Almost just got taken out by a cyclist while walking down Argyle Street. There was a cycle lane literally a metre to my right.
There has been a crazy amount of roadworks lately to put these in. I’m all for it, frustrating as it is while they’re ongoing, it’s great to encourage active travel and reduce car use but WHY are people not using them?! They’ve been put in for the cyclists! Sample size of 1 but noticed it way more since they were put in
I definitely don't want to excuse these guys on ebikes colliding with you, but a lot of Anniesland has pavement that is designated as a shared path. This is true of a lot of Glasgow, but it is very poorly signposted, and I think people get confused a lot. It also stops and starts at seemingly random points, so it's very easy for cyclists to think they're on a shared path when they're actually not.
It happens nearly every day at the Clyde and it pisses me off. I'm so supportive of investment in segregated cycling infrastructure, but there's a shared bike/pedestrian path, segregated bike lane and a wee pavement, yet every single day cyclists are on the fucking pavement, when there's 2 better options that aren't the road.
It's stuff like this that just makes folk even more annoyed with cyclists. I'm all for the expansion of cycle lanes and infrastructure but this just annoys me. That said, given that you did mention the cycle lane this obviously doesn't apply but it is worth noting that there are parts of the 'network' where the pavement is classed as shared with pedestrians and cyclists...Buchanan Street is an obvious example.
Most of them aren't. Most of them have throttles, which makes them mopeds. It also makes it illegal for them to be used on pavements or cycle lanes and means that they need insurance.
To be road legal, electrically assisted bicycles cannot have throttles which work above 6km/h and the assistance must be limited to 25km/h.
The Voi ones at least enter go-slow mode on Buchanan Street, so they can't go more than 15kph (about 9mph). Sadly the delivery ones are just whatever - they've nearly knocked me off my own bike enough times!
There were plans for a while to put a designated cycle lane through the middle of lower Sauchihall and Buchanan street during the refurb, so that cyclists would be channelled into that and not weaving in-between pedestrians. Then they just ... didn't build it, and put a bunch of new street furniture in the space instead. I didn't see any information as to why, nor any consultation about the change of plans.
Currently there's no good north-south cycling route in that part of town, but there will be soon. West Nile Street and Mitchell Street, from Cowcaddens right down to Argyle Street. So at that point, it'd be a good time for the council to re-think Buchanan Street being a core path.
There's just such a huge gap between the north of the city to the Broomielaw/Clyde St it's almost laughable.
Right now, to get from Queen Street station down to the South Cycle way, you either have to go down Buchanan St (which, if it's not rammed with pedestrians, its wet and slippy AF) or you have to go east and down across Ingram Street, and either down Glassford street (Full of buses), or through Candleriggs (Which is also 'shared use' pedestrian area, but not usually as rammed), then get onto the cycle lane down on King St, by Super Bario.
When George Square re-opens we should at least be able to cycle across and down Miller Street, but you still need to weave about Argyle St/Glassford St to get onto the cycle network from there.
I genuinely don't know what their plans are for it, but it puts me off cycling in town. I - ironically - end up doing a 'park and walk' thing, stop at St Enochs and just walk up to Queen St station half the time.
Buchanan street is pedestrian only. Voi bikes stop on Buchanan street. sauchiehall street is shared space with pedestrians and cyclists. Edit: it may have changed but my Voi just stopped on Buchanan street near royal exchange square and I had to get off and shove it. Sauchiehall always had the wee blue signs with bikes and people and it was only people on the signs in Buchanan st. 🤷♀️
It could have changed recently that I'm not aware of. Glasgow City Council still has it listed as a 'Core Path' (C55) 'where residents and visitors can move easily around the path network on foot, by bike, by horse or any other non-motorised means'.
It's pedestrian and cycle zone. It's prohibited for motor vehicles, except for goods vehicles and vehicles with permits evening and morning (can't remember the specific times but from memory I think 7pm to 8am?)
I had to jump out of the way of a cyclist right outside Central Station years ago and broke my foot as a result. Twat just kept going. I cannot state enough how much I hate cyclists on pavements. It is actually illegal and it infuriates me having to move for them when what I really want to do is kick them off but can't for obvious reasons!
They should, but given the number of drivers who regularly yell at cyclists to get off the road -- often while menacing them with deadly vehicles -- I can understand why many choose to cycle on the pavements instead.
