Cycle campaigning

They've just 'improved' things by plonking two massive concrete blocks at the southern end too, which causes multiple near misses between bikes and leaves no swerve room to go around non-looking pedestrians.

I've done a lot of Dr Bikes at Queen St during the evening rush hour and though I generally agree with you about the infrastructure there are also a great many cyclists there who cause problems for themselves and others simply by riding too fast for the circumstances. And that is putting it politely.
A bit like Goldsmiths Row in Hackney or, frankly, any other shared use space I have ever seen.