“I’m very pleased that we’ve got it in at last…a big, big, bureaucratic, diplomatic and political effort was made to get it done…but I think it’s the right way forward”
On Friday 6 May, LCC Camden branch campaigners joined with colleagues from boroughs across the capital, to participate in the opening of the new East-West and North-South Cycle Superhighways by Boris Johnson in one of his final tasks as mayor of London.
We met at the (once) notorious Blackfriars Bridge, the intersection of the two routes, the scene just two years earlier for the completion of the 2014 Space For Cycling mass ride; another two years prior to this it had been the focal point for a flash ride protest following a series of cyclist deaths.
On this bright Friday morning though, we were attending an event representing a great achievement, quietly excited, for what this view of the future, with the opening of the best example yet in the UK of high quality, protected cycle lanes.
With the arrival of Boris Johnson and cycling tsar Andrew Gilligan, the event proceeded, with interviews to press and TV. A congratulatory, yet modest moment was taken to recognise the efforts and determination of these two, who with campaigners and supporters, worked tirelessly to secure this major scheme. Boris had stated that few things he has worked on as mayor have received as much opposition as these cycle schemes
Boris arrives, met by ES reporter Ross Lydall (left)
BBC, Evening Standard and road.cc journalists talked to the mayor on whether he considerd the CS routes his legacy achievement, whilst also enquiring about his Prime Ministerial ambitions and, the ongoing problem of air pollution.
BBC Interview Extract (final as mayor)
For the last year or more, campaigners have viewed drawings and diagrams; artists’ impressions, of a fabulous looking route, and gradually, as projects have started to materialise, it hads been possible to experience how it actually feels to ride (albeit in short bursts). This means cycling without the need for excessive alertness, or adopting a defensive cycling approach (something not generally required by people choosing to walk or take the bus) – the kind of cycling people usually have to do around the capital’s outskirts and heftier streets). To be able to ride without the fear that the slightest momentary lapse of attention could end up very badly is something that still creates new enthusiasm for many of us old-hand cyclists.
Amongst the new projects, Battersea park, Vauxhall Bridge, Tavistock Place (though still due a final consultation stage this year) and the three Mini-Hollands have all received fabulous, latest spec improvements that will enable people to get as used to the idea of cycling as they are with walking. But the new East – West and North – South CS routes, simply by virtue of passing through iconic landmarks, and carrying riders directly, efficiently and comfortably over a considerable distance, have truly surpassed most campaigners expectations.
Perhaps, having received flack from media shouters,
Boris felt it necessary to don a helmet…
but where from?….
…ahh – problem solved!…
Then…off
We felt a mixture of excitement, gratitude, a sense of fulfilment and (for some least), a wish that this mayor and his Cycling Tsar Andrew Gilligan, could stay on a bit longer to complete the job.
Completing the job though is an ongoing process, with reviewing of best practice, part of the work to get cycle measures incorporated and producing a place fit for humans.
Boris referred to a hope that whoever was elected as mayor that evening, it was essential that they continued with the programme.
Along with a big clean-up act to ditch filthy carcinogenic vehicles from places where people reside, there must now be progress towards the expansion of these routes and most importantly, the creation of links and connections that ensure access for everyone, from all corners of London (and beyond).
Mass cycling means all-inclusive cycling i.e. not merely the domain of the bi-cyclist. The bar is set necessarily high, but now it is easier to see how such measures can be achieved. Interested campaigners, councillors, engineers from around the UK, will be able to travel to experience what needs to be done another towns and cities, without even needing to cross the channel.
Andrew Gilligan is known to favour the adage ‘build it and they will come’, and on the ramp leading up to Blackfriars Bridge, even Boris expressed surprise at just how many people were already travelling north on the C6 route, referring to occurrences of cycling ‘traffic jams’; a suggestion that had rung true for riders earlier in the week, who had suggested that these new routes might actually not be wide enough!
Brand new lanes. A tough and drawn-out win against powerful, yet perverse and skewed, vested interests. Designed with specific minimum widths (as laid out in the updated New London Cycling Design Standards). And yet…too narrow? Already!
