It seems that no corner of London is without groups who actively seek to prevent people cycling in their neighbourhoods.
This week, a statement from the Chelsea Society on Quietways (from last March) was ridiculed on Twitter and I think it is worth exploring this in a little more detail as it is a microcosm of the self-interest which seeks to prevent change under the thin veils of faux concern, heritage and traffic-centric NIMBYism. I am going to spend some time responding to the points raised, so bear with me, it will take a while to go through (bingo cards at the ready);
The Society is certainly not against responsible cycling in Chelsea, but it has to be acknowledged that central London is a very dangerous place for cyclists, and too many of them suffer injury and even death.
What is "responsible cycling" exactly? Well, it's the classic parallel to "some of my best friends are cyclists"; it's the classic set-up of the out group.
Moreover the polluted air in central London is not conducive to the health of people engaged in strenuous activity such as cycling. It is perhaps possible to make cycling in central London safer but it is not possible to make it safe. The Mayor is determined nevertheless to encourage more cyclists on to the roads.
Cycling per se is not particularly strenuous (well it is compared to sitting in a car) and we know that despite London's pollution, it is a method of transport which is good for us and the statement utterly fails to realise the cause of the pollution that everyone has to breathe (unless the residents of Chelsea are wearing space suits). On safety, yes people have been hurt and killed (from a casualty point of view) and yes, there are experienced safety issues to be overcome. We deal with both by separating people from heavy traffic and filtering it out elsewhere. Tried, tested and successful; we can make it safe and the good people only have to look down the Thames a bit to see what is going on.
He has therefore designated certain streets as Quietways as part of his Cycle-grid for the use of cyclists who are nervous about riding on busy roads in London. In Chelsea two routes have been designated:
There is probably some agreement that Quietways should not be an alternative to direct routes on busy roads with protected cycling space, but for sure, there will be quieter streets which can form part of a useful grid to complement main roads (if direct).
a route running north-south from South Kensington to Albert Bridge, passing the Royal Marsden and Royal Brompton hospitals, Chelsea Fire Station and a connection on Oakley Street to …
… a route running east- west from Belgravia to Oakley Street, via Holbein Mews, Turk’s Row, Franklin’s Row, St. Leonard’s Terrace Tedworth Sq., Redesdale St., Alpha Place, Oakley Gardens and Phene St.
OK, I'm not going to analyse the routes (I don't know the area well enough), but looking at one of the approved sections, there doesn't seem to have been any radical changes and the crossing of main roads is pretty weak indeed. But there is no technical reason why decent treatments cannot be deployed.
We do not believe that it makes sense to channel large numbers of cyclists into these designated routes, and if large numbers are not expected there is little point in designating the routes at all.
Well yes, a classic bit of self-defeating circularity!
Large numbers of cyclists using a street do have an impact on pedestrians. They make it more difficult to cross the road, they are less visible than cars to other road-users and some do not wear high-visibility jackets. Some ride without lights on their bicycle at night, some ride on the pavement, some do not warn pedestrians of their silent approach (some do not have a bell at all) and some ignore the traffic lights. Large numbers of cyclists in a street would also add to the hazards faced by local residents when driving or parking their cars.
Boom! Here we have the meat of the bile. Have a look at some of the streets in the area (and on the Quietways) such as Oakley Street and St Leonards Terrace which are wall to wall parking and maximum door zone for cycling; they are not going to be streets you will want to ride with your kids in their current, unfiltered state and I do wonder how busy these streets are with the pedestrians the Society is so worried about. Of course, it's nonsense, people walking and people cycling can get along and if there or lots of people cycling, clear space for each mode is the proven and safe solution. The rest is classic cycling bullshit bingo and the real nub is that people cycling will essentially make it harder for residents to park their cars. Oh boo hoo!
Don't take my rhetoric, let's look at some facts and data. According to the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea's report on the 2011 census, 56% of households in the borough do not have access to a car or van. Yes, over half of residents are car-free and this group is growing. It seems to me that there is a ready market for people to cycle in the borough!
With the aid of the A-Z or Google Maps, cyclists are capable of planning their own route to avoid the busiest roads, and they do not need to be directed. They will each have their own point of origin and destination and are therefore unlikely to concentrate so as to add significantly to cycle-traffic on any of the roads they have chosen. Cyclists tend to be independent people and don’t like to be herded.
You really cannot make this up. Cyclists don't need to be directed and don't like to be herded. Like anyone navigating towns and cities, people cycling don't like to get lost and having to stop every five minutes to check one's route is daft. With a dense grid of cycling-friendly streets (however that is achieved), people are enabled to choose a route for sure, but sooner or later there will be convergence on the most direct routes too as the just opened CS3 and CS6 extensions have shown us. This is no different to how people walk and drive.
