GB2507027A

GB2507027A - Urban commuting system

Info

Publication number: GB2507027A
Application number: GB1207938.0A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Wei Zhao
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2012-05-07
Filing date: 2012-05-07
Publication date: 2014-04-23
Also published as: GB201207938D0

Abstract

Disclosed is an elevated cycling track system T which is separated from other vehicles and is protective from weather elements. The track is arranged so that the track sections are mostly downhill or flat in the travelling direction A by using height gaining points such as elevators or stairs T2. The system contains convenient entry and exit ramp points and forms a network connecting all major areas of a city.

Description

Urban Commuting System This invention relates to an elevated cycling track system that provides a safe, economic, environmental, readily and easy way of commuting in urban areas.

Commuting by cars is getting more and more expensive these days due to sharp rise in fuel cost, insurance premium, and parking charges etc. For young drivers, the insurance premium is rather high. Also traffic jams caused by vehicles, particularly in rush hours, can cause severe delays for commuters. The pollution caused by vehicles is also a big issue for the society. Therefore commuting by cars won't be a favourite mean of commuting for many if other options are available. For people who are younger than 17 years old, driving is prohibited so this way of commuting is simply not available for this group of people.

Another way of commuting would be using the public transport system. However, the public transport fare has also been rising sharply in the recent years due to fuel cost soaring. Also, it is not always convenient (e.g. the train station probably is not within a walking distance), the bus lines nearby may not go to destinations you want, and it is not always available (e.g. there may be half hour interval or even longer for trains or buses.

Trains can be cancelled. Saturday and Sunday services are rarer). It can also be crowded on the public transport. And furthermore traffic jams can also cause severe delays for buses. For the above reasons, public transport is neither a favourite choice of commuting for many.

For people who cannot afford owning and running a car, or who are too young to drive, or who cannot stand the delays caused by traffic jams, or who concern the environment, or who don't see public transport as their choice, one obvious option to commute is cycling.

Cycling is cheap, is always available if you own a bike, is green, and the journey can always be planned (i.e. no need to worry about potential traffic jams). However, there are not many cyclists can be seen on the roads, because the following main factors: 1. Safety -there are not dedicated cycle lanes on most of roads. This means that cyclists have to share roads with other vehicles. Because there is lack of protection for cyclists and great difference in speed between vehicles and cycles, cyclists are very vulnerable. This is probably the top reason that people are reluctant to use bikes.

2. Weather elements -Cyclists are exposed to weather elements, in particular, rain and wind. These make people think twice if they want to use bike as their daily commuting means.

3. Hilly roads -prolonged uphill cycling can be a real struggle for many commuters who use bikes.

Building dedicated cycle lanes in addition to the existing road system in urban area is not always feasible because there is normally no extra room for this in the built-up areas. Even there is extra room to build it, the crossings and junctions will require quite a lot of road redesign and will add further elements to slow traffic down. Even it can be built, the factors 2 and 3 mentioned above will still remain.

To overcome the above problems, the present invention proposes an elevated cycling track system which is separated from other vehicles, is protective from weather elements, is easy for cycling by making the path downhill or flat in the travelling direction by using height gaining points, contains convenient entry and exit points, and forms a network connecting all major areas of a city.

The elevated cycling track system will provide a safe, economic, environmental, readily and easy way of commuting for people in urban areas. For people using the system, they don't need to worry about being hit by other vehicles, or getting wet, or pedalling against head wind, or being blown off course by side wind, or pedalling uphill; there won't be the need to pay for petrol, parking or fare for trains/busses, no need to wait at train stations/bus stops; no risk of severe delays by traffic jams, and it is 100% green. People who cannot drive (e.g. those who are younger than 17 years old) will have an alternative mean of commuting. The knock on beneficial effects of this system are many, but to list a few: the pollution level will be less; people can afford for more travel so that the city will be more lively (e.g. help to revive the continually declining of high streets; people have more money to spend on other things rather than on petrol); ease the traffic jam problems because less cars will be on the road; more health population as people will excise more; etc. With the elevated cycling track, the average speed predicted would be around 12 miles/hour. This should allow most people living in the urban areas to get to city centre in less than an hour (majority within 30 minutes) in a city with a size of Birmingham -this is comparable with driving during rush hours and quicker than using public transport when take walking and waiting time into consideration.

Because the system is solely for cyclists, it should not be a heavy construction comparing with elevated roads for vehicles.

Because the system is raised, it will not take much land and can be built anywhere with little restrictions (e.g. over pavement, central reservation, open filed etc.). It would be preferably that the track is not built over the roads to reduce the minimum elevation required, therefore to reduce the building cost and maintenance.

