Fietsers

Bicycle Portraits

Mon, 18 Mar 2024 07:24:06 +0200

‘Bicycle portraits’ is a fascinating project by Stan Engelbrecht and Nic Grobler. They travelled across South Africa photographing those who use bicycles as a means of transport. With each photograph they also interviewed the fietser, recording the persons story; when they got their bicycle, what they use it for etc. The portraits were then published in a three volume collection of books. In a very real sense, they captured portraits of fietsers, not just bicycle portraits, and so the books could just as easily have been titled ‘Fietser Portraits’.

Heinz Stucke – The most well travelled man on earth

Sat, 13 Jan 2024 11:32:48 +0200

In 1962, at age 22, Heinz Stucke set off from is home town in Germany on a three-speed bike, and spent the next 50 years cycling and exploring the world. His remarkable story was documented by the folks at Brompton in a book, ‘Home is Elsewhere’.

Braess’s Paradox – Closing roads to speed up traffic

Sat, 13 Jan 2024 11:08:47 +0200

This video explains the surprising Braess’s Paradox.

Watch on YouTube

How Closing Roads Could Speed Up Traffic - The Braess Paradox

Jevons Paradox – Inducing demand

Sat, 13 Jan 2024 11:02:21 +0200

This video in the Utopia series provides an illuminating insight into Jevons Paradox.

Watch on YouTube

utopia jevons paradox

Workcycles Kr8 delivered and built in Stellenbosch

Sun, 12 Nov 2023 17:45:00 +0200

A small Dutch bicycle company called Workcycles, designs, builds and ships a ‘long-john’ style cargo bike (bakfiets) with model name Kr8. We ordered a Kr8 and built it here in Stellenbosch.

The Kr8 was packed well and arrived in good condition by air-frieght.

Upgrade on Van Riebaack St

Sat, 11 Nov 2023 13:35:51 +0200

A short stretch of pavement along Van Riebaack St. at Boland College was recently upgraded. Although only 110m section of pavement, it is an important section of the cycle network and we welcome the upgrade.

The section of pavement between the entrance to Boland college and Coetzenburg St. has been widened and new tarmac laid. We can see the before and after below.

Morkel and Jonkershoek junction upgrade

Tue, 07 Nov 2023 06:55:59 +0200

On Friday 3rd November 2023 the local municipality listened to the concerns of local parents, worried that drivers are ignoring the crossing their children use to get to school, and upgraded the junction. They used some magic protection-paint at the crossing points and we can see the impact, now the junction is safe, nothing to worry about here! 🙃

Irish Cycle Design Manual 2023

Thu, 14 Sep 2023 06:35:21 +0200

Ireland’s national transport authority has published a new cycle design manual available for download here.

Five Design Principles for Bicycle Infrastucture

Almost immediately one can see the Dutch influence, notably the five key design principles of a successful cycle network; safety, coherence, directness, comfort and attractiveness, mentioned in Chapter 2. These are well known to Dutch planners, see for example ‘Five Design Principles for Bicycle Infrastructure‘.

Endler and Martinson Junction Upgrade

Mon, 28 Aug 2023 10:59:16 +0200

A quite dramatic junction upgrade was recently completed at Endler and Martinson in Stellenbosch. The upgrade has many positive changes but fails for fietsers.

Endler Road provides access to a small gated community, the local primary school and a high school. Below, we can see the junction configuration before and after.

The South African Mini-Roundabout

Wed, 23 Aug 2023 17:25:03 +0200

The South African mini-roundabout (or mini-circle) has right-of-way characteristics similar to a stop junction. It is not well known and an occasional source of confusion for visitors and locals alike.

In normal roundabouts you simply yield to the traffic coming from the right. In the mini-roundabout the rule is subtly different, it is ‘first to arrive is the first to proceed’. If a vehicle is on the roundabout already (to your right) then you yield because it would have clearly arrived first, and so it feels like a normal roundabout. So why then this odd ‘yield to the first to arrive’ rule?

Morkel and Jonkershoek junction

Wed, 23 Aug 2023 15:35:26 +0200

The Morkel-Jonkershoek junction is designed for flow of traffic, yet it is within a woonerf and many young children use the pedestrian crossing to and from school. Drivers are known to not stop at the junction’s pedestrian crossings. A simple redesign will drastically improve the safety for young children.

About Us

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

We are interested in ideas and concepts important to fietsers – cyclists who use their bicycle as a tool for day-to-day transport. We started this blog after completing the DTV Bicycle Planning and Design course in Breda, Netherlands during July of 2023. We utilise our learning from the course (and previous courses) to explore ideas and designs that improve the bicycle infrastructure in the town we live in.

Contact Us

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

We would be glad to hear from you. Contact details will be published here once confirmed.