I’ve written about Castle Street cycle lane repeatedly over the past year. It’s frequently used by taxi’s and the police as a place to park causing an obstruction to all vehicles on the road and especially anyone trying to use the contraflow bicycle lane. Blocked - The taxi drivers use the cycle lane as an extension of the taxi rank ...
Blocking a contraflow cycle lane - 30th March 2013 Sheffield Police seem to be under the impression that they can leave their vehicles in mandatory cycle contraflow lanes even though they have a car park across the road. The people on the front line (receptionists, policemen) seem to think that I’m wasting their time complaining. I was made to feel like an idiot and that I was in the wrong for asking the vehicles to be moved to their car park. ...
A while ago I took a look at Google and Bing’s Street View services to see if they’d caught any vehicles parked illegally on Castle Street contraflow lane - they had! Well… Google Street-view has been updated and the situation is no better! No taxi this time but a UK Mail delivery van! Google Street View - Castle Street - July 2012
I’ve just had a talking to by a police officer for taking photo’s of a police van parked in the contraflow cycle lane on Castle Street. He wasn’t too keen on me doing this, he said that I was very conspicuous and perhaps putting myself in danger, he understood that I was there because of the taxis. I was stood outside the police station, scoping out current behavior, not taking photos, there are still plenty of taxis parking illegally, I saw 4 in a 15 minute window, I started taking photos when the police van turned up. He said that the police have to park in this location to drop officers off at the station, I asked about their car park, he said that the vehicles could not fit because of low clearance. ...
South Yorkshire Police I’ve blogged about Castle Street cycle lane before here: /the-ongoing-saga-of-sheffields-castle-street-cycle-lane/ Today I headed down to try and film some taxis blocking the cycle lane, but I came across another set of vehicles using it… The police have given us assurances that they know it is dangerous to park in this lane, that it causes traffic problems, that they will move vehicles on when they see them there, but I don’t think they are sincere. ...
Castle Street cycle lane is a contraflow cycle lane on a one way street in Sheffield. It has been here since March 1997 and allows cyclists enter the city centre from the network of cycle paths on the East, avoiding some big arterial routes with no cycling provision. For the past 15 years this cycle lane has been plagued by Hackney Carriage drivers parking illegally on this cycle lane, blocking cyclists access and forcing them into oncoming traffic. This has been the case for over a decade. There is a taxi rank on the pavement side of the cycle lane, taxis often fill up this rank and overflow, parking in the cycle lane, blocking the way for cyclists.
There is a cycle lane in Sheffield on Castle Street that provides access to the city centre for cyclists who wish to avoid the arterial routes that still dominate the area. This cycle lane is a contraflow lane, it is clearly marked and has a solid white line to separate it from the oncoming carriageway. There is a nearby taxi rank and for many years taxis have been using the cycle lane as an extension to the taxi rank forcing cyclists using it into the oncoming carriageway. Any cyclist who asks them to move, or takes photo’s as evidence, is met with angry taxi drivers. ...