Because the system is elevated, to build the system, it will only take little extra land for the supports of the system and the entry and exit points, and will not require major altering the existing road system or building/street layouts.

Because the system is raised, it should cause minimum effect for the existing traffic flow.

In cases where the track needs to pass a steeper hill or any other kind of tall objects, it could be easier to build it in the way that the track goes through the hill or under the objects (i.e. in the form of a tunnel).

In situations where there is enough room on the land and there is no or only light traffic need to be crossed and the surface is not prolonged uphill in the travelling direction, the track can be built without elevation (i.e. on the ground). In this case, the side walls can be omitted so that pedestrians can cross it easily.

Preferably, solar panels will be installed on the roof of the system so that it can provide power for the lights of the track and elevators at height gaining points and at entry and start points of the track.

Preferably, bike renting facilities, bike parking areas, and additional bike paths locally to entry/exit points of the system can be built to enhance the usability of the system.

The invention will now be described solely by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 shows the outline of the elevated cycling track along a hilly surface. It shows the idea how the system is built over hilly surface to make the track in the travelling direction maintains downhill or flat.

Figure2 shows the cross section of a one way track.

Figure 3 shows the cross section of a two way track.

Figure 4 shows the side view of a section of an elevated track.

Figure 5 shows the side view of a height gaining point.

Figure 6 shows the floor layout of a height gaining point.

Figure 7 shows the idea how the network can be formed for a city to enable people commuting using the system.

Figure 8 shows floor layout for an entry point and an exit point.

Figure 9 shows examples of network and different types of connections that can be used at the core convergent point (city centre).

Figure 10 shows the branching point and joining point of tracks.

Figure 11 shows alternative way of networking at the core convergent point (city centre).

Figure 12 shows link between two tracks going opposite directions.

The elevated cycling track is raised above ground so that it separates cyclists from other road traffic. It provides cyclists most down-hill or flat path in the travelling direction to make the cycling much easier and faster, even the actual surface is uphill. Figure 1 demonstrates the idea. For elevated cycling track going the direction A where the actual ground surface G is uphill, it will need to have a height gaining point Hi, where cyclists can gain certain height so that the following stretch 11 can be downhill or flat. For a long distance of uphill, multiple height gaining points H2, H3, H4, H5 and H6 may be required to limit the actual elevated height of the track from ground. The sections of the track (12, 13, T4, 15 and 16) after each height gaining point will be slightly downhill or flat. For elevated cycling track going the direction where the actual ground surface C is downhill, the natural contour of the surface can be followed as shown by 10.

The actual elevated height of the track depends on the ground situation. In a well built up area where there is normally limited room on the existing roads/streets, the preferred area to build the track would be over pavements. In this case the minimum height would be required is to clear pedestrians' height. It will be inevitable that the elevated cycling track will cross existing roads and therefore the minimum elevation will have to clear the possible highest vehicles travelling underneath it. In this case, it would be preferably to cross major roads at the lower points of the ground surface contour.

The elevated cycling track provides protections for cyclists as shown by figure 2 which shows the cross section of a track and figure 3 which shows the side view of a section of the track. Track T is elevated from ground 3, supported by supports S. There will be side walls W to prevent cyclists from falling off and also from wind and rain. Also it will be preferably with a roof R supported by roof support RS to protect from rain. There should be ventilations V between side walls and the roof. The track width should be wide enough to allow at least two cycles going same direction.

Tracks going opposite directions would normally be separated because they do not simply follow the contour of the surface. Figure 2 shows the cross section of a one way track.

However, for a stretch of relatively flat surface, tracks going opposite directions can be combined to save building cost. Figure 4 shows the cross section of a combined track for both directions. In this case, a central barrier B (in figure 4) would be required to separate cyclists going opposite directions.

There should be lights for the track and they can be inside of the roof and preferably solar powered. In this case, solar panels can be mounted on top of the roof.

A height gaining point can be shown by figure 5 and figure 6. Figure 5 shows the side view and figure 6 shows the floor layout. Ground surface 3 is uphill in the travelling direction A. The height gaining point contains two sections: T2 and ST. T2 section is a short uphill section. This section has two functions: 1. To slow cyclists down and 2. To gain certain height using the momentum gained beforehand and therefore to reduce the actual climbing effort at the ST section. ST section contain stairs ST and tracks T as shown by figure 6 so that cyclists can walking up the stairs ST while pushing the bike on the track T. Figure 6 shows one version of the floor layout where the stairs ST are in the middle and tracks T are along both sides. Alternative floor layout can be that the stairs are on one (left) side and the track on the other (right) side, or can be that the track is in the middle and stairs are on both sides. If feasible, the stairs ST can be powered, preferably by solar energy provided by solar panels mounted on the top of the roof so that people can just stand on it while pushing the bike up along track T. In the situation where height to be gained is not too large, a height gaining point can just contain section T2 without stairs ST section. In this case, cyclists can simply gain the height by using the momentum gained before reaching the height gaining point.

