Who is undermining plans to make London's streets safe for cycling, and why? Find out how to get involved...

London's Mayor Boris Johnson recently unveiled his proposals for two new Cycle Superhighways in London; a north / south route via Blackfriars Bridge, and an east / west 'Crossrail for Bikes' along the river Thames via the Embankment.

Plans for the east / west cycle superhighway along the Thames, on Victoria Embankment.

The proposals - though not perfect - are the boldest plans for cycling ever tabled by the Mayor and Transport for London, and will certainly lead to a large increase in the volume of cyclists along these routes, riding in a safe and inviting environment suitable for a wider range of ages and abilities.  Credit where credit is due: Johnson has not always endeared himself with the cycling community, but his plans - delivered by his cycling commissioner Andrew Gilligan - are outstanding.

These incredible new bike tracks, substantially segregated from traffic, are the end result of a long and sustained campaign by the cycling community.  In 2012, grass roots protests on Blackfriars Bridge about plans to tear out cycle lanes and increase traffic speeds helped to bolster the ambition and strengthen the voice of the London Cycling Campaign.  Their 2012 Mayoral campaign, "Love London, Go Dutch" saw 40,000 Londoners sign up and over 10,000 cyclists take to the streets urging all the Mayoral candidate to create safe space for cycling on London's busiest roads.  In a huge campaign success, all of the Mayoral candidates signed up, with Boris Johnson represented at the Go Dutch Big Ride by Daniel Moylan - then Deputy Chairman of Transport for London, and still a serving member of the Board.  The proposed new superhighways is that rarest of things; a politician coming right on their election promises.

Conservative politician and TfL board member Dan Moylan pledging to "Go Dutch" on behalf of the Mayor alongside other politicians and young cyclists at the LCC's 2012 Big Ride.

The consultation on the new routes is already open, and as you can imagine they are attracting considerable attention.  With such radical plans for central London, you'd expect some concern from other road users, especially taxi drivers, as par for the course.  But there's something stranger going on here...

The Evening Standard's transport correspondent, Matthew Beard, reported that "business leaders are in revolt" over plans, but failed to name who those business leaders are.  The Standard also spun a line that the new highways would delay car journeys by 16 minutes, despite Tfl's modelling showing this is the worst case scenario for just one type of journey - from Limehouse to Hyde Park - and totally ignored other journeys which would actually be quicker under the proposals.  They also failed to mention the thousands of square metres of new public space the new highway would capture for pedestrians.  As Easy as Riding a Bike blog does a good job of demolishing some of the more outlandish claims made against the proposals.  A bizarre and hole-filled statement claiming the superhighways would damage their business appeared to come from the Canary Wharf Group, whilst another press briefing revealed by Cyclists In The City purposefully distorts the facts to try and discredit the superhighway plans.

Plans to make Parliament Square - what should be the heart of London - accessible to pedestrians for the first time, under cycling plans.

There's something fishy going on here.  This is more than just the mutterings of a few taxi drivers and white van men.  Indeed, journalist Adam Bienkov revealed on Politics.co.uk that those who are briefing against Boris Johnson's cycle superhighways are actually from inside Transport for London itself.  He writes: "Senior figures at Transport for London (TfL) believe Boris Johnson is trying to rush through his plans for segregated cycle lanes in London too quickly, Politics.co.uk can reveal."  That is to say, employees of London's transport body, whose job it is to enact Mayoral transport policy, policy which is enabled by the democratic process of Londoners electing their own Mayor, are directly working against his wishes, and by default the wishes of Londoners.  How's that for democracy in action?  

If we needed any re-assurance that this dissent is coming directly from within Transport for London itself, TfL board member Michael Liebreich tellingly tweeted on September 26th "Make sure the voice of non-limo-driving Londoners is heard on cycle super-highways!"  Clearly, not everyone on Boris' board agree with Boris himself, and are out to undermine our Mayor and his cycling vision

Make sure the voice of non-limo-driving Londoners is heard on cycle super-highways! Quick yes/no questionnaire: https://t.co/9vP6SMyuiU
— Michael Liebreich (@MLiebreich) September 26, 2014

In PR they say a good story will walk around the world before the truth has had a chance to get its shoes on, and those who are briefing against the superhighways are hoping hand-picking figures and using scare tactics will have the proposals thrown out, the Mayor's cycling commissioner discredited and the kaibosh put on future cycling plans.  In other words, your help is needed now more than ever.

One day soon, with your help, children will be able to ride through central London more than just once a year on a SkyRide...

The London cycling community has been incredible in their vociferous dedication to calling for better cycling facilities in the past.  You've signed petitions, attended protest rides, badgered newspapers and pestered politicians.  And you are winning, as these latest plans attest.  But we need your help again.  It is time, once again, to get involved to help create the city you'd like to ride in in the future and to drown out the spinning voices of dissent who don't want to see safe space for cycling on our roads:

• Sign the London Cycling Campaign petition saying you back the superhighway proposals.
• Respond directly to the consultations positively - it only take 2 minutes of your time - to drown out those who respond negatively.  Here for the north / south route and here for the east / west route.
• Business voices count in London. Do you run a company, or work for one?  Make sure they pledge their support with Cycling Works London and join firms like The Crown Estate, Barts NHS Trust and Knight Frank in showing their support. Follow @CyclingWorksLDN on Twitter and add to their voice.
• Stay tuned!  The consultation period has already been extended due to negative responses, so there will be lots more action to come.  Keep up to date and make sure you're involved!

