19 ms·

Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

1018 points by gcoleman 4y ago

icare_1er 4y ago
The main issue with bikes in big cities is the blatant bike-theft problem and the near-impunity that thieves seem to enjoy.
bilvar 4y ago
Indeed. And they're as (or even more) dangerous for pedestrians as cars since they think traffic rules do not apply to them. Source: I work there.
sumitgt 3y ago
I would personally bike more often to more places if only there was some way to securely park my bike at the destination (grocery stores, restaurants, etc.). The only place I can reliably bike to at the moment is my office which has a secured bike parking.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
robertlagrant 4y ago
Looking at the chart, it appears that "motorists" is separate from "taxis". I wonder which bucket Uber falls into.
- stevesimmons 4y ago
  Taxi in London for road purposes usually means the London black cabs, which may drive in bus lanes. Ubers are like normal cars.
- dkdbejwi383 4y ago
  PHV which stands for "Private Hire Vehicle"
lscdlscd 4y ago
Amazing news! More cyclists (and fewer motorists) on the streets creates a safer, less polluted city environment for everyone.
- opless 4y ago
  [flagged]
  - hardlianotion 4y ago
    Hm. Sarcasm and an implied argument that fails a smell test.
    - opless 4y ago
      [flagged]
      - CydeWeys 4y ago
        Cars kill way more people than bicycles do though. Regardless of your perceptions here, this mode shift is overall safer.
        opless 3y ago
        Yes, and looking at the number of flags my comments have, quite a lot of you wonderful cyclists really don't have a steady grasp on reality either! But again, I already knew this
- ehnto 4y ago
  Quieter too. When wandering Tokyo I started asking myself, why does it feel so quiet when there are so many people and so much advertising? Then you hit one of the roads with cars, and you realise just how much road noise impacts a space. It is obvious in theory but I bet most of us in car-centric cities have learned to live with it so much, that it doesn't cross our minds as the source of discomfort.
Doctor_Fegg 4y ago
Note that the "City of London" is not the whole of the London built-up area, but just the financial services district, slightly more than one square mile in area. Still, it's a remarkable statistic even then.
- muyuu 4y ago
  not even all the financial district(s) fit inside the City these days I've marked them in the map, roughly: https://i.imgur.com/GieyqDm.png https://i.imgur.com/GieyqDm.png
- detritus 4y ago
  Yeah, that makes a lot more sense than the ridiculousness of the proposition if meant across the rest of London, as it's clearly not the case, sadly.
- Eric_WVGG 4y ago
  If anyone non-UK types are interested in this weird entity — technically dates back to Roman days, and predates the United Kingdom by hundreds of years — this podcast episode is quite funny and informative. Just an example of what a weird anomalous zone it is: the King (or Queen) of England is not legally allowed to enter without explicit permission from the mayor — not the mayor of London, the Lord Mayor of this square mile. It's like if Wall Street could tell the President of the US to take a hike. https://trashfuturepodcast.podbean.com/e/unlocked-britainology-19-the-city-of-london-feat-riley-quinn/ https://trashfuturepodcast.podbean.com/e/unlocked-britainolo...
  - chriswarbo 4y ago
    > It's like if Wall Street could tell the President of the US to take a hike An alternative take: If it turns out, by some legislative fluke, that a particular square mile of the US is not bound by all of its laws, it won't be long until Wall St companies start moving their headquarters!
    - 0xcde4c3db 4y ago
foobarian 4y ago
I wonder what fraction of that are E-bikes or others with a power source additional to the human.
- ehnto 4y ago
  Combustion powered bikes are unlikely to be counted but e-bikes probably are. That would match the delineation that regulate bicycles at least.
ilovecurl 4y ago
Somewhat important detail to note: The City of London's (AKA "The Square Mile") geographical area is 1.12 square miles: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_London https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_London This is great news.
- Gigachad 3y ago
  In Australia this area would be referred to as the CBD (Central Business District) although I'm not sure this term is globally used. My American friend had no idea what I was talking about. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_business_district https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_business_district
GalenErso 4y ago
I don't live in London, but I'm interested in acquiring a stationary bike to do cardio at home. Does anyone have recommendations?
- debacle 4y ago
  I'm a big fan of the Schwinn recumbent I bought pre-pandemic. It was <$250 and has seen a lot of use. Not the nicest bike by a long shot, but it gets daily use.
- swarnie 4y ago
  Get a Peloton with a financing deal, hope either they or the underwriter collapse shortly after. Free bike.
  - ddek 4y ago
    > hope either they or the underwriter collapse shortly after Has this ever worked? Surely the administrator would just sell the debt at a discount (for them, not you).
    - dmurray 4y ago
      If Peloton collapse, they would stop providing their cloud product and you presumably wouldn't be on the hook to keep paying them, and they might not ask for the bikes back. If you only want the physical equipment, this might work out for you.
- mattmcknight 4y ago
  One good option is to turn your bike into a stationary bike so you can use it for both purposes. Options range from cheap to crazy expensive, like everything else with bikes. https://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/indoor-bike-trainers.html https://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/indoor-bike-trainers...
snvzz 4y ago
Great. Hopefully this will make the introduction of stricter regulations on motorists easier, particularly safety and noise.
jmclnx 4y ago
Nice, I wonder if they are back using internal hubs (like old 3 speeds) or derailleurs ? The internal hubs like they used 50+ years ago were a better design for rainy weather than derailleurs. With that said, I can guess most are using single speed. Hopefully not fixed :)
- tokai 4y ago
  >internal hubs like the used 50 years ago Their invention is closer to 150 years ago than 50.
- robertlagrant 4y ago
  Interestingly, Bromptons[0] using Sturmey Archer internal hubs, and I believe you can buy an upgrade that puts a derailleur on the front, to double the number of gears. [0] https://www.brompton.com https://www.brompton.com
  - julian_t 4y ago
    The owner of a bike shop I used to frequent had a Moulton (one of the old space-frame ones) with a 5-speed hub and a derailleur on the back and three rings on the front. He said he wanted to see just how many gears he could actually get on one bike.
- Doctor_Fegg 4y ago
  A good number of bikes in London are folding Bromptons with 3-speed hub gears or similar.
- lm28469 4y ago
  In Berlin most newish city oriented bikes I see have internal hubs
- i_am_jl 4y ago
  >With that said, I can guess most are using single speed. Hopefully not fixed :) I'm more curious as to the makeup of electric-assisted vs human-powered. Ebikes have also shaken up the drivetrain landscape a bit. Motors can be in the middle of the bike, and those bikes are often being paired with internally geared hubs in the rear. Mid-drive bikes can incorporate a gearbox in the motor, and are built with nothing but a belt drive and a single cog on the rear wheel. I love pedaling, but I'd have to be blind to not see how ebikes have widened cycling's userbase in my area, and I'm very curious if that's the case everywhere.
nntwozz 4y ago
We are the cyclists, the intermediate stage between humans and pure energy. https://youtu.be/1s0XsulDXtk https://youtu.be/1s0XsulDXtk
- trgn 4y ago
  Bicycles are the best machine from the industrial revolution. Quiet, healthy, efficient, harmonious with our sensibilities. I think it is precisely these aspirational qualities that is enraging the morlocks in their cars (speaking for US only now, it's better in other countries). A bicycle is a shameful reminder of the virtuous path not taken.
  - dsfyu404ed 4y ago
    >Bicycles are the best machine from the industrial revolution. Quiet, healthy, efficient, harmonious with our sensibilities. I think it is precisely these aspirational qualities that is enraging the morlocks in their cars (speaking for US only now, it's better in other countries). A bicycle is a shameful reminder of the virtuous path not taken. The power loom? The electrical generator? The steam engine? The telegraph? The bicycle is a "nice to have" latecomer that can only exist in a world which is already somewhat industrialized.
    - trgn 4y ago
      lol way to miss the point. Hyperbole is a rhetorical device to emphasize a point. I'm so tired of the internet. Anyway, yes, let me revise, bicycles are the best invention, of ALL TIME! Power loom: ushered in capitalist mode of production, alienating us from our labor. Electrical generator: it's cool I guess. Steam engine: start of the fetishization of the engineering aesthetic. Awful. Only redeeming quality is that it gave us steam punk fiction 200 years later. Telegraph: instant communication is way overrated. Sorry for piling on. Long weekend.
      - dsfyu404ed 4y ago
        > lol way to miss the point. Hyperbole is a rhetorical device to emphasize a point. https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/738/025/db0.jpg https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/738/025/db0... Your "hyperbole" was solidly within the fat part of the bell curve of "what people of your bent say unironically". You don't get to say you were just pretending when it's called out for being absurd. Also, poe's law is very relevant here. >ower loom: ushered in capitalist mode of production, alienating us from our labor. Electrical generator: it's cool I guess. Steam engine: start of the fetishization of the engineering aesthetic. Awful. Only redeeming quality is that it gave us steam punk fiction 200 years later. Telegraph: instant communication is way overrated. Once again, it's not whimsical hyperbole when there's no shortage of people saying more or less exactly the same thing unironically.
rhaway84773 4y ago
It would be interesting to see how road space is also allocated between these 2 modes. I don’t know much about the City of London (I do know that it’s not the same thing as the city of London), so I’m curious if others with more knowledge can share some information.
- ddek 4y ago
  In CoL, a few cycle lanes but mainly it's just very quite roads. It works in CoL because motor traffic is so heavily restricted the roads are fairly quiet.
  - vergessenmir 4y ago
    Which is why it's pretty much the safest area to cycle because motorists are primed to expect cyclists on the roads but you only have to travel 2 minutes east and traffic becomes much heavier and more chaotic pretty quickly
favaq 4y ago
Didn't they make it very, very expensive to drive in the City of London?
- ajb 4y ago
  £15/day. So more expensive than public transport but less than if you took an uber.
  - favaq 4y ago
    Then it's not wonder people would rather cycle. What a deceptive headline.
    - coopierez 4y ago
