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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Carnage on London's roads: protest for cycle safety TONIGHT!

** Cycle safety protest TONIGHT, Wednesday 13th November, 6.30PM, Bow roundabout. See here for details. **

This morning an as-yet unidentified female cyclist was killed by an HGV at the notorious Bow roundabout in East London.  She's the fourth cyclist to be killed in London in just 8 days in the bleakest week for cycle safety in recent memory.



This morning's fatality at Bow happened at the same time as two other serious cycling incidents in London, one involving a male cyclist in his 20s who was left with "life threatening injuries" following a collision involving an HGV in Millbank.  

Another cyclist died yesterday after being hit by a bus in Croydon.

On Friday last week, prominent urban planner and former chair of CABE Francis Golding passed away after being hit by a left turning coach on Southampton Row in Holborn last Tuesday.  And last Tuesday, 62 year old Brian Holt was killed by a left turning lorry on Cycle Superhighway 2 in Mile End cycling home from his job as a hospital porter at Mile End Hospital.

The woman who died this morning was the 3rd cyclist to die on Bow roundabout in a crash involving a lorry in 2 years following the deaths of Brian Dorling and Svetlana Tereschenko there in 2011.  She is the 5th to die on Boris Johnson's "flagship cycling facility" Cycle Superhighway 2.

And these deaths come on top of a series of shocking injuries in separate incidents.  This morning a woman was hit by a bus whilst cycling to work across the Vauxhall Bridge.  According to The Times on Tuesday a 46-year-old cyclist was taken to hospital in a serious condition after another collision with a bus in Kennington, South London, while one cyclist, a woman in her 20s, was trapped under a car in Spitalfields and had to be rescued by 10 passers-by who lifted the car off her and rolled it onto its side.
Last Wednesday, a woman in her 30s suffered serious leg injuries when she her bike was dragged under the wheels of a lorry near Oxford Circus.


Whilst the details of this morning's collision have not yet been investigated, a pattern of needless death is very clear:  

• There is a significant problem with Heavy Goods Vehicles in central London "interacting" with more vulnerable road users.  
• There is a clear problem with the current design of existing "Cycle Superhighways", many of which are little more than blue paint.
• There is a clear problem with the speed and volume of traffic being encouraged through the heavily compromised design of Bow roundabout. 

Transport for London and the Mayor have called this morning's death "tragic", and of course have said they are going as fast as they can to make London's roads safer for people on foot and people on bikes.

The problem is, the reality just does not match the rhetoric.

 
TfL won't even start consulting on a new east to west safe cycle highway until next year.  Their proposal for a similar north-south safe cycling route from Kings Cross the Elephant and Castle has no date for delivery on it.  In King's Cross, where a bright young fashion designer was crushed to death by an HGV in 2011, they have so far done nothing to change the fatally flawed design of the road where their consultant's report said casualties "were inevitable".
Boris has been muttering about possibly introducing a consultation about removing more dangerous lorries from our streets.  Action so far? None.
At protests following a death in Holborn the Mayor's cycling commissioner said that people had been called to the streets "under false pretences" and that action by TfL would be seen "soon"; that was 3 months and 5 cycling deaths ago. 

At Bow roundabout they were warned by the London Cycling Campaign that their designs for a "bike head start" traffic light system did not work, and there is a long and deplorable history of warnings about the safety of pedestrians and cyclists at Bow being ignored.

As Bow roundabout currently stands it is a car-centric 1960s design with no safe crossing points for pedestrians, and no safe cycling infrastructure, with high speeds, high traffic volume and a significant risk of left turning vehicle crashes.  
And now another person has died here.



The London Cycling Campaign has organised a flash protest to take place at Bow, tonight, gathering at 6PM for a 6.30PM start.  EVERYONE is welcome; cyclists, pedestrians and other concerned road users.  Please bring lights, as it will be dark, and your anger and voices.  Together, we need to ensure that TfL cannot pay lip service to our safety any longer but ACT TODAY.

What can you do?

• On foot, by bike, by bus or by train, come to Bow roundabout for 6PM for a 6.30PM start TONIGHT (Wednesday 13th November)
• Bring home-made banners, pictures and printed slogans. (Think "Demolish Bow now" or "Space4Cycling" or "No More Lethal Lorries!")
• Tell your friends, colleagues and loved ones what you are doing, and encouge them to come to.
• Spread the word on twitter, facebook and your social media channels. We don't have long!

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One step forward, two steps back; what next for cycle safety in London?

Last week saw the launch of the substantially separated Cycle Superhighway 2 extension in Stratford, by Mayor Boris Johnson.  As I previously wrote in this post, whilst not 100% perfect CS2X is already head and shoulders above anything previously built here in London.  Indeed, there was more good news to come, but is London taking two cycling steps back for every one it takes forward?



At the launch, the Mayor unveilled plans for similar changes on the road network in London, plans to upgrade existing cycle superhighways, and an entirely new north-south cycle superhighway route through central London.

The positive news is that this will involve recruiting some 128 new cycle-specific planners, designers and engineers to implement these plans at Transport for London HQ.  The rest of Cycle Superhighway 2, from Bow to Aldgate, will be entirely re-modelled and substantially segregated, whilst the Aldgate gyratory itself will be completely removed and returned to two-way working with cycling facilities included - a major coup for cycle campaigners and bloggers who have been pushing that agenda for months now.