Mark

PS. Sorry for the long delay since my last post.  I go on holiday for a few weeks and come back and all of London is up in arms about cycling. Honestly, I can't turn my back on you lot for more than a minute!

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Good news! From today you can take your bike on the Docklands Light Railway

As part of the Mayor's cycling vision for London, from today bicycles will now be allowed to officially travel off peak and at weekends on the Docklands Light Railway- opening up a whole new network of multi-modal journey possibilities for cyclists in south and east London.

The Docklands Light Railway in Canary Wharf, photo via RPM on Flickr

First mooted by the London Cycling Campaign when the DLR network launched in 1987, the idea was only taken seriously when the Mayor's Cycling Commissioner Andrew Gilligan pushed DLR managers to explain why bikes shouldn't be allowed.  Following a 6 month trial of bikes on trains last year, the Mayor recently announced that the move has been made permanent, stating;

"Opening up the Docklands Light Railway to cyclists will be a great boost to the cycling community and make it much more convenient for cyclists to cross the river.

“This is another important step forward in our mission to make it easier for more people to get cycling in the capital.”

Bicycles were previously banned on the DLR under concerns that they might prove an obstacle should the trains - which largely run on elevated tracks or in sub-surface tunnels - need to be evacuated in an emergency.  Emergency trials and a rolling programme of trial journeys last year finally convinced transport bosses that bicycles posed no threat to other passengers.  The London Cycling Campaign provided volunteers and advice during the trial, helping to bring thinking around.  

 The DLR network (in mint green) showing connections with the overground rail network - see here for the full network map from TfL.

Chief executive of the London Cycling Campaign Ashok Sinha said: “We're delighted... This measure will open up new areas of the city to the many Londoners who ride bicycles and provide valuable cross-river links, encouraging more daily cycle journeys.”

The move will open up two new traffic-free river crossings for cyclists; from Greenwich to Mudchute and from Woolwich to Royal Docks, effectively connecting a number of traffic-free cycling routes and providing an alternative route to the Greenwich and Woolwich pedestrian tunnels which have been beset by closures and delays in recent years due to ongoing refurbishment works.

DLR carriages; ready for bicycles! via Flickr

Cyclists will be allowed on the 34 km network off-peak and at weekends, connecting with the rest of the London transport network that allows bicycles onboard at the same times (see PDF map here).  However, bicycles will not be permitted in Bank station, where one spur of the DLR terminates.  Folding bicycles are permitted on the entire TfL network at any time.  Peak hours are 07.30 to 09.30 - 16.00 - 19.00 Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays.

 

With some 70% of all journeys undertaken in London being less than 5 miles, the ability to go "multi modal" and take a short bicycle ride either side of a train journey is a useful tool in the quest to encourage more journeys by bicycle.  If - like me -  you're afraid you'll melt in the rain, having a bike-friendly transport back up can encourage people to make more cycle journeys when the weather looks like it might go either way; which is about six months in every year in London.

We don't often get to say this on ibikelondon but well done to the Mayor and his team for making this change happen.  We look forward to more of the same!

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City of London Cycle Style photography exhibition opens to the public

Last night I attended the Lord Mayor of London's launch of the City Cycle Style photography exhibition at the Royal Exchange.  This was not your usual cycling event; there were bankers and brokers, lawyers and designers and all sorts of City types furiously exchanging business cards, catching up on their Blackberries and bidding vast sums of money in the auction.  But they did so for a good cause (all in aid of the Lord Mayor's charity, Bear Necessities) (His name is Michael Bear, geddit?) and did so whilst surrounded by gorgeous pictures by photographer Horst A. Friedrichs of cyclists in the city. 

From snaps of Paul Smith, local celebrities and even the Mayor himself, to photos of local couriers and everyday riders - all were given the glamorous treatment and committed to celluloid.  And it seemed to work; around me people were over heard talking about cycling "Why don't you ride a bike?", "Why is it so hard to ride in London?", "Wouldn't it be great if it was like Amsterdam..?"  These are the seeds with which people begin to think about cycling, and perhaps start to tune in to the sort of questions raised over at the Cyclists in the City blog.  Fun though last year's event format was, sometimes it's good to break out of the crowd of usual suspects who normally make up these events and bring cycling's positive message to a new audience. 

And whilst some of these photos might force the chic urban cycling concept a little, anything that offers an alternative to the more prevalent Lance Armstrong look that surrounds bicycle promotion in the UK gets a tick in my books.

Donna Ida Thornton of denim boutique Donna Ida rides a 2010 Specialized Globe Carmel 3

Drag artist extraordinaire and local personality Johnny Woo rides a 3 speed Dutchie in some serious heels!

