Cycle Hire
Posted: Wed 16 September, 2009 Filed under: Cynicism, People, Stupidity, Thoughts, Travel 6 Comments »I noticed yesterday a piece on the BBC about cycle-hire programmes being introduced in some places in the UK.
And while I think it’s A Good Thing™ to bring cycle-hire etc to the fore and work on making it into a sustainable concept, I’ve got to ask what kind of Twunt puts a cycle-hire facility in fucking Blackpool? Yes, it’s fine as a UK tourist spot – but on windy days (and there are more of those than sunny ones in Blackpool, in my opinion) it’s hard enough to walk into the wind, let alone cycle into it. (And while it’ll be fine cycling with the wind behind you, in my experience the wind is always against you as a cyclist)
The bit that really makes me laugh, though is this :
According to tourism body Visit England, the number of UK holidaymakers visiting the resort in 2008 was down 26% on the previous year. Tourism bosses hope the scheme will be another attraction for people visiting the resort.
Tourists don’t (in general) cycle around cities like Oxford and Cambridge, where cycling is already de rigeur. So why the hell would they bother in effing Blackpool, for fuck’s sweet everloving sake?
To be honest who would like to go to Blackpool anyway? It’s so cold even in summer. If you have to go anywhere in the UK then its usually better off to have a holiday down south as at least it will be a degree warmer!
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I’d posit that tourits don’t cycle because they have no bikes; give them access to them and they might. I would…
Blackpool is the new Brighton btw.
No disrespect, BW, but you’re hardly the average tourist target-market.
Like I said, there’s plenty of tourist bikes available in Oxford and Cambridge, cycle-hire etc., but they’re rarely used by tourists. Students use them, as do longer-term visitors (i.e. the language schools etc.) so there’s a business case for them, but the tourists either use buses, cars, or feet. Not bikes.
I hired a bike once at Venice beach in California, and I have to say we had a great time.
(Was bought up in Blackpool and left when 18 and would never ever go there again under my own steam.)
Yeah, and I can imagine on Venice beach it’s quite nice. From what I’ve seen of it, Venice Beach can be summed up as
Sunny
Flat
Warm
Not massively windy
British seaside destinations, however – and particularly the more Northern ones – don’t regularly qualify on any of those counts.
Cycling on a sunny day in California and a windy day in Blackpool are experiences that are worlds apart in every quantifiable measure, so far as I can see…
‘Windy’ barely covers The Blackpool Experience. I was at a conference there once, walked around the corner outside my hotel, and my glasses were just blown off, never to be seen again.
Can’t imagine wanting to risk cycling along and being blown into the path of an oncoming tram.