Glass in Manchesters Cycle Lanes
Over the last few weeks I have become somewhat annoyed at the fact I have had over 5 punctures in as many weeks. All of these punctures have been sustained on Wilmslow Road going to and from work. All have been caused by glass in Manchesters cycle lanes
After a long summer of little traffic and a pleasurable ride to and from work this all changed the week the University’s restarted for the autumn term. The increased traffic is one thing that every commuter has to deal with and its a fact of life but there are other things that are troubling me as a cycle commuter on Wilmslow Road.
I am not blaming students and I have no axe to grind with students but there are some coincidences that need to be addresses.
I got my first puncture as students started to return to Manchester and its now late October and I have my latest. Each puncture has been a shard of broken glass and I know this because I have checked my Specialized Crossroads Tyre and each time I have found glass in the tyre tread.
I am now going to ask the question to other cycle commuters of Manchester, is it just me or does the return of students along the Wilmslow Road corridor coincide with a huge amount of broken glass appearing on the roads and cycle lanes? Broken glass and beer bottles especially around Fallowfield and Rushholme is a big problem for cycle commuters.
I look back to when I was a student and I do not recall a need to smash bottles and pub glasses in the road so I may be mistaken about today’s students but the link to me is concrete.
A friend who is suffering from a similar headache blames the Conservative Government, in his words:
“The Tory’s have cut local government budgets which in turn has meant job loses, these job loses has resulted in fewer council staff, these few council staff mean fewer street cleaners and this in turn results in cycle lanes being littered with rubbish and glass”
This maybe the case, fewer street cleaners will result in dirtier streets but I think the root of the problem lies a little bit closer to home. If people did not feel the need to smash glass in the road then this would result in less work for the street sweepers so the current staff of Manchester Council would not be stretched.
No matter who is to blame for glass in Manchesters cycle lanes, one thing is for sure I have had many punctures and this has caused me much inconvenience. I am no looking to invest in even better tyres to see if this solves the problem as there is no way I am going to to solve the broken glass problem on Manchesters cycle lanes.