      How is it deceptive?
  - jillesvangurp 4y ago
    That's probably excluding parking. I would expect the day rate for that to be quite steep.
  - redleader55 4y ago
    As a data point, going two ways between zones 3 and 1 by tube is 8.7 pounds a day, and it will go up soon. If you include 2 people in the family, the convenience of dropping off the kids at their schools, etc 15 pounds doesn't sound that bad for the car, if you have where to park.
- fancyfredbot 4y ago
  It is not any more expensive than anywhere else in central London. Electric cars can drive in the city for free at any time. For other cars, between 7am and 6pm you have to pay a £15 congestion charge to drive in the centre. You might have to pay another £12.50 ULEZ charge if you drive an older car.
  - Gigachad 3y ago
qikInNdOutReply 4y ago
Its fascinating, that even such a entrenched industry such as the car industry, can be banned from urban centers. There is hope for change yet.
- trgn 4y ago
  It's amazing to see. The last ten years, the galvanizing project of every european city has been calming cars. I didn't really realize it until I was there the last few summers on vacation, and the difference is night&day with 10 years ago (Brussels, Paris big examples, many smaller ones too). Unreal, a truly positive transformation. It's one of those things, you just can "feel", although maybe hard to explain, I certainly couldn't imagine "the feel" about 10-15 years ago. Hope US cities can marshal that same gumption eventually. This takes top-down courage. It can never resolve bottom up, especially with how fearful and short-sighted americans can be.
  - qikInNdOutReply 4y ago
    I wonder, why there is not dealds between land speculation and public transportation. One party buys fields from farmers, the other creates a privately financed railroad/subway out in the "new suburbs", shooting the areas value through the roof. Then build denser, better citycore, connected to the old citycore.
    - trgn 4y ago
      From what I gather, there used to be, the "streetcar suburb" was exactly that. It no longer exists, at all. best you may get is some new urbanist toy town in the exurbs. They're great because they're better than a regular suburb, providing local walkability, but they're still isolated pods.
      - qikInNdOutReply 4y ago
        A start for that would be investors legislating for building codes to be suspended in a new development area completely, allowing for mixed development. Then make a investment into public transport towards the area taxfree.
leoedin 4y ago
> The 24-hour traffic count was conducted on a wet and windy November day last year. Presumably that means on a nice summers day the numbers are even higher. This is of course countered by the fact the City of London is becoming increasingly hard to navigate in a motor vehicle. There's a proliferation of camera-enforced road closures and turning restrictions which, along with the congestion charge and very high parking charges make driving anywhere near the City only really possible for the very rich. It's long been the case that the majority of vehicles in the City (or anywhere in central London really) are taxis and commercial vehicles. It's great that cycling is increasing, but it's probably at the expense of train travel rather than driving - I don't think I've ever met anyone who works in central London who drives to work regularly. One peculiarity of the way the City of London is managed is that it has its own local government. Maybe with this evidence that cycling is important they'll finally invest some money into their cycle infrastructure - you can essentially see the dividing line between the City and Islington just by looking at the quality of the road surface.
- NovemberWhiskey 4y ago
  Peak driving time in the City is also probably more like after 8/9pm when the big banks start offering car service for their employees to get home anyway.
raphaelj 4y ago
Somewhat unrelated to the article, but I live in a mid-size EU city and dumped my car for an e-bike a few months ago. Surprisingly, it hasn't been that hard (my GF kept her car, and I have a car-sharing subscription): Pros: - Immediately stopped having insomnia. Better feel overall; - about €300/month in additional disposable income. That's basically a free lunch everyday! - significantly faster if parking is taken into account for most trips. The bike is faster for any < 10 km / 7 mi trip; - do not have to worry about car maintenance, parking tickets or theft; - you will not kill someone if you ride after a night drinking; - amazing when the weather is great; - (almost) no emission. Cons: - might be impossible depending on work or children; - weather might make the ride unpleasant; - somewhat dangerous when the infrastructure is lacking. I'm pretty sure I'll never own a car, unless absolutely required by work. Improving the infra and the car-sharing network would be awesome.
- r00fus 4y ago
  Theft is the major reason I haven't invested in a utility e-bike (or use my expensive road bike) to do local shopping. I live in a place with fantastic bike-ability, but don't shop because of theft concerns. Is that different in London?
  - djtango 4y ago
    No bike theft is a huge problem in London
    - boudin 3y ago
      There are more bike hangars now though, but it often just solves half of the problem.
- sleepybrett 3y ago
  > - you will not kill someone if you ride after a night drinking; You might kill yourself though.
- Zardoz89 4y ago
  You can absolutely kill a pedestrian or another cyclist when on an e-bike, do not drink and ride
sandworm101 4y ago
What are the per-mile statistics? What percentage of total miles traveled occur via bike? If every trip counts equally, pedestrians should outnumber everyone. (Most every cyclist or driver becomes a pedestrian at some point during the day.)
- rhaway84773 4y ago
  The article points out that walkers do outnumber everyone.
knolan 4y ago
I've a 24 km commute in Dublin in Ireland. It's most consistent by ebike. Driving can take anywhere from 35 minutes to over an hour depending on traffic. Public transport takes 90 minutes and there is only a direct bus a couple of times a day, otherwise it will take closer to two hours. On my bike it consistently takes an hour. I can take various green ways through parks and try to minimise my exposure to aggressive drivers and get some good exercise even on an ebike. The only issue is picking up a puncture which has been an issue with my new tyres lately. It's important to invest in good equipment if you can.
- ihaveajob 4y ago
  Predictability is an important factor, and yes, bikes are better at that. By the way, try a vinyl liner between the tube and the tire for puncture protection. Since I started doing this, my puncture rate has fallen easily by 90%.
  - knolan 4y ago
    I think I just need to get the same puncture resistant tyres I had on it previously which were excellent. The current ones where whatever the LBS had in stock.
- nmca 4y ago
  I have run schwalbe marathon pros on a variety of bikes & have never gotten a fast puncture on one despite thousands of miles. They are a touch heavy to be fair, but seems easily worth it.
  - hardlianotion 3y ago
    schwalbe marathon is by far my most successful anti puncture tyre.
TexanFeller 4y ago
I would celebrate if this happened naturally, but this seems more a case of if you punish driving enough you get less drivers. When I was in London over a decade ago they already had restrictions on car traffic into certain parts of the city and additional fees to go there. Tax on a new car is 20% and lots of regulations on their characteristics. Large taxes on petrol which is already much more expensive than in the US.
- Xylakant 4y ago
  Nothing about traffic allocation is „naturally“. Building roads is a decision. Allocating space for cars, bicycles, pedestrians is a decision. Making driving a car cheap is a decision. Discouraging driving by increasing costs is a decision. Reducing car traffic by restricting use is a decision. It’s decisions all the way down. The question is „What is the outcome we want and what‘s the road to get there.“
- alamortsubite 4y ago
  There's nothing natural about cars, nor the many negative externalities that are associated with them.
- dabeeeenster 4y ago
  "Tax on a new car is 20%" UK sales tax IS 20 for almost all goods! Why is this a reason? Can't think what other "regulations" there are in their characteristics other than emmissions?
  - seszett 4y ago
    That's an average VAT rate for Europe.
  - vultour 4y ago
    Large parts of Europe have VAT around 20%.
- jwhiles 4y ago
  I used to walk everywhere in the middle of the road but then they started punishing me for it :(
hprotagonist 4y ago
And the total time it's taken a load of goods to cross the city still hasn't changed in 700 years :) (I believe that this is Neil Gaiman's joke, but it could also be Pratchett, or older)
- dharmab 4y ago
  This article is about the City of London, not London the well-known capital city.
  - hprotagonist 4y ago
    I think the joke works in both cases, really... despite the fact that the city of london is what, half a mile wide?
dukeofdoom 4y ago
biking is great except for ball cancer due to sitting postion
- sunbum 4y ago
  you sit in a car as well
  - kilgnad 4y ago
    [dead]
  - dukeofdoom 4y ago
    Not quite the same. The problem with a bike seat is the bike seat cuts off circulation in point where a lot of blood vessels pass through, riding has been linked to cancer. Along with the more common city riding hazards like car passangers opening doors, falling over and you breaking bones, getting run over, or even directly breathing in exhaust fumes from trucks.
    - ignormies 4y ago
      > the bike seat cuts off circulation in point where a lot of blood vessels pass through, riding has been linked to cancer Even if this is true (I'm skeptical without seeing a source), you're more than free to mount whatever style of seat you want on your bike. No one's stopping you. > Along with the more common city riding hazards like car passangers opening doors, falling over and you breaking bones, getting run over, or even directly breathing in exhaust fumes from trucks. Great point. Those are all excellent reasons for further reducing the numbers of cars on our streets in lieu of bikes and walking.
      - dukeofdoom 3y ago
        I remember watching 60 minutes, and watching streets in China filled with people riding bikes everywhere. Fast forward to now, and clearly even communists prefer cars. The reasons are endless why a car is superior way to travel, 99% of the time for most people. However, I have nothing against bikes. I rode one my first year of university, daily; rain and snow. I was a poor student. It had its benefits, but it sucked in many ways. Separated Bike paths is both a safer and nicer experience. No need to try and get rid of cars. Because biking in cities is dangerous, I wouldn't go around telling people to do it.
tyingq 4y ago
Curious how much of this was the £15 daily "congestion charge" you have to pay to get a vehicle into the area.
EGreg 4y ago
Just for reference: City of London is not greater London. It’s a small part of London.
ghusto 4y ago
