“The best designers are those that use this type of infrastructure daily”: Active Transport planner turns to Reddit for advice, and the cyclists love it; Finally a Dauphiné sprint stage + more on the live blog

Is there any detection? Lots (most?) UK lights seem to operate on fixed cycles - and certainly cycle detection seems rare (and nothing like NL where there may be sensors some distance in advance to detect approaching bikes and see if lights can be changed so they're green when they get to them). There also seems to be a vicious cycle of "have to leave extra time after lights change because drivers keep rolling through *until* they've gone red", which is possibly self-catalysing / makes people annoyed if they *are* waiting but nobody is moving or crossing.

@quiff Yes think you're quite right but that's what causes the trouble for the unwary (like tourists, and me when I'm thinking of something else), approaching the lights from the other (Palace) side you can't see that the cyclists coming up from Parliament Square have a green light, so it's all too easy to assume that with the motor traffic stopped in all directions the cyclists will be stopped too, when they're not.

Getting up to the Downs? If it's in the summer can't people just catch a passing balloon? I'm slightly "EAPC cautious" but Bristol seems a reasonable use-case for them. Alternatively what about the council installing escalators - after all if it's hard to cycle up there won't you think of the pedestrians? "We are where we are" (why *wouldn't* you drive everywhere?) but I do occasionally stop to wonder how anyone got anywhere pre-car.

Very wholesome, but I found it difficult to imagine this happening in the UK. "Do you want a lift in my cargo bike?" "No, get away from me you weirdo."

On Birdcage Walk, I think the cycle lane has totally separate phasing so that when it's green you can either turn right past Bucks Palace, or go straight over towards Victoria. But I agree that does mean holding those who want to turn right for an inordinately long time, which is just too much for some people (even though they often then decide to wait at the lights at the Mall). I quite enjoy a game of catch up with the the RLJer on Constitution Hill.

I've got a great packable race cape from Sheffield based D2D.. Fits in a jersey pocket and 90% cheaper... D2D is always the 1st place I look My wife finds cycling clothing sizes crazy, they sent 3 different sizes on trust for her to try. Be great if you reviewed some of their gear

@quiff I abhor RLJ and don't do it myself but in both those instances at least part of the blame lies with poor junction design in my opinion, around Westminster Bridge and Embankment the phasing is ridiculous, I don't know if the sensors are poorly calibrated or what but it often seems to be the case that traffic in all directions and pedestrians are all being held on red, it's unsurprising if not excusable that some people can't be bothered to wait when the way ahead is clear. As for the Birdcage Walk/Buckingham Palace lights, they are just weird: I nearly got knocked down there myself by a cyclist as a pedestrian last week, and it would've been my fault but the cycle lane lights seem to have no connection with the lights for the rest of the road, so on the two lane carriageway the traffic lights are on red in both directions and you think it's okay to cross, but then as you get to the other side you find that the cycle lane lights in both directions are green and a bunch of tourists on Lime bikes comes charging round from Spur Road. I've seen so many near misses between cyclists and pedestrians there with one or both groups confused by the light layout. Both well-intentioned schemes that are better than what was there before certainly but both need some attention, I believe.

Long past time that through traffic was reduced on the Downs. Something must also be done to prevent idiots parking on the grass, which has become a serious and widespread problem recently. The difficulty with the family cycle route though is how people get to it in the first place. Apart from the difficulty of cycling through traffic with one's family, there's also the prospect of a pretty serious climb for almost anyone who doesn't live in Sneyd Park.

The word 'obviously' is doing a lot of heavy lifting there.

I really liked that short clip of the guy picking up the running ped / bus passenger on the cargo bike. It was proof again that e-bikes are excellent in the city. They are quick, they are load carriers, they can filter, they can stop quickly and have a small footprint (unlike the typical monster car) For the urban environment the e-bike is unbeatable.