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CITY CYCLIST
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Summer 2003 Edition 2

Quote of the season

"The needs of cyclists are not of paramount importance in the middle of the greatest meat operation in the UK, any more than they are allowed special paths inside London Airport. There are too many road restrictions caused by cycle schemes - fewer are needed not more"
[from consultee on Smithfield permanent traffic layout scheme]

Well this butcher will be choking on his tripe when he finds out all the proposals which will benefit cycles around Smithfield Market! Read on for more info...

../Contents/..

CYCLING RISING IN THE CITY
LCN STILL STALLING
LIKE A LIGHTNING BOLT FROM THE SKY
TOO MANY TAXIS
CYCLING PLAN SWINGS & ROUNDABOUTS
TWO-WAY OR THE TRACKS WAY?
CITY CYCLING POLICE EXPANDING
NEXT MEETINGS & SPECIAL POLICE GUEST
IT'S HAPPENING IN YOUR AREA
CYCLE PARKING

../CYCLING RISING IN THE CITY

Cycling rose in the City by 28% from 1999 to 2002 and has risen a further 25% since the start of congestion charging. With a corresponding decrease in motor traffic now we make up 10% of the traffic on many roads. At times critical mass is achieved and you can get the feel of continental cycle culture in the core of the City. After a long wait, a number of traffic schemes are going ahead, most of them very positive for cycling, but the official cycle route programme is still proceeding at a snail's pace and providing very few benefits.

../LCN STILL STALLING

Progress on measures specifically _for_ cycles remains very limited, though certainly the London Cycle Network+ steering group did not help matters by totally changing (without warning let alone any consultation) the proposed LCN+ routes in the City a month before bids for them were supposed to be finalised.

The Stations Circular route is due for completion this year. While City Cyclists support some individual measures such as making Moor Lane two-way for cycles and new ASLs we do not support the route or its signing for what should be an obvious reason - the route now manages to avoid the stations! The only other LCN+ work to be done this financial year is investigating making advisory cycle lanes on LCN+ routes mandatory. But we have pointed out that with the lanes being constantly interrupted by bus stops, crossings and parking it will make little difference to change their legal designation: a total road redesign is needed.

In 2005/6 the Smithfield - Spitalfields cycle route will at last go ahead but we will not support it unless the one-way system round the market is removed for cycles: this could be difficult due to the market's delivery needs. The Fleet St - Cannon St is also due for improvements but we do not see how these can happen without St Paul's Churchyard being having a daytime bus & cycle only gate. The key LCN+ link of a segregated track Crosswall and Royal Mint Street by Tower Hill, which was due for completion earlier this year but was postponed due to TfL's concerns about motor traffic capacity on the congestion charge boundary (it is planned to go in with a new bus lane), should happen by then.

Finally the City is proposing routing the LCN+ via Monument, Gt Tower St and the backstreets to Royal Mint St as an alternative to the official LCN+ route from Mansion House to Aldgate via Bank, Cornhill and Leadenhall. We are suggesting keeping the original route and improving it but also having the back street proposal as a local cycle route alternative to busy Tower Hill until motor traffic is reduced enough for there to be a lane replaced by two-way cycle tracks there.

www.londoncyclenetwork.org

../LIKE A LIGHTNING BOLT FROM THE SKY

But just before the despair sets in, a proposal has suddenly appeared which is so radical in traffic terms we would never have dared suggest it! A new security cordon is to be set up by January 2004 between the Farringdon Street corridor, Embankment, Holborn and the western edge of the City. The plan was first proposed in April by a new committee chairman trying to make a name for himself and it offers increased security for businesses in return for higher rates. The proposal is for a new cordon rather than extending the existing cordon over Farringdon Street as it would be difficult to put in security points on the dual carriageway. The cordon is likely to be extended to the bottom of Kingsway to include the Royal Courts of Justice in the secure area.

This means lots of road closures to motor vehicles at the edge of the zone and other mode filters that would reduce motor traffic and increase permeability for cyclists. It is proposed that cycles would not be able to enter the exit only point at Stonecutter Street as the south side of that street will be used as a bus stand. We will lobby against this and the proposed complete closure of the ends of Carmelite and Carpenter Streets.