My main transportation vehicle for anything under 15km is a bicycle. I go through rain, ice, snow — doesn't make a difference to me, I'll be cycling. Yes, I've cycled through storms, can't see what the fuss is about really. I would still never cycle in London. It doesn't have proper cycle infrastructure, just some painted lines on roads designed for cars. You're taking your life in your hands there. The car drivers are absolutely entitled to be pissed off with the city. Where I live (Netherlands) they made cycling the obvious choice, because it's cheaper, faster, and more fun than anything else. In London, it's more like it's being smashed down everyone's throats by force. Cycling isn't _better_ there, it's just the only economically viable option after the greedy money grab that is the "punish all drivers" policy for the last 20 years.
- pclmulqdq 4y ago
  This isn't about London. This is about the City of London, which is about 2 square km in the heart of London (and a separate city). The City of London is incredibly driver-hostile and pedestrian-friendly, so I was personally surprised that this hadn't happened already.
  - ghusto 4y ago
    The City of London couldn't have changed that much since the last time I was there, about 5 years ago. It's where all the banks and that are, right? Seemed very much a no-go in the same way to me.
- rhaway84773 4y ago
  Ice scares me. Rain and snow are not a problem. But I usually bike in areas with shared infrastructure with cars. I wonder if I would be less worried about ice if slipping and falling wouldn’t mean I will potentially get driven over by a car.
  - dagurp 3y ago
    Get studded tyres, they work incredibly well.
secondcoming 4y ago
Commuting to work on my bike through London was one of my highlights living there. So much fun and danger.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
interdrift 4y ago
don't drink and bike, it's dangerous.
housingisaright 4y ago
I love only having a bike in the city. So convenient and helps keeping my energy up. Worst part of living in Stockholm is that it is completely inconvenient in most cases if you actually wanna go to the city.
abricq 4y ago
This news literally makes me so happy. I can't wait to see it propagating around the world ! Riding a bike it better for your health, for the environment, makes cities much safer places, better for your mood as well & even better for your wallet. For people who have the chance to work reasonably close to their work, it's THE perfect solution. I bike to work every day since 4/5 years, in Switzerland. Since roughly 18 months, I have seen a huge change in the behavior of car drivers: they are much much nicer to interact with. Before COVID, I had dangerous interaction with drivers several time a week, and had to be in constant vigilance for them not considering me as part of the traffic. Now, it has been reduced to maybe once a month. Sometimes I don't even believe how well people respect us now, considering how it was just 3 years ago. And most of the time when I confront people that did something dangerous, they are sorry and feel bad about it (it really wasn't like this a few years ago...)
- foepys 4y ago
  I noticed that as well. I guess many people took up cycling as a leisure activity when COVID hit and suddenly noticed how dangerous cars are for them on their bicycles.
- kccqzy 3y ago
  Interestingly I recently visited Seattle and rented a car there. I did what I always do—yielding to bikes when turning right—and the bicyclists actively thanked me for yielding and avoiding cutting in front of them. I was a bit dumbfounded as to how this behavior isn't common enough.
- matsemann 3y ago
  Critical mass is an important factor. Previously, I've been biking almost alone in the winter here in Norway. The later years we're multiple cyclists at every intersection. So I used to be the "edge case" drivers forgot about, to being one of many the drivers now have to constantly be aware of. It also feels a lot safer biking in a train of 5 people than alone.
- entropicgravity 3y ago
  I ride an e-bike and I'm very fond of it, but it's a transitionary solution. What will propagate in cities within twenty years is almost all EV's with covered roads (no poisonous gases) and 'cars' that take up a half of a current lane and can carry three people at most. The car market will split between 'long distance' similar to today's cars and 'city cars' that are tiny compared to today. This will happen because EV's can happily scale to a much smaller size than ICE cars can and consequently will be much more practical.
hammock 4y ago
How much of this is because London is a great place to bike and how much of this is because they tax you so darn much to drive in the City?
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
t00 4y ago
There is a proven correlation between prostitution and poverty. Are we observing a similar effect?
lasermike026 4y ago
This is a great success which I hope is replicated in the United States.
electrosphere 4y ago
November 2020 I ordered a Swytch e-bike kit and fitted it to my bike. It replaced the car for many things (weekly grocery shops, city centre trips). I moved to London last year and this turned out to be a fortune timing. My car, a Honda Civic 2007 diesel, is not ULEZ compliant and I will have to pay £12.50/day to drive it from August 2023 due to the low emission zone expansion. I plan to sell it in July. Guess what? I've been using my Swytch e-bike happily here in London to get around the suburbs. There are even some Amsterdam style bike lanes to get further into the city. Pros when I get rid of the car: * no insurance, tax, ULEZ charge, fuel, trip to fuel station, servicing charges, worries about people scratching it... * Uber for when I really need a car (eg. I have a group with me) * able to take short-cuts and bypass unpleasant town centers/sometimes * feeling of getting fresh air and exercise * helping a cleaner environment for next generation Cons: * weather has a big factor when riding and planning trips, all you really need though is gloves, a waterproof jacket - maybe waterproof over-trousers for when there is heavy rain. * cold weather waters my eyes and hits me in the face * have to unlock & lock the bike and carry a D-lock I doubt I will ever own a car after August 2023.
- chroma 3y ago
  So the reason more people are cycling in the area is that the government made cars extremely expensive, almost certainly more than the externalities created by those cars. If they instead instituted a carbon tax and congestion pricing, I doubt your daily expenses would exceed £12.50/day.
  - PickledJesus 3y ago
    London's had congestion pricing for 20 years. The ULEZ is a tax on high NO2 emissions, not carbon. It's caused a significant reduction on the externalities of bad air quality, which was the goal.
samstave 4y ago
I have been a daily bike commuter for over a decade. I recently got an e-bike, and I would not want a non-e-bike aftger this. I have an Orbea Rise and I love it. It is heavy though, and the tires are too wide for some of the bus bike racks... Also, WRT to lighting - I highly recommend getting these, instead of the expensive lights they sell in places like mikes bikes... I have these on my bikes - they are awwesome because they are weather-proof, solar charged, motion sensing activation and give a wide throw of light. I have one on the front of my bike and on on the back. They automatically turn on at night and go bright when the bike starts moving. https://www.amazon.com/Otdair-310-Lighting-Waterproof-Security/dp/B09P1JG7GN?pd_rd_w=0WofT&content-id=amzn1.sym.deffa092-2e99-4e9f-b814-0d71c40b24af&pf_rd_p=deffa092-2e99-4e9f-b814-0d71c40b24af&pf_rd_r=C6819PHP9CA8E4AAD1JX&pd_rd_wg=LQ7ul&pd_rd_r=6746df0a-28cc-46b8-b3e8-8c99164b5d3c&pd_rd_i=B09P1JG7GN&psc=1&ref_=pd_bap_d_grid_rp_0_1_i https://www.amazon.com/Otdair-310-Lighting-Waterproof-Securi...
raldi 4y ago
I remember New York mayor Michael Bloomberg taking a trip to London around a year after they implemented their congestion charge, since he wanted to do that too. Their mayor told him something like, “Everyone’s going to be protesting literally up to the morning it goes into effect, and then a week later everyone will be saying, ‘Why didn’t we do this ages ago?’”
jdthedisciple 4y ago
Great! Now fix London's massive crime issues, thanks.
- pornel 4y ago
  What a coincidence that crime in London became an issue the day a non-christian Mayor got elected, and the issue is of utmost concern on US-centric social media.
zabzonk 4y ago
both equally horrible, from the perspective of a pedestrian. the only two people i have ever punched with intent in my life were these witless nincompoops that drive around the city and into you - if you don't work there, you have no idea how dangerous these assholes are. easy solution: compulsory lisencing and insurance
olivermarks 4y ago
Make sure you charge your ebike battery outside and/or in a steel ammunition box to mitigate fire risk. What's driving the battery fires with e-bikes and scooters? https://www.npr.org/2023/03/11/1162732820/e-bike-scooter-lithium-ion-battery-fires https://www.npr.org/2023/03/11/1162732820/e-bike-scooter-lit... The problems seem to be more with low end Chinese ebikes. Hopefully LEVA will produce some standards as Light Electric Vehicles are very unregulated right now. https://levassociation.com/ https://levassociation.com/
monkchips 4y ago
hopefully this will contribute to a tipping point on infrastructure investments around low traffic neighbourhoods.
Maxburn 4y ago
I haven't done my research but from what I've gathered from news over the years hasn't London had very high car tax, tolls, super expensive gas, and just outright closing streets and eliminating parking? So with a big enough stick and very little carrot anything is possible? Is that a win? Aren't we hearing that actual residents really don't like these "15 minute" cities?
- sofixa 4y ago
  > with a big enough stick and very little carrot anything is possible Yep, so all those complaining that nothing is being done or can be done about climate change are wrong. There are tools, they just need to be used. > Aren't we hearing that actual residents really don't like these "15 minute" cities? We're also hearing that Zuckerberg is a lizard and the Earth is flat, so fucking what? London is a major metropolis, rather dense, and with very relaxed and mixed zoning (you can have a 13th century "Church of X Girls School" next to a Tesco store in a glass skyscraper. It already does everything a "15th minute city" is about, apart from being "15 minutes big" - commute times are usually bigger, and somewhat concentrated to City and Canary Wharf, but there's work, leisure, shopping, housing to be found all around. Idiots who rage against a concept they couldn't begin to comprehend because toilet paper quality "journalists" make money that way aren't concerned residents of London, they have nothing to do with the city, and their opinion is best ignored.
  - Maxburn 3y ago
    Do you live there? In a utopian ideal it seems kind of nice having "everything you need" close by. Thinking about it critically I currently live in a 15 minute city, but there is a car involved. I'm kind of confused about how people living in mass transit even get groceries, can you take your own cart on the train?
    - cmonagle 3y ago
      Typically you carry your groceries in a bag. Some people have wheeled bags for bigger trips. In neighborhoods with a traditional urban form (or "15 minute cities"), you wouldn't usually take mass transit to the grocery store, it's within a short walking distance. With groceries close by, it's natural to make frequent, smaller trips.
