city of Sheffield have told the BBC that shared-use paths have “created problems” for them, as they often rely on “kerbs and tactile surfaces to show they are approaching a road”, making navigating the city “hard work”.
One such shared-use path, on Pinstone Street, in particular has caused issues: “If you’re going to the bus stop on Charter Row, you have to cross a cycle lane and if you’re getting off the bus, you’re not stepping onto a safe pavement you’re stepping directly into a cycle lane,” Robert McCann, who is partially sighted, said.
“It should never be that hard to walk around your own city. It should be normal, natural and relaxed.”
Martin Wing, who is aided by a guide dog, added: “Penistone Road allows cycling on the pavement [has a shared-use path]. There’s no tactile [aid] to show you’ve moved across from the pavement to the cycle lane, or if there is tactile it’s not one that a guide dog would recognise.”
51-year-old Davide Rebellin set to call it a day
In two weeks Davide Rebellin will end his pro career at the Giro del Veneto, a race in which he was 5th…in 1992. That day he finished in the same group as Laurent Fignon & just ahead of Stephen Roche. Roman Kreuziger – that is the now retired 2013 Amstel winner‘s dad – was 63rd.
— Daniel Friebe (@friebos) September 28, 2022
Meanwhile, spring chickens Alejandro Valverde and Vincenzo Nibali have both confirmed they will bow out at Il Lombardia next Saturday.
Marginal games Pt.2
I think @jcastroviejo needs to ride the front more #toomuchenergy 🤣 pic.twitter.com/rcPXnUVhlU
— Geraint Thomas (@GeraintThomas86) September 28, 2022
28 September 2022, 08:08
28 September 2022, 08:08
28 September 2022, 08:08
28 September 2022, 08:08
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Latest Comments
I'll counter that by saying the Bryton 750se I have drives me nuts at times. Inconsistantly picks up on routes created on Komoot and the app re-syncs every few seconds when trying to set up the device and sends me back to the home screen. The most infuriating one is that I turned live track on. Once. It now won't turn off and repeatedly flags up the live track is starting, and then disconnecting every few seconds whilst riding. I haven't timed it but it wouldn't suprise me if 10-20% of the time the the screen is covered with an error message. That's been about 6 weeks now. Other than that it's great :/
RE: Police launch road safety operation... by clamping down on cyclists using footbridge Meanwhile in Glasgow, Police Scotland are riding their motorbikes over the pedestrian and cyclists only bridge. https://x.com/FietserGlasgow/status/2065106152917012523?s=20
@Paul J Van Schip certainly seems a bit of a dick, but he's a European and multiple World Champion on the track, pretty sure you don't get there without having some talent in your legs.
Poor Vincent cannot get over the simple fact that given the choice people prefer dedicated cycling spaces, rather than pretending to be cars like vehicular cyclists.
What is the point of the fancy air sensor if it can't account for changing weather conditions?? If all you care about is a delayed approximation of aerodynamic watts in steady conditions, you don't need any special sensors for that. Just your speed on a decently flat course is enough to approximate rolling resistance and drivetrain losses. And the rest must be aero. If you assume a less aero body position at the same watts, your speed will drop while rolling resistance also drops, which means approximated aero watts goes up. And that's enough to demonstrate what you've shown in your testing protocol ("I sat upright and the number went up a little while later").
Your correction is accurate - it's almost always been "the (lack of) thought that (doesn't) count". "Massive" - less than a billion a year spent on active travel (trying to catch up / building a network across the entire country) Not massive - 6 billion every year (2026-2030) spent on road *maintenance* of existing "already built, goes everywhere, very convenient" road network for inactive travel Ultimately the reason "cycle infra" is *needed* is those unbelievably colossal amounts spent every year (and for more than a century now) on making mass motoring not just viable but apparently the "best choice" for most journeys. As the Dutch and others have shown, the majority of people *are* prepared to cycle and even mix with very light, slow local motor traffic *if* cycling is also made safe and convenient for the whole of their journey (including secure parking at both ends). (The history of the financial drivers of the current situation are a complex topic but note that while people complain about "crumbling roads" and underfunded motor infra - with some reason - by us continuing the fuel duty escalator freeze (for example) we're actually helping motorists pay *even less* for that activity / subsidising more of the cost of driving than ever.)
yes, but people will still object - which was my point.
