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Super-highways in Ken's £500m cycle revolution
Pippa Crerar, Political Correspondent11 Feb 2008
A massive network of cycle superhighways and thousands of "hire-andride" bikes were announced today as part of a £500 million bid to boost cycling in London.
Ken Livingstone unveiled an ambitious programme that also includes cycle zones in suburban town centres and more bike parks at Tube and railway stations. It aims to stimulate a 400 per cent increase in people pedalling round the capital by 2025, reducing congestion and carbon emissions.
The cycling proposal is one of several green announcements expected from the Mayor in coming weeks. He is expected to announce his decision to raise the congestion charge for drivers of high-polluting "Chelsea tractors" to £25 a day and proposals to refit hundreds of civic buildings across the capital to make them more energy efficient.
The environment will also be the focus of a debate this Thursday which will bring Mr Livingstone face to face with all three main rivals - Tory Boris Johnson, Liberal Democrat Brian Paddick and Green Sian Berry - for the first time. However, before the cycling schemes can go ahead, Transport for London will need to get agreement from local councils. The cycling programme includes:
• About a dozen radial cycling corridors for commuters into central London, mostly on existing London Cycle Network routes. The first will be in place by 2010 with five more by the time of the Olympics in 2012. They will include routes from Balham, Hackney and Uxbridge and will have continuous, wide cycle lanes, dedicated junctions and clear signs.
• A Paris-style cycle hire scheme with 6,000 bikes parked in docking stations every 300 metres across central London, including at railway stations and major tourist attractions. The first will appear in 2010 and passengers will be offered a free period of use.
• Around 850 extra bike parking spots at suburban rail, Tube and DLR stations over the next two years.
• A series of "bike zones" in 15 suburban town centres such as Richmond and Croydon. With cycle priority streets where cars give way to bikes, 20mph speed limits and quick and clear routes linking residential areas to schools, stations, parks and shops.
The proposals come after a campaign by the Standard to promote safer cycling. Mr Livingstone said: "We will spend something like £500 million over the next decade on cycling - the biggest investment in cycling in London's history - which will mean that thousands more Londoners can cycle in confidence, on routes that take them quickly and safely to where they want to go."
Jenny Jones, Green Party member of the London Assembly, said the plans were exactly what was needed to persuade Londoners out of their cars.
Reader views (17)
Great news to finally see a large investment in London cycling. I like the idea about cycle lane on Victoria Embankment but sharing busy pavements wouldn't work. However if instead they reduced the 5ft wide traffic barrier in the middle of the road there probably would be extra room for a two way cycle lane on the existing road.
- Martin, Fulham, 18/01/2010 14:32
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I agree with Marc, Hammersmith. The 5m wide pavements on Victoria Embankment really needs a 1.5m wide two-way cycle path on the south side from Westminster to Blackfriars along the river side of the Thames. Since there are no junctions on the south side, this offers a far quicker and more scenic, safer, segregated, traffic free alternative to the Strand which can not offer a good cycling environment in the foreseeable future.
Please act TFL, PLA and Mayor of London Boris.
Local business would benefit as more people
would use the Thames for leisure as well as commuting.
- Cyclist1234, London, 11/01/2010 23:09
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Why not build one of these cycle highways along the Thames Northbank.
At the moment the path that leads from Blackfriars bridge to Tower bridge is a really poor public space with its crooked and bendy paths in desperate need of a improvement.It is not pleasant for pedestrians or tourists.
Why not give it a make over and turn it into a tourist attraction by firstly making it a continuous straight path and secondly widen it with say one lane for pedestrians and one lane for cyclists. You could also put some potted plants along the path to improve appearance.
People would use this cycle lane more than any other cycle lane in London as it would be almost completely free of cars and would enable anyone to cycle safely from the Tower of London to Westminster and maybe even further along the Thames.
I notice on the Tfl website they don't use any cycle routes along the paths next to the Thames for some reason (probably worried someone will fall in) when in fact the pathway along the Thames would be some of the safest and easiest to implement.
- Stephen, London, 18/12/2009 17:25
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I am a cyclist and whilst I am happy to see money spent on improvements £500m is an enormous amount of money on only a handful of cycle highways.
Some cycle lanes can be easily implemented onto the wider streets and pavements (for example, I think some Spanish cities have a good policy of allowing cycling on pavements wider than 5 metres using simple painted lines on wide paths).
However most of London unfortunately has a network of narrow streets and pavements that means it doesn't have capacity to build geat cycle lanes - no matter how much money is spent.
If encouraging cycling really is a necessary government objective (in order to benefit environment, lower carbon emissions, lower obesity, improve health, take strain off public transport, lower traffic levels etc) and success is measured by no of users rather than just safety levels (standard of cycle paths etc)
then for £500m the government could buy 5 million good quality commuting bicycles for about 1 in 4 households in England and Wales.
I think that would get a lot more people cycling if thats the the main objective.