Chocolatier and local businessman Paul A Young rides a Gazelle Tour Populaire

If you weren't there last night, you haven't missed your chance to catch the fabulous photography of Mr Friedrichs.  His prints will be on display in the open air to the general public 24 hours a day in the streets around the Royal Exchange until October 29th.  Be sure to check it out!

This is the second cycle fashion photography exhibition I've attended so far this year, the other being mounted by the Royal Borough of Kensignton and Chelsea and which included fantastic photographs of local residents who cycle.  Be sure to check out my write up of the "Like Riding a Bike" exhibition here.

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Flash ride for Blackfriars Bridge! Tomorrow!

Blackfriars proposals 'not good enough' say cyclists (see below for details of tomorrow's ride):


Following a storm of protest over proposals by Transport for London to strip cycle lanes out of the northern junction of Blackfriars Bridge and to increase the road lanes from two to three for cars, TfL yesterday set out their new proposals for the bridge after they were sent back to the drawing board by cycling campaigners.  TfL's original plans so incensed cyclists that some 600 wrote to complain.


Are the new designs any better?  Decide for yourself...


Space for cycle lanes throughout the junction has been found, as if by magic, but this is to the detriment of space for pedestrians, not cars.  Most importantly the southbound cycle lanes through the junction which were to be removed will now be retained - but this will still produce conditions where cyclists find themselves in a minimum width painted cycle lane alongside 3 lanes of fast moving traffic.


The current speed limit of 20mph will be raised to 30mph, despite the current limit not leading to any noticeable congestion, and despite a 2008 TfL report recommending a 20mph bridge limit to smooth traffic flow.


There will be a new toucan crossing which will allow cyclists coming up the ramp from the Embankment to cross and turn to go southbound across the bridge, which is great.

It's the Blackfriars Bridge cycling charge! Where cyclists far out-number other road users, and still get treated like crap...

Squeezed in with fast moving traffic:

But, as the Cyclists in the City blog point out; "Heading northbound, the good news is that the bike lane will be a fraction wider immediately as you come off the bridge. But then 7,000 of you are crammed into a 1.5m wide space heading north into New Bridge Street and smack into a bus stop. No change there then. 

And if you're heading to Queen Victoria Street you will now have to figure out how to turn right across three lanes of motor traffic with a higher speed limit (is 20mph now, will be 30mph). There's not even an advanced stop line to help you get out the way of HGVs heading this way. It's way more dangerous than it is at the moment. The irony is that the City of London agreed last week to pursue a policy of 20mph across the Square Mile, just as Transport for London decides the exact opposite here."

Second Class Citizens:

And for me, there's the rub.. This is a bridge where cyclists out-number cars at the busiest times of day - and yet cars, the minority, still get priority.  There was outrage at the initial plans because they would have literally ended up killing cyclists.  The new plans are better, but still pretty crap, and will just about help to manage the existing cyclist traffic flow, who will still be expected to battle for space at junctions with buses, taxis and HGVs... but where in these plans is provision for the future?  Isn't Boris Johnson's London supposed to be becoming a cyclised city?  There's no space in these new plans for extra growth in cycling, but plenty of space set aside for cars despite them being a declining user group on the Bridge.  Once again all those bankers, financiers, clerks, designers and others who choose to use a bicycle to get to their jobs in the City are being treated as second class citizens by TfL.  The new plans provide the bare minimum for getting all those cyclists across the junction in just about as uncomfortable conditions as they can.  It's not the sort of place you'd cycle with your kids, or your Nan, which are the true hallmarks of a world class cycling city.

Frankly, I'm appalled.  And where Blackfriars leads, other bridges and junctions will follow.  Are these the kind of conditions cyclists can expect to tolerate after the re-design of Vauxhall Cross and Vauxhall Bridge?  Will the new Parliament Square treat us in a similar way?  When Old Street roundabout finally gets re-designed will this be the sort of 1960s traffic planning pedestrians and people on bikes will have to contend with?

For a major 'world class' metropolitan city which claims to be forward thinking and competitive, it is all a bit of a joke. London Cycling Campaign chief executive Ashok Sinha said, "Transport for London has made some welcome improvements, such as reinstating the southbound cycle lane, but this is still the kind of junction you'd expect on a motorway.

"The mayor says he wants a cyclised city, so he must tell TfL that this kind of lethal junction must become a relic of the past.

“One-third of vehicles using this bridge at peak times are bicycles, and the mayor says he wants this figure to grow – however, the new design from TfL will frustrate this ambition."

“LCC is demanding that the current 20mph speed limit be retained, which would massively reduce road danger if it's properly enforced.

“The choice for cyclists shouldn’t be to navigate through a dangerous junction or take a boat.”

Flash Ride:

And the LCC are REALLY angry about this, so much so that they're calling on all London Cyclists to join them tomorrow morning for a Flash Ride across Blackfriars to show TfL that the safety and comfort of people on bikes MUST be taken seriously.  They're gathering on the bridge on the south side by the Dogget's pub at 08.30AM for a mass ride across the bridge to the City - who of you will join them?

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The trouble with trucks and cyclists...

