Taxi driver “celebrates” bike lane removal – by close passing cyclist; Council blasted for ripping up bike lane, so cars can park on path; “If cyclists really need a safe space, a painted lane would suffice”; “Cycle freaks” slated + more on the live blog

Bray, in Co. Wicklow, is one of Irish cycling’s holy places (and also where this writer spent quite a few of his childhood summer holidays).

Two-wheeled heroes who honed their talents on the roads around the coastal town south of Dublin include the pioneer Shay Elliott, Peter Crinnion, Peter Doyle, and now Russell Crowe, apparently.

My photos show actor @russellcrowe really enjoying his down time in Bray,Co.Wicklow over the last couple of days… pic.twitter.com/r7WiGs5Dvz

— Padraig O'Reilly Photographer (@padraig_reilly) August 12, 2022

The Gladiator star, who has been known for getting out and about on his bike in the past (sometimes without a shirt), is currently in Bray filming a new supernatural thriller called The Pope’s Exorcist (sounds… great).

He was spotted over the weekend putting the miles in while on a break from filming, taking advantage of both the sunshine and the town’s pretty decent cycling infrastructure. Thankfully, Crowe was wearing a shirt this time…

As someone who was kicked out of his student flat to make way for a family of wealthy Americans heading to the Open Golf Championship, I’m well aware of the lucrative potential of international sporting events for those with a bed going spare.

So, I wasn’t that surprised to hear that Airbnb, the online lodgings marketplace, are encouraging residents of Wollongong, New South Wales, to cash in during next month’s UCI road world championships in the area.

With event organisers and local officials predicting an accommodation shortage at the week-long cycling festival, and with many race-goers potentially forced to stay an hour away in Sydney, Airbnb is “encouraging residents to share their home to help their city handle the increased demand for accommodation, as competitors, organisers, media and spectators descend on the region for one of the biggest weeks on the Australian sporting calendar.”

According to the American company, hosts could pocket around $1,000 – almost equalling the median Australian household’s weekly income – if guests book for four nights during the races.

> UCI Road Worlds to force Aussie schoolkids out of classroom and back online

“Hosting on Airbnb is a great way to help showcase Wollongong’s beautiful natural surrounds and highlight the region to help make this important local event a success, while also creating an opportunity to earn extra income to combat the rising cost of living,” said Susan Wheeldon, Airbnb’s Country Manager for Australia and New Zealand.

“Airbnb offers a unique opportunity for communities in and around Wollongong to be a part of history during the first cycling World Championships held in Australia in over a decade.

“Home sharing helps cities use existing space to scale up their capacity and welcome major events like this. It also empowers locals to provide sustainable and affordable accommodation across the city, benefitting the local economy.

“Hosts on Airbnb play a valuable role in making guests feel extremely welcome and our Wollongong Hosts are no exception as they help to point guests in the direction of the best hidden gems and local businesses to support.”

The irony here. He’s patrolling a LTN, stopping drivers going through it, therefore enforcing it. He’s anti LTN, thinks they’re just money grabbing schemes. And the topper…he’s riding a bike 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/ahl34FEheu

— Richard S (@Stokesy1966) August 15, 2022

My head hurts reading that…

It’s that time of the year again, folks, when Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl’s former sleeve sponsor fills up their famous middle aisle with lots of bike-related stuff (and some items I’ve never seen before in my life).

This year’s collection includes helmets, pumps, a lights set, a work stand, ceiling rack, backpacks, saddles, water bottles, groovy mid-noughties era sunglasses, and what looks like a swimming cap but Lidl says is actually a helmet rain cover.

Oh, and this is excellent bike basket for the dog in your life who just loves going for a spin:

They see me rollin’ 😎 pic.twitter.com/qrClU6dgKm

— @LidlGB (@LidlGB) August 14, 2022

I sense a pattern emerging on the live blog today…

With the temporary cycle lane on London’s Euston Road now removed (thanks, Transport for London says, to “increased traffic congestion” in the area), one taxi driver decided to mark the occasion by posting a Twitter video captured on his dashcam, with the caption: “Celebration time!”

Unfortunately for the cabbie, the clip also clearly shows him – ironically enough – committing a close pass on a cyclist… Oops.

London cab driver @ChrisPearce32 “celebrates” the removal of the Euston Road cycle lane by close-passing a cyclist, thereby proving why it was needed.
@MikeyCycling @willnorman @WeAreCyclingUK @London_Cycling @betterstreetskc @loled1967 @steaminelle @bike_rogers @righttobikeit pic.twitter.com/wSrdghJHZS

— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) August 16, 2022

After the now-deleted video was reposted on Twitter this morning by Jeremy Vine, the cab driver in question defended the overtake, which he says was “easily 1.5m away from the cyclist”:

In the so called close pass I was easily 1.5m away from the cyclist and travelling at a speed relative to her of about 2mph. You all need to calm down.

— Chris Pearce (@ChrisPearce32) August 16, 2022

That rather tenuous excuse hasn’t washed, however, not only with two-wheeled activists like CyclingMikey, but also with the driver’s fellow cabbies:

You were within roughly 2 feet of her, and you stayed in the same lane. Why couldn't you drive as beautifully as the taxi in front of you did? That was how you should pass such cyclists.

