NCC pathways and commuting

Reality check: the NCC pathways are not always ideal for commuting by bicycle.

Here are the problems with them:

• the path to nowhere: there's often little or no connection between NCC paths and bike lanes provided by the city. I'll talk lots about that on this blog.

• the speed limit: very few cyclists who commute a significant distance want to deal with a 20km/hr speed limit. It is actually a recommended maximum.

• sharing the path: The nicest days for biking are usually the nicest days for wandering pedestrian families. Families taking up both lanes or behaving erratically is dangerous

• surface: road crossings often have high curbs and the surface of some paths is worse than the road next to it.

When the path is going somewhere you want to go and it is empty enough, the paths can really be very nice. But it isn't always the panacea that is sold.