The proposed "north south cycle superhighway on Blackfriars Road approaching TfL's HQ, Palestra, on the right of the image.

And the new north-south superhighway will intersect with the proposed east-west route, or "Crossrail for bikes" as the Mayor calls it, at the dangerous Blackfriars Bridge northern junction (where bicycles already account for 43% of rush hour traffic) which will be very significantly remodelled in order to safely accommodate additional riders - another coup for campaigners as Blackfriars is really where the genus of the space4cycling movement began, back in 2011, under the guidance of this blog and Cyclists in the City.  Boris Johnson said; "I share people's impatience for change.  We have taken the time to ensure that it is done properly - but that physical change is now underway."

That ethos of "doing things properly" can be attributed to London's cycling commissioner, Andrew Gilligan, who has been banging heads together behind the scenes at Transport for London and working on the basis that if infrastructure is going to be built that more vulnerable cyclists are to be expected to ride on then it must be done properly, as evidenced at Stratford.  He's also pushing for a full review of Cycle Superhighway 7, from Balham to Tooting, which is little more than an off-peak car park covering up some very expensive blue paint at present.

 The east to west "Crossrail for bikes" on Embankment approaching Parliament Square in Westminster.

Somewhat infuriatingly the consultation on the east to west "Crossrail" designs will not even begin until next year, and the north south route has no project delivery timeline at all.  The advanced bicycle traffic lights featured in TfL's kite-flying artist impressions have not yet even been approved and made legal for UK roads by the Department for Transport.

Still, speaking generally this is all very positive news, and represents a very significant evolution in the Mayor's thinking about how best to handle people on bicycles.  However, the cost cyclists have paid to get to this point has been too high.

The night before Boris launched CS2X, I witnessed a cyclist being doored on Saville Row.  In Holborn, near the spot where a rider was killed just a few weeks ago, a London cyclist was crushed by a left turning coach on Southampton Row.  That cyclist is still in a critical condition.

And on CS2 itself a 62 year old porter from Mile End Hospital, Brian Holt, was killed when he was hit by a left turning contruction lorry.

London's newspaper, the Standard, described it as "carnage on London's streets", but to campaigners, sadly, it is all too common.  More than 65 cyclists have died in London since Boris Johnson came to power, more than half of them under the wheels of heavy goods vehicles.  This is set against a background of deaths and reactive protests that have been taking place for years now; on Blackfriars Bridge, around London's most dangerous junctions for cyclists, at Bow roundabout, in King's Cross, and at the Holborn gyratory.

Proposals for the original CS2, which most excitingly demonstrate the importance of the seperation of turning movements.  Promising, but not solid yet, studff.

A coroner recently described elements of the pre-existing CS2 route as "confusing" and "an accident waiting to happen" following inquests in to the deaths of Brian Dorling and Phillippine De Gerin-Ricard.  With the previous death of Svetlana Tereschenko, and last week Brian Holt, four London cyclists have died on or near CS2 since it was opened in July 2011.

And occasionally the smart cycling rhetoric coming from TfL has slipped.  At the launch Boris plainly stated that Stratford High Street is "unusual" and that "we cannot segregate cyclists everywhere".  And last week Sir Peter Hendy, the top of the tree at TfL, when quizzed about a rise in serious injuries to London cyclists said the best way for riders to be kept safe was to ensure that they had forward and rear-facing lights... 

Transport for London have a long history of not listening to stakeholders when told that their plans are a bad idea.  It's the reason why there was protest in Blackfriars, and they were warned their schemes could lead to fatalities both in Bow and at Kings Cross where cyclists have subsequently died.  It seems they are finally waking up and "getting it" now that four riders have died on one of their routes, but it is too high a price to pay for London's cyclists.  And TfL can hardly be surprised that some visualisations of infrastructure that might get built in the future, and positive words from the top, will not be enough to keep the pressure from cycling campaigners off.  We've all been here before, and tens of London cyclists have died since then when real change should have been happening instead.

Of course the latest proposals are very, very welcome.  But it's time for a new era of co-operation from Transport for London, where they demonstate that they are listening to stakeholders and are prepared to act on their input.  Never again should Londoners die on street designs where the authorities can say that they had been warned from the start.

For more on the newly launched extension to CS2 check out this very good report and tour d'horizon about the future of cycling in London by BBC London journalist Tom Edwards.

 

 
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London's first truly super cycle highway comes to Stratford; a first look at the CS2 extension

Cycle Superhighway 2 has rightly been receiving harsh criticism of late, following inquests in to the death of two cyclists on the route.  From Aldgate, along Whitechapel Road and across Bow roundabout, CS2 was always the worst of the cycle superhighways, made up mostly of just blue paint on top of existing traffic lanes.  But the route will very shortly be significantly extended, from Bow to Stratford, and this new cycle route could not be more different.  London is about to get its first truly super cycle highway.