Generally the Society is opposed to the proliferation of road signs (including those painted on the road) and “street-furniture.” They are unsightly and are distracting for drivers.
I'm not sure there are many straws to clutch at, but still they do. Again, look at the roads I linked to earlier and others on the Quietway routes and what do we see in terms of road signs (including those painted on the road, or road markings as we know them and other items of street furniture. We have traffic signals which deal with conflict between traffic streams, let people out of side roads onto busy roads and give people a chance to cross the road. To be fair, zebra crossings also help people cross the road and even in a low car utopia, they have a place where cycle routes might genuinely be busy to the point people need help to cross the road. The zig-zags, however are there as people can't be trusted to work out where they shouldn't park and stop near zebra crossings and this is why zig-zags are not needed on cycle tracks (under the new 2016 Traffic Signs Regulations & General Directions).
Parking bays and parking bay signs essentially control where people can store their vehicles on the street (mostly the car-owning minority) and parking restrictions (yellow lines) where people cannot store their vehicles. Keep left arrows to help people notice traffic islands and by people I mean drivers in general because of the speed and size of their vehicles. Cyclists in the whole don't tend to flatten traffic signals because they didn't see a keep left arrow. Large advanced directional signage (ADS) is aimed at drivers moving at speed an so need large letters. People cycling need smaller ADS. You get my point, most of the clutter our there is concerned with the management and regulation of motor traffic. Cycling is light-footed in street clutter terms by comparison.
We have consulted with Residents’ Associations for some of the streets affected, and they will be making their own detailed submissions to RBKC.
Well OK, I'm not sure I can be critical about this statement!
A large increase in cycle traffic in Turks Row would be particularly undesirable, as there is a school there and the street is congested at the beginning and end of the school day. Also, some of the streets have “speed-bumps” which are a hazard to cyclists, but local residents do not wish them to be removed.
Turks Row appears to be exactly the kind of street (taken in an area) which should be filtered. Congestion at the school is congestion by motor vehicles and presumably the Society wouldn't want people cycling getting in the way of the Chelsea Tractor brigade (sorry, I had to be as bad as they with a bit of stereotyping). The kids at the school should be enabled to get there by foot or bike, especially as the majority of households don't have access to cars. Next to Turks Row, we have Franklins Row which has humps. As we know, humps are a symptom of innapproproate speed and people cutting through in motor vehicles. Yes, they are a pain for cycling and if really needed, they can be improved by making them sinusoidal. The answer for this residential areas is to filter out through traffic which would make the area nicer for the people who live and it would take away their ability to access their homes by car.
It is difficult to see how a busy street like Oakley Street could possibly be designated a Quietway.
Well I've looked at the street in Google and with a combination of armchair punditry and experience, I am included to agree. It's a 'B' road which connections Albert Bridge to King's Road (an 'A' road); let's face it, it's going to be a traffic sewer and I would lay odds that in terms of a cycling level of service assessment, we will be talking protection for people on cycles. I also lay odds that the street could be reworked to provide stepped cycle tracks inside some parking and possibly by making the road one way so some (not all) parking and access is maintained.
Dovehouse Street has many problems with difficult junctions, speeding cars, aggressive drivers, some very thoughtless cyclists, serious ambulance-and-other-delivery-vehicle-related congestion at the northern end of the street and generally quite difficult conditions crossing the street for the oldest and youngest residents at morning and afternoon/evening rush hours.
Well from the description, Dovehouse Street, sounds like another traffic sewer. It's a shame as it runs past two hospitals; The Royal Brompton and The Royal Marsden. I'm sure that there are plenty of staff and indeed patients who might find cycling convenient. The through traffic clearly needs dealing with. But cyclists.
This Cycle-grid is likely to be a costly exercise, and the Society would like to know how much the tax payers would be expected to pay for it.
Yes, building stuff costs money and yes, tax payers fund it ultimately. I am sure maintaining the local roads to a standard suitable for driving is a costly exercise, but using that as an argument would be silly.
The Society is certainly not against responsible cycling in Chelsea, but it has to be acknowledged that central London is a very dangerous place for cyclists, and too many of them suffer injury and even death.
What is "responsible cycling" exactly? Well, it's the classic parallel to "some of my best friends are cyclists"; it's the classic set-up of the out group.
Moreover the polluted air in central London is not conducive to the health of people engaged in strenuous activity such as cycling. It is perhaps possible to make cycling in central London safer but it is not possible to make it safe. The Mayor is determined nevertheless to encourage more cyclists on to the roads.