kkfdkerpoe 4y ago
I think the sensible model is to eventually get rid of most car traffic in city centres, and concentrate the parking spots in suburbs, with adequate public transport to denser areas. Personally I couldn't live without a car. Not because I need it much in the city right now, but because I need it to reach my relatives and meaningful places in the countryside, far away from any public transport. Cost of living is also something to consider, not everyone can afford a proper house within reach of public transport, and living in a flat sucks.
Tiktaalik 4y ago
imagine how much of a shit show it would be if every single one of these people tried to commute in one day in their own individual vehicle instead of a bicycle. It's the space efficiency of the bicycle that allows London to function at this point.
lacker 4y ago
I'm worried about riding my bike in the city. A friend of mine died on her bike when hit by a truck in Seattle a few years ago and since then I just don't feel okay biking alongside cars any more, especially with kids. I know this is fundamentally born of emotion rather than rationalism, but still, it does seem like riding a bike is much more dangerous than driving. Bicycles are somewhere from 3x to 11x more dangerous than cars. https://bicycleuniverse.com/bicycle-safety-almanac/ https://bicycleuniverse.com/bicycle-safety-almanac/ When I visited Amsterdam I liked how they often had separated bike lanes, not like in the US where cars can and do just drive through the bike lanes, like an actual physical barrier preventing cars from driving through bike lanes. Maybe that would be a lot safer, but, I won't hold my breath on that coming to the US.
- f_devd 4y ago
  > Bicycles are somewhere from 3x to 11x more dangerous than cars. In the US, where there is effectively no bicycle infrastructure. In the Netherlands it seems to be about 1.18x (or 1.1x if you include trucks) [0]. [0]: https://www.statista.com/statistics/523310/netherlands-number-of-cyclist-road-fatalities/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/523310/netherlands-numbe...
  - chroma 3y ago
    The important metric is fatalities per distance traveled, not absolute numbers. In the Netherlands, bicycles have 11 fatalities per billion kilometers traveled. Cars have 1.6.
    - locallost 3y ago
      By that metric, walking is the most dangerous mode of transport. Somehow seems illogical.
      - chroma 3y ago
        The comparison is valid because people in this thread are saying that bikes should substitute for many car trips. If they were saying the same thing about walking then I’d make the point about waking safety. But walking can’t substitute for many car trips so it’s a non-issue. Cars have disadvantages and externalities, but they are much safer than bicycles. This is true even in the most bike-friendly countries on earth.
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realworldperson 4y ago
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Aaronstotle 4y ago
Love to see it, I cycle a lot for exercise. Weather has been very rainy, hoping to bike more for short trips around town. Thought about a cheap e-bike for grocery shopping, etc.
theFletch 4y ago
I didn't see any mention of this in the article, but I wonder what percentage is commuting vs. delivery. I was in NYC before and after the pandemic and, just from a casual outside perspective, it seemed that the number of delivery cyclist has risen significantly while commuters has dropped or just stayed the same.
- Zigurd 3y ago
  NYC has enough delivery riders that storage and fire risk from overnight charging is significant. I'm sure the same risks apply everywhere but sheer numbers in NYC make it a headline issue. I rode blue bikes while visiting, and I had different observations riding and walking: While walking it seemed like delivery riders where everywhere. While riding, I noticed a lot more leisure and commuting riders, probably because I was riding where they ride, not to some random delivery location.
  - theFletch 3y ago
    That's a great point about just being where certain types of riders are. This probably speaks volumes about the infrastructure for cycling, or lack of in NYC. I'm a cyclist and advocate for more bikes, but there is something about putting motorized transportation (e-bikes, scooters, etc.) even closer to pedestrians that seems wrong to me. Getting hit by a car is no fun, but getting hit by an e-bike going 20+ mph can't be fun either. The number of people to potentially suffer an injury also doubles.
    - Zigurd 3y ago
      I never felt unsafe walking or riding where delivery riders were delivering. The safety problems I encountered were all due to cars. Delivery riders have a tough life. They buy their own gear and pay to keep it in the city. Things like UL-listed batteries are important. But so is expansion of bike infrastructure for all kinds of cyclists. I don't own one, but I know e-bikes popularize cycling. In some places they are the only practical daily use bike. More would be better.
jagtstronaut 4y ago
What is a constructive way to respond to cyclist hate? I used to commute to work quite a bit and got a lot of flack both on the road and off (people giving their opinion). I don't really understand the hate first of all, but more importantly how do you respond to it appropriately and maturely? Is there another way than just ignoring it?
- noobermin 3y ago
  Keep cycling until they join you (or die because they're old boomers anyway).
tgtweak 3y ago
Works well when you don't have 3-4 months of snow and ice. This is probably my biggest gripe with the whole "change roads to bicycle paths" push that is happening in most big cities (emulating this and using it as a guiding example). That infrastructure is essentially useless for 1/3 of the year.
- toshredsyousay 3y ago
  And cars work so well on snow and ice? Some cities in Finland have lots of people cycling in the winter and last I heard they get lots of snow and ice. You can get snow tires for bikes just like you can for cars. You can also plow bike lanes like you can plow the roads. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uhx-26GfCBU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uhx-26GfCBU
- Mashimo 3y ago
  > Works well when you don't have 3-4 months of snow and ice. Should work just fine IF there is biking infrastructure. You plow the bike roads just like you do with car roads.
textread 3y ago
I was finding it difficult to stick to cycling. Hearing my plight, an avid cyclist friend of mine suggested me to try a trick:- Get a 3 way folding cycle such as the Brompton. Now, play around with hybrid modes of transport. My programmer's brain loves building abstractions neatly on top of each other. Folding my cycle and carrying it onto another form of transport brings a smile to my face every time. The biggest tower of babel I have achieved so far is this:- A barge carried my car accross a river. I was sitting in the car with my Brompton next to me.
- Karrot_Kream 3y ago
  Lol! Yeah I've carried my bike to the edge of another urban area before, parked in a garage, then used my bike to get around the urban area, because the US largely has no intercity public transit.
- truthsayer123 3y ago
  You need to do mediation. You think too much about abstractions. And is not able to focus on what is real. Here is a free one month trial. You can try other apps as well but waking up app was the one I found best. https://dynamic.wakingup.com/shareOpenAccess/SCB2E2075 https://dynamic.wakingup.com/shareOpenAccess/SCB2E2075
- asdff 3y ago
  Last mile is a hack. I use a skateboard which is even easier to tote around, albeit might not be so easy for commuting unless you know how to skateboard already or want to learn. Any walk time estimates on google maps are cut down in half or more.
- petrusnonius 3y ago
  I have an electric Brompton. If they were lighter they’d be a dream. At the moment they’re very limiting.
isaacremuant 3y ago
This is mostly not for the right reasons of benefits and incentives but cost of public transport, unreliability of public transport (we've had strikes all year so far) and absolutely terrible traffic (urban planning is non existent). They simply gentrify car ownership in the city due to different taxes and it ends up being something that is only for the wealthier segments. Everything seems to be about profit in London, while trying to coat it with a nice messaging about environment or some other thing most of us agree on but the implementations usually are simply money making or money saving schemes that very gladly screw over those less socioeconomically able.
rad_gruchalski 3y ago
The City or London as a whole?
jamesgill 3y ago
Only a quibble, but "Bicycles outnumber motor vehicles" might be more accurate. It's a vehicle count, not a person count.
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throwewey 3y ago
NB. This is in the City of London, which is a 1 sq. mile area in the center of London. This is definitely not representative of London as a whole.
cienman73 3y ago
But, also tfl trying to build more and more cycle lanes ignoring the importance of the pedestrians. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/03/18/sadiq-khan-cyclists-floating-bus-1-10-stop-pedestrians-analysis/ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/03/18/sadiq-khan-cycli...
- pharmakom 3y ago
  TFL care a great deal about pedestrians which is why many planned cycle lanes were not built and turned into wider pavement space. Also please keep in mind that The Telegraph is not a neutral actor with regards to Khan. They recently blamed him for the national strikes, which was totally non sensical.
ultim8k 3y ago
If you count all the deliveroo electric bikes as bikes.
- tremon 3y ago
  What else would they be?
  - adav 3y ago
    Electric motorbikes? A considerable amount of riders I have seen have hot-wired throttles, overriding the road legal pedal-assist.
vondur 3y ago
Didn’t they ban cars in the city center recently?
Forestessential 3y ago
If you are going to get into cycling i recommend finding a geometry that works good for you, like something general from a major brand, and then have a titainium frame builder in china make a frame with those dimentions. For 1250 you can have a frameset that lasts forever, doesn't rust, cleans well. Rim brakes are the way to go as they are lighter and cheaper to maintain. Disc brakes weigh more and only offer performace improvements in the wet and other more intense situations. There is a push to move people to disc for product design uniformity so the industry as a whole can keep costs down... you know.. hedge funds n stuff.
vogon_laureate 3y ago
For people who don’t know, the City of London is a tiny part of London that is already an expensive and hellish place to drive in as it is due to congestion charging, exorbitant parking, one-way roads with numerous yellow box junctions, red route clearways, one-way systems, even police stops.
elzbardico 3y ago
Let's not forget that the "City of London" is a small enclave located in a small area of London proper with very very expensive parking and a lot of other restrictions for car traffic so the bankers can be leisurely driven by their chauffeurs in their Blenteys and Rolls without being importuned by the petit bourgeoise that works for them and their patetic Range Rovers, BMWs and gasp Fords.