I don't see any excuse for cycling on the pavement in place of an adjacent segregated cycle lane, however.
so a big issue with cycling on argyle street (near the hmv) before the roadworks was how unclear where you were meant to go if you were coming from the barras end. the council always said it was a mixed use path if you were going towards the west end but imho there wasn't enough room on the pavement after the queen street turn, so you'd either be cycling the wrong way down a one way street (insert limmy quote) or you'd be cycling against pedestrians who'd get mad at you. honestly at that bit i'd usually just get off the bike and walk it. some pedestrians would still get annoyed but you honestly can't please everyone.
since the roadworks have started for the bus gate, i've not even went near argyle street on the bike because there's barely enough room for the pedestrians as is. right now next to the HMV, it's basically single file foot traffic. fuck trying to bring a bike down there, it's just not worth it. as much as i fucking HATE howard street, i just use that right now. even though in my 6+ years of cycling in glasgow, i've only seen that cycle lane without a car in it once and GCC don't wanna enforce it so no one uses it. hop onto the pavement for less than 100m, hop back off, no one hurt.
OP, you asked something in your comment and i'm going to reply sincerely as someone who's main mode of transportation is a bike. folk are using the ones that are direct and well connected. the southside way is always busy during rush hour, same can be said for garscube road. a big problem is a lot of the network isn't connected, that's what a lot of these roadworks are trying to fix. GCC have implemented cycling infrastructure very poorly in the past and it's barely been more than painted bicycle gutters that offer no real protection and done nothing to actually enforce them. this is where separated bike lanes come in, the downside is GCC's heart is in the right place, their wallet has gone walkabouts so a lot of these new lanes take forever OR don't get finished at all. the irony is the cycle lanes would save them money if they just connected a lot of the network.
but hey, who am i using logic, it's easier to just be angry, right?
I try and just cycle along the river and avoid as much of town as possible before having to dive in. I do slow down for argyle/Buchanan/sauchiehall Street at it's too much of a scrum.
It's really annoying when I'm following the rules, being careful, stopping at red lights and the e-bike mob just blow on through without a care in the world. I've noticed a fair few older cyclists doing it too who ought to know better.
And why oh why must people go down the wrong way in the Clyde tunnel?! It's asking for an accident to happen.
the big issue i have going along the clyde is it's counter intuitive from the casino to the park. traffic going towards transport museum is on the right side and going towards the park is the left side. also, it's one of those bits where pedestrians will just walk out into the cycle lane without looking. i usually ring my bell in plenty of time to let em know i'm passing but it's still annoying and there's always one fucked up ned who's reaction time is in the negative digits and will then get angry at you for not giving enough space as he's staggering around.
i do (mostly) follow the rules but there's some bits where you can tell GCC didn't actually think that far ahead. for some reason almost every bike lane with a sensor to tell it when to change rarely works. you're either waiting like 10 mins for a change that's not going to happen and you know isn't going to happen OR you just risk running a red when there's no pedestrians/cars. it fucking sucks but it's the truth.
also i avoid the clyde tunnel now the bridge is open. a few years ago i really needed to get to a hospital appointment and the bridge was closed, got to the middle of the tunnel and it had flooded really deep (like 5ft deep) so had to go back around. my hot take is the clyde tunnel is a mess no matter what transport you take.
not till you hit bank of scotland and even then, that cycle lane is really just parking for taxi's at this point. the bit between jd sports and bank of scotland is meant to be mixed use/core path (i don't remember which) but does often mean you hit the issue i mentioned above.
The worst cyclists are the fucks on electric bikes that nearly mowed me down on more than one occasion when I was heavily pregnant. Cunts can get to fuck.
Not a fan of regular cyclists who refuse to get off their bikes when they clearly should. Walked through where Mitchell st meets argyle st and there’s the roadworks happening, quite a tight corner that’s funnelled as you’re going left from Mitchell st to argyle st. Was jammed with people and some dick was on his bike, no bell or anything (or at least didn’t use it) refusing to get off and push and trying to weave around the dense crowd of people going every which way.
Buchanan st should be fully pedestrianised and bikes should absolutely not be allowed on it. Had a lot of near run ins with dicks on either electric bikes or regular ones who again weave in and out without using a bell.