Cycling per se is not particularly strenuous (well it is compared to sitting in a car) and we know that despite London's pollution, it is a method of transport which is good for us and the statement utterly fails to realise the cause of the pollution that everyone has to breathe (unless the residents of Chelsea are wearing space suits). On safety, yes people have been hurt and killed (from a casualty point of view) and yes, there are experienced safety issues to be overcome. We deal with both by separating people from heavy traffic and filtering it out elsewhere. Tried, tested and successful; we can make it safe and the good people only have to look down the Thames a bit to see what is going on.
He has therefore designated certain streets as Quietways as part of his Cycle-grid for the use of cyclists who are nervous about riding on busy roads in London. In Chelsea two routes have been designated:
There is probably some agreement that Quietways should not be an alternative to direct routes on busy roads with protected cycling space, but for sure, there will be quieter streets which can form part of a useful grid to complement main roads (if direct).
a route running north-south from South Kensington to Albert Bridge, passing the Royal Marsden and Royal Brompton hospitals, Chelsea Fire Station and a connection on Oakley Street to …
… a route running east- west from Belgravia to Oakley Street, via Holbein Mews, Turk’s Row, Franklin’s Row, St. Leonard’s Terrace Tedworth Sq., Redesdale St., Alpha Place, Oakley Gardens and Phene St.
OK, I'm not going to analyse the routes (I don't know the area well enough), but looking at one of the approved sections, there doesn't seem to have been any radical changes and the crossing of main roads is pretty weak indeed. But there is no technical reason why decent treatments cannot be deployed.
We do not believe that it makes sense to channel large numbers of cyclists into these designated routes, and if large numbers are not expected there is little point in designating the routes at all.
Well yes, a classic bit of self-defeating circularity!
Large numbers of cyclists using a street do have an impact on pedestrians. They make it more difficult to cross the road, they are less visible than cars to other road-users and some do not wear high-visibility jackets. Some ride without lights on their bicycle at night, some ride on the pavement, some do not warn pedestrians of their silent approach (some do not have a bell at all) and some ignore the traffic lights. Large numbers of cyclists in a street would also add to the hazards faced by local residents when driving or parking their cars.
Boom! Here we have the meat of the bile. Have a look at some of the streets in the area (and on the Quietways) such as Oakley Street and St Leonards Terrace which are wall to wall parking and maximum door zone for cycling; they are not going to be streets you will want to ride with your kids in their current, unfiltered state and I do wonder how busy these streets are with the pedestrians the Society is so worried about. Of course, it's nonsense, people walking and people cycling can get along and if there or lots of people cycling, clear space for each mode is the proven and safe solution. The rest is classic cycling bullshit bingo and the real nub is that people cycling will essentially make it harder for residents to park their cars. Oh boo hoo!
Don't take my rhetoric, let's look at some facts and data. According to the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea's report on the 2011 census, 56% of households in the borough do not have access to a car or van. Yes, over half of residents are car-free and this group is growing. It seems to me that there is a ready market for people to cycle in the borough!
With the aid of the A-Z or Google Maps, cyclists are capable of planning their own route to avoid the busiest roads, and they do not need to be directed. They will each have their own point of origin and destination and are therefore unlikely to concentrate so as to add significantly to cycle-traffic on any of the roads they have chosen. Cyclists tend to be independent people and don’t like to be herded.
You really cannot make this up. Cyclists don't need to be directed and don't like to be herded. Like anyone navigating towns and cities, people cycling don't like to get lost and having to stop every five minutes to check one's route is daft. With a dense grid of cycling-friendly streets (however that is achieved), people are enabled to choose a route for sure, but sooner or later there will be convergence on the most direct routes too as the just opened CS3 and CS6 extensions have shown us. This is no different to how people walk and drive.
Generally the Society is opposed to the proliferation of road signs (including those painted on the road) and “street-furniture.” They are unsightly and are distracting for drivers.
I'm not sure there are many straws to clutch at, but still they do. Again, look at the roads I linked to earlier and others on the Quietway routes and what do we see in terms of road signs (including those painted on the road, or road markings as we know them and other items of street furniture. We have traffic signals which deal with conflict between traffic streams, let people out of side roads onto busy roads and give people a chance to cross the road. To be fair, zebra crossings also help people cross the road and even in a low car utopia, they have a place where cycle routes might genuinely be busy to the point people need help to cross the road. The zig-zags, however are there as people can't be trusted to work out where they shouldn't park and stop near zebra crossings and this is why zig-zags are not needed on cycle tracks (under the new 2016 Traffic Signs Regulations & General Directions).