1018 points by gcoleman 4y ago

The main issue with bikes in big cities is the blatant bike-theft problem and the near-impunity that thieves seem to enjoy.

bilvar 4y ago

Indeed. And they're as (or even more) dangerous for pedestrians as cars since they think traffic rules do not apply to them. Source: I work there.

sumitgt 3y ago

I would personally bike more often to more places if only there was some way to securely park my bike at the destination (grocery stores, restaurants, etc.). The only place I can reliably bike to at the moment is my office which has a secured bike parking.

deleted 3y ago
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robertlagrant 4y ago

Looking at the chart, it appears that "motorists" is separate from "taxis". I wonder which bucket Uber falls into.

stevesimmons 4y ago
Taxi in London for road purposes usually means the London black cabs, which may drive in bus lanes. Ubers are like normal cars.
dkdbejwi383 4y ago
PHV which stands for "Private Hire Vehicle"

lscdlscd 4y ago

Amazing news! More cyclists (and fewer motorists) on the streets creates a safer, less polluted city environment for everyone.

opless 4y ago
[flagged]
- hardlianotion 4y ago
  Hm. Sarcasm and an implied argument that fails a smell test.
  - opless 4y ago
    [flagged]
    - CydeWeys 4y ago
      Cars kill way more people than bicycles do though. Regardless of your perceptions here, this mode shift is overall safer.
      - opless 3y ago
        Yes, and looking at the number of flags my comments have, quite a lot of you wonderful cyclists really don't have a steady grasp on reality either! But again, I already knew this
ehnto 4y ago
Quieter too. When wandering Tokyo I started asking myself, why does it feel so quiet when there are so many people and so much advertising? Then you hit one of the roads with cars, and you realise just how much road noise impacts a space. It is obvious in theory but I bet most of us in car-centric cities have learned to live with it so much, that it doesn't cross our minds as the source of discomfort.

Doctor_Fegg 4y ago

Note that the "City of London" is not the whole of the London built-up area, but just the financial services district, slightly more than one square mile in area. Still, it's a remarkable statistic even then.

muyuu 4y ago
not even all the financial district(s) fit inside the City these days I've marked them in the map, roughly: https://i.imgur.com/GieyqDm.png https://i.imgur.com/GieyqDm.png
detritus 4y ago
Yeah, that makes a lot more sense than the ridiculousness of the proposition if meant across the rest of London, as it's clearly not the case, sadly.
Eric_WVGG 4y ago
If anyone non-UK types are interested in this weird entity — technically dates back to Roman days, and predates the United Kingdom by hundreds of years — this podcast episode is quite funny and informative. Just an example of what a weird anomalous zone it is: the King (or Queen) of England is not legally allowed to enter without explicit permission from the mayor — not the mayor of London, the Lord Mayor of this square mile. It's like if Wall Street could tell the President of the US to take a hike. https://trashfuturepodcast.podbean.com/e/unlocked-britainology-19-the-city-of-london-feat-riley-quinn/ https://trashfuturepodcast.podbean.com/e/unlocked-britainolo...
- chriswarbo 4y ago
  > It's like if Wall Street could tell the President of the US to take a hike An alternative take: If it turns out, by some legislative fluke, that a particular square mile of the US is not bound by all of its laws, it won't be long until Wall St companies start moving their headquarters!
  - 0xcde4c3db 4y ago

foobarian 4y ago

I wonder what fraction of that are E-bikes or others with a power source additional to the human.

ehnto 4y ago
Combustion powered bikes are unlikely to be counted but e-bikes probably are. That would match the delineation that regulate bicycles at least.

ilovecurl 4y ago

Somewhat important detail to note: The City of London's (AKA "The Square Mile") geographical area is 1.12 square miles: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_London https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_London This is great news.

Gigachad 3y ago
In Australia this area would be referred to as the CBD (Central Business District) although I'm not sure this term is globally used. My American friend had no idea what I was talking about. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_business_district https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_business_district

GalenErso 4y ago

I don't live in London, but I'm interested in acquiring a stationary bike to do cardio at home. Does anyone have recommendations?

debacle 4y ago
I'm a big fan of the Schwinn recumbent I bought pre-pandemic. It was <$250 and has seen a lot of use. Not the nicest bike by a long shot, but it gets daily use.
swarnie 4y ago
Get a Peloton with a financing deal, hope either they or the underwriter collapse shortly after. Free bike.
- ddek 4y ago
  > hope either they or the underwriter collapse shortly after Has this ever worked? Surely the administrator would just sell the debt at a discount (for them, not you).
  - dmurray 4y ago
    If Peloton collapse, they would stop providing their cloud product and you presumably wouldn't be on the hook to keep paying them, and they might not ask for the bikes back. If you only want the physical equipment, this might work out for you.
mattmcknight 4y ago
One good option is to turn your bike into a stationary bike so you can use it for both purposes. Options range from cheap to crazy expensive, like everything else with bikes. https://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/indoor-bike-trainers.html https://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/indoor-bike-trainers...

snvzz 4y ago

Great. Hopefully this will make the introduction of stricter regulations on motorists easier, particularly safety and noise.

jmclnx 4y ago

Nice, I wonder if they are back using internal hubs (like old 3 speeds) or derailleurs ? The internal hubs like they used 50+ years ago were a better design for rainy weather than derailleurs. With that said, I can guess most are using single speed. Hopefully not fixed :)

tokai 4y ago
>internal hubs like the used 50 years ago Their invention is closer to 150 years ago than 50.
robertlagrant 4y ago
Interestingly, Bromptons[0] using Sturmey Archer internal hubs, and I believe you can buy an upgrade that puts a derailleur on the front, to double the number of gears. [0] https://www.brompton.com https://www.brompton.com
- julian_t 4y ago
  The owner of a bike shop I used to frequent had a Moulton (one of the old space-frame ones) with a 5-speed hub and a derailleur on the back and three rings on the front. He said he wanted to see just how many gears he could actually get on one bike.
Doctor_Fegg 4y ago
A good number of bikes in London are folding Bromptons with 3-speed hub gears or similar.
lm28469 4y ago
In Berlin most newish city oriented bikes I see have internal hubs
i_am_jl 4y ago
>With that said, I can guess most are using single speed. Hopefully not fixed :) I'm more curious as to the makeup of electric-assisted vs human-powered. Ebikes have also shaken up the drivetrain landscape a bit. Motors can be in the middle of the bike, and those bikes are often being paired with internally geared hubs in the rear. Mid-drive bikes can incorporate a gearbox in the motor, and are built with nothing but a belt drive and a single cog on the rear wheel. I love pedaling, but I'd have to be blind to not see how ebikes have widened cycling's userbase in my area, and I'm very curious if that's the case everywhere.

nntwozz 4y ago

We are the cyclists, the intermediate stage between humans and pure energy. https://youtu.be/1s0XsulDXtk https://youtu.be/1s0XsulDXtk

trgn 4y ago
Bicycles are the best machine from the industrial revolution. Quiet, healthy, efficient, harmonious with our sensibilities. I think it is precisely these aspirational qualities that is enraging the morlocks in their cars (speaking for US only now, it's better in other countries). A bicycle is a shameful reminder of the virtuous path not taken.
- dsfyu404ed 4y ago
  >Bicycles are the best machine from the industrial revolution. Quiet, healthy, efficient, harmonious with our sensibilities. I think it is precisely these aspirational qualities that is enraging the morlocks in their cars (speaking for US only now, it's better in other countries). A bicycle is a shameful reminder of the virtuous path not taken. The power loom? The electrical generator? The steam engine? The telegraph? The bicycle is a "nice to have" latecomer that can only exist in a world which is already somewhat industrialized.
  - trgn 4y ago
    lol way to miss the point. Hyperbole is a rhetorical device to emphasize a point. I'm so tired of the internet. Anyway, yes, let me revise, bicycles are the best invention, of ALL TIME! Power loom: ushered in capitalist mode of production, alienating us from our labor. Electrical generator: it's cool I guess. Steam engine: start of the fetishization of the engineering aesthetic. Awful. Only redeeming quality is that it gave us steam punk fiction 200 years later. Telegraph: instant communication is way overrated. Sorry for piling on. Long weekend.
    - dsfyu404ed 4y ago
      > lol way to miss the point. Hyperbole is a rhetorical device to emphasize a point. https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/738/025/db0.jpg https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/738/025/db0... Your "hyperbole" was solidly within the fat part of the bell curve of "what people of your bent say unironically". You don't get to say you were just pretending when it's called out for being absurd. Also, poe's law is very relevant here. >ower loom: ushered in capitalist mode of production, alienating us from our labor. Electrical generator: it's cool I guess. Steam engine: start of the fetishization of the engineering aesthetic. Awful. Only redeeming quality is that it gave us steam punk fiction 200 years later. Telegraph: instant communication is way overrated. Once again, it's not whimsical hyperbole when there's no shortage of people saying more or less exactly the same thing unironically.

rhaway84773 4y ago

It would be interesting to see how road space is also allocated between these 2 modes. I don’t know much about the City of London (I do know that it’s not the same thing as the city of London), so I’m curious if others with more knowledge can share some information.

ddek 4y ago
In CoL, a few cycle lanes but mainly it's just very quite roads. It works in CoL because motor traffic is so heavily restricted the roads are fairly quiet.
- vergessenmir 4y ago
  Which is why it's pretty much the safest area to cycle because motorists are primed to expect cyclists on the roads but you only have to travel 2 minutes east and traffic becomes much heavier and more chaotic pretty quickly

favaq 4y ago

Didn't they make it very, very expensive to drive in the City of London?