In a victory for campaigners who have been pushing for separated safe space for cycling since the last Mayoral election, the 3 kilometres of new cycle route are made up of largely segregated cycle tracks running either side of busy Stratford High Street.  Separated cycling infrastructure has often received a lukewarm reception in cycle advocacy circles in the UK, usually because what has been built previously has been dangerously inadequate or dangerous.  There should be no such issues in Stratford, with each bicycle track nearly 2 metres across on each side of the road, smooth, freshly painted, and free of obstructions (wide enough to drive your car down, as the builders demonstrated at the weekend as they finished building it!)



What's more, a raft of complementary measures will help to grow cycling culture in the area as part of the installation package.  Local residents can expect to see some 400 new bike stands being installed along the route, improved signage and feeder bike lanes from adjoining roads, as well as free bicycle training for new or returning riders using CS2.

The bike tracks replace a lane of traffic in each direction on what was previously a six lane highway running through the heart of east London.  Following the Olympics - when the new bike lanes were used as "Olympic family lanes" - TfL realised the space could be reallocated to other users whilst only delaying existing motorised traffic on the route during the AM peak by 90 seconds.  For those who have been battling against TfL's "smoothing the traffic flow" network assurance concerns for many years, this is a very significant breakthrough.



In a first of its kind for London, innovative bus stop bypasses will take the cycle track behind "floating" bus stops where passengers will wait to board.  When buses stop to pick up passengers it will be the motorised traffic - and not more vulnerable cyclists - who have to move out in to the fast lane to overtake.  To protect pedestrians, the cycle track narrows as it enters the bus stop bypass to encourage riders to slow down, and tactile pathing will help pedestrians with limited vision identify the safe crossing point.  A "speed table" where the bike track raises to meet the level of the pavement has been installed to give a flat crossing surface to the bus stop island; great for raising awareness to cyclists that they are about to interact with pedestrians, and vital for those using the bus who may have limited ability or buggies and wheelchairs.

There will undoubtedly be some confusion as to how people using the bicycle tracks who wish to turn right do so safely.  Before their construction, cyclists in the kerb-side traffic lane would have had to move across a further 5 lanes of fast moving and heavy traffic before reaching the other side of Stratford High Street.  Now, riders will be able to make an Anglicised version of a Copenhagen box turn.  The video that TfL has produced showing you how to do this legally in the UK shows a somewhat ungainly solution that does the best dealing with current DfT-issued guidelines.  However, in reality the best way to turn will be to pull over in to the Advanced Stop Line of the road to your left, before turning 90 degrees and proceeding across the main road when the lights turn green. (see the red line I have marked on the diagram below)  For those approaching from side roads, the shared use pavements will allow you to - carefully - turn left and join the cycle track even when the traffic lights are red, thus eliminating any danger from moving off along with left turning motor vehicles. (As shown by the yellow line on my diagram below)

I do have some concerns about elements of the design I saw being constructed over the weekend, though I will reserve full judgement until the extension is completed and officially open.  Some easy fixes would be to increase the length of the pedestrian "speed tables" for people joining the floating bus stops, or to install one at either end to discourage pedestrians from stepping in to the rest of the bike track.  I'm also worried about the height of the curbs, which are flat-faced and do not allow for much wiggle room if you strike them.  As pointed out to TfL during the consultation stage, slope-faced kerbs - though much more expensive - would allow cyclists to utilise the full width of the 2-metre lanes; useful when large groups are riding together or when faster riders wish to overtake slower cyclists with a bit of extra room for comfort.  These should most certainly be installed on the bus stop bypasses, where the bike tracks are narrower, as a minimum.  The opposing sides of the cycle track do not have equal geometry on the entry and exit "curves" of the bus stop bypasses, which could cause incidents when the tracks are very busy - I suspect this is down to a rushed installation based on unclear drawings, and is something that future schemes should seek to improve on.




It's worth remembering that cycle tracks on this scale have not been built by Transport for London before, and it will have been a steep learning curve for their engineers.  The scheme will not be perfect to begin with, but it is already head and shoulders above anything built on TfL roads previously.  Yes, there are niggles and refinements that need to be ironed out, but at least the tracks are safe and operable to start with (more than can be said than another "cycle facility" recently installed in neighbouring Tower Hamlets)

For me, what is most exciting about these cycle tracks is that they will help to animate Stratford High Street with actual people.  Historically, this has always been a severely car-choked highway with a serious air quality problem, designed primarily to speed along traffic that originates from outside the area.  And yet, when you spend time on the road, you begin to see that there is life here.  In addition to rows of terraced housing just off the main road, there is a church, a nightclub, some great restaurants and cafes, a University campus and student accommodation, a number of hotels, a supermarket, a primary school, and a bingo hall along the route.  Soon, a resident living on the route will be able to safely cycle to the town centre, or even Westfield, using the CS2 extension.  And connecting with the route are the Bow roundabout floating underpass and canal-side traffic-free routes along the River Lea and Bow Back Rivers, as well as the 7km Greenway walking and cycling path from Beckton to Victoria Park, as well as the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park itself.  Once the QEOP is fully open and the Greenway re-connected after Crossrail stops digging up most of Pudding Mill Lane late next year the Cycle Superhighway 2 extension will connect with miles of traffic-free cycle routes, creating the beginning of a safe and comfortable cycle network in the area.



