John Rowland wrote:
Anyone who drives a car will be delayed on a regular basis by cyclists. This
time the cyclist was delayed by the motor vehicle. It happens. Get over it.

Interesting. In 14 years of driving I have never actually been delayed
by a cyclist. There have been occasions when I've had to wait until it
was safe to pass a cyclist, but after getting past it never takes long
to catch up with the next traffic jam.

OTOH, as a cyclist I have been delayed by motorists on a few thousand
occasions [1]. Usually only small delays, but very real delays nonetheless.

[1] Yes, really. At a rough estimate I have made about 4000 cycle
journeys at rush hour. Most of those journeys will have involved more
than one delay resulting from the congestion caused by motor vehicles.

--
Danny Colyer (the UK company has been laughed out of my reply address)
URL:http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/danny/
"He who dares not offend cannot be honest." - Thomas Paine

dwb wrote:
Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at
20:14:03
on Wed, 1 Sep 2004, Simonb
remarked:
a mandatory bike lane

An what?

A bike lane marked by a solid white line, that motorised vehicles
are banned from entering. Unlike a one with dashed lines, where
they can if necessary to avoid another vehicle.

Um, the bus lanes that I see in London have solid white lines, so
not sure how that works :/

We're talking about cycle lanes, not bus lanes.
--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)

"Paul Weaver" wrote in message
...

The bike lane was in the direction I was traveling. There is no bus lane.

So I assume there were other lanes avaliable apart from the cycle lane that
you could have used to keep going, instead of using the pavement?

As for OYBIKE.


OYBike have at least two operators, and when I was riding back to work, I
head someone exclaim "there's another one" - so I'm not the only customer
they've had,

I work at White City Station and I've seen these monstrosity looking bikes
totally appearing to be unused.
I assume its YOU that have rented one of the four that were clipped up there
outside the Station? Three seems to remain or is the fourth now back in
position?

I wouldnt be seen dead riding one them unless it was for charity. Why cant
they provide decent looking bikes?
The whole thing is a joke. And how much are they per hour or whatever the
telephone call is? Is it Premium Rate? Tell us please.


--
regards, Redtube
-------------------------------------------------------------------
See you at the London Tube Chat
http://way.to/tube or Undernet IRC
irc://undernet/tube

On Wed, 1 Sep 2004 19:34:15 +0100, Roland Perry wrote:

In message , at 19:25:27 on Wed, 1 Sep
2004, dwb remarked:
I'm a bit confused, what exactly was the bus doing wrong?

Sounds like it was stopped in a mandatory bike lane. A very common
offence.

Something similar happened to me this morning on my way to work.
A fella in a van was dropping what looked like his wife off. He pulled
into the bike(only) lane, then opened his drivers door as I rode past. I
swerved out, narrowly missing his door. Didn't say anything to him, just
went to work. Really, what good would it have done, other than making me
momentarily feel better? It wouldn't have given him a nice image of
cyclists, which ultimately is what we all want.
I've said it before, not that this excuses in any way the bus driver in
the OP's belligerence, but working drivers like bus drivers are that
agressive because of their job. I used to drive multi-drop (deliveries) in
central London. IME pushing in front of people becomes second nature. In
fact, in most driving jobs you would get the sack if you took longer to do
something than everyone else.
A bike and rider that weighs 230 lbs (heavy for a bike and rider) can turn
or stop a lot more easily than a lorry that weighs 15000 lbs (a very
small, light lorry). If you were driving one and a cyclist ran into the
back of it you probably wouldn't notice if you couldn't see them in your
mirror. You have to watch out for lorries, buses and other working
drivers, and get out of their way as soon as it's safe to do so. Don't
shout at them, it won't help you and it isn't fair to them. They're trying
to make a living.
Now as for the t**ts in BMWs and the kids driving souped up Fraud Festers,
sometimes you need to shout at them, cause it's important to make them pay
attention. But that's another thing entirely.
Take it easy,

Chris
--
|C|H|R|I|S|@|T|R|I|N|I|T|Y|W|I|L|L|S|.|C|O|M|
Remove the bars to contact me

"Adrian Boliston" wrote in message
...
"Paul Weaver" wrote in message
...

The bike lane was in the direction I was traveling. There is no bus lane.

So I assume there were other lanes avaliable apart from the cycle lane
that
you could have used to keep going, instead of using the pavement?


Going round on the outside of a bus on some roads can be dangerous as they
can pull out without looking or signalling, forcing you into the path of
oncoming traffic.

In message , at 22:48:05 on Wed, 1 Sep
2004, dwb remarked:
A bike lane marked by a solid white line, that motorised vehicles are
banned from entering. Unlike a one with dashed lines, where they can
if necessary to avoid another vehicle.

Um, the bus lanes that I see in London have solid white lines, so not sure
how that works :/

Quite well, because they are mandatory *bus* lanes. As well as the
signage, the width is a bit of a giveaway. You might have to travel a
bit out from central London to see a bike-only lane.
--
Roland Perry

"Frank X" wrote in message
...

"Adrian Boliston" wrote in message
...
"Paul Weaver" wrote in message
...

The bike lane was in the direction I was traveling. There is no bus
lane.

So I assume there were other lanes avaliable apart from the cycle lane
that
you could have used to keep going, instead of using the pavement?


Going round on the outside of a bus on some roads can be dangerous as they
can pull out without looking or signalling, forcing you into the path of
oncoming traffic.



I guess that can apply to any parked vehicle, and applies to practically
every road that is only two-lanes wide. It's just something that cyclists
as road users have to be aware of and deal with. You can't just get off
and use the pavement as an alternative to going round the outside every time
you need to pass a bus in London. At least not if you expect to get
anywhere in any reasonable amount of time.

Rich

"Paul Weaver" wrote in message
...
Riding my rather groovy OYbike (details to follow) up wood lane at 18:20
this evening, passed dozens of cars, vans, lorries, no problem, then, just
south of TVC, a double decker bus was blocking the lane. I peers arround
the
right but there was no way I was going to chance riding on the outside of
the traffic facing those vehicles. Had to get off and walk past the bus on
the pavement. The bus was a 220, W reg, possibly W9#XXX. When confronted
his
response was "**** you". Who can I complain to to ensure he loses his job,
or at the bery least is forced to ride a bike for 50 miles arround London.

Well, if it works like it does around here then you'll be able to complain
to a manager at the bus company, but nothing will come of it. I wish you
better luck than I've had.

dwb wrote to uk.transport.london on Wed, 1 Sep 2004:

Um, the bus lanes that I see in London have solid white lines, so not sure
how that works :/

Usually extremely badly, as last night. We were doing our monthly drive
from Brixton to Alexandra Palace, and, going north up Woburn Place,
discovered that our lane is now divided into two, with a permanent bus
lane and one traffic lane. Unfortunately, on the other side of the
road, there is no bus lane, and a parked car diverted an oncoming bus
into our lane. We *had* to go slightly into the bus lane, as there was
no other option left open - I wonder whether the reason will show if the
cameras we saw were working, or whether we'll get £100 fine because we
were in the bus lane....

Then when we got to Kentish Town Road, our way was suddenly blocked by
roadworks, and a diversion set up. This helpfully signposted us where
we should go - but "Diversion Ends" signs appeared and we had absolutely
no idea where we were! It took a bit of trial and error before we
discovered we were on Highgate Hill, and more before we found a familiar
landmark. But that's another story.....
--
"Mrs Redboots"
http://www.amsmyth.demon.co.uk/