So ' Priority of Road Users' and 1.5 metre clearance at 30mph has been been reduced to 'sharing'? NCN route 2 here in South Hams is an absolute scream with white vans, tractors and total idiots who refuse,or are totally incapable,to reverse on high Devon banked lanes ...means you have to get off and pedal back to a passing place....could be at that all day...so I don't bother...
@MaxiMinimalist Agreed. The big problem I see now is today's parents grew up being driven to their schools, and therefore, see private motor vehicles as the only viable form of transport. The vast majority of UK infant and primary schools have a catchment area that is within easy walking distance from home to school. Yet, the traffic caused by pupils being driven to/from school is astonishing. Banishing the "School Run" should be a priority for all schools.
When I was a kid (that was during the previous millenium when phones were connected to a plug in the wall), I rode my bicycle to school, music academy, sport grounds, parties even during the winter. The government didn't have to spend, correct that, didn't have to think of spending massive amounts of money to build cycling specific infrastructures. Over the past 3 or 4 decades, cars have grown bigger, taller, safer (for their drivers) and faster. Meanwhile, motorists have become abusive, aggressive, hypersensitive to people moving on two wheels, aka cyclists. Spending billions upon billions on new infrastructure won't address the crux of the matter. Sadly.
75 thoughts on ““Please train your drivers better” cyclist tells DPD after tailgating courier traps bike under van (+ DPD promises “further action”); Ineos plot audacious Remco transfer; RideLondon entries open; Marginal games; Ned’s PM patter + more on the live blog”
RideLondon-Essex 100 2023
RideLondon-Essex 100 2023 just opened for the first 10000 non-ballot places… I’m in!
mark1a wrote:
Thanks for the reminder. Also signed up.
£99!!!!
£99!!!!
Blimey. Is it just me or has it gone up considerably since last year?
£89 last year…
£89 last year…
If you buy your ticket in
If you buy your ticket in Euros or Dollars, it will be a lot cheaper now thanks to Truss, Kwarteng and the hedge fund millionaires.
Simon E wrote:
Errm no, it will still be £99. I would have only saved money today if I’d hedged against the current exchange rates by buying dollars and euros before the current drop, which unfortunately I didn’t as I’m not a hedge fund millionaire.
mark1a wrote:
Buy it now in almost any currency, possibly including Turkish Lira, and get a refund later. You’ll be well ahead as long as you do this before any U-turn / chancellor sacking / government falling / we all wake up in a cold sweat.
This is not investment advice. Past performance is not a guide to the future, who knows, the government might suddenly have a sanity infusion.
A wider question (as opposed
A wider question (as opposed to political knockabout) is what will happen to the price of bike parts and supplies on the back of a falling £ and rising interest rates
hirsute wrote:
As (most) bike parts are priced in not-GBP then they are going to get more expensive, at least for now. OTOH UK made bike parts will seem cheaper to people from outside the GBP so it should help exports (assuming they can get the paperwork right to get them out of the country).
DPD do you seem to stand out
DPD do seem to stand out from other delivery companies in terms of poor quality driving in my experience. Is it at least partly because they insist on using particularly large vans in urban areas? Certainly in my part of London they seem to favour Mercedes vans that are noticeably bigger than those of other companies.
Is it at least partly because
Is it at least partly because they [DPD] insist on using particularly large vans in urban areas?
Also, it may just be down to particular drivers. They use the same massive vans up here, but my experience is that DPD is better than average in North Lancashire for driving consideration. APC and Yodel are noticeably worse, but much less common.The roads are, of course, much less congested here
I note that some delivery
I note that some delivery companies (certainly recent parcels I have received from Yodel and Evri) contract out the delivery to anyone with a car/van so many deliveries are carried out by drivers not using liveried vehicles.
OnYerBike wrote:
Are they in Star Wars?
I’ve seen them use little
I’ve seen them use little mini electric vans, almost like golf carts, locally (which behave exactly like Smart cars if you know how they get driven around) but I suppose it’s about how much they are delivering at a time.
Are they worse or better than others though ? I dont know, Amazon feel worse to me out of all of them, Evri probably would be if they used branded vehicles, but I’d always be hyper vigilant riding near any delivery service main depots.
What training do these
What training do these companies do? I was interested in becoming a delivery driver a while ago but I can’t do with the hassle/ pressure to deliver x number of calls in a certain time. It can encourage poor driving…..
There needs to be higher standards for delivery drivers.
No idea, technically Im
No idea, technically Im allowed to drive a liveried van of that size for my employer, and all Id have to do was show I had a driving licence to my manager, and complete an online yearly risk assessment course.
