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Bikes to be carried on Docklands Light Railway trains

Successful trial last year leads to permanent change in bike carriage rules

Bikes are to be allowed on Docklands Light Railway (DLR) trains at off-peak times, Transport for London (TfL) has announced.

A six-month trial began on July 1 last year and the clearance for cyclists to take non-folding bikes on the DLR outside of peak times has now been made permanent.

Tfl says that over 5,000 cyclists travelled with their bikes on the DLR during the trial period.

Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: “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.”

DLR Director Rory O'Neill, said: “All cyclists are now welcome to use DLR services during off-peak hours and at all time on weekends and Bank Holidays.

“This follows our successful six-month trial during which the London Cycling Campaign provided advice and assistance.

“I'd like to thank them for their co-operation and input during the trial.”

When the trial was announced the London Cycling Campaign welcomed it, pointing out that it had been campaigning for bikes to be carried on the DLR ever since it opened in 1987.

LCC chief executive Ashok Sinha said: “We're delighted to have participated in the trial, and that Transport for London has agreed to allow off-peak cycles on the DLR permanently. 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.”

Active travel charity Sustrans also welcomed the move. Sustrans' London director, German Dector-Vega, said: “This is a real step forward that will benefit many Londoners, especially those who live further away from their workplaces and would like to cycle some of their journey, or people just being caught in the rain.

“We'd like to see more operating companies following this and other similar approaches, like more cycle hubs such as the one at Peckham Rye built in partnership between TfL, Southwark Council and Southern Railway to make it easier for people to bring bicycles on trains.”

While it’s nice to have another way of getting across the river in east London, road.cc nevertheless has a soft spot for the Greenwich Foot Tunnel and its splendid lifts.


Entrance to the Greenwich Foot Tunnel (CC licensed image by frodefjeld/Flickr)

John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.

He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.

Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.

John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.

He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.

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3 comments

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bmxboyx01 | 8 years ago
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Friend of mine does at least 30 miles a day across London, man up! See he did 43 before work yesterday.

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nod | 10 years ago
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this is great news, and a welcome change to all the doom and gloom associated with cycling in London today.

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Al__S | 10 years ago
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The trial was especially welcome getting back to the car in the Docklands after the Ride London 100- less because of being tired, more because we didn't fancy trying to navigate our way on unfamiliar and now open roads!

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