As an example of the benefits, City Cyclists once suggested making the northern part of Shoe Lane two-way for cycles as a bypass of Holborn Circus but this got nowhere. With a proposed closure at the northern end as part of the new security cordon, Shoe Lane will not only have to become two-way, all through motor traffic will be removed 24/7 meaning a world class there for cycling. The whole area will reap similar benefits. Not surprisingly the original 1993 "Ring of Steel" won a "Clear Zone" award for improving the street environment.

This proposal will do much to improve this part of the City which is the only significant part not to be covered by the additional security measures. Of course this is the reason why the proposal is going ahead at all let alone at a tremendous pace and why reactionary elements will have problems opposing it in the current political climate. The initial closures and Automatic Number Plate Reader (ANPR) camera sites will be going in on an experimental basis in temporary materials so there will be time to ensure that the width restrictions etc. are cycle friendly. Separate cycle tracks are not proposed for the entry points (like Moorgate and Ludgate Hill not Duke's Place or Queen Victoria Street): we need to work out our views on this.

It's amazing how fast things can be done when they want to be done...

www.clearzones.org.uk/casestudylondon.htm

../CYCLING PLAN SWINGS & ROUNDABOUTS

The draft of the City Cycling Plan has been improved in many respects following our lobbying. A glossy version will go out for public consultation in September but if you would like an electronic copy (Word format 707Kb or plain text) please e-mail the co-ordinator.

The only target additional to national and London-wide targets which the Corporation has no choice to sign up to is one to reduce cycle theft by 5% each year. The National Cycling Strategy target for trebling cycling by 2010 will be reached comfortably on present trends based on the Corporation doing little for cycling so further targets are needed to secure more action. Without such targets, there is a serious risk that cycling will remain bottom of the pile when it actually comes to turning words into action.

Targets we'd like to see include:

Making 100% of cycle lanes 1.5m by October 2004 - probably a legal requirement as the final part of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 comes into force then
100% of bus lanes operating 7am-7pm during weekdays and for buses & cycles only by 2005
95% of cycle lanes being clear of illegally parked vehicles (separate indicators for peak and off-peak based on surveys)
People receiving cycle training to increase by 10%? each year (separate targets for adults & children)
Increase cyclists' satisfaction of road cleaning & repair by surveys every two years.
Audits of one-ways, road closures & banned turns (separate targets for each) and their removal for cycles
Signage for completed cycle routes
Number of schemes for improved access to & secure parking at public transport stations
Number of new cycle parking spaces at existing offices (all new ones must have cycle parking)
Number of new offices with locker & shower facilities
Increase in number of cycle loans and essential & casual cycle users in Corporation staff
Provision of sufficient cycle parking, lockers and showers for 10% of staff by 2006

Almost all of these come from Camden's cycle plan so it is difficult to see why our neighbouring local authority cannot adopt similar targets.

www.camden.gov.uk/green/sections/PDF/cycle_plan.pdf

We'd also like to see a commitment to annual performance review of the plan, a full-time cycle officer a change to committee standing orders to specifically include cycling and a 20mph zone (final report due out next month) for the City.

../TWO-WAY OR THE TRACKS WAY?

One of the most positive improvements of our lobbying is the inclusion of local cycle routes in the cycling plan including Smithfields - Gresham Street and Bishopsgate - Aldgate taking cycles across unpleasant one-way gyratory systems. The Corporation will no doubt insist on segregated cycle facilities (also for the LCN Newgate Street - Cheapside route eastbound) for these contra-flow movements. These will have limited capacity for further increases in cycling, would make it harder to remove the one-way systems in the future and would force cyclists to go through twice as many traffic signals as motor vehicles in the meantime.

It is proposed that City Cyclists demand the removal of the gyratories north of St Paul's and around Houndsditch instead, following the success of the removal of the Shoreditch gyratory, especially as traffic flows on these gyratories in the City are now so low following congestion charging that they are disadvantageous for all road users. It may take a year or two longer but the wait would be worth it particularly improving conditions outside the "official" cycle routes while making cycle routes themselves easier to understand as they would use the same road in each direction of travel. The Houndsditch system is particularly annoying at its western end but could not be removed until 2006 when the Aldgate gyratory is due to start to disappear.

../TOO MANY TAXIS!

