On October 1st Southport Conservative councillors and campaigners hit back at claims from Sefton Labour that ‘hundreds and thousands of cycle journeys’ have been made on the supposedly temporary cycle lane on Hoghton Street and Chapel Street.

Cabinet member, Cllr John Fairclough, has highlighted data that apparently shows a huge number of such journeys being made along the routes on Hoghton Street and Chapel Street. However, the claims are contested by many in Southport.

Qlocal provided a set of four clicker / counters for locals to do some of of their own counting and the report back was as follows:

We did our first cycle count today Thursday, October 14th between 8.30am and 1.30pm inclusive.

Grey day that threatened rain but was fine.

Total of 78 which was more than I thought we’d see!

We were counting all cyclists both ways on Hoghton St and both ways on Queen’s Rd. including the cyclists who rode past on the pavement! We also counted every time a cyclist passed us (including one gentleman who passed by four times that I saw!).

Interestingly, I saw 3 separate cyclists ride up Manchester Rd (no cycle lane) turning left on to Lords Street (again no cycle lane) when they could have used Hoghton Street cycle lane. Obviously they didn’t see the need.

A great many cyclists (12 that I saw) used the pavement rather than the cycle lane!

DOING THE MATHS

Total of 78 cyclists in a five hour period = 16 per hour

78 cyclists over five hours = One cyclist every 4 minutes

Even if 78 cyclists in day time was an average for a 24 hour day, the daily total would be 374 cyclists a day, or 2,618 a week, though everyone would doubt how much usage overnight.

One hundred thousand cyclists would take 38 weeks.

So who is auditing and verifying the integrity of this data from a very short survey?
I drove past a couple of times and the ladies doing the survey were engrossed in their phones rather than watching the road - this is confirmed by multiple posts one of them made in a public group on Facebook at the time she was stood on the corner.

Originally Posted by editor

Interestingly, I saw 3 separate cyclists ride up Manchester Rd (no cycle lane) turning left on to Lords Street (again no cycle lane) when they could have used Hoghton Street cycle lane. Obviously they didn’t see the need.

Maybe Lord Street was their destination.

salus.populi - This was conducted as said on October 14th and only just published so nothing to do with other FB speculation. Qlocal had every confidence in supplying these clickers to someone of integrity and we were very pleased that it was organised over a continuous five hour period.

Originally Posted by editor

salus.populi - This was conducted as said on October 14th and only just published so nothing to do with other FB speculation. Qlocal had every confidence in supplying these clickers to someone of integrity and we were very pleased that it was organised over a continuous five hour period.

Yes i known when it took place. Organised by the Conservatives anti cycle lane group. The counter from 8:30 to 9:30 was making multiple posts in another Facebook group unrelated to the issue at that time on that date. Proof can be provided.

Qlocal supplied the counters and given to someone of regarded to be of integrity - no party links were involved by Qlocal.

Originally Posted by editor

Qlocal supplied the counters and given to someone of regarded to be of integrity - no party links were involved by Qlocal.

How did you ascertain their integrity?
The count was organised on the Anti Cycle Lane Facebook group run by Conservative Councillor Sinclair Alburqerque and Damien Moore's caseworker and Meols ward candidate Thomas De Freitas.
You gave the counters to a member of that group who is evidently against the cycle lanes.
Alebuqerue was one of the counters.
This was hardly an objective independent survey. It was people with a clear agenda.
No party links? Read the first line of your report.

Originally Posted by salus.populi

So who is auditing and verifying the integrity of this data from a very short survey?
I drove past a couple of times and the ladies doing the survey were engrossed in their phones rather than watching the road - this is confirmed by multiple posts one of them made in a public group on Facebook at the time she was stood on the corner.

This is so sad lol..
your trying to say that they would miss a bicycle passing because they were glued to their phones.. get a life!

Originally Posted by salus.populi

This was hardly an objective independent survey. It was people with a clear agenda.

EXACTLY like the one from Sefton council ???

The assumption that the hourly usage between 08:30 and 15:30 can be extrapolated over 24 hours is intuitively erroneous.
The best data I can located is based on Dublin cycle use patterns https://towardsdatascience.com/usage...bdd9c5b9eBased

Using the blue data set (most similar to Southport cycle lanes) about 50% of daily cycle journeys are made during this time period.

Therefore, a better estimate of daily total journeys is 78 * 2 =156;
or 156 * 7 = just over 1,000 per week.

Originally Posted by Terry Jones1

This is so sad lol..
your trying to say that they would miss a bicycle passing because they were glued to their phones.. get a life!

Is that Conservative Councillor Terry Jones?
I see you're evidently as arrogant as Albuquerque.

Qlocal statement - Qlocal supplied the counters in good faith with no political affiliation and find it a little insulting that the results of the count over a five hour period should be questioned over their integrity.

Likewise as reported the count of 78 was higher than many expected. Personal experience of delivering the counters driving down Hoghton St two days before at lunchtime just one cyclist was spotted on Hoghton St in either direction.

Originally Posted by Terry Jones1

EXACTLY like the one from Sefton council ???

I'd say a 24/7 camera installed and monitored by a University is more accurate and independent than people with an axe to grind standing on a corner for 5 hours on 1 day.

Originally Posted by salus.populi

I'd say a 24/7 camera installed and monitored by a University is more accurare and independent than people with an axe to grind standing on a corner for 5 hours on 1 day.

I find it quite sad that you would doubt the integrity of those involved in doing the survey.

From what I have seen during numerous occasions whilst on Hoghton Street, the figures are likely to be a reasonable record of what would be average daily use by cyclists.

Originally Posted by editor

On October 1st Southport Conservative councillors and campaigners hit back at claims from Sefton Labour that ‘hundreds and thousands of cycle journeys’ have been made on the supposedly temporary cycle lane on Hoghton Street and Chapel Street.

.....

One hundred thousand cyclists would take 38 weeks.

So he was right then.