DPD train their drivers? I
DPD train their drivers? I worked for DPD during the Summer many years ago during university. Training? None. Literally just given a van and a list of addresses, then sent off and that’s it. And back then the drops weren’t timed either. Problem now is drivers are paid per drop, I was hourly in 2007. I was told, do what you can, don’t worry if you don’t get it all. Now, don’t do it all, don’t get paid. It simply encourages bad driving.
99 fooking quid!!
FRO.
99 fooking quid!!
FRO.
Drivers: Cyclists are
Drivers: Cyclists are renegades and dangerous and don’t obey the rules.
Also Drivers: Hit a 13 year old child, injuring their face and head and don’t even stop at the scene, an offence which carries up to 6 months in prison, implying they believe they either won’t get caught or were committing a greater crime at the time of the incident.
Not got the link to hand but
Not got the link to hand but this popped up in the comments recently: also driver – kill someone on the pavement and don’t go to jail.
Wasn’t that a few years ago .
Wasn’t that a few years ago … driver was crossing a pavement to get to an illegal carpark .. if its the same one.
https://twitter.com/Lejogmack
https://twitter.com/Lejogmack/status/1574988105416790016?t=s0nxpNaiKqS9Iork9Zt3lw&s=19
Christina’s cycling achievements have been covered on this site in the past.
Drivers: Cyclists are
Drivers: Cyclists are renegades and dangerous and don’t obey the rules.
Also Drivers: Hit a woman out riding with a trailer, breaking her pelvis, likely leaving her screaming in pain on the road and don’t even stop at the scene, an offence which carries up to 6 months in prison, implying they believe they either won’t get caught or were committing a greater crime at the time of the incident.
RE: DPD (“you can’t park
RE: DPD (“you can’t park there mate – that’s my bike!”). In my experience – thinking back 15 years or so – delivery has always been a grey business. The company doesn’t particularly matter (and this could be coming to Royal Mail soon too).
I do think there is a trend here though. This is in part a product of consumers of course – we all want more, cheaper, faster. However this is limited by supply – which is where politics and choices come in.
If we favour “more competition” then one possibility is a race to the bottom. If we allow businesses to continue the “workers as contractors, not employees” model to save money and provide “flexibility” then why would they care about their “contractors”? Why not seek to import more practices from elsewhere where pay and safety standards are lower? Consequence – the employees then only care about “quick” and don’t feel responsible (“I’m the face of DPD”) or care about other concerns like safety.
All political choices. Even if our politicians may feel that they’re too small and their voices don’t count in a rapidly changing world with massive multinationals!
I was wondering about this –
I was wondering about this – I think it’s fair to say any commercial use of the road, whether it be parcel delivery, or food delivery, or taxis, there is almost always a commercial incentive to get it done faster. Possibly in recent years with the growth in online shopping and the rise of the “gig economy” it has got worse.
But when thinking about political choices that have contributed and how to improve the situation, the obvious solution always seems to be the simplest: enforce the existing road laws better, with more widespread enforcement and higher fines, especially for repeat offenders. If the likelihood of a fine is high enough and the fine itself is big enough, then the commercial incentive switches to ensuring maximum compliance with the law (and it doesn’t matter whether that’s coming from top-down management or individual self-employed “contractors” making that decision for themselves).
Yes there are other issues with the gig economy etc. that this won’t help with, but it should help the situation on the roads.
Agree – a good start would
Agree – a good start would just be enforcing existing road laws. At least to the extent that there’s more than a vague chance of getting caught. From what I see the compromise goes that there is more vigorous enforcement at one or two places. Or selected times. Outside of that the odds favour the scofflaw.
Although there’s corporation tax and taxes on vehicles and fuel many companies get a great benefit from the public road infrastructure.
I do think there’s quite a bit of room for improvement. However I wonder about the cost-benefit of doing this to a really effective level? How large would fines need to be to make a difference or even fully pay for their implementation? Given that some firms already pay bribes, unless enforcement was really strong would these fines just be dismissed as an informal extra tax rather than making a change? If costly enough to be effective would there simply be mass disobedience? I say that knowing that plenty of well-established companies take a creative approach to ‘within the law’ and more casual enterprises don’t give a fiscal and take their chances.
If there was enough political push here would it lead to the removal of the politicians who set it in motion – and a resumption of the status quo, or worse?
A bit like the exam question of “parking on double-yellows should be punished by execution as that will ensure it doesn’t happen; discuss”.
