Busy goings on in the cycle world

By Rob Derry of Swindon Cycle Campaign

There have been some improvements to the cycle network in Swindon over the last few months.

We’ve now got two “Flyers” in town – the Western and the Southern Flyer. The Eastern Flyer is under construction with alterations being made to various paths.

These routes are a great way to get in to town on a bike on traffic free paths in the main. Where they do touch roads, these are minor roads so they are perfect for the whole family to ride on.

The Southern Flyer stops at the old Brunel car park and the Western Flyer ends on Station Rd. One of the biggest issues that we at Swindon Cycle Campaign almost unanimously agree on is how to navigate in and around the town centre on a bike. There is no obvious way to get across the centre as cycling is prohibited in the retail centre, leaving Commercial Rd, Manchester Rd, Corporation Street, Fleming Way, Farnsby Street and Princess Street as the main routes. These are one way, very busy and take high volumes of buses and other large vehicles. As we know, large vehicles and cyclists sometimes don’t mix well.

Good news: Swindon Cycle Campaign members are involved in the beginnings of a consultation to look at solutions to this problem.

We’ve all talked about this for a long time, we’ve got ideas from cyclists and others and we have had conversations with council officials about the problems.

If there’s anything you’d like to add to the debate, please let us know on our facebook page and we will keep you up to date with progress.

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