And just as Stratford High Street is changing, so too will the profile of cyclists here.  These facilities will allow older riders, children, more women and even less abled cyclists the opportunity to ride here - something you would not have seen when this was a six lane wide road.   In turn, those riders will have to learn to take extra care on the bus stop bypasses of pedestrians - particularly those who are less mobile - something that will be encouraged by the speed tables and additional signage.



There will be some in cycle campaigning circles who will hate these cycle tracks because of long-held feelings that separating cyclists is not the right way to go, that it is some kind of surrender.  At the other end of the spectrum, hardened advocates will argue that these designs are 'not Dutch enough'.  To both I say this; TfL have had to install separated cycling infrastructure under the duress of a UK legal and road rules system that simply doesn't yet know how to accommodate such plans.  As such, their hands are tied with how far they can push the envelope.  For most of the route, the cycle tracks are so wide that you could drive a car down them.  Indeed, a lane for motorised traffic has been lost here in both directions.  It's not very often we get to congratulate TfL on a job well done, and to those quick to criticise I would say this; reserve your judgement before you've actually come here to Stratford and ridden the tracks yourself, and seen them in situ.  They're not perfect, and there are lessons for TfL to learn, but they're a damn site better than anything built on a major London road before.  

I for one can't wait for more of London to start looking like this; let's start with the shocking state of the rest of CS2 down Whitechapel Road shall we?

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Transport for London to face more courtroom embarrassment at 3rd cycle death inquest

The repercussions of a Coroner's report on the safety of  Cycle Superhighway 2 continue to reverberate around London, with the Mayor of London facing a grilling on Wednesday before a sombre-faced London Assembly. And there's more potential for embarrassing revelations to come.

Following her inquest in to the deaths of Brian Dorling and Philippine De Gerin-Ricard at Bow and Aldgate respectively, the Coroner concluded that the design of CS2 was "an accident waiting to happen if cyclists are guided into the space where blue paint is on the left and they're in the very place where the lorry is going to hit them." (Read the full report here and my damning summary here)

Labour's John Biggs and the Green Party's Jenny Jones were particularly articulate at the London Assembly, pressing the Mayor to act quickly and decisively to make the most dangerous junctions safer for cyclists.  Cornered, Boris Johnson stated "..this is always going to be extremely difficult, I can't guarantee to Londoners that we are going to be able to produce segregation where it is desired", despite his election commitment to "Go Dutch".

Behind the scenes, the Mayor and Transport for London will be most concerned at the prospect of more negative press coverage and criticism of their work at a third inquest in to another cyclist's death, due in December.

Korean exchange student Min Joo Lee ("Deep Lee") was just 24 years old when she was knocked off her bicycle in a collision with a construction lorry at the junction with Euston Road, York Way and Pentonville Road on the 3rd October 2011.   She was the 4th cyclist to die on or near that junction in 5 years, and the 13th cyclist to die on London's roads in 2011.

Transport for London were heavily criticised for their conduct at this deadly junction, having ignored the advice from their own consultant's report in 2007 which said that "casualties were inevitable" there.  Instead of acting on the recommendations of the report to reduce traffic speeds and to improve the layout of the junction, TfL instead suppressed it, with it only seeing the light of day after an FOI request by concerned local residents.





A second report on this location, produced in 2009 by Colin Buchanan and Partners, has proven to be even more troublesome for TfL.  They reported that between 2005 and 2007 “pedal cyclist casualties made up 20 per cent of the total casualties”, and notes that “there are still quite a lot of cyclists on the network” here. 

However - and most shockingly of all - the report specifically excluded cyclists from it's findings; at the instruction of TfL.  Buchanan states: " “Following TfL advice, cyclists and motorcyclists were not included in the model."

Two years later, Min Joo Lee would lose her life on the spot where these studies were undertaken, and where TfL failed to act.

After her death, The Times - as part of their excellent and ongoing Cities Fit For Cycling campaign - would report that the heavily criticised layout of the road may have been a contributory factor in Ms Lee's death "The stretch of road where Ms Lee was killed appears to breach TfL’s published standards for minimum safe width for roads used by both cyclists and motor vehicles…

"Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London who chairs TfL, was asked by the London Assembly last month whether the junction complied with the design standards. He replied that the template was a “best practise document intended to ensure that consistently high standards are applied to new schemes in order to reduce barriers to cycling”. He added that the junction’s layout had been implemented before the guidance was published."



Indeed, it has recently been revealed that despite the Police's best efforts, TfL have only escaped a corporate manslaughter charge here because their design at King's Cross pre-dates manslaughter legislation.

Despite promising to change the junction where Min Joo Lee died two years ago (and despite a multi million pound re-development of the adjoining King's Cross Square) it remains unchanged.  TfL - keen to be seen to be doing something, anything - have appointed a consultant to conduct a feasibility study on the area, and begun consulting with local residents and stake holders.  But progress is painfully slow.

In the interim, Transport for London - and the Mayor's flagship ideal to make London a cycling city - will be under intense scrutiny at Poplar Coroner's Court once again when the case of the death of Min Joo Lee is heard on 17th December.

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Has Coroner put brakes on Boris's blue bike lanes?