— CyclingMikey (@MikeyCycling) August 16, 2022

Fellow cabbie here. This pass here was an atrocious piece of driving from a professional driver. I’d report such myself if I’d caught on my dash cam pic.twitter.com/dfakOiWFh7

— MysticKrow (@KrowMystic) August 15, 2022

For some reason, those responses haven’t kept the driver from digging ever deeper:

Hello Jeremy, love your show. This video shows that appearances can be deceptive. I’m 1m away from the cycle lane although I appear to be almost in it. The Euston Rd cycle lane was a disaster for cyclists as well as motorists and needed replanning. pic.twitter.com/FpsMFWfdxP

— Chris Pearce (@ChrisPearce32) August 16, 2022

Not the same though, the video posted by @theJeremyVine shows both the cyclist and the cab driver being in the same lane during the overtake. The lane looks to be of similar width to the lane in your video, just without the cycle lane.

— Pauric (@pward82) August 16, 2022

Somebody even got the calculator out: 

Let me do the maths for you...

Lane width (at overtake point): 300cm
LEVC TX taxi width: 203cm
Lime bike width: 60cm~

37cm~ is the space you left between your vehicle and the cyclist pic.twitter.com/UYFmuo4TYi

— swcyclist (@swcyclist) August 16, 2022

 The self-incriminating taxi driver, rather than hold his hands up, has continued to double down on his mistake by posting a series of anti-cycling videos on his Twitter account this morning and changing his profile photo to one of himself (presumably) in cycling clothing.

Give it up, fella…

Yet another example (it’s been a long morning) of a motorist parking in a cycle lane, on the pavement, and on double yellow lines. Oh, and with an illegal number plate thrown in for good measure:  

Illegal number plates, obstruction, double yellows and the driver pops up in the comments defending their offending ... Quality 😂 👍 https://t.co/B2Ni8WL74L

— Mark Hodson (@markandcharlie) August 14, 2022

The car owner’s now-deleted reply has lots of Scooby Doo villain energy, I’ll give her that:

Have they deleted the tweet where they admit to intentionally and persistently parking on the DYL and violating planning rules by building a driveway with no dropped kerb permission? pic.twitter.com/W37Q9X213f

— James Thorniley (@JamesThorniley) August 13, 2022

“And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for you meddling cycle freaks”…

Fantastic to see drivers being able to park their cars more easily on the wider pavements on Cheltenham Road, and no cycle lane to get in their way any more either pic.twitter.com/gU2wrv6MC5

— Martin Booth (@beardedjourno) August 13, 2022

We head south now for the second of today’s ‘councils and bike lanes’ bonanza, as Bristol City Council comes under fire for after a cycle lane was removed in favour of a wider footpath which, in the eyes of one local observer, has just made it “easier for cars to park”.

In an article for the news site Bristol 24/7, editor Martin Booth has blasted the council’s decision to remove the bike lane on the Cheltenham Road towards the junction with Ashley Road.

“It was of poor quality and in desperate need of improvement,” Booth admits of the now-vanished piece of bike infrastructure. “But it was still a cycle lane.”

Booth notes that the recent ‘improvements’ to the junction – which the council even admitted might prove “contentious” – have resulted in a wider pavement, which according to the writer has not improved pedestrian safety but simply allowed motorists to park their cars more easily.

“At the newly remodelled Ashley Road junction,” he writes, “early release signals for cyclists in the advanced stop lane (ASL) are all well and good – but a gauntlet of parked cars usually has to be navigated in order to get there, which are as unsafe for pedestrians as they are for cyclists.”

The changes on the Cheltenham Road follow the decision to rip out the cycle lane on the Whiteladies Road – a key route into Bristol city centre – after the council claimed that the lane “causes flooding”. However, as we reported in May, opposition councillors and environmental campaigners in response to the council’s decision pointed out that blocked drains were, in fact, the real source of the problem.

> Key Bristol cycle lane to be scrapped – because council claims it causes flooding

According to Booth, the extended works on the Ashley Road “have mostly just moved the crossings by a few metres, widened a few short stretches of pavement and removed a cycle lane: all seemingly for the benefit of car drivers… By widening the footway, all it has done is make it easier for cars to park. And I have yet to see the double-yellow lines ever be enforced.”

There used to be a cycle lane that went from Tesco to the junction of Ashley Road. Even a shit cycle lane is better than no cycle lane at all. Removing cycle lanes is not a good look. Bristol’s days as the UK’s first ‘cycling city’ are long gone. pic.twitter.com/xZ6PqcBdgu

— Martin Booth (@beardedjourno) August 9, 2022

Toby Wells, from Bristol Cycling Campaign, agreed with Booth’s take and said that the group was “really disappointed that the opportunity wasn’t taken to revamp the junction for cycling whilst doing all the work to replace the traffic lights.

“Whilst the previous cycle lane was not the best, we are sure something better could have been put in place rather than removing it all together. The A38 is Bristol’s busiest on-road cycling corridor, and has so much more potential for shifting people onto bikes if people were provided with a safe space.

“As such, it deserves something much more ambitious than the disappointing scheme that has been built, with fully protected space for cycling, in addition to the widened pavement. The fact that there is no enforcement against the extensive pavement parking adds insult to injury for both walkers and cyclists.”

Booth, lamenting Bristol’s apparent fall from its status 14 years ago as Britain’s ‘first cycling city’, also questioned whether “removing cycle lanes can ever be justified” and argued that “safe cycling needs to be prioritised across our city”.

“Even a crap cycle lane is better than no cycle lane at all,” he concluded.

Do you agree?