ajb 4y ago
£15/day. So more expensive than public transport but less than if you took an uber.
- favaq 4y ago
  Then it's not wonder people would rather cycle. What a deceptive headline.
  - coopierez 4y ago
    How is it deceptive?
- jillesvangurp 4y ago
  That's probably excluding parking. I would expect the day rate for that to be quite steep.
- redleader55 4y ago
  As a data point, going two ways between zones 3 and 1 by tube is 8.7 pounds a day, and it will go up soon. If you include 2 people in the family, the convenience of dropping off the kids at their schools, etc 15 pounds doesn't sound that bad for the car, if you have where to park.
fancyfredbot 4y ago
It is not any more expensive than anywhere else in central London. Electric cars can drive in the city for free at any time. For other cars, between 7am and 6pm you have to pay a £15 congestion charge to drive in the centre. You might have to pay another £12.50 ULEZ charge if you drive an older car.
- Gigachad 3y ago

qikInNdOutReply 4y ago

Its fascinating, that even such a entrenched industry such as the car industry, can be banned from urban centers. There is hope for change yet.

trgn 4y ago
It's amazing to see. The last ten years, the galvanizing project of every european city has been calming cars. I didn't really realize it until I was there the last few summers on vacation, and the difference is night&day with 10 years ago (Brussels, Paris big examples, many smaller ones too). Unreal, a truly positive transformation. It's one of those things, you just can "feel", although maybe hard to explain, I certainly couldn't imagine "the feel" about 10-15 years ago. Hope US cities can marshal that same gumption eventually. This takes top-down courage. It can never resolve bottom up, especially with how fearful and short-sighted americans can be.
- qikInNdOutReply 4y ago
  I wonder, why there is not dealds between land speculation and public transportation. One party buys fields from farmers, the other creates a privately financed railroad/subway out in the "new suburbs", shooting the areas value through the roof. Then build denser, better citycore, connected to the old citycore.
  - trgn 4y ago
    From what I gather, there used to be, the "streetcar suburb" was exactly that. It no longer exists, at all. best you may get is some new urbanist toy town in the exurbs. They're great because they're better than a regular suburb, providing local walkability, but they're still isolated pods.
    - qikInNdOutReply 4y ago
      A start for that would be investors legislating for building codes to be suspended in a new development area completely, allowing for mixed development. Then make a investment into public transport towards the area taxfree.

leoedin 4y ago

> The 24-hour traffic count was conducted on a wet and windy November day last year. Presumably that means on a nice summers day the numbers are even higher. This is of course countered by the fact the City of London is becoming increasingly hard to navigate in a motor vehicle. There's a proliferation of camera-enforced road closures and turning restrictions which, along with the congestion charge and very high parking charges make driving anywhere near the City only really possible for the very rich. It's long been the case that the majority of vehicles in the City (or anywhere in central London really) are taxis and commercial vehicles. It's great that cycling is increasing, but it's probably at the expense of train travel rather than driving - I don't think I've ever met anyone who works in central London who drives to work regularly. One peculiarity of the way the City of London is managed is that it has its own local government. Maybe with this evidence that cycling is important they'll finally invest some money into their cycle infrastructure - you can essentially see the dividing line between the City and Islington just by looking at the quality of the road surface.

NovemberWhiskey 4y ago
Peak driving time in the City is also probably more like after 8/9pm when the big banks start offering car service for their employees to get home anyway.

raphaelj 4y ago

Somewhat unrelated to the article, but I live in a mid-size EU city and dumped my car for an e-bike a few months ago. Surprisingly, it hasn't been that hard (my GF kept her car, and I have a car-sharing subscription): Pros: - Immediately stopped having insomnia. Better feel overall; - about €300/month in additional disposable income. That's basically a free lunch everyday! - significantly faster if parking is taken into account for most trips. The bike is faster for any < 10 km / 7 mi trip; - do not have to worry about car maintenance, parking tickets or theft; - you will not kill someone if you ride after a night drinking; - amazing when the weather is great; - (almost) no emission. Cons: - might be impossible depending on work or children; - weather might make the ride unpleasant; - somewhat dangerous when the infrastructure is lacking. I'm pretty sure I'll never own a car, unless absolutely required by work. Improving the infra and the car-sharing network would be awesome.

r00fus 4y ago
Theft is the major reason I haven't invested in a utility e-bike (or use my expensive road bike) to do local shopping. I live in a place with fantastic bike-ability, but don't shop because of theft concerns. Is that different in London?
- djtango 4y ago
  No bike theft is a huge problem in London
  - boudin 3y ago
    There are more bike hangars now though, but it often just solves half of the problem.
sleepybrett 3y ago
> - you will not kill someone if you ride after a night drinking; You might kill yourself though.
Zardoz89 4y ago
You can absolutely kill a pedestrian or another cyclist when on an e-bike, do not drink and ride

sandworm101 4y ago

What are the per-mile statistics? What percentage of total miles traveled occur via bike? If every trip counts equally, pedestrians should outnumber everyone. (Most every cyclist or driver becomes a pedestrian at some point during the day.)

rhaway84773 4y ago
The article points out that walkers do outnumber everyone.

knolan 4y ago

I've a 24 km commute in Dublin in Ireland. It's most consistent by ebike. Driving can take anywhere from 35 minutes to over an hour depending on traffic. Public transport takes 90 minutes and there is only a direct bus a couple of times a day, otherwise it will take closer to two hours. On my bike it consistently takes an hour. I can take various green ways through parks and try to minimise my exposure to aggressive drivers and get some good exercise even on an ebike. The only issue is picking up a puncture which has been an issue with my new tyres lately. It's important to invest in good equipment if you can.

ihaveajob 4y ago
Predictability is an important factor, and yes, bikes are better at that. By the way, try a vinyl liner between the tube and the tire for puncture protection. Since I started doing this, my puncture rate has fallen easily by 90%.
- knolan 4y ago
  I think I just need to get the same puncture resistant tyres I had on it previously which were excellent. The current ones where whatever the LBS had in stock.
nmca 4y ago
I have run schwalbe marathon pros on a variety of bikes & have never gotten a fast puncture on one despite thousands of miles. They are a touch heavy to be fair, but seems easily worth it.
- hardlianotion 3y ago
  schwalbe marathon is by far my most successful anti puncture tyre.

TexanFeller 4y ago

I would celebrate if this happened naturally, but this seems more a case of if you punish driving enough you get less drivers. When I was in London over a decade ago they already had restrictions on car traffic into certain parts of the city and additional fees to go there. Tax on a new car is 20% and lots of regulations on their characteristics. Large taxes on petrol which is already much more expensive than in the US.

Xylakant 4y ago
Nothing about traffic allocation is „naturally“. Building roads is a decision. Allocating space for cars, bicycles, pedestrians is a decision. Making driving a car cheap is a decision. Discouraging driving by increasing costs is a decision. Reducing car traffic by restricting use is a decision. It’s decisions all the way down. The question is „What is the outcome we want and what‘s the road to get there.“
alamortsubite 4y ago
There's nothing natural about cars, nor the many negative externalities that are associated with them.
dabeeeenster 4y ago
"Tax on a new car is 20%" UK sales tax IS 20 for almost all goods! Why is this a reason? Can't think what other "regulations" there are in their characteristics other than emmissions?
- seszett 4y ago
  That's an average VAT rate for Europe.
- vultour 4y ago
  Large parts of Europe have VAT around 20%.
jwhiles 4y ago
I used to walk everywhere in the middle of the road but then they started punishing me for it :(

hprotagonist 4y ago

And the total time it's taken a load of goods to cross the city still hasn't changed in 700 years :) (I believe that this is Neil Gaiman's joke, but it could also be Pratchett, or older)

dharmab 4y ago
This article is about the City of London, not London the well-known capital city.
- hprotagonist 4y ago
  I think the joke works in both cases, really... despite the fact that the city of london is what, half a mile wide?

dukeofdoom 4y ago

biking is great except for ball cancer due to sitting postion

sunbum 4y ago
you sit in a car as well
- kilgnad 4y ago
  [dead]
- dukeofdoom 4y ago
  Not quite the same. The problem with a bike seat is the bike seat cuts off circulation in point where a lot of blood vessels pass through, riding has been linked to cancer. Along with the more common city riding hazards like car passangers opening doors, falling over and you breaking bones, getting run over, or even directly breathing in exhaust fumes from trucks.
  - ignormies 4y ago
    > the bike seat cuts off circulation in point where a lot of blood vessels pass through, riding has been linked to cancer Even if this is true (I'm skeptical without seeing a source), you're more than free to mount whatever style of seat you want on your bike. No one's stopping you. > Along with the more common city riding hazards like car passangers opening doors, falling over and you breaking bones, getting run over, or even directly breathing in exhaust fumes from trucks. Great point. Those are all excellent reasons for further reducing the numbers of cars on our streets in lieu of bikes and walking.
    - dukeofdoom 3y ago
      I remember watching 60 minutes, and watching streets in China filled with people riding bikes everywhere. Fast forward to now, and clearly even communists prefer cars. The reasons are endless why a car is superior way to travel, 99% of the time for most people. However, I have nothing against bikes. I rode one my first year of university, daily; rain and snow. I was a poor student. It had its benefits, but it sucked in many ways. Separated Bike paths is both a safer and nicer experience. No need to try and get rid of cars. Because biking in cities is dangerous, I wouldn't go around telling people to do it.

tyingq 4y ago

Curious how much of this was the £15 daily "congestion charge" you have to pay to get a vehicle into the area.

