24/10/2011
Moscow’s first bicycle lane
Any cyclists living in Moscow, or UK cyclists planning on taking their bike on holiday to the city, may be happy to hear that Moscow has just installed a bicycle lane ‐ its first ever.
Well done Moscow!
It’s the Moscow State University campus’ bike lane and covers a large area, but riders may be very quickly under-whelmed by the efforts of the local Russian authorities.
The two-way cycle lane has so many things blocking it that, as one visiting Russian scientist stated, the lane is “a touching gesture, but absolutely useless”.
There are speed bumps, barriers, drains, kerbs (not lowered), and parked cars obstructing it too because many drivers don’t realise that the lane is only for cyclists and should be left clear for them.
According to one Russian bike rider, authorities would have been better off trying to tackle the bicycle theft problems faced by riders in Moscow. People reportedly don’t have many places to lock their bikes up at safely.
Not a success then…
Well done Moscow!It’s the Moscow State University campus’ bike lane and covers a large area, but riders may be very quickly under-whelmed by the efforts of the local Russian authorities.
The two-way cycle lane has so many things blocking it that, as one visiting Russian scientist stated, the lane is “a touching gesture, but absolutely useless”.
There are speed bumps, barriers, drains, kerbs (not lowered), and parked cars obstructing it too because many drivers don’t realise that the lane is only for cyclists and should be left clear for them.
According to one Russian bike rider, authorities would have been better off trying to tackle the bicycle theft problems faced by riders in Moscow. People reportedly don’t have many places to lock their bikes up at safely.
Not a success then…
Photo © jurvetson via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence
Labels: barriers, bicycle, bike, city, cyclist, drains, drivers, kerb, lane, Moscow, riders, Russian, speed bumps, theft
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