Mayor launches 'Cycling Vision' to "de-Lycrafy" London

The Mayor's Vision has been developed in consultation with cycling groups with an accompanying budget of £913m. 

He is also keen to make cycling appear more normal, broadening its appeal to a wider cross-section of society.

By the end of the 2016, the Mayor's Cycling Commissioner, Andrew Gilligan, claimed that spending on cycling would be £18 per head per year, roughly the same as is spent in Copenhagen. The aim will be to double cycle use within 10 years.

As well as the admirable Lycra-wearers, and the enviable east Londoners on their fixed-gear bikes, I want more of the kind of cyclists you see in Holland, going at a leisurely pace on often clunky steeds." 

Boris Johnson
Mayor of London

The vision would include a focus on high-quality segregated infrastructure, including a central East-West route running to Canary Wharf, including plans for segregated infrastructure using one lane of the Westway Flyover - dubbed a 'Crossrail' for the bike. 

Other routes will include new routes parallel to and named after Tube routes, such as the 'Bakerloo Superhighway', as well as 'Quietways' using back-streets. In addition, 'mini-Hollands' are proposed for outer London, concentrating up to £100m funding to transform up to 3 boroughs, with redesigned town centres, cycle hubs at railway stations, and a cycle route to central London. 

The Mayor’s vision shows real ambition, backed up with substantial resources – which should see huge improvements for cycling in London. We’d like to see national government following London’s lead and committing to a similar, long-term aspiration to make cycling a safe, normal and enjoyable activity for people throughout the country, with equivalent funding attached."

Gordon Seabright
CTC Chief Executive

The document points to the success of 'filtered permeability' in Hackney, where streets have been transformed into high quality cycle routes through closing roads to motor traffic, but retaining cycle access.

Plans for new infrastructure will also focus on junctions - where 75% of cycle casualties occur. Transport for London are currently trialling new designs for use at junctions such as Lambeth Bridge, to improve on a previous, low quality solution that CTC and other stakeholders rejected.

However, the document is less strong when it comes to 20mph, with promises to implement 20mph limits on just a few locations - such as Waterloo Bridge's southern junction - on London's busiest road network. 

Other measures include a new 'Superhub', with space for thousands of bikes to be parked and hundreds of hire bikes available, which will be constructed at one of the mainline termini in London. The cycle hire scheme will also be rolled out to new boroughs in the south and west, increasing the number of bikes available to 11,000. 

Overall, the document is breathtakingly ambitious - particularly compared with the national picture. A copy of the document can be downloaded below.