Urban cycling infrastructure comes in two types: on road cycle lanes and segregated cycle tracks. Here’s what you need to know about using them

Unlike the Netherlands, the UK doesn’t have a cycle network as such. It has bits and pieces of infrastructure – some great, some awful – and lots of roads with bicycle symbols painted in the gutters. While some drivers expect cyclists to use cycle facilities wherever they exist, regardless of quality, the Highway Code takes a more practical view. It says (Rule 61): “Use facilities such as cycle lanes and tracks… where they make your journey safer and easier… Cyclists may exercise their judgement and are not obliged to use them.”

Cycle lanes

Cycle lanes are areas of the road – usually the edge – given over to cyclists and indicated by white lines, bicycle symbols and sometimes differently coloured tarmac. A dashed white line is an advisory cycle lane, which has no legal weight. Drivers can drive and park in advisory cycle lanes. A solid white line is a mandatory cycle lane. Mandatory means that anyone in a motor vehicle must NOT use it; it doesn’t mean that cyclists must do so. You are legally allowed to cycle elsewhere on the road.

Why would you want to? You might need to take the lane or you might be turning right. Or, quite simply, the cycle lane may not make your journey ‘safer and easier’. Many cycle lanes are too narrow and force you to ride too close to the road edge. They also provide a false sense of separation on the road. Paint is not protection. Drivers are now obliged (Highway Code Rule 163) to give cyclists at least 1.5 metres when overtaking but some are less inclined to do so if you’re in a ‘separate’ lane.

Some mandatory cycle lanes have a line of studs or wands (plastic posts) on the outer edge. While these won’t stop a car, most drivers will avoid running over them. This ‘soft’ segregation makes these cycle lanes more like cycle tracks.

Most cycle lanes are ‘with flow’ – you cycle in the same direction as the traffic alongside you. Some cycle lanes, typically on one-way streets for motor vehicles, are contraflow: you cycle in the opposite direction to the traffic. Contraflow cycle lanes can provide valuable shortcuts but require care. Approaching drivers may not give you sufficient space, while others may be unprepared for you to join or exit the contraflow lane. Good communication is key.

The biggest potential hazard when using cycle lanes comes from drivers turning into or emerging from side roads and driveways. Take special care when there is stationary or slow moving traffic on the main part of the carriageway. Drivers will be looking for a gap between cars and not for cyclists riding up the inside.

Drivers often park in cycle lanes, even when those lanes are mandatory, forcing you to rejoin the main part of the carriageway. Overtake any parked cars with more than a door width to spare.

The road surface of cycle lanes is more likely to have detritus like gravel or broken glass in it than the main carriageway. That’s because passing car tyres sweep it towards the edge of the road. So keep your eyes peeled. Watch out for ironwork like drains too.

Cycle tracks

Cycle tracks are segregated from roads, with at least a kerb in between. This means you don’t share space with motor vehicles. Some cycle tracks run alongside roads, either carved out the original road space like some of the London cycle superhighways, or utilising what would otherwise be pavement space. Others, such as the Bristol and Bath Railway Path, run along old railway lines. Some, like the crumbling Redways in Milton Keynes, were specifically built as cycling and walking infrastructure.

Most cycle tracks in the UK are shared-use facilities. Pedestrians and wheelchair users can also use them. Sometimes horse riders can as well. Where there is a solid white line dividing a shared-use path: “You MUST keep to the side intended for cyclists as the pedestrian side remains a pavement or footpath.” That’s from the Highway Code (Rule 62).

Many shared-use cycle tracks don’t have a dividing line. The Highway Code (Rule 62 again) says: “On such shared use routes, you should always take care when passing pedestrians, especially children, older or disabled people, and allow them plenty of room. Always be prepared to slow down and stop if necessary.”

A bell is invaluable if you use cycle tracks often. Ring it when approaching pedestrians. If you don’t have one, call out politely instead. Not all pedestrians will hear you; they might be hard of hearing or be listening to headphones. Slow down and keep trying to alert them. When they notice you, pass wide and slow.

Don’t race along cycle tracks. Sight lines are seldom as good as on roads and there’s much less room to manoeuvre if you come across something expected, such as an obstruction or a dog walker. Anything above 15mph is probably excessive, and you’ll need to slow down further when passing pedestrians. In the absence of solid dividing lines, pedestrians can walk where they like on a shared-use path so you need to be prepared to pass them on either side, as appropriate.

Many cycle tracks carry two-way cycle traffic. Sometimes there’s a dashed or solid white line in the middle, with bicycle symbols on both sides and sometimes arrows showing direction of travel. (If there’s a pedestrian symbol on one side of a divided track, it’s a shared-use path and you must keep to the cycling side.) Dashed and solid centre lines have the same meaning as they do on roads: you can cross dashed lines when overtaking; you can’t cross solid lines. Where there are no dividing lines on a two-way cycle track, you should still keep left unless the situation demands otherwise.

Be careful when overtaking other cyclists on cycle tracks, especially two-way tracks. They may not hear you coming (ring your bell!) and might manoeuvre unexpectedly. Another cyclist may be overtaking both of you at the same time. Or there may be oncoming cyclists. As cycle tracks are relatively narrow, there’s not much wiggle room if someone misjudges things.

Where cycle tracks cross roads, you must observe any traffic signs, signals or give-way markings. In the UK, cycle tracks usually give way to roads. This can make for slow, stop-start journeys on roadside cycle tracks that are interrupted by side roads. More traffic incidents happen at junctions too, so take care at each crossing.

Cycle tracks ought to be designed and built like smaller scale roads, as they are in the Netherlands. Quality is very variable in the UK. Common problems include: obstacles such as trees, lampposts and bollards within the track; tracks ending with little warning; poor surfaces; dropped kerbs that have to be crossed at an acute angle where cycle lanes merge into roadside cycle tracks; a lack of lighting; and a lack of maintenance, leading to overgrown foliage, icy surfaces, mud and so on.

It’s nevertheless worth test riding cycle tracks where you live to see which sections would make your commute not just easier and safer but also more pleasant and perhaps quicker. Navigation apps such as Google Maps (select the bike option), CycleStreets, CycleMaps, Citymapper, Komoot and cycle.travel will reveal options that you might not have considered.