Get on your bike

Guernsey's Environment Department wants to encourage more commuters to cycle to work by vastly improving the cycling facilities in St Peter Port.

They have applied to put more cycle parking and new shelters in the main carparks in town.

The aim is to reduce peak hour traffic and free up carparking spaces.

It is a move welcomed by the Guernsey Bicycle Group, but they want even more to be done.

Cycling to town is cost-efficient, often time-efficient, and environmentally friendly. But once cyclists get there it is not particularly welcoming for them.

For anybody commuting to town by car or popping into St Peter Port to pick up some shopping, North Beach offers lots of convenient, free carparking.

What it does not offer is very good facilities for cyclists. So the Environment Department is hoping to change that. They want to extend the cycle parking area, put in ten new bicycle hoops and install two bike shelters. They are hoping that will encourage more people to come in on two wheels and fewer to bring in four.

As well as North Beach, the Environment Department has also submitted planning applications for two other areas in St Peter Port.

At Victoria Pier they want to extend the existing parking, install more cycle hoops and provide a shelter to encourage more people to bring their bikes to town.

And at the Market Steps they also want to put in two hoops to stop cyclists chaining their bikes to street furniture.

It is good news for the Guernsey Bicycle Group, who say they welcome anything that encourages people to get on their bikes and supports sustainable transport. But they say while the States are headed in the right direction, more needs to be done.

Rollo De Sausmarez, from the Guernsey Bicycle Group, said: "More bicycle friendly lanes, those kind of things; that is what is needed. But generally just the encouragement of cycling and the recognising that we get people on their bikes, or using alternative modes of transport, it frees up the roads, it makes it more healthy - and there's more parking for everyone, which is always very motivating, even for people in cars."

They would like to see the States lead the way in encouraging their employees to cycle to work. And in town that should be made a little easier for them. The Environment Department says while the plans for cycle parking are restricted to St Peter Port for now, other initiatives will be considered in the future. (from CTV)

Seem to remember something like this before...

More bikes on the road means longer traffic queues and more idiots with a death wish ducking and diving through the traffic.

more idiots going the wrong way through road closures,riding through town in the pedestrian only areas.going through red traffic lights,thinking yellow lines dont apply to them and totally ignoring the cycle path that was put there at great expense to the taxpayer..who will be paying for these shelters as bicycles dont pay road tax so i assume they willbe paid for by the environment dept i