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- We all want more dedicated bike lanes in our towns
and cities, but not all bike lanes are good bike lanes,
in fact, some are bad,
some are very bad and you have been sending in examples.
So coming up are some of the world's worst bike paths.
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- First up,
Andy sends in this from Tama River in Toyko, Japan.
Yeah, that's a low bridge over a bike path.
- Yeah, now we're not entirely sure,
but the text on that bridge might say,
this bike path is suitable only for accumbent
or it might simply be saying,
duck.
- Yeah.
Looks incredible dangerous, doesn't it?
- Yeah. - Yeah.
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- Next up, Chris has sent this one in from Lisbon.
Now if the previous one was a case of can't go under it,
this one is a case of can't get over it.
That is a lovely, lovely looking bike path with a,
what?
Waist-high steel barrier right across
the middle of it rending it, presumably,
relatively useless.
- Yeah, a big bunny hop you're going to have
to go over that, aren't you?
- Well, yeah, maybe that is just
a bike path for some seriously skilled individuals.
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- Mark sent this one in from Kingston, Ontario.
Yes, quite a few obstacles there,
haven't we?
We've got a fire hydrant.
A pole.
Another pole.
Another pole and a few more poles in the distance.
- That's right and if that wasn't enough it's also
a shared pathway.
Mark actually says
that he would rather take his chances with
the 4000 pound vehicles and texting drivers.
Personally,
I'd rather take my chances with an inanimate pole,
but I do take your point.
That is one seriously sketchy bike path.
- It's a serious obstacle course, isn't it, right there.
- Next up, we have this one sent in
from Cascais in Portugal by Bernardo.
This is another slightly sketchy looking bike lane.
Straight on the entrance there we have a drain cover.
Now that wouldn't trouble you too much,
but look in the distance,
'cause there right in the middle of your bike lane is
a massive pole.
- I mean, it's narrow and it's got even narrow.
I don't think even my shoulders will get through
the end there.
- No, no I think,
I think the bike lane is rendered effectively useless
at that point, but still, nice that they thought of us.
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- Michael sent this one from Colchester in Essex.
A bike path with a few steps
and then as you can see in the distance,
you've got some more steps to go up.
- That's right, I mean,
to be fair I'm tempted by
that nice little narrow ramp on the edge, you know,
that will be a test for any rider's skills.
But, perhaps, that's not necessarily what you want from
a bike path.
- No, I mean,
you're definitely not going to get up those ones in
the distance, are you?
- No, no, that is,
ill-thought-out bike infrastructure.
Next, this is one of our favorites.
Piero from Hong Kong has sent in what
he thinks is possible the shortest bike lane in the world.
In fact, it might be the only bike lane in the world
that is wider than it is long.
Also, that's a lot of bollards per square meter there,
isn't it?
I mean, I'm not entirely sure what they're doing,
nor am I necessarily sure where
that bike path is taking you.
It looks like it's from one bit
of pedestrianized precinct to another.
- I mean, it's an absolute perfect boules court, isn't it?
- Yes you could play boules there
all though, probably not big enough.
I suspect the only thing you could do on that, really,
is break dance.
- Yeah, you ready for it?
- Yeah, when I say the only thing you could do, I mean,
literally the only thing you could do.
Yeah, I don't think I could.
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- This one's sent in from Zuzanna on
the Munich Venice bike path
and check that out.
I mean, weather's taken it's toll there, isn't it,
on that bike path?
- Yeah, that used to be one of the best bike paths in
the world, James,
and by a cruel twist of fate,
it's now in one of the worst, which is unfortunate.
She points out that not only do you need a bike for this,
you actually also need climbing gear,
'cause apparently the drop to
the river is several meters at best.
- [James] Yeah. - That is frustrating,
isn't it?
'Cause what an amazing bike path,
but perhaps next year it'll be
in our top 10 best bike lanes in the world video.
- Yeah, approach with caution.
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- Now, Susanne, has sent this one in from Shizuoka in Japan.
Similar to our previous version,
the Pacific Coast cycle lane may well once have been one
of the premier bike paths in the world.
Now it's a sand dune.
Yes, and once you've successfully navigated that,
Suzanne has sent in a picture of the next obstacle,
which appears to be some kind of forest
and then, finally,
once you've got through the bush you then have to swim.
So--
- [James] Quite the bike path.
