Build your own bicycle infrastructure

Ever wish you were on a broad safe cycle lane as those taxis buzz you on your peddle home at night?

Utterly in despair that your local council has failed to build any worthwhile bike lanes in recent years?

Would love to cycle in your bike lane, but can't 'cos someone has parked in it?!

Well, how about bringing your own cycle infrastructure with you?



This is a prototype currently in development at LightLane - what do we all think?  Would you fit a laser beam cycle lane to your bike?

Out of town: Paris, and the velibe scheme

I was recently in Paris and was keen to see how the much discussed Paris Velibe bike hire scheme had changed the City of Lights.  And to check out the cyclists of Paris to see what they were riding, what they were wearing and how many of them were there.


The thing that struck me first, as I crossed town in an electric taxi (Come on London, keep up!) was just how much more traffic there is in central Paris, and how much more noticeable the congestion is - the concept of congestion charging isn't popular in France and it wasn't till I visited Paris, as a comparable city to London, that I noticed that perhaps as a consequence of the congestion charge the traffic situation in London isn't nearly as bad for cyclists as the popular media would have you believe. (Or maybe that it's not as bad as it could be.)  Clear cycling signage helped the bikes to navigate through town and avoid the worst of the busiest streets.

It wasn't long before I saw someone peddling by on a hire bike - you can spot them a mile off because they're a distinctive metallic green colour.  "Crumbs" I thought "that bike looks heavy", but whizzed past me they did so clearly appearences can be deceptive.  What's more, the bikes are striking for their 'all in one' design - they have half-tyre mud guards, integrated bright dynamo lights, a solid looking wire mesh front basket, with a lock and a kickstand.  Everything you need for a city bike, and a millon miles away from that prevalent image of cycling that I think we have here in the UK of bikes being something sporty, hyper-masculine and the reserve of fit bods in lycra (or worse, not so fit bods in lycra!)  Now whilst I'm a big fan of sports cycling, peddling your bike through a city is a totally diferent matter, and it seems to me that Paris have designed a good looking, robust bike that's fit for the job. 

The hire stations, which you see every 300 metres or so were busy with bikes coming and going and seemed easy to use too, so long as you're armed with a credit card.

I took the shots below on the Pont au Double near Notre Dame of some ordinary Parisians peddling about their daily business - and don't they look fabulous in their long coats and heels? 

As you can see all of the cycle stands in the city (placed on former car parking spaces) were busy too - always a sign of a strong bicycle culture.  It's been widely noted that ordinary Parisians trying out the Velibe scheme remembered how much they used to love their bikes, and the velorution followed naturally - I hope the same will be the case in London next year when Boris Johnson launches our very own cycle hire scheme.  The increase in bicycle share of total trips in Paris leapt from 1% to 2.5% in 2007 - more than doubled - there was a 46% increase in bicycle trips in the third quarter of 2007 following the introduction of the Velibe scheme ('Velibe' incidentally, is a made up word combining the French for bicycle 'velo' and that key stone of the French constitution 'liberte' - I think it's a rather fitting word - we are yet to find out what London will call it's scheme when it launches next summer).  The statistics speak for themselves.

I finished my 'cycle study' along the Seine on the segregated cycle pathway that runs between the Louvre gardens (Jardin des Tuileries) and the Voie Georges Pompidou - it's a crying shame that London doesn't have a similar dedicated cycle path alongside the Thames on the Victoria Embankment, and it's high-time we had one.

Paris to London cycle path plan unveiled

The Mayors of London and Paris, and the heads of the respective intervening counties have come together to unveil a planned cycle route between the two cities, crossing 'La Manche' by ferry between Newhaven and Dieppe.  Planned for completion by 2012 (will the French Olympic cycle team come to the new Velodrome in Stratford on their bikes perhaps?!) the 218 mile 'Green Avenue' will utilise roads, existing cycle paths, and stretches of a disused train line.


"We want to symbolically link the Tower of London to the Eiffel Tower with an alternative mode of transport to the car that crosses landscapes of great quality," said Didier Marie, head of France's Seine-Maritime department.

The press have been headlining about a 'London to Paris' cycle route, but I like to think of it as being the other way, in the hope that some of those chic everyday Parisian cyclists will wheel over here and bring some of their own estimable cycling style with them to the streets of London.


Of course, this is not a direct route and seems to meander through Redhill in Surrey via Seine Maritime in France before finally swinging into Paris, but it would certainly make for a nice holiday.  And, checking out the video I can almost smell the countryside!  I just hope that by the time the scheme is complete those visiting Parisians aren't so horrified by the state of inner city London's cycling infrastructure that they turn round and cycle back again as fast as they can.

Website

http://www.francobritishcycleplan.org/

Video on Green.tv

http://www.green.tv/avenue_verte