London Bicycle Commuting

[ADD]

So I am prepping for an ex-pat assignment to London. Does anyone have
much experience bike commuting around London? I have heard that it
isn't the friendliest. Any insight would be great.

Cheers.
-ADD

 

[Luigi de Guzman]

On 25 Jul 2004 20:56:12 -0700, [email protected] (ADD) wrote:

>So I am prepping for an ex-pat assignment to London. Does anyone have
>much experience bike commuting around London? I have heard that it
>isn't the friendliest. Any insight would be great.

You can get specific advice from uk.rec.cycling
They're a good bunch of people (mostly).

I lived in London for a year, and commuted by bicycle (Southwark to
Aldwych, over Waterloo Bridge)

Some impressions:

*Ride on the LEFT. I know, this should be blindingly obvious, but it
bears repeating. Also: Roundabouts: Take turns. Yield to traffic
already on the roundabout.

*London is a big city, with busy traffic. Do NOT let that discourage
you. It is surprisingly cyclist-friendly, because a great many of the
motorists are compelled to treat cyclists as regular traffic because
of the narrowness of many of the streets. Take advantage of this
fact, and take the lane.

* In the centre of the city (and indeed in the City itself) there is
an abundance of cycle racks and posts and railings to lock your bike
to. Locking your bike--or at the very least riding an
extremely-undesireable looking one-- is VITAL, as theft is
depressingly common.

* The LCC (London Cycling Campaign) along with Transport for London
and the office of the mayor have compiled an excellent series of
bicycle maps covering as much of London as you'll care to see, ever.
These are availble free of charge in many bicycle shops, and at Tube
stations.

*Mudguards. You will need them. London rain falls all the time. And
there's always the road apples left by police horses....

More will probably occur to me as this thread goes on, but all in all
I found London to be a pretty natural place to get around by bicycle.
The high volume of traffic also means relatively low speeds on most
streets, which makes for an easier place for a cyclist to share the
road with cars, taxis, buses, white vans, motorcycles, horses, etc.

-Luigi

"London never sleeps--
It just sucks
The life out of me
And the money from my pocket"
-Catatonia, "Londinium"


www.livejournal.com/users/ouij
Photos, rants, raves

 

[dirtylitterboxofferingstospammers]

>So I am prepping for an ex-pat assignment to London. Does anyone have
>much experience bike commuting around London? I have heard that it
>isn't the friendliest. Any insight would be great.

London cycling (in the centre) is very much on the up as a result of the
congestion charge. Transport for London produce free cycle maps of London which
are very good. There is a London Cycle Campaign. Pop over to uk.rec.cycling and
ask for John Hearns. He's based in London, is a regular cyclist, good for
information - often posts about rides in London, and is a nice bloke. Plus you
can do track cycling on the ancient velodrome at Herne Hill, which is fun.
There's also the Eastway Circuit at Lee Valley, see
http://www.leevalleypark.com/fe/master.asp?nodeidl1=3&nodeidl2=6&level=3&n
odeidl3=119

Hope this helps.

Cheers, helen s


--This is an invalid email address to avoid spam--
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[mark]

"ADD" wrote ...
> So I am prepping for an ex-pat assignment to London. Does anyone have
> much experience bike commuting around London? I have heard that it
> isn't the friendliest. Any insight would be great.
>
> Cheers.
> -ADD

No commuting time, but I have cycled in and out of the city a few times on
visits. As the other two posters said, the London Cycling Campaign/Transport
for London maps are truly excellent. In addition to cycle lanes and cycle
paths throughout the city, many thoroughfares have lanes restricted to
busses, taxis, and bicycles. I found these really pleasant to use, but YMMV.

As Luigi mentioned, the sheer congestion reduces traffic speeds in the city
center to a level where a cyclist can easily move as fast as or faster than
the motorized traffic, which makes cycling a lot of fun. And yes, fenders
are very much a necessity anywhere in the UK, as is a good rain jacket.