"I saw this incident today. The poor girl was on a bike and I heard her scream as she went under the truck. I was at the lights heading towards Oxford Street on a bike just a few metres away. I called the ambulance. I'm a bit traumatised by it all to be honest... "

"..I was one of the cyclists who was with her until the ambulance arrived. It was horrendous and completely shocking."

"I felt pretty sick and shaky and had to sit down for a while after.  Massive, massive respect to two other female cyclists who spoke with and held the poor girl's hand while waiting for the ambulance. It wasn't a pretty scene but they looked very calm and composed which I hope would have been some reassurance..."

"When I was talking to the emergency services they kept asking me questions like - is she trapped above or below the knee? Can she breathe? Is she having trouble breathing?"

"...while we were there she was fully conscious - breathing and able to talk. I'll spare the details but she was trapped above the knee. Although we were trying to keep her calm, hold her hand and talk to her, we felt so helpless as there was absolutely nothing else we could do..."

So speak the witnesses to another shocking lorry-on-cyclist collision in London last week. "Veronika" was riding across the Marble Arch gyratory during the morning rush hour last Tuesday when an armoured banking truck and her bike came together.  She suffered terrible, life-changing injuries and is still in intensive care.  Those who helped her as she lay in the road spoke of the horror of their experience on the London Fixed Gear and Single Speed forum.  My personal prayers and best wishes go out to them, and of course to Veronika and her family and loved ones, and I hope that she is receiving the very best of care.

Regular readers to this blog will know that the lorry issue is an ongoing cause of mine - there can be no doubt that there is no greater risk to London's cyclists.  Things have been quiet recently; it seems, somewhat macabrely, as though there have been fewer deaths of late than is usual (as if even one is acceptable) and subsequently the heat has gone off the issue in the mainstream press and political circles somewhat.  But this is false thinking - the threat to cyclist's lives from these vehicles is not going to go away.  Last year trucks caused 69% of London cyclist deaths.  In 2008 it was 88%.

In November a new study by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) found that lorries were involved in 43% of all London cyclist deaths between '92 and '06.  Dr Andrei Morgan from the LSHTM's public health department said; "This unnecessary death toll cannot be ignored any longer. At a time when we are seeking to encourage more people to cycle, both for health and environmental reasons, this is not good enough."

This follows a similar study in the British Medical Journal in 1994 which looked at the cause of death of cyclists in London between 1985 and 1992 and came to the same conclusion; "In inner London, in relation to their traffic volume, HGVs are estimated to cause 30 times as many cyclists deaths as cars and five times as many as buses. Until the factors leading to this excess risk are understood, a ban on HGVs in urban areas should be considered."

Dr Morgan said: "The shocking thing is that there is no evidence of any change since this study was published, despite many changes in cycling behaviour."

Those 2 studies, which come to the same conclusion, represent 25 years of needless deaths on London's roads at the hands of Heavy Goods Vehicles.

Meanwhile Mayor Boris Johnson has made noises, kind of, perhaps, that he might consider banning retail lorries from central London on air pollution grounds and would consider building distribution centres to receive heavy goods vehicles straight from the motorway network.  That little soundite was made on the hoof at Mayor's Question Time at the end of October - nothing has been said since.

Meanwhile, the firm which employed killer lorry driver Dennis Putz - the drink driving criminal who had some 20 previous driving convictions when he ran down cyclist Catriona Patel whilst under the influence of alcohol and whilst using his mobile phone - has been involved in another fatal collision.  This time it's a passenger in a cab which was struck by a Thames Materials truck after it smashed through the central reservation on the A4.  The driver is being questioned on suspicion of death by dangerous driving, driving while unfit and possession of a controlled substance.  This is the same firm - with whose 32-tonne trucks we 'share the road' - who the Traffic Commissioner tried to shut down in 2002 so concerned were they with the volume of convictions and inspection failures that the firm carried.  The order was overturned on appeal due to faulty paperwork, and the firm's trucks have gone on to kill since then.

And let us not forget, as has been highlighted here before, the inherent criminality of the road haulage industry here in London; 70% of ALL the lorries inspected by the Met Police Commercial Vehicles Inspection Unit since 2005 have been found to have some form of illegal defect; overloading, underinflated tyres, faulty tachographs, drivers exceeding their legal hour limit, drivers being illegal workers or unlicensed, doors held together with wire coat hangers as they speed down narrow residential streets; that sort of thing.  Something worth remembering, methinks, next time someone tries to tell you how essential to the city's economy all those trucks full of plastic spoons and bottled water are.

 

The message to cyclists to keep well away from trucks has been communicated clearly for some time now, yet it doesn't seem to be having an effect on the relentless death and serious injury rates.  When you're up against a 32-tonne truck driven by a drunk criminal on a mobile there's only so much you can do to protect yourself anyway.  What is to be done? What indeed.

 

Back over at the London Fixed Gear and Single Speed Forum those lovely fixed gear riders are helping lorry safety campaigners get a motion passed at the EU enforcing stricter design standards be implemented on all new heavy goods vehicles.  It's a very big ask, but one worth asking.  If you did one thing useful today it would be to read this and help them with their letter campaign.

