Skycycle ... Pie in the sky?

Make the sky your velodrome

So how are they going to extricate an injured casualty of a collision?

Who cares? there's new strava segments to be had!

The Pedway: Elevating London (Documentary) on Vimeo

Here's a film about forgotten raised footways. I'm told it's good. At least, JackT tweeted so.

The Pedway: Elevating London (Documentary) on Vimeo

Here's a film about forgotten raised footways. I'm told it's good. At least, JackT tweeted so.

Good video though it it's frustrating to hear architects talk. They all seem so insular and introverted, unable to make any connection with design and how people behave... Even though that should be their fucking raison d'etre.

there really is little point in discussing this as if it was actually going to happen. It's little more than Tory shill Foster trying to position Top Chum Johnson as a progressive, forward thinking choice in the minds of the most easily impressed, and grab some column inches in the process, prior to the 2016 elections.

bread and circuses.
job done.

We need it out here in the suburbs to keep hippy away from us cunts that live in Uxbridge
On a different note maybe a section has already been built, the westway has concrete cancer

The Pedway: Elevating London (Documentary) on Vimeo

Here's a film about forgotten raised footways. I'm told it's good. At least, JackT tweeted so.

I really enjoyed that.
Those Pedways are fascinating, especially the orphan bits on 'new' buildings that were never incorporated into it.
I wonder if the answer to their desertion is to convert them to cycle ways?

We need it out here in the suburbs to keep hippy away from us cunts that live in Uxbridge
On a different note maybe a section has already been built, the westway has concrete cancer

I wonder if I could crowd fund an Uxbridge bypass to get people straight into the Chilterns. Actually it would need to bypass pretty much everything in West Ealing, Southhall right out to Denham.

Good video though it it's frustrating to hear architects talk. They all seem so insular and introverted, unable to make any connection with design and how people behave... Even though that should be their fucking raison d'etre.

It's like Humans were an afterthought. I like the backtrack near the end where they "figured out" that segregation was probably not the most ideal way to design roads.
Overall though, a great video and well worth the watch. Will be exploring the area real soon.

Current plan will never happen, because it's so ill thought out and likely expensive. Far too many problems with the plan like policing it, responding to accidents/crashes, mitigation of wind on exposed, raised sections. Maintenance, lighting, sufficient lightning protection, rain, ice protection etc, cost, integration in to existing crowded infrastructure.

They're just dodging the irritating problem of massively overhauling our excessively dangerous roads, while possibly slipping in new laws which might see a ban or restriction of bikes on existing roads.

What they could do is take the trains and tracks off all these railways and tarmac over the lot. Then we would have nice fast dry cycle paths away from traffic and with decent facilities at regular intervals.

Given the lossmaking nature of train services it would actually be cheaper than running trains. All those people who would otherwise get on the train would have to be dealt with somehow, I suppose. Minor detail though.

Yeah, it'd be cheaper to cycle to Guildford instead.

As I've said several times elsewhere, this is an 'idea' that comes up every couple of years (occasionally as 'sky tubes'). I think I've seen it raised at least six or seven times in various forms over the years. It's a rubbish idea that it is best not to waste any time on.

It's a solution looking for the right problem. Concerns supposedly addressed by this tend to range from congestion to conflict.
Well, congestion (in itself a sign of the success of a city, showing how desirable it is to be there) is best solved by improving the distribution of activity so that you don't get everybody piling only into Central London in the morning peak hour.

People who try to engineer conflict out of cities have failed to understand that it's conflict which makes them function. It's not conflict that's the problem, but unresolved and unresolvable conflict. Managing conflict well is best achieved by simple, flexible street design.

Another thing that they generally ignore is that elevated things or things sunk into the ground need ramps or lifts to get to. Both take a lot of space and are very inconvenient. Think about how long it takes you to get to the Tube platform on deep-level lines and you have an idea just how inconvenient.

Generally, it is a sign of the failure of your approach to a transport problem if you need a lot more horizontal space than is available in a traditional network or if you want to use more space vertically (grade separation).

What they could do is take the trains and tracks off all these railways and tarmac over the lot. Then we would have nice fast dry cycle paths away from traffic and with decent facilities at regular intervals.

Given the lossmaking nature of train services it would actually be cheaper than running trains. All those people who would otherwise get on the train would have to be dealt with somehow, I suppose. Minor detail though.

In some fantasy world I'd fucking love this, the ability to travel 50-100 miles by bike in a straightish line rather than dodging through lanes would be very fucking handy. But I am a weird kind of luddite about transport.

It's like Humans were an afterthought. I like the backtrack near the end where they "figured out" that segregation was probably not the most ideal way to design roads.
Overall though, a great video and well worth the watch. Will be exploring the area real soon.

The two things that annoyed me were the 20 seconds of discussion over 'desire lines' and the snide remark about cycling on exhibition road.

People will take the straightest route between a and b, moving up twenty feet and taking a lot of zigzag 90 degree bends is really undesirable. Look at any park with a path that doesn't connect two gates with a direct path and you will see the grass worn out from people cutting the corner. Quite why this obvious fact eludes so many planners/architects is beyond me.

I was thinking more upon the lines of making them get off the train in Zone 3 and cycling in.

I wonder if I could crowd fund an Uxbridge bypass to get people straight into the Chilterns. Actually it would need to bypass pretty much everything in West Ealing, Southhall right out to Denham.

I'm in for this if I can have an on/off ramp so I can go see my grand kids near you
Fundamentally I agree with you about Uxbridge, live here for financial reasons (divorce) & it's near work, perhaps you had your experiences the other day because you surprised them by riding on the road, most around here are only capable of riding on the pavement like the tosser that came round a corner clipped me & nearly ended up in the road today

There are quite a few unused options that I don't really understand why can't be made more cycle/ped/generally not a car friendly.

Lots of ex-underground tunnels around, the old mail railway. Since noone walks through the rotherhithe tunnel segregated cycle lanes instead of pavements could work.

errr. Sewers?

Re sewers - a mate redesigned this before the Olympics to make it nicer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenway,_London

(The photos on Wikipedia are from 2004, it looks nicer now!)

Edit to add some better pics - http://www.phaidon.com/agenda/architecture/picture-galleries/2011/june/17/an-olympic-cycle-tour-of-londons-2012-site/?view=thumbs

Make the sky your velodrome

I confess to riding this circular elevated walkway several times after midnight when there are no pedestrians on it...

http://app.strava.com/activities/81943057#1666416087

Has a couple of really tight corners - one of them blind - and several spots where if you forgot to brake you would be launched down some stairs or onto a busy road. So, pretty much what SkyCycle would turn out to be, I guess. Fun!

There are quite a few unused options that I don't really understand why can't be made more cycle/ped/generally not a car friendly.

Lots of ex-underground tunnels around, the old mail railway. Since noone walks through the rotherhithe tunnel segregated cycle lanes instead of pavements could work.

errr. Sewers?

I rode through the Rotherhithe tunnel a few times, it's pretty horrid air in the middle, hot and exhausty and not good for massive hangovers.

Cycling in there is a massive fail.

As ever, Oliver nailed it.

And greenhell. They're just spouting 'progressive' rubbish to draw our attention away from their fuckwittery.

Yeah, but I'm not from round these parts and we had a hostel one side of the tunnel and a polo tournament the other, ain't nobody got time for detours on spinny gears.