If you have a bike with reasonably fat tires, check out the Grand Union
Canal towpath, and other canals going through the city. It's a side of
London that I suspect not many foreign visitors get to see.

Where did you hear that London "isn't the friendliest" for cycles? You
definitely have to have your wits about you, and it's no place for a novice
cyclist or the faint hearted, but I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent
cycling in London.
--
mark

 

[Squeaker]

"ADD" wrote ...
> So I am prepping for an ex-pat assignment to London. Does anyone have
> much experience bike commuting around London? I have heard that it
> isn't the friendliest. Any insight would be great.
>
> Cheers.
> -ADD

No commuting time, but I have cycled in and out of the city a few times on
visits. As the other two posters said, the London Cycling Campaign/Transport
for London maps are truly excellent. In addition to cycle lanes and cycle
paths throughout the city, many thoroughfares have lanes restricted to
busses, taxis, and bicycles. I found these really pleasant to use, but YMMV.

As Luigi mentioned, the sheer congestion reduces traffic speeds in the city
center to a level where a cyclist can easily move as fast as or faster than
the motorized traffic, which makes cycling a lot of fun. And yes, fenders
are very much a necessity anywhere in the UK, as is a good rain jacket.

If you have a bike with reasonably fat tires, check out the Grand Union
Canal towpath, and other canals going through the city. It's a side of
London that I suspect not many foreign visitors get to see.

Where did you hear that London "isn't the friendliest" for cycles? You
definitely have to have your wits about you, and it's no place for a novice
cyclist or the faint hearted, but I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent
cycling in London.
--
mark

I do bits of my commute in the City of London and in Medway (Kent). Oddly, London feels much safer provided I stay alert and don't do anything stupid. My theory is that in the congestion charge zone there is a higher proportion of professional drivers, i.e. taxis, buses, etc. who have an incentive to stay out of trouble because their livelihood depends on driving. Take it easy and don't try to race anyone and you'll be fine!

 

[R15757]

Squeaker wrote in part:

<< My theory is that in the congestion charge zone there
is a higher proportion of professional drivers, i.e. taxis, buses, etc.
who have an incentive to stay out of trouble because their livelihood
depends on driving. >>

That's not it, it's just that these pro drivers have
vastly more experience in city traffic than everyday
commuter drivers who may drive just one or two hours
each day. That's one reason why rush hours get so
crazy--not only more drivers on the road, but a flood
of idiots (each seemingly convinced of their superior
skills) comes out to join the pros who were already
there.

Robert

 

[Luigi de Guzman]

On Mon, 26 Jul 2004 19:36:41 +1000, Squeaker
<[email protected]> wrote:

>I do bits of my commute in the City of London and in Medway (Kent).
>Oddly, London feels much safer provided I stay alert and don't do
>anything stupid. My theory is that in the congestion charge zone there
>is a higher proportion of professional drivers, i.e. taxis, buses, etc.
>who have an incentive to stay out of trouble because their livelihood
>depends on driving.

I was in London at the time the Congestion Charge was first
implemented. In the weeks immediately after its inception I noticed a
few things:

* Congestion inside the zone did decrease--but average vehicle speeds
seemed to increase as well. For me, it was a bit of a tradeoff.

* Since motorcycles are exempt from congestion charges, the
introduction of the charge saw an overnight increase in the number of
50cc motorscooters within the congestion charge area. Most of these
were ridden by people with little or no experience on two wheels.
These novices made cycling a bit more unnerving for me, since they
zipped about quickly and unpredictably. Not so much so that I quit
riding, but enough for me to notice a difference. Perhaps now the
motorscooter- riders are a bit more civilised.

Also, with respect to "professionals": I have a deep and abiding
respect for London's Black Cab drivers. Their rigourous licencing
process makes them great motorists to share the road with: they
accord you *exactly* as much respect as you're due, as a cyclist--no
more, no less. As a result, they're extremely predictable and not
prone to doing anything excessively dumb.