 

In the meantime, the Police who are investigating Veronika's collision on Marble Arch are seeking witnesses.  If you were near the junction of Bayswater and Edgeware Road at about 08.50 last Tuesday the 7th December please call the dedicated witness line on 020 8941 9011.

 

 

I do not believe we should have to share the road with criminal drivers and criminal companies and I do believe that more should be done about this issue as a matter of absolute urgency.  Until then, dear readers, if you are at a junction in front of a truck position yourself as far forward as possible and establish eye contact with the driver to ensure they are aware of your presence.  If you are approaching a truck from behind (stationary or otherwise) do not undertake it on the left and avoid overtaking on the right unless you have a clear view and are able to make eye contact with the driver in his mirrors (ring your bell if necessary)  If you are in any doubt whatsoever, wait at the back of the vehicle, keeping well clear, even if it means stopping other cyclists in turn passing you.  Ride safe, readers.

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The dog that barks the loudest gets the bone; is it time for a cycling lobby?

It's so long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye to Cycling England which hit the skids last week as part of the coalition Government's so-called 'Bonfire of the Quangos'.  The body had a pitiful cash burn and was practically unknown outside of cycling circles, but did help the Government invest in cycling projects based on expert advice, and was the guardian of the re-badged cycling proficiency test "Bikeability"... 

...Here in London even the cycling campaigns are keen to clamour about 'record levels of investment in cycling in the capital', but recent calculations from the Green Party show that our Mayor, Boris Johnson, is only spending about half of what he says he is stumping up in cash. (ie under spending the cycling budget by as much as 50%)  All of the spin but none of the win for the end users, us cyclists... 

...Meanwhile, over in our highest house the good lords and ladies are bumbling along talking about high vis jackets and helmets as if they were the be all and end all of all things two-wheeled. 

I'd despair if it didn't all make me so angry.

In the case of Cycling England, 'Bikeability' will be brought in-house at the Department of Transport, but it's funding is only guaranteed "till the end of this parliament" (which, considering the uncharted territories of running a country by coalition may well be sooner rather than later).  Meanwhile, funding for cycling projects (if any) will come from a newly devised "Local Sustainable Transport Fund".  That is to say, funding for the things that can really matter the most on the ground - the construction of segregated cycle lanes, bike hubs at train stations, bike stands for kids at schools - will be funded from the same pot as improved bus timetables, schemes to implement charging points for electric cars (of which Transport Secretary Philip 'Hoverboard' Hammond seems particularly keen) and any other scheme that can be spun as 'sustainable'.  The transport minister with portfolio for cycling, Lib Dem Norman Baker said "...there will no longer be a dedicated cycling pot of money, but instead a much broader fund, we feel that Cycling England is not the right way to continue to incentivise and encourage local authorities and others to stimulate cycling."

Cycling is going to be up against some seriously well-organised money-thirsty transport schemes.  Bus firms have them, rail firms have them, car manufacturers practically invented them... is it time cycling got serious about its own lobby?

Until recently perhaps Cycling England's most prescient purpose was as a pyramid head for the disparate and varied stakeholders involved in cycling; it drip-fed up to the DfT the ideas, advice and requests of the CTC, Sustrans, British Cycling, the Cycle Training Standards Board and others.  Now, in a classic 'divide and conquer' manoeuvre by the Government these organisations will be left squabbling and scrabbling for every morsel the DfT may care to throw their way.  Meanwhile, the bus boards, the train operating companies and the electric vehicle manufacturers will be flexing their well-toned lobby muscles.  If the future funding of sustainable transport is to be decided in an arena fashion, cycling will be the first to be thrown to the lions.  Or, if you like, the dog that barks loudest gets the bone.

The UK's cycling organisations, if they don't want to implode upon one another in a fit of survivalism, need to get their act together and unify to see this present funding crisis out.  We need to play the game on the playing field that the Government has chosen to provide us.  Cycle England will be gone by spring 2011 and it won't be coming back.  We need a new national umbrella body of some kind to represent the local, regional and national stakeholders at Whitehall.  At present none of our cycling campaigns are broadly popular or skilled enough to be able to do this alone.  More crucially still we need our retailers to be involved.  The Bicycle Association and the Association of Cycle Traders are pissing in the wind if they think their voices can be heard alone.  But their efforts, combined with that of the likes of the CTC, would double their strength and double their volume and help to put them on a more even footing with the likes of the bus and train companies.  On a public front we have plenty of cycling celebrities to add to our voice - get the likes of Victoria Pendleton and James Cracknell, Dermot O'Leary and even Lord Berkeley on side and the publicity follows.  Run a campaign incorporating all cyclists calling for support for cycling.  Remember the impact the NSPCC's green button 'full stop' campaign against child cruelty had?  Something on that kind of scale injecting a bit of cyclist's pride into the voter demographic will help to secure funding in the future.  So long as cyclists are few and represented by many small voices they'll not get the funding we all know they deserve.  Present them as many and with one loud voice and suddenly the Government will start to listen.  Again, the dog that barks the loudest gets the bone.