Even before congestion charging taxis made up 40% of the traffic in the central part of the City. Now it's just getting ridiculous with streams of empty taxis kerb crawling for trade. While the conventional thinking is that "the use of taxis reduces other forms of traffic that would be used otherwise, in effect reducing congestion" this does not apply in the City due to the unique balance of traffic, indeed most of the time taxis ARE the congestion. Worse still, because there are so many empty taxis, presumably drawn to the City by the prospect of lucrative short trips and large tips, their average occupancy is even less than private cars. And of course they stop on any side of the road blocking cycle and bus lanes causing disproportionate amounts of disruption to traffic flow and generally making it less safe to cycle.

By clamping down on taxis - removing unjustified privileges such as the use of bus lanes and actually enforcing parking restrictions against them - the glut of taxis could be ended with taxis being redistributed to those times and places when they are actually needed. In fact with some existing and proposed bus lanes being closed to taxis (except for picking up or setting down) it would be confusing not to have a clear and simple ban on taxis in City bus lanes. Watch out for a new campaign...

../CITY CYCLING POLICE EXPANDING

From September a Cycle Patrol Unit will be operational in the west half of the City operating from Snow Hill police station. City cycle police do seem better trained etc. than some of the Met (who can be seen suffering from saddle sore on occasion!). All thanks to the hard work of PC Mark Cockram who set up the CPU with little internal support and who has recently been to train to be a trainer in the USA. At the time of writing the start of operations has been delayed due to a shortage of new bikes - most of the shops have cleared out their stock in expectation of next years models.

Many of the cycle facilities in the City are near useless as there is no enforcement to keep motor vehicles out of cycle lanes or bike boxes. Without enforcement, investment in cycle facilities is often a waste of money. Therefore we need to work with the City police as much as the Corporation to improve conditions. One possibility is an ASL campaign that could start off with handing out leaflets (example below) and warnings to drivers who stop in them before starting to bring prosecutions. After all a record number of cyclists have been fined for crossing the lights on red which is exactly the same offence as that committed by drivers stopping in bike boxes. Without fair enforcement of the law, its legitimacy will be damaged and that has a more serious effect of deterrence that the likelihood of being caught and possible punishment. We also need to work with the police on cycle theft.

www.city.vancouver.bc.ca/engsvcs/transport/cycling/pdf/bikebox.pdf

../NEXT MEETINGS & SPECIAL POLICE GUEST

There will be a small campaigning meeting at 6pm on Monday, first of September, venue tba followed by a major meeting at 6pm on 7 October to discuss the Cycling Plan. Any help with finding venues for meetings etc. would be massively appreciated. An AGM is planned for early November at which we plan to invite PC Cockram to speak and answer questions.

../IT'S HAPPENING IN YOUR AREA

It does seem that City cyclists are benefiting far more from general traffic schemes than from the attempts to provide them with specific cycle facilities, perhaps because those facilities do not meet with the most basic of minimum standards.

WORK HAPPENING IN THE NEXT TWO MONTHS

* Narrowing of Newgate Street/Old Bailey junction (unfortunately cycle lanes were repainted even narrower than before following removal of the bailey bridge and our June complaint remains unanswered)
* Blackfriars Bridge bus & cycle lanes
* Holborn bus lanes

LIVERPOOL STREET

Liverpool Street is to be transformed dramatically by April 2004 with the area just east of Old Broad Street to become a pedestrian "square" closed to all vehicles except cycles 7am-7pm weekdays. Combined with a bus & cycle contra-flow between there and Blomfield Street, you'll be able at last to cycle in both directions. We are lobbying to ensure that cycles will be able to turn right from Bishopsgate into Liverpool Street. TfL is proposing to put in speed tables there as part of the radical but much needed scheme (due to the appalling road safety record here) to make Bishopsgate the first red route to have its limit lowered to 20mph. The major challenge is to allow cycles to go westbound on Eldon Street: with a 20mph speed limit, reduced motor traffic, a segregated track round the corner followed by a cycle lane not to mention some political will, this should not be a problem.

WATLING STREET

We are supporting an experimental daytime closure to motor vehicles of Watling Street during weekdays but opposing relocation of 3 meter parking bays onto Queen Victoria Street and suggesting allowing cycles to travel in both directions. The scheme is timetabled to start experimentally in November 2003.

