Cycling Cities UK | Episode 1 | Worcester

I’m in the sauciest city in the UK for the first installment of Cycling Cities UK!

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, go back and watch episode 0 ‘prologue’, where I give an explanation of the scoring system and what on earth I’m up to.

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My name’s Finn. This is Cycling Cities UK and today I’m in Worcester, a smalish city in its own county of Worersha in the Midlands. It’s famous for sors, swans, and well, that’s about it. Let’s take a good look at the cycle infrastructure and rank it on a perfectly objective and infallible tier list. With a maximum of 40 points, I’ll be judging based on six categories: cycle lane coverage, cycle lane quality, flatness, road friendliness, amenities, and local opinion. Let’s get going. We start our journey in St. Peters, a sleepy suburb in the southern reaches of Worcester. It’s tempting to bust out a sick 360 on this new pump track, but the infrastructure is not going to rank itself. The area enjoys what is known as the pedway, a network of shared space paths that have good coverage linking up shops, housing, and parks. It’s a pleasure to ride as staying away from busy roads is easy around here. It’s a similar story in Wenon, another suburb to the east with its own pedway. This is the other community in Worcester that is completely traversible by bike without dicing it up with traffic. There are even more paths here than in St. computers with kilometer after km of well-maintained and signposted tarmac. Just listen to past me living it up. Well, I’ve got to say along here I couldn’t feel a lot safer. Wanted headways. Fantastic. And it just keeps on going. But this is the exception rather than the rule in Worcester. To get into town from Warden, the pedways fall short, leaving no option but Toline or New Town Road. We start the mile and a half run down Toladine Road, just passing my favorite pub. It’s a 30 mph B- road and is a busy link for commuters and a very occasional bus, although I’ve caught it at a quiet time here. With cars and vans allowed to park on either side, it can create some bum clenching moments. It’s quite a narrow road, so there’s no room for perfect segregated bike path without a massive change, but an occasional painted bike on the road would be a nice addition to increase awareness. Unfortunately, the worst is still to come with a busy junction followed by an intimidating high brick wall on either side, closing us in with oncoming traffic. Oh wow. Yeah, not pleasant. While it’s by no means a terror inspiring death trap, I do think it’s claustrophobic enough to put off a fresh face cyclist. As we enter central Worcester, however, there is light at the end of the tunnel. The piesta resistance of Worcester cycle network is perhaps unsurprisingly not due to careful and intelligent city planning. In fact, it can be attributed to unintelligent glaciers tens of thousands of years ago as they changed the course of what would eventually be named the River 7. Thanks to its love of flooding Worcester with disgusting brown water, relatively few buildings and roads were built along its banks. That means ample room for both pedestrians and cyclists. Thanks, Glaciers. Let’s take a look. The seven’s paths provide great north south coverage as they stretch almost uninterrupted along the entire length of Worcester. This provides an attractive option for cyclists, not only for utility, but also for leisure. On a sunny day, it’s clear that riding the river’s tranquil banks is enjoyed by many locals here. The one downside is that it can get crowded at times, and not only with humans. Got to watch out for these guys. They’ll break a man’s armor. Now we are headed towards the first of three car-free crossings over the seven. Together they’ve really increased the number of routes that are cycle friendly, connecting neighborhoods with convenient and accessible paths. The bridge on screen is Sabrina Bridge, the oldest one, and it connects St. John’s with Central Worcester, as well as the Pitchcraftoft, a horse racing track which has a shared space path encircling it. From here, let’s head north, following the river by the pitchcraft. As we head towards the second cycle bridge of Worcester, you can see just how much potential carfree mileage they allow. Hold on, stop. Rewind. That, my friends, on the right of the screen is a barrel bike. And no, it’s not my nans. It’s one of 225 higher bikes in the city. Some of the ones I saw did look a bit beaten up, but to be fair, I did spot a number of people looking very happy riding them. I reckon they’re a definite boon to the city and stand a chance to encourage plenty of new cyclists. As I was saying, this is Capeax Bridge, the newest cycle bridge recently opened in December last year. On the map, it doesn’t look that central, so I wouldn’t have guessed it was that important of a connection. The crowds here prove me wrong, though, that’s for sure. Let’s move on to the final bridge, Digless Bridge, which offers a shortcut for cyclists on the south side of Worcester. It’s over a kilometer and a half from the road bridge, making cycling a faster option than driving for many potential journeys. It’s here that I met a friendly local cyclist named Mike just in time before the sun finished setting. Okay. I’m here with Mike from Worcester. Uh so Mike, do you cycle a lot around Worcester? Yeah. Yeah, fair bit. I do this circuit all the time basically and beyond as I was saying to you, the raceourse. So and and along the canal as well. So it all links in quite nicely. Okay. Oh, so you don’t have to go on the roads too much? No, no, that that’s true. Yeah, which is an advantage. Yeah, absolutely. So, would you say you do cycle on the roads as well or do you just Oh, yeah. No, I use the bike a lot for just nipping into town. Yeah. Um cuz it cuz it’s it’s handy and you can park it right