Get people involved!  If there's one thing the wider public think of Quangos is that they were London-centric 'jobs for boys like us' type outfits.  We all know that David Cameron has this thing about 'Big Society' so let's make it an opportunity to give him some good news; lobby for investment into a project to train out of work miners from Newport as cycling instructors so they can train their kids or something equally worthy and you'll soon have a happy PM praising you from a pit-head press conference and the funding will soon follow...  As I said, the Government has chosen the playing field, cyclists have to be ready to play on it.

Of course, a question of funding comes in to play here which in these financially difficult times is a tough one to address.  It's all well and good proposing to form a national cycling lobby, but who will pay for it?  Let us think of the ubiquitous coffee chain for a moment.  Those popular coffee shops which you find all over the country start by opening just one cafe, and start selling coffee for £1 a cup.  Of that pound 50p is profit, 25p goes on staff, 10p goes to the coffee farmer and supplier, 10p on overheads and that last 5p goes into a little pot to save up to open the next coffee shop.  When that opens you have double the amount of money going into the 'new shop' pot and so on and so forth until you can open shops all over the country, or even the world.  Of course bicycle retailers can only open so many bike shops.  So long as cycling remains a minority modal share of national journeys there are only so many opportunities to sell bikes.  But instead of putting that 5p towards a new shop, why not put it towards an autonomous organisation that helps to gain funding for cycle paths, money for national cycle networks or mountain biking hubs, secures the provision of cycle parking at stations, trains up the next generation to be efficient and enthusiastic cyclists?  Suddenly you'll have a hell of a lot more cyclists than if you leave things in their current status quo.  And all these new riders need new bikes, new locks, new lights and lovely accessories.  NOW you need to open a new shop, and another, and another... and suddenly you're in a position to badger the Government to drop VAT on new bikes, or give tax breaks to bike manufacturers in the UK (all part of transferring to a carbon neutral economy, remember?).  It puzzles me why this hasn't been proposed or discussed before but if a very small percentage of sales of all new bikes and cycling accessories sold in the UK went directly back into a national cycle lobby focussed on securing funding to grow cycling, surely this would be a self-fulfilling prophecy or funding circle?  Everyone wins, right?

We've had a few days to weep and wail over the loss of Cycling England, and that's only right because they did do some good work after all.  But it was, to be frank, a punitive organisation in the first place which worked extremely hard in return for very little.  Now that it is going there is a very real risk that petty in-fighting will descend upon the cycling advocacy scene here in the UK (which is exactly what the Government would like) but we need now to renew and increase our efforts if we don't want to enter another decade of cycling being out in the wilderness.  We have till March 2011, when Cycling England's mandate runs out.  Bike campaigners, retailers, advocates, lobbyists, riders, manufacturers et al; as Philip Hammond would say "Gentlemen, start your engines!"

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2010 Mayor of London's SkyRide

Now in its fourth year, yesterday's Mayor of London's SkyRide saw 15km of central London roads closed to vehicular traffic and a record-breaking 85,000 cyclists take to the streets.

Despite personal reservations about the over-commercialisation of the event and the cycling 'message' being somewhat lost in the glare of 85,000 day-glo Sky bibs, there's no doubting that this event is now a major fixture in London's cycling calendar.  For the very fact that many of those who do join the ride are not the cyclists you usually see around central London, I'm a big fan.

But the event has almost become too popular for it's own good.  Riding safely and totally unencumbered by threatening or dangerous traffic is clearly a hugely attractive activity in the UK (not that our bike campaigns will admit this of course).  As a consequence the SkyRide rather more resembled the SkyPush as two-wheeled traffic ground to a halt at various bottle necks, narrow points and switch backs.  If the Mayor of London needs tips on how to grow the SkyRide (and I'm sure that all 85,000 attendees would say grow it he should), he should look no further than the city of Bogota, in Colombia, where some 70 miles of roads are closed to cars EVERY Sunday and 1.8million smiling residents take back their streets.  Next year, eh Boris?

It was a great opportunity to go site-seeing traffic free, especially for younger riders who would never usually have the chance to cycle these roads;

As I mentioned, the traffic-free ride has now almost become too popular for it's own good.  In future years the space given over to cyclists will have to be rapidly expanded in order for it to continue being a success.  At points along the route this year it was somewhat stressful as it was just SO busy...

There were all manner of bicycles out and about on the ride, from trailers to tricycles, and not forgetting the husky team pulling their owner and his daughter around the course!  Anyone with a young family thinking of buying a new car to move the kids about should think about getting one of these wonderful bikes instead...

Despite the plethora of high-viz vests (handed out free in order for participants to emblazon themselves with the Sky logo as oppose to, you know, stand out in broad daylight on a traffic-free route) some people were keeping things cycle chic with aplomb, and looked all the better for it.  You know me, I'm a sucker for re-iterating the message that you don't need funny or extraordinary clothes for everyday and ordinary cycling and if you manage to look good in the process then all the better!

But of course, with no traffic to scare the kids, the day was always going to be all about famillies out for the day in a part of London that most people would usually consider 'off-limits'.  Mums, Dads, couples, kids... this is what mass cycling is supposed to look like...

