Cycle Boom! Cycle no more?

The Cycle Boom

During the national lockdowns, we saw a huge increase in people taking the initiative to stay physically healthy. Being either their daily walks or short bicycle rides around their neighbourhood. One thing I noticed during the lockdown was the demand for bicycles was extraordinary, and suppliers struggled to meet the UK demands (Bulter, 2021).

The result of this so-called cycle booms we witnessed called the government and local councils to push for a healthier city. Some roads were closed, some were made narrower: allowing more space for cyclists and social distancing. For example, in Newcastle City Centre, we saw Queen Victoria Road, Percy Street. In Gosforth, it was Gosforth high street taking this approach. Other examples such as North Shield Fish Quay area where Bell Street and Union Quay were completely closed for a short period of time, only allowing access to pedestrians and cyclists (Sharma, 2020). Perhaps, by prioritising space to pedestrians and cyclists, it allows us to rethink how road spaces can have a different experience, be more at ease, and to feel more comfortable on the road? These pop-up cycle lanes encourage people to retake what was once dominated by emission-producing motor vehicles.

Queen Victoria Road, 2021.

Pop-up cycle lane. This road was drastically changed with the introduction of the temporary/ semi-permanent cycle lanes. This road is now narrower for vehicles but slightly safer for cyclists. The cycle lane is zoned by temporary bollards; however, these temporary structures seem to be disappearing.

Temporary bollards on Queen Victoria Road, 2021.

The cycle lane is around 115cm (44 inches) wide. This is acceptable according to the Cycle Infrastructure Design (Department for Transport, 2020). My experience of this cycle lane nowadays is unfriendly to cyclists because the road surface is in bad condition and the temporary bollards seem to be disappearing over time, therefore some motor vehicles close in toward the curb if a larger vehicle passes by on the opposite side.

What’s going to happen to pop-up cycle lanes now?

The majority of the pop-up cycle lanes have now reversed back to car-dominant roads only. Gosforth High Street, where I live nearby has now taken the temporary structures down, and cyclists that use the High Street have now reverted back to sharing the road with cars and other vehicles, pushing away inexperienced cyclists.

Furthermore, the scheme at Gosforth High Street has received criticism for being a failed scheme as the road is too narrow for cyclists and vehicles to be shared, resulting in further bottleneck effect and long tailback as people started to return to work (Holland, 2020).

Map of Newcastle City Centre: Queen Victoria Rd & Percy St, 2021.

This map shows the mentioned pop-up cycle lane. Queen Victoria Road cycle lane still exists to an extent, whereas Percy Street one has reversed back to normal car road (Dated October 2021). It will be interesting to see when Queen Victoria Road cycle road maintains its existence or go back to dominant again? Or perhaps how long it will last.

Broken sign on Queen Victoria Road, 2021.

During the pandemic, footpath and cycle lanes were prioritised for social distancing. Some location has sign for One way system, however, did people really follow this guidance? Nowadays, you can still see the reminisce around the city centre and nearby district.

Should pop-up cycle lanes be temporary or permanent features?

Is this an effective way for the government to incentivise the push for healthier/low emission cities? By encouraging more people to cycle daily and to work rather than the use of motor vehicles, then this is a way of effectively lowering emissions as we saw during the lockdowns?

Holland (2020) suggested Newcastle City Council has acknowledged walking and cycling are needed in the city centre to produce a healthy city, therefore the city can slowly transform itself into a more vibrant city for the people’s health and wellbeing. Lastly, we can learn from other cities on how they incorporate cycling and walking as part of the infrastructure, a good example will be London, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Berlin, Utrecht and etc.

Percy Street is now back to being car dominant, with an illustration of what it was like when the pop-up cycle lane existed. 2021.

This illustration shows what it was like when the ‘social distancing’ cycle lane existed. It was clear that cyclists had more space on the road. Perhaps cycle lane can be shared on the road with correct road marking?

References:

Bulter, S. (2021) ‘Cycling boom rolls on amid struggle to meet uk demand during covid’. The Guardian, 21 March 2021. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/mar/21/cycling-boom-rolls-on-amid-struggle-to-meet-uk-demand-during-covid (Accessed: 27 October 2021).

Department of Transport, 2020, Cycle Infrastructure Design. Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/951074/cycle-infrastructure-design-ltn-1-20.pdf (Accessed 29 October 2020)

Holland, D. (2020) ‘Gosforth High Street cycle lane set to stay – despite complaints of huge traffic jams’. The Chronicle Live, 9 December 2020. Available at: https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/gosforth-high-street-cycle-lane-19422311 (Accessed 28 October 2020).

Holland, D. (2020) ‘Dramatic changes to Grey Street unveiled which will give people more space to walk and cycle’. The Chronicle Live, 15 May 2020. Available at: https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/grey-street-walk-cycle-lockdown-18256404 (Accessed 29 October 2020).

Sharma, S. (2020) ‘Life after lockdown on North Shields Fish Quay and what businesses think of the new pedestrian zone’. The Chronicle Live, 18 July 2020. Available at: https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/life-after-lockdown-north-shields-18611955 (Accessed: 27 October 2021).