Cycle-throughs

A while ago, I came home late in the evening after a meeting. I hadn't eaten and couldn't really be bothered making something and so did what any reasonable person would do - went home via Maccas.

Rather than locking up my bike and going inside, I just rode through the drive-through and ordered my quarter pounder with cheese there. I'm not the only one. Bizarrely, there are people who have posted videos of themselves riding bicycles through a drive-through on YouTube.

I have been through a few times on my bike in the past (and at KFC). Now it's impossible though. Next time you go through the Maccas drive-through in your car, have a look for the sticker on the serving window that says bicycles are not allowed because it is now (like so many other previously harmless activities) a "health and safety hazard" - a thing that seems to be peculiar to English speaking countries.

If you ask me, it's yet more discrimination against cyclists. Whenever I read a letter in the Advertiser from someone whining about the cost of motoring, I have to laugh. They have masses of subsidised space set aside for them, teams of traffic engineers are employed whose job it is to achieve "traffic flow" and, to top it all off, they get to use Maccas drive-throughs while pedestrians and cyclists don't.

Included in my vision of a proper joined up network of separated bike paths is the Maccas cycle through. In car-free areas, Maccas would do very well because of all the people passing but they would also serve people on bikes with the cycle-through. Like a drive through but narrower and with foot rests for when you stop to order and pay.

It will happen. I'm convinced I'm ahead of my time.