Comment - Let's face it, cycling is too niche to fix Sheffield's problems

The cycling dream is over.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

A pop-up bike lane on Shalesmoor - the most high profile of the measures introduced during lockdown - will be dismantled soon.

It sends a clear message that turning Sheffield into a two-wheeled utopia is impossible. It always was of course.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

You can’t simply undo more than a century of accommodating cars – which millions depend on. Cyclists were never going to win that battle for space, or even a slice of it.

The new Trippet Lane bike route does not protect cyclists from cars and does little to make it a less niche activity.The new Trippet Lane bike route does not protect cyclists from cars and does little to make it a less niche activity.
The new Trippet Lane bike route does not protect cyclists from cars and does little to make it a less niche activity.

But spare a moment for the supporters of one of humankind’s best inventions. Back in March, at the height of lockdown, they had a glimpse of something very special.

Thousands got back on their bikes for the first time in years. And even more amazingly, they took their children with them.

The roads were so quiet people could go from home, spontaneously. And it was brilliant. Without vehicles forcing riders into a 2ft strip at the margins, roads are huge and welcoming spaces.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

No wonder campaigners got excited. For a niche lobby group, this seemed to be incredible progress towards the mainstream.

The Star Business Editor David Walsh.The Star Business Editor David Walsh.
The Star Business Editor David Walsh.

As well as a speedy travel in cities, cycle fans know bikes are a cheap answer to many of the world’s big problems including congestion, air pollution, ill health, obesity and global heating.

So they were understandably giddy at urgent, government instructions which led to pop-up cycle lanes at Shalesmoor and Attercliffe.

But now the Shalesmoor route is going and, as anyone who has ridden on the roads recently will tell you, the traffic is back.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Bike lanes done properly, with cycles and vehicles separated by solid infrastructure, cost a whopping £1m a mile. So a 'network' of quality tracks is never going to happen.

As we’re about to see at Shalesmoor, red and white plastic barriers aren’t permanent.

And painted lines, like the just finished, mega-expensive, £2.8m for just 700 yards, bike lane on Trippet Lane, protect nothing and are useless.

It’ll be hard to accept for some, but cycling is back to being a fringe activity. And Sheffield will have to look elsewhere to solve its problems.

Related topics: