London Superhighways must do better

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Both the Barclays London Cycle Hire Scheme and the Superhighway scheme have come in for criticism from a report by the London Assembly Government.

While supporting the cycle hire scheme, the Transport Committee of the Assembly Government said it was unsure whether cycle superhighways were so far achieving their goals. There are currently two pilot cycle Superhighways in London (one leading from south Wimbledon to Bank, the other Barking to Tower Hill) attracting on average 5,000 cyclists a day.

One of its main concerns is that the Superhighways, which were designed to provide safer cycling routes, is not encouraging more people to cycle and is not making them feel any safer.

The Committee made the comments as it published a report to look at the first few months in the operation of both schemes. The report, Pedal Power, identifies a number of questions about the quality of the operation of the schemes and their funding arrangements.

In an online survey (1,297 people) about the schemes, Pedal Power found that more than half of respondents did not feel any safer on the Superhighways with users finding the lanes too small. Only 1% of the survey said that the introduction of the Superhighways had made them start cycling.

Teething problems were also identified in the cycle hire scheme, particularly in relation to registration, charging and poor customer service. However on a positive note, over 20% of respondents to the survey had started cycling as a result of the scheme and over 80% thought it good value for money.

The report asks the Mayor of London and TfL to report back on how they are addressing these key issues. It also recommends that there should be greater consistency in the features of future cycle Superhighways, for example the width of the lanes, advanced stop lines and junction improvement.  In the future there also should be detailed consultation with cycling organisations and London Boroughs on any new cycle Superhighways development.

The full Pedal Power report can be found here.

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