Don't be tempted by 'cheap' bikes

The Guardian recently carried this review of a £70 bike, headed:

"Asda claims its new bike is the country's cheapest. It may also be the nastiest and most poorly built".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jul/22/asda-cheap-bike

Supermarket bikes don't come ready to ride - you have to get the assembly finished off, which may mean paying someone. The componentry is often cheap and nasty, and won't last very long, and may not be replaceable or worth replacing.

When thinking about cost, always consider the lifetime costs of what you're buying, not just the "first cost" that you part company with in the shop. We're all tempted by what looks like a bargain, but what looks cheap may not be cheap and if it's a bike it may even be dangerous.

Cow Bridge improvements

The bridge over the R Roding at Cowbridge Lane, that I think should be called Cow Bridge, has had lighting installed to improve (the feeling of) saftety. It's a pity it couldn't be improved as a cycle facility.

Bike Dock Solutions

http://www.bikedocksolutions.com/

Barking now has its very own bicycle rack company, based in the old power station in River Road.

Potholes

Concerned by the lack of meaningful action on potholes that I have reported, I asked the council how they determined which potholes to do something about and which not to. The response is a cause for great concern. Intriguingly some holes I had reported acquired some white paint marking them out for repair, presumably. This is the only visible action on site for these long standing reports.

One part of it is about a particular pothole. I was sent an e-mail exchange in which it appears someone had immediately classified the pothole as "not dangerous". On what basis or with what authority did they do this? The highways department replied to their colleague (in Customer Services?) that as the holes are not dangerous they will only monitor them. It appears that the holes were arbitrarily classified as not dangerous and then actual decisions built on this.

The second part of the reply was a spreadsheet categorising footway and road defects into 5 response priorities, depending on criteria like size and location. None of the priority categories is labelled 'dangerous', though there is text about dangerous faults under the priority 1. The sheet does not say what the response should be - only how quick.

Road (carriageway) defects can apparently only be priority 2 - no higher, no lower. The text in the priority 2 column says "Potholes with a depth greater than 40mm and extending more than 200mm in any direction", so we know that potholes of this size should be 'responded to' in 24 hours, but the spreadsheet is utterly silent on smaller potholes and other response times. Apparently no pothole qualifies for being repaired as part of planned works, even.

I have asked the questions.

Car club expansion

New "car club only" parking spaces are appearing in Barking, including Salisbury Avenue (near Priory Road), Axe Street (near 'The Victoria') and St Erkenwalds Road. The spaces will be occupied by Streetcar microhire vehicles.

Cars and therefore car clubs are unlikely to be "deep green", but not owning a car is a stepping stone to a more sustainable lifestyle and car clubs and microhire can help with this. Even if your motivation is not environmental, you can free yourself from some of the hassle of car ownership by joining one of these schemes.

Cars available for common use also free up space,which is at a premium and reduce the amount of cars standing idle - better asset management.

http://www.streetcar.co.uk/

A Campaigning tour of south Dagenham

I spent a few hours on 8 July out with the council's cycling officer looking at recent and on going works mainly in the A13/A1306 area to the south of the borough. Thanks to him for finding the time in his busy schedule. There are photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/cardinal1962/CycleFacilityTour8July09. Apologies for those that are out of focus.

The emphasis in the borough does seem to be on off-road facilities at the moment, with Council initiatives, TfL initiatives (being delivered by Sustrans) and Sustrans' own initiatives all having this focus. What we saw, therefore, was either paths in parks and green spaces or tracks alongside roads that lead between parks and green spaces. It must be said that riding in green spaces - and in particular the Beam Valley path - brings pleasant respite in an area like south Dagenham that is dominated by the A13/A1306 and industry / industrial sites, and the new pathway parallel to Goresbrook Road at Castle Green does provide a pleasant alternative to part of Goresbrook Road, which is narrow and dominated by parked cars, but greenways should be an aid to and not substitute for permeabilty - easy access for cycling down roads and paths everywhere.

Though I understand the attraction of off road facilities for less confident cyclists and children, cycling must not be sidelined into being purely a leisure activity - it is a form of transport too. Neither must off road cycle facilities be used as a tool to keep carriageways freer for motor vehicles. Motorists cannot expect full segregation and should not be led to believe that the roads are their exclusive domain or right. That said, as you know, cycle lanes and tracks are often abused by motorists parking their vehicles in/on them, but it was particularly galling to see a council vehicle parked on the pavement blocking a council provided cycle track. Seeing cycling as mainly a leisure activity can lead to decreased permeability in town centres, with the current fashion apparently seeing them as the domain of pedestrians, public transport and car parks, with cycling not being properly accounted for, even if cycle storage is now more commonly provided in homes.

We discussed the problems of cycle signing. It should be integrated with other signing where possible (not assuming cycling doesn't exist or that it must have dedicated signs) and there should not be too much emphasis on route networks. people will not want to cycle out of their way to use a route network if a more direct route exists. Signs should not direct them to do this by always pointing down network routes.

We spent some time at The Chequers junction a 6 way junction formed by Chequers Lane, Goresbrook Road, Heathway, Marsh Green Road, New Road, Ripple Road. Despite being "detrunked" this is still a busy junction, especially when the A13 is busy and drivers seek an alternative route. Progress on the junction is hard to see as much work is subsurface - 17 ducts cross under it, but eventually sustainable modes will be able to cross carriageways using Toucan crossings if they wish to avoid the carriageway.