Cardiff Cycling - Wellington Street to Newport Road

Cardiff Cycle Lanes

New footage from one of Cardiff's recently installed cycle lanes, shot on a GoPro mounted on a chest harness. This edit covers the new segregated lane on Wellington Street, which continues along Cowbridge Road, Castle Street, and Newport Road, in Cardiff. It's one of the longest protected lanes in Cardiff and gives a great feeling of security as you ride along it.

The One Downside

The main frustration with cycling in Cardiff is the long waits at traffic lights. Cyclists aren't like car drivers — it takes time to build up speed, and if you have to stop for an extended period at the lights, the reality is that most cyclists will simply keep going. The priority logic needs to change. So that when a bike is detected, the signal sequence should adjust to keep it moving. The so-called Green Wave approach used in Copenhagen is the obvious model — keeping bikes flowing not only makes cycling safer and more appealing, but reduces traffic on the roads for everyone else.

Then, Cardiff will start to encourage more cyclists out onto their bikes. But, the main driver of change, would be to have secure bike storage. One way to do this would be to use sections of the multi-story car parks in Cardiff, fitted with individual bike sheds, which could be something that you rent at a time, or for those commuting, it could be a weekly/monthly payment.

It just takes a little imagination, and some spirit from the council and local government to help inspire people out onto the roads. In Denmark , the average percentage of the whole population that cycled in the last 7 days is now over 60%. In the UK, this is about 6%!

Check out my other videos on Cycling in Cardiff .