OnYerBike wrote:
One of the reasons underlined by London Cycling Campaign for why such a disproprtionate number of skip lorries and tipper trucks are involved in cyclist KSIs in the city is related to this too – drivers are often independent contractors paid by the load, so there is huge pressure to get it done quickly, which inevitably leads to taking risks and cutting corners (often literally as well as figuratively).
Seems to be a classic case of
Seems to be a classic case of a moral hazard – those who benefit most (everybody above the hapless gig worker) from the risk taking are not the one who suffer the consequences (the victim, and to an extent the gig worker). So until directors go to prison, nothing will change.
Seems we are moving to be
Seems we are moving to be more aligned with US business practices (albeit – as of today anyway – with higher taxes and much shorter average working hours). The thing is in the US if a businesses is called to account they absolutely do lock senior management and company officers up. Here…?
Wimped out at lunchtime – no
Wimped out at lunchtime – no shorts.
Off to sell the £ now which I believe is mandatory for all roadcc forum users being left wing Corbynista, anti-eu and anti-Johnson (and pro science).
hirsute wrote:
Grauniad had a story yesterday that The Day Today sketch about the pound having been stolen has been going viral on Twitter.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/sep/27/day-today-pound-stolen-sketch-goes-viral-after-sterling-tanks
Inside the Race to Recycle
Inside the Race to Recycle Millions of Dead Electric-Vehicle Batteries (slate.com)
OT, but an interesting read.
https://slate.com/technology/2022/09/electric-vehicle-battery-recycling.html
The Giro is back in Abruzzo!
The Giro is back in Abruzzo! That TT might be along the new bike path, the Via Verde…
Daveyraveygravey wrote:
It certainly is … this from the press release: “The opening stage will be an individual time trial of 18.4km on the Costa dei Trabocchi, starting from Fossacesia Marina to Ortona, almost entirely along the cycle path.”
Similar to the 2015 start on the old railway line bike path in Sanremo, though that was a team time trial, not an individual one.
I hadn’t heard of this bike path, definitely looks worth a visit some time.
[Edited to add profile]
Simon_MacMichael wrote:
It certainly is … this from the press release: “The opening stage will be an individual time trial of 18.4km on the Costa dei Trabocchi, starting from Fossacesia Marina to Ortona, almost entirely along the cycle path.”
Similar to the 2015 start on the old railway line bike path in Sanremo, though that was a team time trial, not an individual one.
I hadn’t heard of this bike path, definitely looks worth a visit some time.
[Edited to add profile]
— Daveyraveygravey
Thanks for the info Simon, I was typing my post and trying to get more info all at the same time, very exciting. The path will eventually be 42km long, it’s a stunning coastline, and Abruzzo is a fantastic part of the country. When the path gets to Francavilla, you will then be able to take on the coast to mountain ride, 50km from the sea to the top of the Blockhaus at 2200m. The section of the path that is open is seemingly very popular, lots of bike hire businesses springing up along its length. Some of them you can hire for as little as €3 an hour, my wife has even said she *might* be tempted to try it, and believe me, that is a massive recommendation!
The old fishing platforms (the trabocchi) are nearly all restaurants now, I haven’t eaten in them because they are pricey, and for me, the beauty of eating in Abruzzo is so many places are good value, and the food is brilliant.
This might spur them on to
This might spur them on to finish the northern part beyond Ortona…
Quote:
Fixed.
I read it as “we will tell
I read it as “we will tell the driver if it happens again he’ll lose his job”
What I didn’t read was “we will carry out a review of driver training and operating instructions to ensure the highest standards of driving from our staff”
The truth is that these companies simply don’t invest in their staff and they don’t see that what their drivers do on the roads should be governed by health and safety best practice / risk assessments – something that they will certainly do in their warehouses. eg if a forklift driver came in to their warehouse with a valid licence would they really just go “that’s great off you go” or would they check that he was fimilliar with the site rules and the machine he was going to drive.
I once contacted DPD to complain about one of their drivers. Although I gave them the exact place and time they couldn’t do anything without the registration because why on earth would they fit the vans with trackers. Anything DPD say is utter BS.
OT, but if Truss gets ousted
OT, but if Truss gets ousted for ever so slightly f-ing up the economy (after how many days in office?), does that mean we end up with Johnson back again or does Govt get paralysed again while they choose someone else…?
https://twitter.com
https://twitter.com/nedboulting/status/1575099253948645377
Ah, great minds think alike,
Ah, great minds think alike, made the same joke in 2020 with the same sign at the same spot.
brooksby wrote:
I’m no fan of Starmer, but we should have a general election.