The short climb at each height gaining point (either walking up steps while pushing a bike or via powered elevator or simply utilising the momentum obtained before the height gaining point) then followed by cycling for a distance on flat or downhill surface is much easier and faster than cycling uphill for the distance should the track simply follow the contour of the ground surface.

Figure 7 shows the idea how the elevated cycling track can be networked for an urban area. An urban area contains typically a main city centre, surrounding town centres, other popular visiting places (touring places, shopping complex etc.) and dense residential areas that the network need to cover. A typical elevated cycling track system for an urban area (e.g. Birmingham) normally should contain a core convergent point C and multiple sub-core convergent points Si, S2, S3, 54 and S5. The core convergent point would be typically the city centre (in the case of Birmingham, it would be the New Street/High Street/Corporation Street area), and the sub-core convergent points would be surrounding town centres/high streets (e.g. Erdington high street, Harbune high street), shopping complexes (e.g. Fort shopping centre), or other places that are popular with visitors (e.g. NIA). The network should have main track stems M (containing tracks going both ways) that go through sub-core convergent points, dense residential areas R and then converge to the core convergent point C. There should be connecting branches B (containing tracks going both ways) that connect dense residential areas to the main stems M or to the sub-core convergent points Sn. The network will allow people to commute easily from one point to another in the area covered by the network. For mega cities (e.g. London), there will be multiple core convergent points.

There should be exit points and entry points for the elevated cycling track system. Figure 8 shows the floor layout of an entry point E and an exit point X. The exit and entry points for the elevated cycling track system should be convenient for people to use -not too far apart, easy to get down (exit) or up (entry). For entry point E, stairs with tracks along sides that are used for the height gaining point (as shown in figure 5 and figure 6) can be used.

Alternative floor layout such as stairs on one side and track on the other, or track in the middle and stairs are on the sides can also be used. Stairs can be powered, preferably by solar energy provided by the solar panels mounted on top of the roof. For exit point X, it can simply be a branched slop from the main track T down to the ground level path so that people can just cycle off. The exit points and entry points can be on either side of a track whichever is convenient, and the track can be main stems or branches.

The starting point of a track can be just similar to an entry point, i.e. utilising a stairs with tracks like that used for the height gaining point (figure 5 and figure 6). Again, stairs can be powered, preferably by solar energy provided by the solar panels mounted on top of the roof. The end point of a track can just be a slop of the track down to the ground level.

At the core convergent point, each main stem would branch to several branches to lead to different areas in the city centre (each stem/branch would contain tracks going to both directions). Each branch can end with an end point and a start point for both the tracks going opposite ways respectively, or can connect to another branch/stem. This will be flexible and depending on the real situation whichever is more convenient. One thing needs to avoid is the cross-tracks as this can be potentially hazard for cyclists. To avoid cyclists to cross each other, another way of cross tracks is to have one track goes above another (crossover). But this will add extra elevated height for the track on top, therefore may not be feasible. Considering most people probably will end up at the city centre, it would not be too much of inconvenience by just end tracks at the city centre. Figure 9 shows examples how tracks can be networked and different types of connections can be used at the core convergent point (city centre). There are four main stems Ml, M2, MS and M4 each contains in-coming and out-going tracks (each line represents a track) as indicated by the arrows in figure 9. Each of the main stem branches into 3 branches (e.g. bi, b2 and bS from Ml. Note although bl, b2, b3 are presented with thinner lines, the tracks are not necessarily narrower, it is just so that the branches can be separated from stems in the drawing). Ml and MS are directly connected by branch bl. This will be more convenient for cyclists going through the city centre from Ml to M3 or vice versa. For people to visit city centre on the route of bi, they can use exit and entry points along bi.

M2 and M4 are not directly connected -branch b7 from M4 and branch b4 from M2 end/start near the centre point. For cyclists who want to go through the city centre, they will have to use end/start points. For example, for cyclists going in from M4 and going out from M2, they will use the end point of b7 and the start point of b4. For people to visit the city centre coming from M2 and M4, they simply use the end/start point of b4!b7. &

In-coming track of M4 is directly connected to the out-going track of Ml via branch bS. This is more convenient for people going from M4 o Mi. However, for cyclisls going from Mi 10 M4, they will have to get off Ml's in-coming track from an exit point near the start point of b3 or from an exit point on bi near the start point of b7, then get on to b3 or b7 using the start point. For cyclists using b3, they will end up with the end point and then use an entry point to get on the out-going track of M4. Similar situation can also be seen for Ml and M2 connection, M4 and M3 connection, and M2 and M3 connection. Figure 10 shows examples of a branching point A and a joining point B in a track. For the direct connections (e.g. M4's in-coming track to Ml's out-going track in figure 9), the branching point A and joining point B can be used at the points of branching and joining.