- [Simon] Well, yeah, I mean,
maybe that actually is just like
a special adventure bike path.
- I mean, it's just testing all of your skills, isn't it?
- Absolutely, yeah.
It's a true survival bike path.
I don't fancy it on my commute to work,
but maybe it could be just an adventure.
- Yeah, I'd agree with that one.
- One for your bucket list, James?
- No.
Ian sends this in from San Francisco.
One day on my commute to my old job in Concord,
I stumbled upon this enormous share the road sign
that some extremely thoughtful individual had erected in
the middle of the bike lane.
I suppose, true to it's word,
it's forcing us to share the road,
but I can't help feeling like,
why this misses the point somehow.
And I agree.
I mean, you definitely going to have to share
the road aren't you there.
- You really are.
Well maybe that is it, maybe it's bike riders,
share the road.
Don't just stay in your bike path,
just mix it up a bit with all the cars next to you.
- Share the road,
you know! - Share it!
- Forcing you there. - Yeah!
Yeah.
Yeah, no, don't really understand that one.
- No.
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- Right, Asa has sent this one in from Leeds here in the UK.
Another contender for the shortest bike paths in the world.
This one is a tiny cycle lane around
the corner from my parents house on Nursery Lane in Leeds.
It's been there for many years,
but I can't think what use it is to anyone
and I've got to agree.
I'm not entirely sure what that bike path is doing at all.
- I mean, I don't think I would've clipped in before
I got to the end of that bike path.
- No, what a waste of red paint if nothing else
and why has no one erased it?
It looks like someone has not only painted
that bike path, James,
it's been there for many years,
it's probably been repainted as well.
It's like an example of, like,
this is a great bike path.
Brilliant.
Fantastic.
- Let's smarten up a bit.
- You know what?
It's part of me, 'cause that's not all
that far away from us.
We should just go for a ride.
We should go up to Leeds and ride on that bike path.
- Yeah, I'll leave you to that one.
- Okay, I'll do it by myself.
- Gier Ove in Voss, Norway with this.
Now this is a, kind of,
what came first the chicken or the egg?
I mean, what came first here,
the house or the bike path?
- Well, yeah, in either case it does seem odd.
Why did someone build a house on a bike path
or why did someone build a bike path into someone's house?
Yeah, I mean, technically,
you could squeeze passed it,
but at night you could probably be forgiven
for riding straight into that wall, couldn't you?
- Imagine it when you're sleeping and then suddenly.
- You be like,
there's another one. - Oh, really?
(laughing)
- Not again.
You just go out your front door
and then you put your head around the corner and be like,
you all right?
Yeah, what's your house on a bike path for?
Yeah, I'm sorry.
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Michael says that this is the worst bike lane he knows about
and it's only three minutes ride from his house in Germany.
Now, Michael, I sympathize,
but where is the bike lane?
I mean, that is a sign post in a field to my mind.
He also goes further
and says that in Germany if there is
a bike path denoted with a sign,
you're legally obliged to use it.
Which makes me think, James,
that in that long grass there,
you might stumble across, well,
I dunno, several cyclists,
like, lost trying to find the bike path and then get out.
- Yeah, ride with compass,
do you know what I mean?
Like, you're definitely getting lost through there,
aren't you?
- Yeah, yeah, that is not a great bike path.
- No.
And the last one in from Danilo in Santiago, Chile.
Now that just has all sorts of danger written on it,
all over that.
Because even if you got off your bike
and you jumped over the thing,
you've still got to try and get over the next one
and it's, yeah.
- Why, why would somebody do that, James?
I mean, looking at the state of those barriers as well,
I'm no expert,
but I'd say they've been there for quite some time.
- It also looks like
a cyclist has taken some sort of tool to the bottom of it.
- Well you would, wouldn't you?
You'd basically, you'd try and get rid of it.
What on earth,
what on earth is going on Santiago with that poor,
old bike path?
- Everything.
There you have it.
That was our selection of
the worst bike paths known to humanity.
Now what should they do next then, Si?
- Well, we want to see more of
the worlds worst bike paths. - Yes we do.
- This is just a tiny fraction,
so make sure you send them in.
You can use the uploader,
the link to which is in the description.
Click on that
and you'll be able to send them directly to us.
- And make sure you give this video a big thumbs up.
- Yeah, and if you want to watch another video right now,
why don't you click on screen.