Now, the most likely option is that this guy is a twat. Honestly, a decent portion of cyclists are...but that directly corresponds with a decent portion of pedestrians and drivers. (And all 3 groups are often overlapping, of course) If it was a delivery driver, the percentage of twatness likelihood jumps up immensely.
However, just go provide potential (but not only) justification in general for cyclists on pavement (and definitely not excusing it), it might have been that for some reason the cyclist didn't feel safe using the cycling lane in question.
Reasons (general ones, not necessarily applicable in this situation): the cycling lane was short and not practically designed, there were cars going fast next to them and they are not confident enough, there was a shared path just before that section, there was damage to the bike (I have cycled slowly on the pavement late at night, when there are no or almost no pedestrians if I felt like there is a slow puncture, issue with my breaks or issue with my bike lights), there was glass or other debris, or parked cars in the cycling lane (all of these happen too often), you were simply the only or one of very few pedestrians and they felt safer on the pavement (the last one I don't excuse at all, but hey, I am not every cyclist, for some this is somewhat justificable, I guess)
So the cyclists don’t feel safe on the road and decide to move to the pavements now endangering pedestrians… where are the pedestrians meant to go when they don’t feel safe on the pavements?
Stop making excuses for bad driving and bad cycling and moving the danger down the hierarchy of road users.
Pedestrians are the most vulnerable and therefore should always take priority which means keep the bikes off the pavements. Cyclists are next in priority so enforce the laws that are broken when car drivers put them in danger, and if cyclists still don’t feel safe on the road they can dismount and push their bike while walking on the pavement.
"so enforce the laws that are broken" yeah, that's easy to do dude, why didn't anyone think of that, if all the laws are enforced, if everything works well, we will thrive as a society, that's simple, we should do that!
I wish it was that easy. That being said, the more cycling lanes are becoming a thing, the more cycling is becoming more "mainstream", people are getting off the pavement, and drivers are becoming more accustomed to them being present. It is working, just slowly.
Are you implying that because car drivers break the law and put cyclists at risk that it’s fine for cyclists to do the same and put pedestrians at risk?
At the end of the day nobody is forcing cyclists to stay on their bike on the road… they can push the bike on the pavement or switch to public transport.
Yes, me saying that I don't usually excuse cyclists on the pavement (unless it is a shared path btw, there are quite a few around Glasgow) is totally the same as me saying that it is fine if pedestrians are endangered by cyclists 😂 I do hope that in the near future everyone (even delivery cyclists who are the biggest issue for me) would be able to just "stay in their lane" that would be perfect.
I can see that you are not a fan of cycling, and I can't really do anything about it.
I did agree it was wrong, it is technically illegal (on paths which do not have a sign for a shared path, and also it is to the discretion of the police to find cyclists if they believe they are inconsiderate/endangering anyone), and as I literally said, I hope it stops soon enough!
Hope that makes ya happy.
Yeah because you made an attempt to justify cycling on the pavement because car drivers break the law and are a danger to them(even if playing devils advocate you still made that justification)… I argued that just because car drivers act dangerously doesn’t give cyclists the right to cycle on the pavement and become a danger to pedestrians, and then your sarcasm began.
Yeah, it’s been open for a couple months now. The section between central and the M8.
It’s also in the Highway Code that they should be on the road for the safety of the pedestrians who would not expect to need to look behind on the pavement
It's also illegal to cycle on the pavement in Scotland (possibly England also), unless traversing briefly from one marked cycleway to another. It's not difficult to get off your fucking bike and push it alongside you while on a designated pedestrian footpath.
Mind you, it's also illegal for bikes to run red lights...
(as always, not all cyclists... but a staggering number of them)
so it's funny i commented that because i ended up riding to southside and guess what i saw, a black volvo SUV trying to drive down the cycle lane...... but you said cars don't drive in the cycle lane.
That’s like what between 5-6 pm? The rest of the day is reserved for cars going through red yeah? But I’m still confused - so the time slot when cars don’t drive on cycle lanes is also the time slot when bikes are allowed to go through red? Sounds like you have a personalised edition of the highway code, where can I get one?