And, at the end of the day having ridden all around central London, by the point it was time to go home I think most of us felt like this little one...

See you at next years hopefully bigger and even better ride!

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Cycle Hire Scheme at 2 weeks old

It’s just over 2 weeks since London’s cycle hire scheme launched here in London. As is expected – and warned of by the Mayor – the launch of the scheme has not been entirely smooth-running. At times users have reported there not being enough bikes (or available docking points) in the right place at the right time, as well as issues with membership, the call centre, the website and the software at the docking stations. Indeed, so problematic have some of these software issues been that the full launch of the scheme, which will enable casual users to hire bikes on a turn-up-and-ride basis, has been postponed again whilst attempts to resolve all these problems are made.

Photo courtesy of the excellent Real Cycling blog

Despite the warnings from the Mayor about the probability of there being issues with the launch of the scheme, and the risk associated with being a “Pioneer Member” , it would seem that we’ve been signing up in droves to use London’s newest form of public transport. Some 45,000 individuals have now joined the scheme, and together they’ve made over 100,000 cycle hire journeys between them. In an email to all members on Saturday the 14th of August, David Brown the MD of Surface Transport at TfL wrote; “The busiest day last week was Wednesday 11th August when almost 14,000 journeys were undertaken over the course of 24 hours. What we’ve found really interesting is that 93 per cent of all journeys have been half an hour or less and therefore, after the access charge, completely free!” When you compare this to the cost of a single bus or Tube journey it’s easy to see why people are taking to the scheme – it helps that the area covers the Congestion Zone where private traffic is lower than in many of the surrounding Boroughs and traffic speed averages out at about 12mph. Sustrans have been calling for the scheme to be replicated in the outer Boroughs but I can see little appetite for casual cyclists to informally use a bike where traffic levels are greater and roads are faster. I do however believe that the scheme should be expanded to cover all of inner London (much more within Zone 1 and an expansion into Zone 2). Talk of financing an extension of the scheme east towards the Olympic Park and Canary Wharf – as well as increasing the number of docking stations within the existing hire area – are already on the table at TfL and due for discussion soon.

As a cyclist, have you joined the hire scheme? How have you found the experience (I should add that I have had no trouble with docking stations or the website when I’ve needed to use it, my only problem has been docks running out of bikes when I’ve wanted to hire a bike come ‘home time’) Are problems to be expected so early in the scheme? Do you think such a scheme could work in other towns and cities around the country, what might stop the scheme succeding elsewhere? (See my earlier post on why bike hire and helmets don't mix) Is all this money being spent on cycle hire schemes really just a diversion and could the money be better spent on cycling infrastructure, or training for kids? I’m keen to hear all your thoughts!

Cycling video round up

There are loads of videos out there at the moment on our favourite subject...


Let's start in one of my favourite cycling cities, Amsterdam, where someone has decided to express their love for cycling culture in the city through the medium of, um.. ...rap!  It's not as naff as it sounds and I enjoyed it.  The moment at 3 minutes 30seconds where the girl runs behind the back of the bike and jumps on the pannier rack is pure Holland in my eyes: I once tried to do this in front of a crowded street cafe and failed miserably, ending up sprawled across the road and being laughed at.  I can't reccomend it highly enough(!)

As most of you know by now London is at last about to launch it's very own bike hire scheme.  From July 30th some 6000 hire bikes will be available for free short rentals around the city and I for one can't wait for this addition to the streetscape.  Here's a video from Transport for London on how the whole scheme works (see if you can't spot a little animated cameo from our cycling Mayor near the end):

Lastly, Camden Council have produced this thoughtful little film about the danger posed by heavy goods vehicles to cyclists in London.  I like the fact that the messages are quite clear; that we all need to look out for one another, that a cyclist will always come off worse in an accident and that cyclists should avoid the 'danger zone' on the inside of lorries for the sake of self preservation.  It's great at least that Councils are taking steps to address this problem.  What do you think?

The myth of the red light jumping cyclist

I was chatting with a colleague about cycling recently, and observed an incredible change in her opinion about us when the subject of traffic lights came up.  Her eyes widened, she seemed exasperated.  I asked her what was wrong; “It’s terrible when cyclists get hurt you know, but they bring it on themselves... all cyclists in London are the same; you all jump the red lights!” she cried. I should point out that my colleague is a cyclist herself, albeit from out of town, and is otherwise completely rational... The sad thing is, she’s not the only one who thinks this – you’ve all seen what our national newspapers write about us. So where does this idea come from, this myth of the mass red light jumping cyclists, and just how dangerous is it?

Those of you who follow me on Twitter will know I sometimes make informal cycle counts at junctions on my way to work, usually at Bishopsgate, Holborn Circus or the junction with High Holborn at Long Acre. When I get caught on red at these lights I’m able to count all the cyclists passing through the junction or lining up alongside me to wait our turn on one revolution of the traffic lights. The record so far has been at the junction of Holborn and Long Acre, where I counted some 37 cyclists in one turn. Needless to say I couldn’t do this if I’d jumped the red light, and I know that particular junction is usually like a mini Critical Mass when the lights turn green; I once saw 17 cyclists patiently waiting their turn with me in the Advanced Stop Line. I can confidently say that many more cyclists wait at the lights than jump them.

