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TfL putting brakes on London's Cycle Superhighway programme?

Mayor of London wary of disruption and confrontation

Transport for London has expressed reservations about “the sheer scale and speed at which the current batch of Cycle Superhighways were put out there” and has pledged to learn lessons from this, reports BikeBiz. The comments come within London Stalling, a report into congestion by the London Assembly Transport Committee.

The committee found that London’s average traffic speed has fallen and the road network has to cope with more vehicles than it has space for.

One of its key recommendations is that work continue on cycle superhighways, but it cautions that more care needs to be taken to minimise disruption during their construction.

"TfL should continue to implement its Road Modernisation Plan schemes including the proposed network of safer cycling routes such as Cycle Superhighways and Quietways. It should report back to the committee by the end of April 2017 on how the construction of additional Superhighways and other major projects will be planned more effectively to minimise traffic congestion.”

TfL's Director of Road Space Management, Alan Bristow, told the committee:

“We are currently looking at extensions to the North-South Cycle Superhighway into the City and also the Cycle Superhighway 11 programme is under debate for tying down in the future. The Cycle Superhighway programme will go ahead because cycling safety demands that we keep this process going, but probably the issue was the sheer scale and speed at which the current batch of Cycle Superhighways were put out there, which we intend to learn the lessons from.”

Concern about the disruption and conflict arising from cycle superhighways’ construction phase has been a recurring theme for Mayor of London Sadiq Khan.

Comments on the subject during an interview on the LBC radio station last week resulted in his issuing clarification after he appeared to imply there would be greater focus on Quietways over segregated cycle routes in the future.

Since then, responding to a question from Caroline Russell at Mayor’s Question Time earlier this week, Khan made reference to the previous administration’s “overly confrontational approach” to delivery of cycle lanes.

In a blog on his website, former cycling commissioner for London, Andrew Gilligan, makes his own effort to dissect the various causes of congestion within the capital and writes that it seems "unlikely that segregated cycle tracks totalling 12 miles can be causing more than a small portion of the congestion on a London main road network which totals around 1500 miles."

The London Assembly Transport Committee report points out that while private car usage has reduced, there has been an increase in the number of delivery vehicles and private hire vehicles.

'Cycle lane sceptic' MP objects to characterisation of logistics sector as "evil, diesel fume-belching demonic brotherhood"

The report recommends taking steps to reduce personal deliveries to workers at their offices, including offering "click and collect" sites at stations.

Regarding private hire vehicles, TfL is said to be assessing the feasibility of removing the sector’s exemption from London’s congestion charge. However, as Gilligan points out, there is no mention of this in Sadiq Khan’s recent taxi and private hire action plan.

The report also recommended that the congestion charge be changed so that motorists would pay more to use busier roads at peak times.

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11 comments

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ktache | 7 years ago
5 likes

Any improvements to the transport infrastructure will always cause some increase in congestion while work is being done.  Crossrail.  Improvements to the underground.  Repairs and any improvements to the existing road network.  I cannot see how putting in a few more miles of segregated cycle route could cause more than these examples.  If you build it they will come.  

Hey a little more space for cycling might not get many car drivers to cycle, but it might get a few off public transport, and I'm guessing that the tube, rail and bus networks are often operating at above capacity at certain times.  Creating more capacity there, that's what may get those permanently stuck in traffic to change their minds.  And it only takes a small reduction in traffic to bring congestion down massivlly, just look at how things are far less gummed up during the school holidays, and I only hit the traffic after 9 and after 6, long after when the kiddies have to be driven to and from school.

Though if they are only doing 7.8mph they might be persuaded when they see those pesky cyclists whizzing past.  No wonder they get angry and hate us so.

To that point has does anyone know an good number on average cyclist speed in London?

Avatar
Zjtm231 | 7 years ago
0 likes

So will all the anti-Boris trolls on this website now start to recognise he was a great cycling major for London and admit Khan is going to be a disater? 

Avatar
Dnnnnnn replied to Zjtm231 | 7 years ago
1 like

Zjtm231 wrote:

So will all the anti-Boris trolls on this website now start to recognise he was a great cycling major for London and admit Khan is going to be a disater? 