EGreg 4y ago

Just for reference: City of London is not greater London. It’s a small part of London.

ghusto 4y ago

My main transportation vehicle for anything under 15km is a bicycle. I go through rain, ice, snow — doesn't make a difference to me, I'll be cycling. Yes, I've cycled through storms, can't see what the fuss is about really. I would still never cycle in London. It doesn't have proper cycle infrastructure, just some painted lines on roads designed for cars. You're taking your life in your hands there. The car drivers are absolutely entitled to be pissed off with the city. Where I live (Netherlands) they made cycling the obvious choice, because it's cheaper, faster, and more fun than anything else. In London, it's more like it's being smashed down everyone's throats by force. Cycling isn't _better_ there, it's just the only economically viable option after the greedy money grab that is the "punish all drivers" policy for the last 20 years.

pclmulqdq 4y ago
This isn't about London. This is about the City of London, which is about 2 square km in the heart of London (and a separate city). The City of London is incredibly driver-hostile and pedestrian-friendly, so I was personally surprised that this hadn't happened already.
- ghusto 4y ago
  The City of London couldn't have changed that much since the last time I was there, about 5 years ago. It's where all the banks and that are, right? Seemed very much a no-go in the same way to me.
rhaway84773 4y ago
Ice scares me. Rain and snow are not a problem. But I usually bike in areas with shared infrastructure with cars. I wonder if I would be less worried about ice if slipping and falling wouldn’t mean I will potentially get driven over by a car.
- dagurp 3y ago
  Get studded tyres, they work incredibly well.

secondcoming 4y ago

Commuting to work on my bike through London was one of my highlights living there. So much fun and danger.

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interdrift 4y ago

don't drink and bike, it's dangerous.

housingisaright 4y ago

I love only having a bike in the city. So convenient and helps keeping my energy up. Worst part of living in Stockholm is that it is completely inconvenient in most cases if you actually wanna go to the city.

abricq 4y ago

This news literally makes me so happy. I can't wait to see it propagating around the world ! Riding a bike it better for your health, for the environment, makes cities much safer places, better for your mood as well & even better for your wallet. For people who have the chance to work reasonably close to their work, it's THE perfect solution. I bike to work every day since 4/5 years, in Switzerland. Since roughly 18 months, I have seen a huge change in the behavior of car drivers: they are much much nicer to interact with. Before COVID, I had dangerous interaction with drivers several time a week, and had to be in constant vigilance for them not considering me as part of the traffic. Now, it has been reduced to maybe once a month. Sometimes I don't even believe how well people respect us now, considering how it was just 3 years ago. And most of the time when I confront people that did something dangerous, they are sorry and feel bad about it (it really wasn't like this a few years ago...)

foepys 4y ago
I noticed that as well. I guess many people took up cycling as a leisure activity when COVID hit and suddenly noticed how dangerous cars are for them on their bicycles.
kccqzy 3y ago
Interestingly I recently visited Seattle and rented a car there. I did what I always do—yielding to bikes when turning right—and the bicyclists actively thanked me for yielding and avoiding cutting in front of them. I was a bit dumbfounded as to how this behavior isn't common enough.
matsemann 3y ago
Critical mass is an important factor. Previously, I've been biking almost alone in the winter here in Norway. The later years we're multiple cyclists at every intersection. So I used to be the "edge case" drivers forgot about, to being one of many the drivers now have to constantly be aware of. It also feels a lot safer biking in a train of 5 people than alone.
entropicgravity 3y ago
I ride an e-bike and I'm very fond of it, but it's a transitionary solution. What will propagate in cities within twenty years is almost all EV's with covered roads (no poisonous gases) and 'cars' that take up a half of a current lane and can carry three people at most. The car market will split between 'long distance' similar to today's cars and 'city cars' that are tiny compared to today. This will happen because EV's can happily scale to a much smaller size than ICE cars can and consequently will be much more practical.

hammock 4y ago

How much of this is because London is a great place to bike and how much of this is because they tax you so darn much to drive in the City?

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t00 4y ago

There is a proven correlation between prostitution and poverty. Are we observing a similar effect?

lasermike026 4y ago

This is a great success which I hope is replicated in the United States.

electrosphere 4y ago

November 2020 I ordered a Swytch e-bike kit and fitted it to my bike. It replaced the car for many things (weekly grocery shops, city centre trips). I moved to London last year and this turned out to be a fortune timing. My car, a Honda Civic 2007 diesel, is not ULEZ compliant and I will have to pay £12.50/day to drive it from August 2023 due to the low emission zone expansion. I plan to sell it in July. Guess what? I've been using my Swytch e-bike happily here in London to get around the suburbs. There are even some Amsterdam style bike lanes to get further into the city. Pros when I get rid of the car: * no insurance, tax, ULEZ charge, fuel, trip to fuel station, servicing charges, worries about people scratching it... * Uber for when I really need a car (eg. I have a group with me) * able to take short-cuts and bypass unpleasant town centers/sometimes * feeling of getting fresh air and exercise * helping a cleaner environment for next generation Cons: * weather has a big factor when riding and planning trips, all you really need though is gloves, a waterproof jacket - maybe waterproof over-trousers for when there is heavy rain. * cold weather waters my eyes and hits me in the face * have to unlock & lock the bike and carry a D-lock I doubt I will ever own a car after August 2023.

chroma 3y ago
So the reason more people are cycling in the area is that the government made cars extremely expensive, almost certainly more than the externalities created by those cars. If they instead instituted a carbon tax and congestion pricing, I doubt your daily expenses would exceed £12.50/day.
- PickledJesus 3y ago
  London's had congestion pricing for 20 years. The ULEZ is a tax on high NO2 emissions, not carbon. It's caused a significant reduction on the externalities of bad air quality, which was the goal.

samstave 4y ago

I have been a daily bike commuter for over a decade. I recently got an e-bike, and I would not want a non-e-bike aftger this. I have an Orbea Rise and I love it. It is heavy though, and the tires are too wide for some of the bus bike racks... Also, WRT to lighting - I highly recommend getting these, instead of the expensive lights they sell in places like mikes bikes... I have these on my bikes - they are awwesome because they are weather-proof, solar charged, motion sensing activation and give a wide throw of light. I have one on the front of my bike and on on the back. They automatically turn on at night and go bright when the bike starts moving. https://www.amazon.com/Otdair-310-Lighting-Waterproof-Security/dp/B09P1JG7GN?pd_rd_w=0WofT&content-id=amzn1.sym.deffa092-2e99-4e9f-b814-0d71c40b24af&pf_rd_p=deffa092-2e99-4e9f-b814-0d71c40b24af&pf_rd_r=C6819PHP9CA8E4AAD1JX&pd_rd_wg=LQ7ul&pd_rd_r=6746df0a-28cc-46b8-b3e8-8c99164b5d3c&pd_rd_i=B09P1JG7GN&psc=1&ref_=pd_bap_d_grid_rp_0_1_i https://www.amazon.com/Otdair-310-Lighting-Waterproof-Securi...

raldi 4y ago

I remember New York mayor Michael Bloomberg taking a trip to London around a year after they implemented their congestion charge, since he wanted to do that too. Their mayor told him something like, “Everyone’s going to be protesting literally up to the morning it goes into effect, and then a week later everyone will be saying, ‘Why didn’t we do this ages ago?’”

jdthedisciple 4y ago

Great! Now fix London's massive crime issues, thanks.

pornel 4y ago
What a coincidence that crime in London became an issue the day a non-christian Mayor got elected, and the issue is of utmost concern on US-centric social media.

zabzonk 4y ago

both equally horrible, from the perspective of a pedestrian. the only two people i have ever punched with intent in my life were these witless nincompoops that drive around the city and into you - if you don't work there, you have no idea how dangerous these assholes are. easy solution: compulsory lisencing and insurance

olivermarks 4y ago

Make sure you charge your ebike battery outside and/or in a steel ammunition box to mitigate fire risk. What's driving the battery fires with e-bikes and scooters? https://www.npr.org/2023/03/11/1162732820/e-bike-scooter-lithium-ion-battery-fires https://www.npr.org/2023/03/11/1162732820/e-bike-scooter-lit... The problems seem to be more with low end Chinese ebikes. Hopefully LEVA will produce some standards as Light Electric Vehicles are very unregulated right now. https://levassociation.com/ https://levassociation.com/

monkchips 4y ago

hopefully this will contribute to a tipping point on infrastructure investments around low traffic neighbourhoods.

Maxburn 4y ago

I haven't done my research but from what I've gathered from news over the years hasn't London had very high car tax, tolls, super expensive gas, and just outright closing streets and eliminating parking? So with a big enough stick and very little carrot anything is possible? Is that a win? Aren't we hearing that actual residents really don't like these "15 minute" cities?

sofixa 4y ago
> with a big enough stick and very little carrot anything is possible Yep, so all those complaining that nothing is being done or can be done about climate change are wrong. There are tools, they just need to be used. > Aren't we hearing that actual residents really don't like these "15 minute" cities? We're also hearing that Zuckerberg is a lizard and the Earth is flat, so fucking what? London is a major metropolis, rather dense, and with very relaxed and mixed zoning (you can have a 13th century "Church of X Girls School" next to a Tesco store in a glass skyscraper. It already does everything a "15th minute city" is about, apart from being "15 minutes big" - commute times are usually bigger, and somewhat concentrated to City and Canary Wharf, but there's work, leisure, shopping, housing to be found all around. Idiots who rage against a concept they couldn't begin to comprehend because toilet paper quality "journalists" make money that way aren't concerned residents of London, they have nothing to do with the city, and their opinion is best ignored.
- Maxburn 3y ago
  Do you live there? In a utopian ideal it seems kind of nice having "everything you need" close by. Thinking about it critically I currently live in a 15 minute city, but there is a car involved. I'm kind of confused about how people living in mass transit even get groceries, can you take your own cart on the train?
  - cmonagle 3y ago
    Typically you carry your groceries in a bag. Some people have wheeled bags for bigger trips. In neighborhoods with a traditional urban form (or "15 minute cities"), you wouldn't usually take mass transit to the grocery store, it's within a short walking distance. With groceries close by, it's natural to make frequent, smaller trips.

kkfdkerpoe 4y ago

I think the sensible model is to eventually get rid of most car traffic in city centres, and concentrate the parking spots in suburbs, with adequate public transport to denser areas. Personally I couldn't live without a car. Not because I need it much in the city right now, but because I need it to reach my relatives and meaningful places in the countryside, far away from any public transport. Cost of living is also something to consider, not everyone can afford a proper house within reach of public transport, and living in a flat sucks.