A Coroner's inquest in to two cyclist deaths on Cycle Superhighway 2 has led the future of the Mayor of London's flagship cycling scheme in doubt.  Brian Dorling, 55, died in October 2011 in a collision with a lorry on the notorious Bow roundabout, whilst riding to work at the Olympic Park in Stratford.  In July of this year French student Philippine De Gerin-Ricard, 20, was the first person to be killed whilst riding a "Boris Bike", after she was hit from behind by a lorry on CS2 at Aldgate Gyratory.  This week's inquests revealed that Transport for London were repeatedly warned their designs were unsafe for cyclists, but that these warnings were unheeded.

 Philippine De Gerin-Ricard and Brian Dorling died on CS2

Families of both of the deceased were at Poplar Coroner's Court this week to hear from expert witnesses, the Police, and the lorry drivers involved in both incidents; as were press for local newspapers, London's Evening Standard and reporters for both ITV and BBC news.  This was a very difficult and very public occasion for the families seeking to ensure similar events won't happen again.  Ms De Gerin-Ricard's mother watched as CCTV footage of the moment her daughter was knocked from her bike, dragged along the road and killed by the lorry was played in the Court.

 Widow Debbie Dorling leads a candlelit vigil in 2011 on the spot at Bow roundabout where her husband was killed.

At Bow roundabout Transport for London ignored their own consultant's report (Jacob's) which said the site was so dangerous that traffic signals and separated lanes for cyclists should be installed.  The London Cycling Campaign were so worried about the design proposals for Bow that they wrote in the strongest possible terms; "the apparent deficiencies in CS2 are so significant that it may be better to re-consider this route".  Their concerns were also ignored.

This comes after previous revelations that Transport for London told consultants to "ignore cyclists" at a dangerous junction in Kings Cross where a report stated vulnerable road user deaths were "inevitable".  Student Min Joo Lee would later be killed at this spot whilst cycling to college, in a collision with a construction lorry.

This week's inquest exposed that Transport for London also ignored warnings from the Met Police that CS2's design could potentially put cyclists in danger.  PC Simon Wickenden from the Traffic Management unit said "The advantage is that it [blue paint] highlights the potential presence of cyclists to drivers... The disadvantage is quite clear.  One; it places cyclists in a position on the roundabout where they may come in to conflict with traffic. Two; it may give cyclists a false sense of security."  Revealing that a list of 21 concerns about cyclist's safety at Aldgate gyratory issued by the Met in 2008 had also been brushed aside by TfL, he said "In my view it would be safer not to have these markings at all on the roundabout."

Bow roundabout - a place where we people live, work and travel on foot and bicycle, not just a transport corridor.

The comments of Transport for London at the inquest stood in stark contrast to the hyperbole with which they launched the Cycle Superhighways programme.  In 2009 Mayor Johnson stated "Superhighways are central to the cycling revolution I'm determined to bring about. No longer will pedal power have to dance and dodge around petrol power - on these routes the bicycle will dominate and that will be clear to all others using them. That should transform the experience of cycling..."  At the Coroner's Court this week the director of the superhighways programme, TfL's Ben Plowden confirmed the blue paint on CS2 had no legal standing and stated "I'm not a designer... I'm not an expert in design".  Plowden admitted designs drawn up for separated lanes and toucan crossings for cyclists at Bow were discounted by TfL because they would cause delays to motorised traffic deemed to be unacceptable.  

As focus intensified on the shortcomings of the design of the Cycle Superhighway which was eventually built, TfL's QC Keith Moon tried to deflect attention away from his client, suggesting that Ms Gerin-Ricard's lack of a high visibility jacket and a helmet (as she rode a Boris Bike) were contributory factors in her death.  It was revealed that due to the location of CS2 on the carriageway and the design of the lorry and its inherent blindspots she would only have been visible in the driver's mirrors for 3.7 seconds.  Continuing their boisterous defence, TfL's Nigel Hardy said despite this, the design of CS2 had passed all the body’s safety checks.

As I told ITV news this week; "Not all Cycle Superhighways are born equal.  Some are fully separated from the road, some of them are mandatory cycle lanes where you have a solid white line, and some of them - as at Bow roundabout and on Whitechapel Road - are just blue paint; that's it.  Nothing that's going to keep you safe and certainly nothing that is going to protect you from a lorry turning across your path."  

Coroner Mary Hassel described the arrangements at Bow as "an accident waiting to happen"  In the case of Aldgate her investigation exposed that TL's re-design of the street in to a 3-lane gyratory had left the inside lane (on top of which the blue Superhighway had been painted) just 3 metres wide.  Ms Gerin-Ricard's Boris Bike was 67cm across at the handlebars.  The lorry which killed her was 2.4m wide.  Simply put, there simply wasn't enough room on the road for both of them.  Ms Gerin-Ricard's mother, speaking outside the Court, said that her daughter was the victim of dangerous road design; "The accident Philippine had was the straw that broke the camel’s back. There is a problem with cycle lanes. If anything had been done, it hadn’t been helpful to cyclists.
“I have heard that the clothing cyclists wear, and Philippine was wearing, was discussed here. In fact, what needs to be tackled is the provision of proper lanes for cyclists, so that cyclists are protected.”

 Cycle Superhighway 2 at Aldgate Gyratory (image via Cyclists In the City blog)

When quizzed on the Coroner's findings, Boris Johnson stated he believed that his blue cycle superhighways were "the right solution for London" and that he was determined to press on with the installation of another 12 over the next 2 years.