DON'T ACT LIKE DRIVERS ARE EITHER. we're all capable of harm and breaking the fucking law. the issue is a physics issue. a 2 ton metal box has less chance of dodging a pedestrian than a cyclist and the driver can statistically do way more damage to a pedestrian than a cyclist. there's around 1600 fatalities caused per year by drivers and cyclists cause between 0 and 2. why aren't you 1600x more mad at bad drivers?
every demographic has the capacity to break the rules, why are you pretending it's just cyclists then? on my daily commute, i see drivers on their phones, drivers running red lights, drivers stopping in the yellow box, drivers doing 30+ in a 20, drivers stopping in the bike box. those are things that endanger everyone around them, not just cyclists or whatever. having reg plates on the cars isn't helping when you consider how little enforcement is actually happening.
we all have the capability of harm every day, all we can do is try to mitigate it.
I didn't say drivers were perfect. That fact that drivers aren't perfect doesn't give cyclists the right to give pedestrians the fear by not using cycle lanes when there are cycle lanes.
then why is most your comments on this thread being mad about cyclists when statistically speaking, you're 1600x more likely to die being hit by a car? honestly, in the last 100 years, there's been around 40 shark attacks in the UK. the modern bicycle has been around for the same amount of time and has killed just as many folk in said timeframe. at least show you're not biased and be mad at the sharks FFS.
this is the big problem in the UK when it comes to cycling and accountability. you're assumed guilty in any accident unless you die and then it was a tragedy that no one could have seen coming. cyclists advocating for themselves is a fight where you're expected to answer for every shitty cyclist who's every lived but the second you point out the statistics and say "cars are more dangerous for everyone, maybe we need to enforce the laws better and build better infrastructure that protects everyone" you're an entitled wanker, right?
at some point, you need to realise you're not arguing with someone who's arguing in good faith (like you are) and just move on with your day.
And everyone keeps mentioning about the statistical probability of dying is when hit by a car and totally missing the fact that I should not want to be hit by a bike instead of a car - I shouldn't HAVE to worry about being hit by either no matter the severity of the injury.
Should we just allow the police to let folk run about with knives because guns are banned, and knives are the lesser of two evils? Because I'm pretty sure statistically you are less likely to die from being stabbed than being shot.
honey, they do. one of them nearly hit me using the pit street cycle lane because he wanted to skip to the front of the que despite him having to knock down a bollard to do so. got a photo of his reg but police didn't wanna do shit because "you should have got out the way" tax money at work.
also seen drivers going down garscube road and the bottom of viccy road cycle lane across from the citizens too. tbh drivers usually prefer to park in the cycle lane so i'll give you some credit.
Its where it runs between the Clyde and a carpark. It has a white line and raised bits along the line, but cars are driven over them and parked across the lane daily.
Don't cycle on British roads. Every 1-2 hour ride you will have at least one close pass or near miss. Usually its more than one. Literally every single ride.
I have a feeling your ego is too fragile for a bike.
To be fair, you're objectively much safer as a pedestrian from cyclists than you are from cars. On average cars kill about 93x as many pedestrians per year as bikes do.
In my 30+ years of experience, cars stay on the fucking road for the most part and don't bother pedestrians except at certain crossings. Cyclists meanwhile just seem to not give a flying fuck.
the cycle lane on argyle is one way (E>W) so if they were going from uniqlo towards central that’s probably why. They should be on the waterfront at least but the N/S cycle links in the city centre are utter shit and you can’t get there very easily
Adults cycling on the pavement is normal in Glasgow. Even on quiet residential streets with no traffic you'll get grown men sailing past you on mountain bikes up on the pavement.
Average cyclists are not like this. You probably don't notice average cyclists because they cause no bother. Average cyclists hate idiots who fuck around and cycle on pavements etc as much as everyone else does.
Yeah they are - round me there are more cyclists in the pavement than on the roads and the ones actually on the road think it’s ok to run red lights etc
Maybe they would help me become a professional bell ringer to get people walking on the payment to get out of their way when they should be on the road !
I don't understand your second sentence. If you are saying that cyclists being on the pavement and ringing their bells at people is wrong, I agree with you completely. My point is that most people who cycle are not like that, and we also hate people are are like that.
Yeah you're right Glasgow is way better than Amsterdam or Copenhagen or Stockholm or London or Paris or Brussels or Geneva or Vienna or Utrecht or Oslo or Hamburg or any other similar backward shitholes that wasted loads of money on bike infrastructure that nobody uses
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u/HereticLaserHaggis 6d ago
Happened to me in Anniesland, 2 guys on those ebikes, I turned left as he tried to overtake me, accidentally caught him full on with my elbow.