The new mayor, Sadiq Khan might take note here; perhaps to make amends for an unfortunate election campaign comment that “cycle lanes might not need to be so wide”…
Well, this can be brushed aside, the baton picked up, held onto and…Here after all is the opportunity to continue the momentum, show the essential leadership and responsibility and…well get with the programme! Real transformation is now achievable. with Spring having arrived (well as in the ‘new normal’-climate-breakdown-seasonally-adjusted sense). More people will have the perfect excuse to get out on and ride. This is a perfect time to get those incentives in place. Imagine looking back to where we are now, seven years on and being truly amazed that for so long, children cycling to school in London (or the UK..?) had once never been a serious option.
By solving an array of problems (beyond the issue of mere transportation) created by an outlook that denies a basic freedom of mobility to the many, would go a long way to establishing a strong position of respect from which the new maypr would find it easier to operate from (not of course from the ‘business-as-usuals’). Sadiq Khan has recognised the fact that the asthma he suffers from is the result of airborne traffic particulates. As a lawyer, he will als0 do well to recognise that the same measures that would tackle this will at the same time alleviate the problem of ‘outgroup’ status that has been imposed upon people opting to cycle; the infrastructure itself would absorb this transport mode into the mainstream; a target for irrational levels of prejudice and abuse is removed. ‘Cyclophobia’, could be quietly removed before becoming a growing issue.
Boris Johnson on Prime Ministerial ambitions to Laura Laker of road.cc
“The prime minister is a committed cyclist and I hope very much that other cities will do what we’re doing”
Boris issued a thank you for the support he had had for “a number of difficult projects not least the cycling superhighways”.
“I hope that, whoever is mayor tonight needs to continue the programme… and there’s so much more to be done in outer London …that is where the real ‘wins’ are…where too many journeys are being made by car when they could be made by bicycle…it’s far too early to be complacent, or to crow about this. One of the things that really drove us was the fatalities and serious injuries we’ve seen with cyclists, particularly female cyclists (if you’ll remember) and I think, since June last year (2015), we’ve not had a fatality involving a cyclists and a motor vehicle…which is a very long period for us. Normally we’re running at about 20 a year, 15 a year at least..so that’s positive early indicator, but it’s far too early to be complacent…this is (the CS routes), fantastic – I cannot get over the number of cyclists I saw just going northbound on the new north-south… it’s absolutely astonishing… there’s cycle traffic jams!”
With reference to the quality of the track,
“I think it’s wonderful…you know there’s one thing I would say…it’s very important to recognise that this is a facility for everybody, specifically for all cyclists…it’s very important for people who revery experienced, who are very proficient, to not be too bullying or too assertive in the way that they cycle on the cycle superhighways, because I have come across people who are a bit intimidated by the peed with which some people are using it…, there’s no need to try and break the land-speed record on there…this is away of easily getting to work, or getting around town. This is not a race track”.
“I’m very pleased that we’ve got it in at last…a big, big, bureaucratic, diplomatic and political effort was made to get it done…but I think it’s the right way forward”
Anne Kendrick, thanks Boris, for all his help
and offers an LCC token of appreciation….
. …before he set off eastwards for a final round . of interviews as mayor of London. .
Mustafa Arif thanks Cycling Commissioner Andrew Gilligan for his
help and support…
before Andrew G. ‘gives thanks’ to the new cycle way with
a light-hearted ‘papal’ kiss!
Isabelle Clement, David Arditti, Chris Kenyon, Angela Hobsbaum and others look on
So the fight to win these routes has not been just about these routes, but rather to show how an essential improvement that impacts Londoners’ health and well-being is do-able and achievable.
It just takes political will, and the political will needs to be shaped in no small part by campaigners, having recognised the need for the UK to keep in step with international civilising measures, that not only mean a better means of getting about the place, or even making the place itself better as a result, but actually about calming the people who reside here, and the people passing through.
Or put simply, the benefits are for anyone with a vested interest in lung, life and limb.
Steven Edwards
