A vicious cycle: the problem with tokenistic bike lanes

There’s an old joke from the nineties: The A1 walks into a bar. The barman says ‘Are you with him?’ and nods in the direction of the C1. ‘I’m not going near him,’ the A1 replies. ‘He’s a cyclepath.’ Ho ho, how quaint – combining the novel idea of cycle lanes with the un-PC evocation of ‘psychos’.

I mention this because the government’s big non-Covid idea this autumn, the so-called ‘Green Industrial Revolution’, contains a key provision ‘to make our towns’ and cities’ cycle lanes worthy of Holland.’

I broadly think this is a very good thing – as long as they don’t waste any more money building tokenistic ones. Because a lot of existing cycle lanes are, to put it bluntly: dangerous, pointless or directionless rubbish. 

I think we’ve all heard motorists sounding off about cycle lanes, but what may surprise you is that we cyclists are hardly in unequivocal raptures about them either.