- Steve, London, 18/12/2009 16:51
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Existing cycle lanes are a joke, whoever built them has clearly never ridden a bicycle to work. They are bumpy, cracked, strewn with rubbish and don't go where you want them to. They are not Ken's legacy but he is reforming them. I'm very excited about the super highways. They are a step in the right direction by a politician with conviction. Ken gets things done. Most of his detractors have this absurd notion that driving in London is something to be protected and maintained. This is lunacy. Look at the world's greatest urban infrastructures- Zurich, Amsterdam, Paris... the car is at the bottom of their transportation infrastructures for very good reason. Let's hope Ken gets to finish what he's started.
- Sandor Hatvany, London, UK, 29/04/2008 11:01
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I think Livingstone probably misunderstands cyclists and cycling. I await with interest his plans, but I suspect they have been drawn up with out any consultation with cycling groups, and will probably end up being an unused resource because they won't be maintained properly, and probably won't go where people want.
The biggest single thing to make cycling safer in London (and by extension, making pedestrians safer), is to make car drivers financially responsible if they hit a cyclist or pedestrian, whoever's fault it is.
This has been done in some European countries, and lowers traffic speeds a touch, and makes drivers more wary of junctions (where most incidents happen).
- Roger, Guildford, 12/02/2008 10:37
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What a waste of taxpayers money, he (Ken) has created a travel infrastructure nightmare, since he came to power, the tube is no better, the trains are over priced and no better, the roads are as congested as they ever were, but we pay for the pleasure of sitting in traffic now. Traffic wardens administer tickets like concentration camp commanders.
Taxi fares have also increased, its the only city where you can't get a cab to take you to any part of the city "Sorry mate I'm going home now". "Sorry mate I don't go South of the river", utterly absurd.
- Jim Bob, London, 11/02/2008 22:32
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Why do so few people see Ken Livingstone for what he is? I live in central London and the chances of seeing a cyclist in one of his cycle lanes is about as great as a golden eagle being sighted in Trafalgar Square. They are all too busy cycling on pavements, the wrong way down one-way streets and ignoring all traffic lights.
These ridiculous lanes with their huge concrete blocks have narrowed many roads to a point where traffic can hardly pass and has increased congestion, but that's what he wants.
Anything to do with election?
- Peter Hoskins, London, England, 11/02/2008 18:48
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How about chucking a little bit of tarmac down on the roads as a start. Now!
- Coker, Kent, 11/02/2008 15:39
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On the face of it, this sounds like good news for London cyclists. But infrastructure isn't the real answer to getting people on bikes - we've got to go much deeper than that.
I'd rather see my taxes spent on lots of driver and cyclist training, encouraging bike to work and bike to school schemes, keeping the roads scrupulously well-maintained and policing our urban spaces to rid the roads of bad driving and bad cycling alike. Then and only then can we think about sloshing more green paint on the roads. By which stage, it'll be largely superfluous!
- Charlotte, London, UK, 11/02/2008 14:09
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There go the votes of 650,000 regular cyclists who would have voted for cyclist Boris. Ok these plans are pretty light and probably don't include any extra tarmac for bikes rather than cars.
Many roads such as the embankment and Holloway road could easily take a large cycle lane in both directions
- Marc, Hammersmith, 11/02/2008 13:55
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I think it's great that Ken wants more cyclists on the road, but why was I pulled up by two policemen this week for cycling across Regents Park? Apparently that's not allowed. Ridiculous!
- Barry Shaverin, London, UK, 11/02/2008 13:52
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£500,000,000.00 Wow!
That's a lot of concrete/stone blocks to line the these new cycle routes, plus, I assume, green tarmac and white paint. What is the carbon footprint for making, delivering and installing the raw materials used in this scheme ? How much fuel will be wasted and extra pollution generated by motor traffic sitting in the congestion caused by the reduction in carriage-way widths along these routes every year ?
Are there any estimates of pedestrian casualties as a result of people having to cross more streams of vehicles to cross roads particularly among the old and infirm ?
Will the use of these cycle lanes be compulsory for cyclists (to keep them off the pavements) ?
How long would £500,000,000.00 keep five hundred extra police officers patrolling the streets?
- John Gallinari, London, 11/02/2008 13:49
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More cyclists = safer roads. This could be the best thing that's happened to London's transport for decades, you only have to see the civilising influence cyclists exert in many European cities. A clampdown on reckless, stupid drivers would be good too.
- Hans Datdodishes, London, 11/02/2008 13:38
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"It aims to stimulate a 400 per cent increase in people pedalling round the capital by 2025, reducing congestion and carbon emissions."
Nonsense! All that is based on the presumption that people getting on bikes are getting out of cars, where the more likely scenario is that people are more likely to get off an overcrowded, dirty, hot and delayed train to get on a bike.
- Md, London, 11/02/2008 13:26
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These plans sound very good - we badly need an improved, safer cycle network in London. Ken you've risen in my estimation
- Richard Nutt, london, 11/02/2008 13:22
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And how about chucking a little bit of tarmac on the roads from time to time?
- Coker, Kent, 11/02/2008 12:34
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