Parking bays and parking bay signs essentially control where people can store their vehicles on the street (mostly the car-owning minority) and parking restrictions (yellow lines) where people cannot store their vehicles. Keep left arrows to help people notice traffic islands and by people I mean drivers in general because of the speed and size of their vehicles. Cyclists in the whole don't tend to flatten traffic signals because they didn't see a keep left arrow. Large advanced directional signage (ADS) is aimed at drivers moving at speed an so need large letters. People cycling need smaller ADS. You get my point, most of the clutter our there is concerned with the management and regulation of motor traffic. Cycling is light-footed in street clutter terms by comparison.
We have consulted with Residents’ Associations for some of the streets affected, and they will be making their own detailed submissions to RBKC.
Well OK, I'm not sure I can be critical about this statement!
A large increase in cycle traffic in Turks Row would be particularly undesirable, as there is a school there and the street is congested at the beginning and end of the school day. Also, some of the streets have “speed-bumps” which are a hazard to cyclists, but local residents do not wish them to be removed.
Turks Row appears to be exactly the kind of street (taken in an area) which should be filtered. Congestion at the school is congestion by motor vehicles and presumably the Society wouldn't want people cycling getting in the way of the Chelsea Tractor brigade (sorry, I had to be as bad as they with a bit of stereotyping). The kids at the school should be enabled to get there by foot or bike, especially as the majority of households don't have access to cars. Next to Turks Row, we have Franklins Row which has humps. As we know, humps are a symptom of innapproproate speed and people cutting through in motor vehicles. Yes, they are a pain for cycling and if really needed, they can be improved by making them sinusoidal. The answer for this residential areas is to filter out through traffic which would make the area nicer for the people who live and it would take away their ability to access their homes by car.
It is difficult to see how a busy street like Oakley Street could possibly be designated a Quietway.
Well I've looked at the street in Google and with a combination of armchair punditry and experience, I am included to agree. It's a 'B' road which connections Albert Bridge to King's Road (an 'A' road); let's face it, it's going to be a traffic sewer and I would lay odds that in terms of a cycling level of service assessment, we will be talking protection for people on cycles. I also lay odds that the street could be reworked to provide stepped cycle tracks inside some parking and possibly by making the road one way so some (not all) parking and access is maintained.
Dovehouse Street has many problems with difficult junctions, speeding cars, aggressive drivers, some very thoughtless cyclists, serious ambulance-and-other-delivery-vehicle-related congestion at the northern end of the street and generally quite difficult conditions crossing the street for the oldest and youngest residents at morning and afternoon/evening rush hours.
Well from the description, Dovehouse Street, sounds like another traffic sewer. It's a shame as it runs past two hospitals; The Royal Brompton and The Royal Marsden. I'm sure that there are plenty of staff and indeed patients who might find cycling convenient. The through traffic clearly needs dealing with. But cyclists.
This Cycle-grid is likely to be a costly exercise, and the Society would like to know how much the tax payers would be expected to pay for it.
Yes, building stuff costs money and yes, tax payers fund it ultimately. I am sure maintaining the local roads to a standard suitable for driving is a costly exercise, but using that as an argument would be silly.
I have also had a poke around the Society's website and even the RideLondon cycling event is subtly laced with anti-cycling rhetoric;
As the route for the event goes through east, central and west London before heading out to Surrey it requires over 100 miles of road to be closed which will have a major impact on getting around the Capital. If you are planning any special events such as weddings or making a journey out to an airport it will be advisable to plan ahead.
For most people, "getting around the capital" doesn't automatically mean "by car" and let's be honest here, Chelsea isn't exactly the suburbia of Outer London, although, there are some pockets of the area less served by public transport as you would imagine (but it's relative). The image below is a Public Transport Accessibility Level (PTAL) map of the area taken from the wonderful TfL Webcat tool;
The green and yellow areas have a score of 3 and 4 respectively which is still better than a suburban tube or rail interchange which tend to have a high score around the interchange, but then tails off quickly because of lack of options. The Thames plays a role because it is a barrier to transport accessibility itself. I digress, the area isn't a public transport wasteland, but perhaps cycling could improve local accessibility, especially as most residents have no access to cars.
Anyway, this has been a long and rambling post which is probably rather pointless in terms of influencing the views of the good people of the Chelsea Society. They don't speak for everyone, but they have influence and that alone makes them fair game to be singled out for their position to be challenged. I am sorry to be blunt, but when it comes to cycling, the Chelsea Society are dinosaurs.