transport for london

Mayor of London Boris Johnson’s vision of a “cycling revolution” in the capital has come a step closer today, with work starting on the capital’s first two Cycle Superhighways.

The two routes concerned, which are among 12 planned in all to make it easier for cyclists to commute between Inner and Outer London, run from Merton in Southwest London to the City via the A24, and from Barking to Tower Gateway along the A13 and Cable Street.

Boris Johnson and Transport for London have announced plans for 12 outer London boroughs to become outposts for cycling.

The 12 - Barking and Dagenham, Bexley, Brent, Bromley, Croydon, Ealing, Haringey, Havering, Hillingdon, Kingston, Merton and Redbridge - will become Biking Boroughs, receiving extra support and expertise from Transport for London (TfL) in a bid to encourage greater numbers of cyclists in their areas.

The boroughs will each receive £25,000 from TfL to fund a local study examining how cycle journeys can be increased.

Community-based cycling initiatives in London are being invited to apply for funding from Transport for London (TfL) to help achieve their goals, and in addition to amounts of up to £5,000 as awarded in previous years, particularly outstanding projects could benefit from a cash boost of up to £10,000 this time around.

The first Cycle Friday has made its mark on London, and the London Cycling Campaign (LCC) is pleased with how today’s rides have gone. The Cycle Fridays in the city have been launched to encourage novice cyclists to commute to work in the hoe that they tempt new cyclists into the saddle.

Run by the London Cycling Campaign (LCC) in partnership with Transport for London, the rides will run for the next eight weeks until October 2. By then it’s hoped the novice cyclists will have improved in confidence enough to follow routes alone.

Transport for London (TfL has awarded £200,000 to cycling projects across the capital. Three cycling projects in Islington have shared £12,000 in funding to boost cycling in the community. The funding is from Transport for London (TfL) and has been given to Kate Greenaway School and Children's Centre (BikeStart), £3,116, Hayward Adventure Playground, £5,000, and On the Streets – Margins, £4,300.

A week after signing up to the Charter of Brussels with its central commitment to cities boosting cycling journeys to 15% of total journeys by 2020 officials in Edinburgh are already backtracking.  

Edinburgh is the only UK city to sign up to the Charter of Brussels, but speaking to road.cc city official admit its targets to significantly boost cycling in city centres are more aspirational than achieveable.

The search is on for a sponsor for the London cycle hire scheme.

The scheme, due for a May 2010 launch, will allow Londoners and visitors to the capital to pick up and drop off hire bikes at 400 locations across the nine London boroughs and several royal parks that make up the zone one travel area.

An initial 6,000 hire bikes are expected to support around 40,000 extra daily cycle trips in central London in a scheme similar to the Parisian Vélib scheme.

Plans for the Mayor of London’s Cycle Hire scheme moved a step closer today (27 April), as Transport for London began submitting planning applications for around 400 cycle docking stations – the locations where people will be able to pick-up and drop-off hire bikes in central London.

As debate rages over the London bike-hire scheme and similar schemes, like the Paris Velib, already implemented around Europe, bosses in China have got the right idea by making theirs completely free.

Well almost…whereas most European systems allow a set amount of time (usually half an hour) free and then charge on an increasing scale thereafter, a system just installed in Shanghai, offers bikes to city residents free for up to four hours.

bspoke, a new brand of cycle clothing launched today at the Evans store in London's Spitalfields. The location for the launch is a big clue to what bspoke is about, this is a range of clothing for the style-conscious cycle commuter who wants clothing designed for the bike that can just as easily be worn off it, and which isn't going to cost an arm and a leg either – we're talking mainstream fashion on a bike.

bspoke gallery