ST BRIDE ST

The experimental traffic scheme is to be made permanent but will be changed further due to the proposed security cordon. We have raised the issue of the existing temporary narrow cycle gaps.

SOUTHWARK BRIDGE - GUILDHALL

Experimental motor traffic closures of Queen Street have now been approved and should go in by autumn 2003. Once these have settled down, plans for an attractive and permanent layout can go ahead which we will be monitoring carefully, partially the crossing over Upper Thames Street where we would like to see a longer cycle green phase that can also be used by northbound cyclists.

We are asking for the cycle route to be clearly marked through the pedestrian area, a view backed up by the following quote from the City Police:

"There have been conflicts between pedestrians and cyclists at other locations in the City where an existing road has been reduced to cycle access only. On each occasion pedestrians have believed that they had the right of way, which has resulted in casualties and on one occasion a cyclist being assaulted whilst on the cycle lane. For that reason I request that the shared use cycle route through Queen Street is clearly marked."

SMITHFIELD

The committee went against officers' recommendations and proposed keeping the Smithfield/Giltspur Street rotunda one-way. Our "third way" of permitting cycle contra-flow movements was turned down without reasoned argument despite frequent requests for reasons not references to a safety audit no one outside the inner circle of the planning department has seen. This is an important junction in the cycle network

LONDON WALL

The pavements on both sides west of Coleman Street are being widened to improve the street scene. This should reduce the racetrack effect of the wide dual carriageway and particularly help cyclists at the Museum of London roundabout as the narrowed roads are closer to continental designs of roundabouts which discourage high motor vehicle speeds. The current cycle lanes which were painted at half the width they were supposed to be will have to be repainted and we are lobbying for them to be at least the minimum international width of 1.5m, to continue along all of this section and to be made mandatory (loading etc. is already prohibited). The western end of London Wall has massive overcapacity even before further road traffic reduction which the City is committed to. So it would be sensible to have just one lane for motor traffic with wide pavements and cycle lanes taking up the rest of the space.

Without the legal objection from nine cyclists, the awful scheme for the Moorgate/London Wall junction would be proceeding. Corporation officers will be meeting some of us to discuss our concerns but initial information suggests they are unwilling to make changes. A petition and demonstration are therefore in the pipeline: if you are able to help, for example by collecting signatures at Moorgate during rush hour, please contact the co-ordinator.

FARRINGDON STREET

New bus lanes are proposed on this LCN route that has the highest cycle flows in London. We have complained that the London Bus Initiative proposals do not take account of cyclists and that it does not make sense to put in cycle lanes then overpaint them with bus lanes before trying to put in more cycle facilities later. Despite the fact that many cyclists reach 20mph and more the only cycle lane proposed ran round the bridge and parking spaces.

LOMBARD STREET

Work on the cycle contra-flow on the eastern half should start soon. Design work is underway for continuing it to allow cycles to go westbound on the whole road. The future of this route is now secure as it has been designated a future local cycle route.

../CYCLE PARKING

We are still pushing for more cycle parking as there is great demand for more, particularly in the Fleet Street and Liverpool Street areas. Some new "A" shaped stands have recently been installed such as at Holborn Circus (New Fetter Lane). These are definitely an improvement not just in security (the second cross bar makes it easier to lock a second wheel) but also aesthetically though the modernist design is only suitable in the most historic parts of the City. The Corporation is launching an on-request cycle rack installation service with new stands going in every six months. We have also proposed an attractive design of cycle stand to fit in with City street furniture but are still waiting for a response to our photomontage four months on.

---100% Grants for Cycle Parking at Universities and Further Education Establishments

TfL has extended the terms of the cycle parking for schools programme to include Universities and Further Education Establishments.

Please pass this on urgently to anyone you know who works, studies or teaches at a Uni. or College and wants cycle parking installed. This scheme may not be repeated so encourage your local establishments to complete the applications forthwith. Universities been sent invitations to apply directly but those may just get ignored or go un-noticed. Check and lobby if you want the funding to come through and the parking to be installed.

The University or Further Ed. Establishment has to ask for an application form from TfL: email: schoolcycleparking@streetmanagement.org.uk Or call Andrea at 020 7941 2253.

The DEADLINE for applications is 30 September 2003 for implementation early next year.

........................ CITY CYCLIST ........................