I'm not an anti-Boris troll. I don't think he was a great mayor overall but there's no doubting he did some great things for cyclists. It's also true, though, that Boris's bit for bicycles came late in his time. Khan may be the same, although I hope he'll come around quicker.

Avatar
crazy-legs replied to Zjtm231 | 7 years ago
6 likes

Zjtm231 wrote:

So will all the anti-Boris trolls on this website now start to recognise he was a great cycling major for London and admit Khan is going to be a disater? 

It was Andrew Gilligan as the one who actually did the work - Cycling Commissioner between 2013 and 2016. He seemed very good at treading that fine line between telling people they were going to put in cycle lanes and consulting on it.

Not re-employed by Khan. Khan seems very good at the consulting part of it but then backing down when the NIMBYs complain that their essential car journey of 2 miles to work will be 30 seconds longer...

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1750nick | 7 years ago
0 likes

...only in the U.K!

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crazy-legs | 7 years ago
11 likes

At some point though, elected officials, charged with the wellbeing of the city as a whole have to take decisions that may be a bit unpopular. Paris banned cars on a few days where the smog and pollution became too dangerous. London just told kids not to play outside.

Some cities operate a "rolling restriction" only allowing cars with even numbered plates on one day, cars with odd-numbered plates the next and so on. London continues to offer up new Prvate Hire Vehicle licences at the rate of 600 per WEEK!

The mayor has done a lovely consultation, he's got himself all over Twitter and on TV and meanwhile no new cycle lanes have been built but half of Embankment is being dug up again for Super Sewer, he's greenlighted the construction of two new skyscrapers (one of which is only fractionally shorter than The Shard), there's the new Garden Bridge supposed to be built soon, there's huge works ongoing at Battersea with thousands of new homes (and the associated extra traffic once people move into them)...

At some point, someone simply needs to stand up and say right, congestion charge is going to double, no new PHVs, phased removal of all diesel taxis and buses, new segregated cycle lanes, expansion of the Santander Cycle hire scheme, incentives to businesses to arrange delivery outside of rush hour and possibly something to help with that such as out of town warehousing with freight taken into town in smaller vans or even (shock horror) by e-cargo-bike.

It will be unpopular within some circles but sometimes the greater good has to outweigh the screaming NIMBYs.

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EddyBerckx | 7 years ago
9 likes

I read that something like 35% of central london traffic is now Uber...amazing if true. Black cabs can't moan too much as they make up 20% (and dont restrict their numbers either).

 

At some point someone has to decide how many cabs we need in a city packed with public transport options (as well as walking/cycling).

 

And delivery vans? If only there was some kind of public operated 'postal service' that could do this a hell of a lot more efficiently...maybe with a mini railway underground to move parcels between depots?*

 

Bloody cyclists.

 

* It exists, it has been shut down. 

 

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jollygoodvelo replied to EddyBerckx | 7 years ago
0 likes

StoopidUserName wrote:

And delivery vans? If only there was some kind of public operated 'postal service' that could do this a hell of a lot more efficiently...

No longer public operated.

Avatar
EddyBerckx replied to jollygoodvelo | 7 years ago
1 like

jollygoodvelo wrote:

StoopidUserName wrote:

And delivery vans? If only there was some kind of public operated 'postal service' that could do this a hell of a lot more efficiently...

No longer public operated.

 

yeah, that was my point  3

Avatar
kie7077 replied to EddyBerckx | 7 years ago
2 likes

StoopidUserName wrote:

I read that something like 35% of central london traffic is now Uber...amazing if true. Black cabs can't moan too much as they make up 20% (and dont restrict their numbers either).

...

You only need to be in central London for a while to know that simply can't be any where near true. Black cabs often dominate traffic, private cars are sparse. London traffic is mostly cabs, buses, hgvs lgvs and two-wheeled in no particular order.

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Dnnnnnn | 7 years ago
10 likes

More negative vibes. I gave Khan the benefit of the doubt but the doubt is growing.

It's fine to say "more care needs to be taken to minimise disruption during their construction" but that can also be used as excuse not to actually build the things... (or build them slower or to a lesser standard).

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