Between November 1975 and June 1976, a set of experimental cycle routes of a total length of 6.3 km were available for use in the city of Portsmouth. Attitude surveys carried out three and six months after the opening of the cycle routes indicated that most residents on the cycle routes considered that they had been unaffected by the scheme or were actively in favour of it. Most cyclists were in favour of the cycle routes, but there was much criticism from them of motorists ignoring traffic signs along the routes and of their lack of consideration for cyclists. About half of the 39 shopkeepers on the routes claimed that they had lost some trade since the opening of the routes. Most of the complaints made by a sample of motorists concerned the need to make detours in some of their journeys due to the layout of the special junctions on the route. Apart from meeting its design aims to a good measure, the cycle route experiment provided valuable information on the operation and monitoring of the cycle routes and attitudes to them which was used to good effect in the planning and monitoring of more advanced cycle routes in other cities in Britain. (Author/publisher) (The abstract number of Part I is IRRD 231737; the abstract number of Part II is IRRD 241112).
Abstract