Figure 11 shows an alternative way of networking the tracks in a core convergent point (city centre). Again simplifying by just having four main stems Ml, M2, M3 and M4 connecting from different directions (note each line represents a track so each main stem contains in-coming and out-going tracks). To avoid cross-tracks, there is an outer circle to meet the main stems. The traffic flow in the outer circle only goes one direction as shown by the arrows. In-coming tracks and out-going tracks from the main stems merge with the outer circle by using the branching and joining points shown in figure 10. From the outer circle, there are further branches to inside and connect to an inner circle. The branches can be inward or outward as indicated by the arrows and the branching point A and joining point B in figure 10 can be used for the connections between these branches from/to the outer circle to/from the inner circle. The flow in the inner circle again only goes one direction as indicated by the arrows. There can be further layer inner circles if necessary.

By networking this way, cyclists can reach any point on the network easily without cross-tracks. For the layer of circles, the circular shape are highly theoretic -in a real situation, they are more likely irregular shape and will depend on the aclual slreet layoul.

The same type of networking and connections described in figure 9 and figure 11 can also be used in the sub-core convergent points described in figure 7.

For people who would need to make a U turn at any part of the track system, they can simply use an exit point from one track and then use an entry point for another track going opposite way. There can also be direct links between the two tracks going in opposite directions where necessary. Figure 12 shows an example of such link. Because the traffic on such a link won't be heavy, the link L can be used for both ways. People travelling on track Ti can use the link L to get on to T2, and people travelling on T2 can use the same link L to get on to Ti.

Claims

Claims: 1. An elevated cycling track system for urban commuting, the cycling tracks are separated from other vehicles and form a network to connect all major parts in an urban area.
2. An elevated cycling track system according to claim 1, in which the elevated track has height gaining points so that the track will preferably always be downhill or flat in the travelling direction.
3. An elevated cycling track system according to claim 2, in which the height gaining points contain an uphill section so that momentum built up before the height gaining point can be used, and/or a stair section to allow cyclists to gain certain height.
4. An elevated cycling track system according to claim 3, in which the stair section in a height gaining point can be solar powered elevators, or stairs with track(s) alongside.
5. An elevated cycling track system according to claim 1, in which the elevated track has side walls and a roof for security and weather protection.
6. An elevated cycling track system according to claim 5, in which the roof has lights that are preferably solar powered.
7. An elevated cycling track system according to claim 5, in which the roof can have solar panels enough to provide power for the lightings as in claim 6 and for the elevators as in claims 4 and 11.
8. An elevated cycling track system according to claim 1, in which the track going to opposite directions are separated in the hilly areas as they both going downwards or flat.
9. An elevated cycling track system according to claim 1, in which the track going to opposite directions can be combined in cases where the ground surface is flat and there is enough room.lOAn elevated cycling track system according to claim 1, in which the elevated track has entry and exit points at reasonable intervals to make it convenient to use.hAn elevated cycling track system according to claim 10, in which the entry point can be solar powered elevators with track(s) alongside or stairs with track(s) alongside.12.An elevated cycling track system according to claim 10, in which the exit point can be branched downhill slops leading to ground level paths.13.An elevated cycling track system according to claim 1, in which the network has central convergent point(s), sub-convergent points, main stems and branches to link relevant areas together.14.An elevated cycling track system according to claim 13, in which the centre convergent point forms further network that contain branches from each main stem to link different areas in the city centre, the branches can be directly connected, or connected utilising start/end points to avoid cross-tracks, or can form a one way system containing multiple layer of one way circles with branches connecting between circles to avoid cross-tracks.15.An elevated cycling track system according to claim 1, in which the elevated track preferably to be above non-vehicle areas (pavements, fields etc.) to reduce required elevated height.16.An elevated cycling track system according to claim 1, in which the elevated track preferably crosses existing roads at lower ground points to reduce the required elevation height.17.An elevated cycling track system according to claim 1, in which sections of the track can be without elevation if there is enough ground room and the ground surface is flat of downhill in the travelling direction and there is no or very light vehicle traffic goes across.18. An elevated cycling track system according to claim 1, in which sections of the tracks can go under the surface as tunnels if it is necessary to go through steeper hills or any other kind of tall objects.19. An elevated cycling track system according to claim 1, in which direct links can be made for tracks going opposite directions for making U-turns.20. An elevated cycling track system according to claim 1, in which cross-tracks would be avoided as much as possible.