White Van Men are, on the other hand, the scum of the earth behind the
wheel.


-Luigi

 

[Jeremy Parker]

"ADD" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> So I am prepping for an ex-pat assignment to London. Does anyone
have
> much experience bike commuting around London? I have heard that it
> isn't the friendliest. Any insight would be great.

For a big city it's pretty friendly, and bewildered foreigners get
treated with sympathy. It's not like an American gridiron city. I
can't think of any individual location as weird as Boston with it's
Common with five right angled corners, making everyone lost, but the
overall effect is just as confusing. Get a good map, and London has
good maps.

For its population the countryside is very close, and makes good bike
riding, but there's still an hour or so riding through suburb to get
to it, suburb which looks more like a downtown to American eyes. As
an alternative, jump on a train with your bike to skip the boring
bits. The Central London section of the CTC has rides which gather
at train stations and go out somewhere different each time.

.. Take a look at the Cyclists Touring Club web site www.ctc.org.uk
and the London Cycling Campaign's web site www.lcc.org.uk. Also, for
fun, Look at Transport for London's web site, and especially its
journey planner, which will do bike journeys as well. When you go to
the journey planner, and see the list of travel modes, go to "further
options" and uncheck everything except bikes. It will let you set
any time as your maximum time limit, but seems to give up for trips
beyond two hours at its 11 km/hr pace. I'm not sure that is enough
to get you from Heathrow to downtown.

On most streets you drive on the left, but this is not because of any
general law, and in fact there is one street, Savoy Court, in front
of the Savoy Hotel, where the rule is drive on the right.

have fun

Jeremy Parker
Barnet, London

 

[Luigi de Guzman]

On Mon, 26 Jul 2004 17:13:37 +0100, "Jeremy Parker"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>
>"ADD" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>> So I am prepping for an ex-pat assignment to London. Does anyone
>have
>> much experience bike commuting around London? I have heard that it
>> isn't the friendliest. Any insight would be great.
>
>For a big city it's pretty friendly, and bewildered foreigners get
>treated with sympathy. It's not like an American gridiron city. I
>can't think of any individual location as weird as Boston with it's
>Common with five right angled corners, making everyone lost, but the
>overall effect is just as confusing. Get a good map, and London has
>good maps.

Mm. A street may change names several times along its length in
London--and keep its name when it goes around quite a severe bend.
It's perverse.

Also: the one-way roads. Be mindful of those.


>On most streets you drive on the left, but this is not because of any
>general law, and in fact there is one street, Savoy Court, in front
>of the Savoy Hotel, where the rule is drive on the right.

Savoy Court isn't really a street so much as a forecourt to the Savoy
Hotel...I'd guess it only lasts for two dozen yards at most...and once
you pull out of that, it's a left turn to join the left-driving
traffic on the Strand. (all this from memory, mind).

I can't think of anywhere else I was supposed to ride on the right in
London, now.

-Luigi

>
>have fun
>
>Jeremy Parker
>Barnet, London
>

 

[Just zis Guy, you know?]

On 25 Jul 2004 20:56:12 -0700, [email protected] (ADD) wrote in
message <[email protected]>:

>So I am prepping for an ex-pat assignment to London. Does anyone have
>much experience bike commuting around London? I have heard that it
>isn't the friendliest. Any insight would be great.

It's a great place to cycle, loads of people do it, and honestly the
biggest problem is navigation in my view. If you are a reasonably fit
rider you will be moving at the same speed as the cars, when they move
at all...

Slide on down to uk.rec.cycling and say hi to the natives

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at Washington University

 

[Just zis Guy, you know?]

ADD wrote:

> So I am prepping for an ex-pat assignment to London. Does anyone have
> much experience bike commuting around London? I have heard that it
> isn't the friendliest. Any insight would be great.

Just found this, which might interest you:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/press-releases/2004/july/press-PN1117.shtml

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at Washington
University