OT, but interesting (and
OT, but interesting (and mildly depressing)
Chatteris: The town to be scrubbed from the bus route map
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-63046348
brooksby wrote:
Half Man Half Biscuit will have to change the lyrics of their splendid song For What is Chatteris, which begins:
One way system, smooth and commendable,
go by bus, they’re highly dependable,
We have a similar issue here
We have a similar issue here in the East of Bedfordshire.
According to Stagecoach only Bedford, St Ives, MK and Hitchin exist as places people want to go to or from. Our services to/from Bedford (being the main service) are being withdrawn and we don’t have many services elsewhere on a regular basis.
Many students go to six form college in Bedford and workers too. There is now no suitable services so that will put more cars on the roads, increase congestion and make active travel almost impossible.
brooksby wrote:
I do wonder about the suitability of current bus fleets – they seem to be mostly large vehicles with only a few people on. Surely, a minibus type vehicle would be finiancially/ecologically better in a lot of cases?
Would presumably suit rich_cb
Would presumably suit rich_cb’s autonomous taxi ideas, or maybe a lower-tech Jeepney? “The minibus departs when we’ve got enough passengers”.
Alternatively we may have to get used to being content with living and working in a town of 10,000 or so. “But there are no jobs” – well indeed; there were once, but … Also one traditional – and contemporary – response to that situation (or “there’s no food”, or artillery bombardments etc.) is “leave”.
I wondered this too. I
I wondered this too. I suspect it’s due to the fact that buses are “rammed” during commuting periods hence needing the bigger buses. Minibuses could be used during the day but then you have to purchase and store extra vehicles. In west Wales there are well used minbuses put on for people walking the Pembrokeshire coast path (Puffin Shuttle etc.) but they don’t have to cater for commuters.
I wonder if anyone has ever
I wonder if anyone has ever invented a “truck and trailer” bus system, where the main unit could be used outside of rush-hour with a hook on extra capacity in a trailer unit for busy times? Probably myriad technical difficulties but it would save on having to have two sets of buses or using large ones when small ones would do.
Rendel Harris wrote:
Flexible, cost efficient bus trailers adapt to passenger demand:
https://www.itsinternational.com/feature/flexible-cost-efficient-bus-trailers-adapt-passenger-demand
That’s exactly what I was
That’s exactly what I was picturing only with maybe a small tractor unit. Cheers!
Probably also worth applying
Probably also worth applying a bit of intelligence to the route-planning side of things too, to make the routes and time-tables “dynamic” to suit demand.
Case in point:
I used to live in a village adjoined to the South-East of Cheltenham, there was a bus route (the B route) that went more-or-less from the village to the centre of Cheltenham town. There were (from memory) something like 14 bus stops on this route within the boundary of the village – pretty much every 75m for the whole route. If you stood on the village green in the centre of the village you could hit about 12 of them with a tennis ball. Also, two of them were the “timing” stops, where if the bus was ahead of schedule (which it always was because it was empty) it would stop for a while – one of these stops blocked a residential street, the other (due to the modern bus being twice the length of the ones when the bust stops were installed) blocked a mini-roundabout in the middle of the village.
The busses that Stagecoach used to service the route were enormous (they get a little bigger every few years, and are now just compact coaches), and would take up the whole width of the road and the front-wheel over-hang would take up the pavement when turning (I’ve posted stories on here before of how I’ve had to dive into someone’s front garden to avoid a turning bus). These busses were also almost entirely empty save for school kick-out time. Every 20 mins, a massive, smoke-belching behemoth would plunge into the village causing absolute chaos, purely for the benefit of the driver.
I never understood why Stagecoach never:
Which would have resulted in less congestion, fewer pointless miles driven and less pollution.
Stagecoach you say (link from
Stagecoach you say (link from a long time back)? Doing things primarily for the benefit of the customer, or even the environment? As opposed to, say, driving a rival out of business? What a curious notion.
Had a visit from a Man from
Had a visit from a Man from the Council at work – the local business improvement district wants the council to “withdraw permission to keep commercial bins on the footway” so as to make things better for pedestrians with physical or sensory problems.
We’ll have to move our wheelie bin onto the building’s own property (a car park, down an alley and round the back of the building) when it is not actually out ready for collection. Which is fair enough (although the bit of pavement it lives on is never actually used anyway).