Tiktaalik 4y ago

imagine how much of a shit show it would be if every single one of these people tried to commute in one day in their own individual vehicle instead of a bicycle. It's the space efficiency of the bicycle that allows London to function at this point.

lacker 4y ago

I'm worried about riding my bike in the city. A friend of mine died on her bike when hit by a truck in Seattle a few years ago and since then I just don't feel okay biking alongside cars any more, especially with kids. I know this is fundamentally born of emotion rather than rationalism, but still, it does seem like riding a bike is much more dangerous than driving. Bicycles are somewhere from 3x to 11x more dangerous than cars. https://bicycleuniverse.com/bicycle-safety-almanac/ https://bicycleuniverse.com/bicycle-safety-almanac/ When I visited Amsterdam I liked how they often had separated bike lanes, not like in the US where cars can and do just drive through the bike lanes, like an actual physical barrier preventing cars from driving through bike lanes. Maybe that would be a lot safer, but, I won't hold my breath on that coming to the US.

f_devd 4y ago
> Bicycles are somewhere from 3x to 11x more dangerous than cars. In the US, where there is effectively no bicycle infrastructure. In the Netherlands it seems to be about 1.18x (or 1.1x if you include trucks) [0]. [0]: https://www.statista.com/statistics/523310/netherlands-number-of-cyclist-road-fatalities/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/523310/netherlands-numbe...
- chroma 3y ago
  The important metric is fatalities per distance traveled, not absolute numbers. In the Netherlands, bicycles have 11 fatalities per billion kilometers traveled. Cars have 1.6.
  - locallost 3y ago
    By that metric, walking is the most dangerous mode of transport. Somehow seems illogical.
    - chroma 3y ago
      The comparison is valid because people in this thread are saying that bikes should substitute for many car trips. If they were saying the same thing about walking then I’d make the point about waking safety. But walking can’t substitute for many car trips so it’s a non-issue. Cars have disadvantages and externalities, but they are much safer than bicycles. This is true even in the most bike-friendly countries on earth.

deleted 4y ago

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realworldperson 4y ago

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Aaronstotle 4y ago

Love to see it, I cycle a lot for exercise. Weather has been very rainy, hoping to bike more for short trips around town. Thought about a cheap e-bike for grocery shopping, etc.

theFletch 4y ago

I didn't see any mention of this in the article, but I wonder what percentage is commuting vs. delivery. I was in NYC before and after the pandemic and, just from a casual outside perspective, it seemed that the number of delivery cyclist has risen significantly while commuters has dropped or just stayed the same.

Zigurd 3y ago
NYC has enough delivery riders that storage and fire risk from overnight charging is significant. I'm sure the same risks apply everywhere but sheer numbers in NYC make it a headline issue. I rode blue bikes while visiting, and I had different observations riding and walking: While walking it seemed like delivery riders where everywhere. While riding, I noticed a lot more leisure and commuting riders, probably because I was riding where they ride, not to some random delivery location.
- theFletch 3y ago
  That's a great point about just being where certain types of riders are. This probably speaks volumes about the infrastructure for cycling, or lack of in NYC. I'm a cyclist and advocate for more bikes, but there is something about putting motorized transportation (e-bikes, scooters, etc.) even closer to pedestrians that seems wrong to me. Getting hit by a car is no fun, but getting hit by an e-bike going 20+ mph can't be fun either. The number of people to potentially suffer an injury also doubles.
  - Zigurd 3y ago
    I never felt unsafe walking or riding where delivery riders were delivering. The safety problems I encountered were all due to cars. Delivery riders have a tough life. They buy their own gear and pay to keep it in the city. Things like UL-listed batteries are important. But so is expansion of bike infrastructure for all kinds of cyclists. I don't own one, but I know e-bikes popularize cycling. In some places they are the only practical daily use bike. More would be better.

jagtstronaut 4y ago

What is a constructive way to respond to cyclist hate? I used to commute to work quite a bit and got a lot of flack both on the road and off (people giving their opinion). I don't really understand the hate first of all, but more importantly how do you respond to it appropriately and maturely? Is there another way than just ignoring it?

noobermin 3y ago
Keep cycling until they join you (or die because they're old boomers anyway).

tgtweak 3y ago

Works well when you don't have 3-4 months of snow and ice. This is probably my biggest gripe with the whole "change roads to bicycle paths" push that is happening in most big cities (emulating this and using it as a guiding example). That infrastructure is essentially useless for 1/3 of the year.

toshredsyousay 3y ago
And cars work so well on snow and ice? Some cities in Finland have lots of people cycling in the winter and last I heard they get lots of snow and ice. You can get snow tires for bikes just like you can for cars. You can also plow bike lanes like you can plow the roads. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uhx-26GfCBU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uhx-26GfCBU
Mashimo 3y ago
> Works well when you don't have 3-4 months of snow and ice. Should work just fine IF there is biking infrastructure. You plow the bike roads just like you do with car roads.

textread 3y ago

I was finding it difficult to stick to cycling. Hearing my plight, an avid cyclist friend of mine suggested me to try a trick:- Get a 3 way folding cycle such as the Brompton. Now, play around with hybrid modes of transport. My programmer's brain loves building abstractions neatly on top of each other. Folding my cycle and carrying it onto another form of transport brings a smile to my face every time. The biggest tower of babel I have achieved so far is this:- A barge carried my car accross a river. I was sitting in the car with my Brompton next to me.

Karrot_Kream 3y ago
Lol! Yeah I've carried my bike to the edge of another urban area before, parked in a garage, then used my bike to get around the urban area, because the US largely has no intercity public transit.
truthsayer123 3y ago
You need to do mediation. You think too much about abstractions. And is not able to focus on what is real. Here is a free one month trial. You can try other apps as well but waking up app was the one I found best. https://dynamic.wakingup.com/shareOpenAccess/SCB2E2075 https://dynamic.wakingup.com/shareOpenAccess/SCB2E2075
asdff 3y ago
Last mile is a hack. I use a skateboard which is even easier to tote around, albeit might not be so easy for commuting unless you know how to skateboard already or want to learn. Any walk time estimates on google maps are cut down in half or more.
petrusnonius 3y ago
I have an electric Brompton. If they were lighter they’d be a dream. At the moment they’re very limiting.

isaacremuant 3y ago

This is mostly not for the right reasons of benefits and incentives but cost of public transport, unreliability of public transport (we've had strikes all year so far) and absolutely terrible traffic (urban planning is non existent). They simply gentrify car ownership in the city due to different taxes and it ends up being something that is only for the wealthier segments. Everything seems to be about profit in London, while trying to coat it with a nice messaging about environment or some other thing most of us agree on but the implementations usually are simply money making or money saving schemes that very gladly screw over those less socioeconomically able.

rad_gruchalski 3y ago

The City or London as a whole?

jamesgill 3y ago

Only a quibble, but "Bicycles outnumber motor vehicles" might be more accurate. It's a vehicle count, not a person count.

deleted 3y ago

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throwewey 3y ago

NB. This is in the City of London, which is a 1 sq. mile area in the center of London. This is definitely not representative of London as a whole.

cienman73 3y ago

But, also tfl trying to build more and more cycle lanes ignoring the importance of the pedestrians. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/03/18/sadiq-khan-cyclists-floating-bus-1-10-stop-pedestrians-analysis/ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/03/18/sadiq-khan-cycli...

pharmakom 3y ago
TFL care a great deal about pedestrians which is why many planned cycle lanes were not built and turned into wider pavement space. Also please keep in mind that The Telegraph is not a neutral actor with regards to Khan. They recently blamed him for the national strikes, which was totally non sensical.

ultim8k 3y ago

If you count all the deliveroo electric bikes as bikes.

tremon 3y ago
What else would they be?
- adav 3y ago
  Electric motorbikes? A considerable amount of riders I have seen have hot-wired throttles, overriding the road legal pedal-assist.

vondur 3y ago

Didn’t they ban cars in the city center recently?

Forestessential 3y ago

If you are going to get into cycling i recommend finding a geometry that works good for you, like something general from a major brand, and then have a titainium frame builder in china make a frame with those dimentions. For 1250 you can have a frameset that lasts forever, doesn't rust, cleans well. Rim brakes are the way to go as they are lighter and cheaper to maintain. Disc brakes weigh more and only offer performace improvements in the wet and other more intense situations. There is a push to move people to disc for product design uniformity so the industry as a whole can keep costs down... you know.. hedge funds n stuff.

vogon_laureate 3y ago

For people who don’t know, the City of London is a tiny part of London that is already an expensive and hellish place to drive in as it is due to congestion charging, exorbitant parking, one-way roads with numerous yellow box junctions, red route clearways, one-way systems, even police stops.

elzbardico 3y ago

Let's not forget that the "City of London" is a small enclave located in a small area of London proper with very very expensive parking and a lot of other restrictions for car traffic so the bankers can be leisurely driven by their chauffeurs in their Blenteys and Rolls without being importuned by the petit bourgeoise that works for them and their patetic Range Rovers, BMWs and gasp Fords.