London still isn’t a ‘byword for cycling’ despite the Mayor’s campaign slogan – he admitted today to Caroline Russell that only 10km of safe cycle lanes have been built under his Mayoralty.
A new map shows in the 24 months since the Mayor took office, a few schemes begun under the previous Mayor have been finished but no new TfL protected cycle routes have broken ground.
Caroline Russell asked the Mayor when he would meet his pledge to triple the amount of protected cycle lanes by 2020 – these are lanes where people can ride their bikes safely separated from vehicle traffic.
According to London Cycling Campaign the Mayor needs to build 82.8km more by 2020 to meet his promise.
Caroline Russell says:
Anyone, aged 8 to 80, should feel comfortable getting on a bike to make every day trips. We’ll never achieve this if properly protected cycle lanes don’t exist for Londoners to ride on.
The Mayor pledged to London Cycling Campaign (LCC) he would triple these protected cycle lanes but progress so far is painfully slow – 10km in two years isn’t anything to be proud of.
To meet his pledge LCC calculate that the Mayor will have to build the six new routes he announced in January, as well as cycle superhighway 4, cycle superhighway 11 and cycle superhighway 9.
There’s a long road ahead to go to make London a byword for cycling.
Notes to editors
Editors’ notes:
Caroline is available for interview.
[1] Map produced by London Cycling Campaign showing kilometres of lanes built before and after the Mayor signed a pledge to triple the amount of protected cycle lanes
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1fg9Eizqx2KiMza0zTXujpQR8H0H99…
[2] Caroline Russell’s question to the Mayor at Mayor’s Question Time, 21 June 2018
Delivery of protected cycle lanes
Question No: 2018/1435
How many kilometres of protected cycle lanes have you delivered since your election, and how many of these are on superhighway routes?