As one of the most vulnerable road users we have the most to loose if we put ourselves in positions of danger; for this reason most people don’t jump red lights all of the time because, obviously, it is not safe to do so. However, using the same theory I know that many cyclists sometimes RLJ to remove themselves from a source of danger behind the white line. There are specific junctions on my morning commute that I know very well; one in particular has no ASL, leads to a narrow in the road, and also has a four-way red stop built into its traffic light sequence that allows pedestrians to cross. If I get to the stop line at this junction and find that an HGV pulls up directly behind me I will not hesitate to remove myself from the source of danger (the fact that the HGV driver can’t see me) by jumping the red light, just as I would keep myself from dangerous situations by not red light jumping at other junctions.

The Mayor of London’s recently published Cycle Safety Action Plan reveals some interesting statistics about cyclists and London’s roads. The report data (from 2007) shows that 79% of all cycling casualties occurred at or within 20 metres of a junction in London. It also shows that the second largest source of cycle casualties, after close proximity impacts with other vehicles, comes from other vehicles disobeying junction controls. That is to say 17% of all cyclists killed or seriously injured were hit or forced off the road by other vehicles jumping the lights or ignoring a give way line. By comparison, just 5% of cyclist’s KSI were caused by the cyclists doing the same.

To me this says two things clearly;

Firstly, our junctions should be better designed to accommodate safely the growing number of cyclists on London’s roads. More ASLs (which of course rely on Police enforcement) would be a good start, but we could do so much more; how about cyclist’s needs being programmed into the traffic lights sequence itself – they have ‘advanced green lights’ for cyclists in other countries, why not here in the UK? As my comments about counting cyclists show, there is clearly the demand for it.

Secondly, and perhaps more tellingly, the stats tell us loud and clear that other road users are just as likely to break the law as cyclists, and the consequences are much more deadly when motorised vehicles are involved. The roads need policing; road safety should be enforced to ensure people’s lives are protected. It seems short-sited indeed that our Mayor is reducing road Police and their budgets; a move that won’t benefit cyclists or pedestrians.

The Guardian newspaper’s Bike Blog recently ran two articles; one trying to show why anti-social cycling is a nuisance but not necessarily a danger, and another looking at why the City of London Police seem to target red light jumping cyclists. One thing that both of these articles failed to mention is the idea that in the great ‘pecking order’ of the road, cyclists should always give utmost consideration to pedestrians, as the most vulnerable road user, just as we’d expect motorised vehicles to look out for us.  I’ve heard cyclists argue that irresponsible riding isn’t a danger because ‘no one ever got killed by a bicycle’. Sadly this is not true, and if we follow the rule of the pecking order we should be giving way to pedestrians always. Furthermore, irresponsible riding can intimidate the elderly and the less agile; there is no reason to jump red lights in a manner which could lead to others feeling they have limited ability to use the roads safely. Over the years cyclists have been all but bullied off the roads; those of us who remain should not in turn be bullying pedestrians away. The data for London, if I had it to hand, would of course show that many more pedestrians are stuck down by cars every year than by bicycles. The always excellent Malcolm Wardlow BSc MBA in 'Assessing the actual risks faced by cyclists' backs me up:

"Typically only 3 to 7 third parties are killed in fatal bicycle crashes annually, as against 145 cyclist deaths. In fatal car crashes 1,600 third parties (600 passengers, 650 pedestrians, 75 cyclists, 250 motorcyclists) are killed in addition to 1,100 drivers.

...the belief that cycling is dangerous turns out to be a factoid; opinion based on long repetition, not evidence."

But the griping about red light jumping is louder and much more prevalent about cyclists than it is about motorists; despite the lesser risk. It seems to me that it boils down to another PR problem that cyclists face (in addition to being perceived as poor, or ‘green’ or “lycra-clad road warriors”), this idea that the way in which we cycle around junctions, red lights and pedestrians is somehow not only a great danger to ourselves but also a danger to the most vulnerable road user; the pedestrian.

Fixing this problem will only come from two solutions... More and more people cycling and it being perceived as an everyday and ordinary activity (and with this, more people understanding at first-hand what it is like to ride on our roads) would be a good start, and with this should come the re-design of our roads to accommodate more cyclist’s needs. But to really improve our reputation in London, and by default therefore attract more cyclists in the interim, we must mark one another’s behaviour ourselves. For sure, jump that red light if you feel it will improve your chances of surviving your commute to work, but don’t do it just for the sake of getting there faster (I hate the “lights break my cadence” argument, what are your legs made of, match sticks?!) and if you are going to do it, make sure you do it with absolute regard for pedestrians. When counting cyclists at one of the junctions a few days ago I saw another cyclist come storming up behind me, through the red light and straight into a gaggle of pedestrians crossing the road with total disregard for their safety, or how it would make them feel. I wasn’t sad to see one of those peds give him a mouthful. Do yourself – and cycling – a favour, and cross that line with care.