What have us cyclists been saying for ages?

[vickster]

If they've got any sense they'd just move closer to their place of work, or work somewhere closer to where they live. The more initiatives that force people to reconsider their reliance on owning and using a car on a daily basis, the better in my book.

Moving closer to this new school may not be feasible or practical for those teachers with established lives elsewhere. Selling and buying property for example can be very expensive and time consuming. They may have their own children in schools who can currently walk or bike there, moving they may no longer do. They may have partners whose own work fits where they currently live, should he or she then have to change jobs or commute? The family may care for or regularly visit elderly relatives close to their current location, there are a lot of scenarios to consider when saying people should just up sticks.
Not everyone is footloose and fancy free when it comes to choice of employment location. Just because it works for you doesn't mean it would work for anyone.

 

[MontyVeda]

lets just stick to a car-centric society then.... anything else is clearly a little too inconvenient.

 

[tom73]

What about the teachers ? Teaching is hard work at time I know I do it. Equally many who work even more hours inc antisocial ones manage to get to work and back in much more stressful situations and many are on a less money. If the consultant Anaesthetists and A and E consultant i know can make do without driving to work.

Both cycle in miles from work Inc snow come what may. The whole point of this development is it's asessablity by other ways it will attract a particular type of person who looking to work in place a bit different. Just as with many other work placers it won't be for everyone but pitched right it will attracted people who are willing to be different. I'd happy work in school with no parking be nice not to have play roulette with the endless rat run of on site traffic in the morning and afternoon. If your wondering would I do it well yes I do 6 mile walk in and 6 mile out.

Or we carry on and build the developments like the one in my area which gives passing thinking to life without a car and carry on adding to the mess we are already in.

 

[icowden]

It's interesting in that where I am in leafy Surrey most planning applications get two key complaints:-

"The traffic infrastructure can't cope. There is too much traffic more houses will make it worse"
and
"There is not enough provision for parking - residents will end up crowding onto surrounding roads, making our parking worse"

I'm not sure how you solve those problems. When you look at the plans the developers have followed the rules. There are usually few parking spaces, provision for the car club, a disabled bay and cycle parking. The assumption seems to be that people will just ignore this as you need a car to get about in Surrey (which is true to a degree). I do think that more people need to consider whether they actually need 1 car each. We reduced from a 2 car family to a one car family without too much difficulty.

 

[classic33]

I did read about a a new estate in leeds just out side the centre that was designed with walking and cycling in mind. Building on current links into the centre. No parking unless you wanted to pay 20 grand each for a underground space. The school to be built as part of it is planned with no parking at all. Council got a bit iffy about a school with no parking but developer held in and won't to change it as it's the whole point you won't need any. Just walk or cycle to it.

Sadly our Council is planning all on green belt a massive 1700 housing deployment inc a school and industrial park. Billed as having active travel in mind it will still have all the normal stuff just with a few "shared paths" thrown in. To top it all off they have now just added to the plan a massive link road to the motorway.

On the site of Seacroft Hospital?

 

[cyberknight]

We are selling ATM and out choices are restricted as Mrs CK can't drive so these new estates are out of bounds and TBH I wouldn't pay what they are asking for a shoe box anyway

 

[presta]

Problem is those share space routes into which motor vehicles are permitted are useless to the blind and partially sighted. Where such roads exist in residential areas the blind become effectively trapped at home. Very badly executed idea.

Hans Monderman's party piece was walking through the middle of a shared space junction with his eyes shut, so what's trapping blind people, the shared space or their own lack of understanding of how it works?

 

[confusedcyclist]

lets just stick to a car-centric society then.... anything else is clearly a little too inconvenient.

Exactly, now I'm not one to ever advocate sexism or rigid gender roles, I'm fully in support of liberating women and my wife calls the shots when it comes to where we live and work as she earns the bigger wage, with my blessing of course, but we have to realise what we actually give up when we pursue modernity and market economics to it's very limits. The old ways had their problems. But they also had their benefits, mostly overlooked and long forgotten. It's only now we are starting to see the error of abandoning older social structures and economic models. One (wo)mans liberty is another man's limitation. A huge factor in booming house prices is dual income couples outbidding single earners. It forces anyone with aspirations of home ownership to compete in the market with dual income competition, with all the consequences that seemingly force some into car ownership. Of course, we have more power to shape our own lives than some care to admit, and that's part of the problem too.

 

[Drago]

Moving closer to this new school may not be feasible or practical for those teachers with established lives elsewhere. Selling and buying property for example can be very expensive and time consuming. They may have their own children in schools who can currently walk or bike there, moving they may no longer do. They may have partners whose own work fits where they currently live, should he or she then have to change jobs or commute? The family may care for or regularly visit elderly relatives close to their current location, there are a lot of scenarios to consider when saying people should just up sticks.
Not everyone is footloose and fancy free when it comes to choice of employment location. Just because it works for you doesn't mean it would work for anyone.

Those are excuses, not genuine obstacles. No person is ever born that way, popping out of the womb needing a car to drive a lengthy commute. Nope, peoples lifestyle, outlook and level of consumption set these parameters, and these are all decisions wilfully made by adults. People had no choice in the matter prior to the car, and they'll have no choice in the matter again once unfettered private car use without consequence is at last curtailed.

Complaining never saved anyone from anything, complaining is nothing more than a futile attempt to perpetuate a situation for no other reason than it happens to be convenient to an individual, and that dog isn't going to bark much longer.

67 million people have each been getting their own way for too long, and something is about to break in spectacular style. Are you going to complain as the ship sinks from under you, or are you going to get on with the business if swimming, no matter how awkward or inconvenient it may be to any one individual? Once people suddenly have the choice taken away from them they adapt or die.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Given the stiff planning regulations for individuals who build I am constantly amazed at the easy ride given to major housebuilders to build in floodzones, build shoddy quality that fails insulation standards, build pokey little shacks that will become the slums of the future. Its like we learned nothing from the hi rise horrors of 1960s except that hi rise is bad.

Possibly because the rules are often wroitten with "consultation" from "industry": in other words, the industry helps write the rules so it's easy for them and difficult for anyone else to build their own home.

 

[tom73]

On the site of Seacroft Hospital?

Not sure It was a story I spotted on road cc of all things.

 

[mjr]

Why is it OK to add time to everyone's commute by allowing more pretty-much-car-only-access workplaces and clogging up roads with 2.5m x (4m + 12m stopping distance) single-occupant vehicles, but not OK to add time to anyone's commute by encouraging them to carshare, cycle or use scheduled mass transport?

 

[icowden]

67 million people have each been getting their own way for too long, and something is about to break in spectacular style.

Personally I remain convinced that self-driving cars are going to be the game changer. Once you can easily summon a car to take you from A to B at a reasonable cost, you no longer need to own a car. Just book one when you need one and it turns up at your house. Then roads can be simplified, driveways turned back to gardens. Autonomous cars can minimise traffic by networking. It's now a matter of "when" and not "if".

 

[sheddy]

Increase in private motoring = decline of public transport

 

[Slioch]

Autonomous cars can minimise traffic by networking. It's now a matter of "when" and not "if"

Absolutely agree. The bit I'm not looking forward to though will be the transitional period when other "more vulnerable" road users will be required to take a leap of faith to share the same roadspace with these vehicles. That will be interesting!