However, with the Metropolitan Police making their concerns about superhighway designs so public, and with the findings of the Coroner so damning, there is now massive pressure on Transport for London to re-asses their plans.  In order not to be cast as negligent in the event of any future cycle deaths on the highways they have to be seen to act now and are faced with two likely choices; either they will take the route that they believe will limit their own liability as much as possible - erecting guard rails and "cyclist dismount" signs at every opportunity - or they will have to deliver truly innovative design solutions that offer people on bicycles a much higher degree of safety.  The Coroner, alongside recommending that more cyclists be made aware of the danger that HGVs pose, made her preference clear; 

"What we would like, of course, is to have cyclists in a separate cycle lane. It would be safer for cyclists, and motorists wouldn’t have the potential in the same way for this appalling experience of perhaps colliding with a cyclist... ..
..I’m going to write to TfL to encourage an innovative response to the problems of this junction. When I say innovative, I mean: ‘Try to think of something that hasn’t been thought before.’ This isn’t a situation where I can see an easy answer...
..There will be more and more cyclists, and that is what we want. We have to find new ways of trying to keep them safe."

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A vote of thanks to journalists Tom Edwards at the BBC, Ross Lydall at the Evening Standard, Kaya Burgess at The Times and Luke Hanrahan at ITV London who sat through the three days of inquests and provided much of the copy quoted in this post.

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Space4cycling shows us: campaigning works

There is something happening in the UK cycling scene at present that deserves greater scrutiny; a groundswell of popular cycling opinion, a heart-felt movement that is gaining traction all the time.  It started with a whisper just a few years ago, and has grown in to a national movement that shows no sign of slowing down.

I'm talking about the wave of bike protests that have swept across the UK recently, that are lead by a more combative and vocal group of cycling campaigns.  As recently as 2010 the London Cycling Campaign were so meek in their aspirations, and so unclear in what they actually stood for, I seriously questioned on this blog whether they were even pro-cycle lanes or not.  Since then the LCC executed the massively successful "Go Dutch" campaign which saw 20,000 cyclists on the streets in protest and secured serious commitments from the Mayor which led to his pledge to spend nearly ONE BILLION pounds over the next ten years making London safer and more inviting for cyclists.  The substantially separated Cycle Superhighway 2 extension, from Bow roundabout to Stratford, will open in the next few weeks, taking away a lane of traffic and giving it over to safe space for cycling.

Meanwhile, against a backdrop of regular deaths and serious injuries endured by cyclists beneath the wheels of HGVs, persistent lobbying, letter writing and picketing by all of our cycling campaigns has led to announcements that Transport for London and the Department for Transport will create a central London "safe lorry zone" to crack down on rogue and dangerous operators.





British Cycling asked all of its nearly 80,000 members to get behind its calls for sentencing guidelines to be reviewed, following a spate of cycle deaths that had led to paltry convictions.  The Government listened and have pledged to conduct a full review of the judiciary early next year.

Following the excellent efforts of everyone behind the Get Britain Cycling inquiry, both Labour and the Liberal Democrats have created cycling manifestos for the next general election, and the Government have been keen to point out they have pledged millions to cycling schemes nationwide.

In short, campaigning works.  





And now, bouyed with confidence and with the sense that change is achievable, cycle protests are sweeping the UK.  In London, we had flashrides on Blackfriars Bridge in 2011, the massive "Go Dutch" rally in 2012, and a series of space4cycling demonstrations where cyclists have been killed in Holborn and Aldgate, and on Westminster, each of which has attracted thousands of participants.  In Scotland, two "pedal on parliament" rallies to the Scottish government saw thousands on the streets.  And the "space4cycling" message seems to really resonate, with copycat rides taking place in Manchester, Birmingham and even motor-centric Reading in recent weeks.

For years there have been hard-working but misguided members of the cycle campaigning fraternity who have felt the best path forward is to tread meekly, to ask quietly and to not dare to dream too big.  Just last week long-standing cycling journalist and industry elder Cartlon Reid proposed in the Guardian that it would be easier - and quicker - to wait for all cars to become automated and computer controlled than to campaign for the traffic restraint schemes, investment, cycle training and quality cycling infrastructure that our Dutch neighbours share (as if riding amongst many thousands of computer-conrolled tonnes of machinery would be any less unpleasent than cycling among heavy traffic is at present)

But the internet is steadily sweeping this kind of thinking aside, and encouraging people to believe they can actually play a part in change themselves.  ("Yes we can!" said Obama, "Hope, not Cope!" says I.) They've seen how the Dutch got their cycle paths and are seeking to emulate the experience here in the UK.  They've seen how advocates in the US are taming the streets of New York and feel like our own cities are falling behind.  They've seen how Londoners out on the streets are having a direct effect on policy and cycle spending, and want the same where they live.