However, when I asked whether they’ll be making more of an effort to stop cars being parked on the footway (pointing at the white vans parked up just down the road in both directions) or cafe tables blocking narrow pavements, he coughed and said, “Ah, well, that’s a different department, I don’t know about that…”.
https://twitter.com
https://twitter.com/StuInNorway/status/1575119380660248576
Happy Days, The anti-bad-parking app “flytt deg” now works in Stavanger. Take photo of illegally parked car blocking cycle routes etc, confirm map location, add some info, sends it straight to the parking office to dispatch the roaming car.
Why can’t we have this ?
(I think the poster appears on here on occasion).
Quote:
I’m sure this is true – and “shared-use” meaning “now fight over scraps with a different mode of transport” as we know. However there’s something we all are missing, disabled or not. Surely:
“Visually impaired people in the South Yorkshire city of Sheffield have told the BBC that motor vehicles permeating the city* have created problems for them.”
After all, no motor vehicles, no having to stick to the paths, right?
* Rather than being safely confined to places where they won’t run suddenly appear and block people’s progress, regularly zip past near to them, beep at them or just run them over.
Exactly so, it’s like the old
Exactly so, it’s like the old one hundred biscuits joke (one hundred biscuits to be shared out, rich man takes ninety-eight, working man gets one, immigrant gets one, rich man tells the worker, “Watch out, if you’re not careful that immigrant will have your biscuit”); cars get 85% (more with pavement parking) of street space but most drivers seeing the story would doubtless say bloody cyclists, now they’re stealing space off the blind.
Awaiting hawkinspeter with
Awaiting hawkinspeter with his customary “eat the rich tea”.
Some are well-fed millionaires, short bread for the rest.
chrisonatrike wrote:
Xi Jong Ping, Stalin, Mao,
Xi Jing Ping, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, etc. all thank you for your support, and for ignoring the reality that Socialism is essentially dragging everyone back down to your level, for the millions who were killed by Socialist leaders, and live in poverty, gulags, re-education camps under Socialism. Sorry to all you Inner-city Gucci-socialist elites tho.
Some reading about socialism
Some reading about socialism seems be indicated. This would be as good a start as any:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialism
Roulereo wrote:
Using the same logic, anyone who supports any right-wing policies is also supporting Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, Pinochet and Hirohito and ignores the reality of the millions killed, tortured and enslaved by them? No? Bloody stupid comment, even by your frothing standards.
Roulereo wrote:
Sorry to hear that you’re hard of thinking
An extra meme for luck
An extra meme for luck
A good explanation! The
A good explanation! The “Communism” graphic has lost its fence (iron curtain) though. “Red” squirrel to blame I guess.
After reading Jon Sopel’s essays on the early Trump-years US I suspect that for many the last few Conservative governments over here would look pretty socialist. I remind myself of that when reading the opinions of some US folks. OTOH they could just be wacky conspiracists.
Glad you mentioned feudalism
Glad you mentioned feudalism.
hirsute wrote:
“Out of her depth in a puddle” – great line!
Wow, even your humour is
Wow, even your humour is Socialist. As in, being all at the lowest level, drab and boring. Your Meme game is definitely elderly ex Uni professor stuck griping on FB level.
Come on you cursty old grumpy Inner City Lefties, have a genuine laugh for once.
Maybe jump on your Socialist bikes, you know the drab boring ones all the same type that everyone has to have…
Roulereo wrote:
I would comment on your memes or humour, but there is no evidence of either
It would be easier if you
It would be easier if you could state what you think socialism is.
Also we don’t all want ultegra cranks.
hirsute wrote:
At least Ultegra cranks try to seize the means of destruction
Roulereo wrote:
I’m confused. Do you mean one of this boring kind, all the same type, that all the roadies here seem to have?
Something else? Maybe you’re referring to the Boris bike, sponsored by a global bank and championed by the Eton-educated non-socialist (for the UK) Boris Johnson? Ah – apologies, do you mean a Flying Pigeon? The one modelled after the English Roadster, product of advanced capitalism (early 20th century version)?
I’ll certainly follow your advice though; I won’t “do a Trump” (arf) e.g. I will jump on my bike. The less boring one today as it’s sunny! Do send us a picture of your freedom machine!
Meanwhile, communists
Meanwhile, communists probably – or at least socialists – on their prole-speed bicycles.
We need to demand more cute
We need to demand more cute dog advertising of bikes!
Rendel Harris wrote:
Not heard that one before but it sums up the world very well. Also works with lots of other X vs Y situations.