outside, etc. I mean, we got a car, but it’s mainly for social to say going on holiday and stuff and Okay. going to the supermarket. But fantastic. Talking to Mike was making Worcester start to sound like some sort of bike paradise. But the conversation took a quick turn. I’ I’ve been knocked off my bike twice on the main road. Really? Okay. And I know a friend was saying that uh they’re not very appreciative Worcester drivers or of cyclists which are sometimes a problem. Whereabouts were you knocked off? Uh just well in Baron which is the north side on the on the main road going out of Worcester sort of thing. Okay. So would you avoid that now or? Oh, no. No. I I go down there. Still go for it. So, in that main road bit up in Barbborne, did you say is it is there many bike lanes up there or is it No, there’s a bus lane and and and you know, single lane traffic either way. But, uh I mean uh and you then quite a bit of Worcester’s pedestrianized the shopping center. So, what would you say is the the worst bit infrastructure wise in in Worcester? Uh well, from a cyclist point of view, um well, as I say, the roads are quite narrow. Um the main the main road, there’s a bus lane, so that’s that’s okay going in, but coming out and and so yeah, Mike makes a great point here. The main roads that make up the central loop of Worcester are mostly bereft of any cycle lanes. They all look similar to the one on screen. As Mike said, space is a limited resource here, so it seems likely that this deficiency won’t change anytime soon. There are a good amount of central bike parking spaces, so one solution would be to cycle to the edge of the center and do the rest on foot, but this is far from perfect. In general, would you say you feel safe cycling around? Yeah. No, it’s not a problem. I mean, I, as you can see, I’m wearing a hat rather than a helmet. Yes. Yeah, as I say, if you come restrict yourself to to the the the river, you you’re very well looked after. That leaves one final question which might prove paramount for Worcester’s place on the tier list. So, one final question. Uh, if you had to rate the cycle infrastructure of Worcester out of five, how much would you give it? Well, I’ll give it perhaps a generous four. A generous four. Okay. Lovely. Cool. Thanks, Mike. No, it’s a pleasure. Great to meet you and you. Good luck. Have a good There is however a grotesque wart on Worcester’s side that has yet to be mentioned. That is the area of St. John’s or more generally everything to the west of the river. This path I’m on is decent enough. It goes out from the center but quickly decides it’s had enough leaving you to fend for yourself on the A44. It doesn’t show its face again, nor any of its bike path friends. There really is almost nothing to talk about in St. John’s in terms of cycle infrastructure. It doesn’t even seem to have any cycle parking on its high street. At the very least, it’s pretty flat and like most of Worcester, its main roads are relatively tame for the UK. You won’t feel as though you’re flirting with death here, but it’s not exactly inspiring. That just leaves one thing to talk about. The canal. On paper, it looks like it might be great for cyclists. A picturesque route snaking north and then east. Bird song in your ears instead of a passing lorry. And this is partly true, but it’s not without issues. can be a bit sketchy under those bridges coming round blind corners, but I’ve got to say on a quiet day like today, it can be pretty dreamy along here. As well as those bridges, you instantly feel how narrow the toe path is when you cycle along here. Perhaps too narrow to be a shared space. Passing other cyclists, particularly on the corners, feels a bit scrappy. It’s also a popular path for pedestrians. At busy times, you’ll be slowing down for people and dogs often and potentially be forced to walk. A bell is a must along here. That said, it does provide some connectivity for the north and east sides of Worcester, and that just can’t be ignored. So, this brings me to the crux of the video. Just how does Worcester’s cycle infrastructure stand up to my scrupulous ranking system? In terms of cycle lane coverage, I’m going to give it a five out of 10. From north to south, it’s really rather good with the river, the Pitchcraftoft, and St. Peter’s Pedway connecting nicely. But if you’re traveling east to west, you don’t stand a chance. The cycle lanes that do exist in Worcester are usually pretty good, although they are mostly shared spaces. Therefore, cycling quality gets a 7 out of 10. The rest of these are ranked out of five to weight them appropriately. I’m giving flatness a three out of five. The center and western parts of the city are flat enough for any cyclist, but the east has a few gradual but lengthy hills, enough to put some people off the pedals. The biking amenities are very average in Worcester, so I’m rating this category a 2.5. The barrel bikes are a great addition, but there’s a real lack of parking places almost everywhere except the center. There are also only four bike shops, meaning roughly 26,000 people per bike shop. All of them are in the north, and there are no public service stations whatsoever. The roads are mostly fairly friendly here when you’re forced to use them, but the lack of cycle lanes in the central main roads, as well as the occasional spook, means I’ll give road friendliness a three out of five. Finally, let’s add on the four bonus points awarded by local cyclist Mike. That makes a total of 24.5 points, meaning Worcester brutally misses out on Btier by half a point. Savage. That said, the top of Ctier is absolutely nothing to sniff at. I really enjoyed cycling around Worcester, and it’s a great benchmark for the series to come. If that’s not exciting, then this series might not be for you. Either way, I’ll be back in 2 weeks as I travel one county south to rank the cycle infrastructure of my hometown. See you there. Was that And