Campaigning works, but only when people care enough to get involved.  For many years on ibikelondon we've said we should each be the change we'd like to see, but the need now for more people to get involved is more apparent than ever before.  Because whilst the protests and campaigns are gaining traction, the forces arrayed against creating more cycle-friendly streets are as prevalent as ever.  Funding cuts, the motor lobby, hackneyed and downright dangerous road design schemes divert our attention.  Indeed, Cyclists In The City blog recently identified 5 major proposed road design schemes that seek - either through ignorance or downright spite - to squeeze out cycling.   Meanwhile, at the Judiciary, drivers who kill or hurt cyclists are let off with alarming and downright depressing regularity.  And at Government level the recent cash that has been pledged is most welcome, but not nearly enough to really make a difference.

The passion and protests on the streets this summer have been a fantastic start to real change, but they need to be followed up with many hours of behind-the-scenes campaigning.  Whether it is with London Cycling Campaign, the Cycling Embassy of Great Britain, Sustrans or British Cycling your local cycling campaign needs you.  It is time to roll up our sleeves!

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One year on, London's Olympic legacy still lays in its roads

Tomorrow night will mark exactly one year since a group of volunteer London cyclists captivated a global audience, riding on their Dawes bicycles through the London 2012 Olympic stadium dressed as doves of peace.  

Not your average commute to work...

Outside the stadium, having unsurprisingly strayed too close to the Olympic exclusion zone, 182 Critical Mass riders were arrested and harried in to waiting Police vans.  Local residents were furious to find themselves cycling on the perimetre roads of the Olympic park following the closure of the safe river Lea towpath on "security grounds" -  a ban which evidently didn't apply to cycling soldiers drafted in at the last minute to mop up the mess left behind by shame-faced security firm G4S.

Soldiers cycle the River Lea towpath 

- photo via the now sadly defunct Leabank Square blog.

The Games witnessed the tragic death of a cyclist at the gates of the Olympic park, two-wheeled visitors from around the world cycling through London, not to mention capacity crowds turning out on the streets to cheer for Team GB cyclists in the road races, time trials and triathlons.  Who can forget "King Bradley" on his throne at Hampton Court, the sporting prowess of Dame Sarah Storey and her four Paralympic Gold medals, or my favourite 2012 moment; Sir Chris Hoy (and his parents!) delivering a tense career-concluding race on the banks of the brand new velodrome in Stratford?

 No comment necessary!

The London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games have already passed in to a halcyon haze of gold medals and flag-waving high spirits, but London still awaits its true legacy, and it lies in our roads.

July 2012 saw more than a million Barclays Cycle Hire journeys in one month for the first time ever, with 47,000 Boris Bike journeys being made on the 26th July alone.  But more astonishing changes were taking place across London's road network.

At peak times, there was an average 10% to 15% reduction in motorised traffic on the Olympic Route Network.   For the first time in Olympic history, no private car parking was offered to all 7.25 million  ticket holders, essentially creating a "car-free" Games for spectators, each of which were issued with free public transport tickets.  Record numbers of spectators also viewed the road events across London and the South East, with a total of 1.8 million estimated to have attended.  The Bike Show's Jack Thurston recalls his experience; 

"I was at Richmond Park for the Mens Road Race and the park was closed to all traffic (except bikes) and the result was a veritable festival of cycling down there. Sunshine, picnics, and then for a few seconds, the race itself.
 
I also went along to the Time Trial, down at Esher. It was at least three people thick all the way down. I don't think the world has ever seen a bigger crowd for a time trial event. Most were cyclists, many had come on bikes on the day" 

London's Underground absorbed passengers who might usually have been travelling by car from the streets above; Tuesday, 7 August was the busiest day ever in the Tube’s 150 year history, carrying 4.57 million passengers.  The Docklands Light Railway saw a 100% jump in rider numbers, whilst London buses carried an astonishing 161 MILLION passengers during the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

At Games venues some 15,000 free cycle parking spaces were laid on especially to accommodate bike riding athletes, dignitaries and visitors - and they were needed...

Measurements on bridges over the Thames during the Olympic Games indicated 20% more cyclists and 22% more people on foot, compared with the previous fortnight. In Central London the figures showed 29% more cyclists, and in East London 62% more cyclists and 158% more pedestrians, indicating large increases in the areas most affected by the Games.

One of the most astonishing Olympic experiences for me was seeing the speed with which special Games Lanes, barriers and right turn bans were put in to place across the road network, and the effect it had in evaporating traffic by reducing space available for it.  Riding home from work on the night of the Olympic Opening Ceremony - July 27th 2012 - will always be for me one of the most astonishing cycling experiences.  Berkeley Square in Mayfair - usually a traffic-choked gyratory - was silent from the absence of motorised traffic.  On New Bond Street well-heeled pedestrians normally confined to narrow pavements spilled over in to car-free streets.  On the Kingsway in Holborn - a road more akin to a motorway than a central London boulevard - the sheer volume of space given over to shifting vehicles around our city became apparent by their absence.  I was home in time to watch the Red Arrows roar over my house in East London having barely broken in to a sweat on the journey with only fellow cyclists to contend with aolong the trip.

Above, the Kingsway in Holborn, Berkeley Square and New Bond Street in Mayfair and St Martin's Lane in Covent Garden - between 5.30PM and 6PM on Friday 27th July 2012, and empty.  Below, Regent's Street - usually one of London's busiest and nosiest roads.

Since the Games the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has announced a very welcome cycling festival (happening next week!) and planned record investments in cycling facilities including "Cross Rail for bikes'.  It's fair to say these plans are the most ambitious cycling plans ever produced in Great Britain, and should they succeed then they will change the face of London - and how we get around it - forever.

However, the £1billion in bike funds needed to realise these plans have not yet been secured from the Government, and Transport for London are still waiting for approval from the Department of Transport to begin incorporating bold cycling innovations in to their road designs such as small bicycle traffic lights and separated cycling infrastructure with priority over side roads.

And within Transport for London itself, there are still those who would seek to turn more space over to motorised traffic and side-track cycling plans.  Recent announcements regarding the Mayor's Road Task Force still rang empty with references to "network capacity assurance" and "smoothing traffic flow".

If the 2012 Games taught us anything, it should be that our road network is capable of being much more lean and dynamic than it currently is, and the scope for positive change is there.  London's real Olympic legacy lies not just with shining sports venues and future medal hopes, but in the very possibility of changing our city for the better in the future, with cycling at the centrepiece of that vision.  The Games showed us that such change is not only possible, but that it is there for the taking - recent cycling fatalities demonstrate that Transport for London and the Mayor's office must simply get on with it.

• Figures on the performance of London's transport network from the Parliamentary report available at this link (PDF).

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65 London cyclists dead in 5 years; why it's time for action tonight

On Friday night thousands of Londoners took to the streets to protest at the lack of progress in efforts to keep our city's cyclists safe.  In a grim twist of fate, another cyclist was killed on Monday morning.

The as yet unnamed middle aged male was killed cycling through the busy junction where High Holborn meets the Kingsway, outside Holborn Tube station in central London.  He was crushed by a 4-axel tipper lorry that was not fitted with side guards, that was passing through the city during the morning rush hour.  The driver was arrested and remanded in custody on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.

 Holborn re-opened to traffic last night

Friday night's protest was in response to the death of student Philippine De Gerin-Ricard, a 20 year old French student who became the first "Boris Biker" to be killed in London, crushed by a lorry on Cycle Superhighway 2 in Aldgate on Friday July 5th.  Londoners on bicycles of all shapes and sizes, and some on foot, gathered to demand that the Mayor Boris Johnson keep his word.  On his re-election last year he pledged to implement the London Cycling Campaign's "Go Dutch" campaign and create safe space for cycling on major roads.  Previously, on the problem of dangerous lorries on London's roads, he said "In future we are going to be stipulating that no HGV can enter London unless it meets cycle safety standards".

BBC London covered Monday's fatal collision; as it went to air at 6.30PM I was standing at the junction where the cyclist had lost their life earlier that morning.  The road had re-opened to traffic after many hours of investigation.  Yellow spray paint marked by forensic investigators on the road showed the transit of the bicycle as it was dragged beneath the tipper lorry.  Some loose change and nuts and bolts from the bicycle had been ground in to the tarmac by the truck.  On the television, the Mayor's Managing Director for Surface Transport at Transport for London Leon Daniels was quick to state "I think it is very important we don't have too much of a knee-jerk reaction."

 Paint marks the scene of the collision

The gentleman who died on Monday is the 65th cyclist to be killed on London's roads since Boris Johnson came to power in May 2008, the 5th in 2013.  In this time, piece-meal investments, poorly executed Cycle Superhighways, and soundbites has done little to keep people on bikes safe.  Cyclists and their friends and families are sick of being fobbed off with words, and waiting for safe cycling solutions that are never delivered.  As I wrote before last week's protest the time has come for deeds, not words.  

In Holborn, stop-gap solutions are available whilst we wait for this dangerous junction to be re-designed; it is within Boris Johnson's powers to allow cyclists to legally use the west-bound Theobalds Road bus lane that bypasses this junction, and to ban HGVs from London in the peak hours, as has been advocated by the British Medical Journal since their 1994 study "Death of Cyclists in London" (See my earlier post "Advice for us all; cycling safely with lorries in London")

 Holborn, viewed from the east facing west

The Chief Executive of London Cycling Campaign, Dr Ashok Sinha, is urging ALL Londoners - whether on bike or on foot - to join their second #space4cycing flashride TONIGHT, gathering at 6.30PM in Russel Square before riding to the death junction in Holborn.  He said; "Three Londoners have now been killed in three weeks, two of them by lorries on busy roads that provide no dedicated space for cycling.

"Mayor Boris Johnson must take swift and radical steps to redesign our streets to make them safe and inviting for everyone to cycle.

"The evidence is clear: if he doesn't do this, then more Londoners will die needlessly cycling on our city streets."

At such short notice we must tell our friends and colleagues that tonight is happening in order for it to be effective - I'll be using my Twitter and Facebook channels to hep spread the word and would urge you to do the same - and turn up to show we care.  The Mayor and TfL can obfuscate no longer; London's cyclists deserve to get around our city safely.  Whether you come on foot or by bike, I hope to see you tonight!

Full details of the LCC flashride tonight can be found on their website here.  You can download placards here and here to attach to your bike for the ride. The hashtag for the ride is #space4cycling

If you're nervous about cycling to Russel Square for the first time, people are organising informal group rides from their corner of the city.  Check out this Google map for rides near you, or if you are happy to show people the way add your ride details too. 

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