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Environment, London, London mayoral election 2021, UK news - May 4, 2021

London mayoral election: which candidate is best for cycling?

Analysis: greater use of bikes can help tackle emissions in the capital, but can the would-be mayors deliver?

After a year in which lives, homes and jobs were lost to a global pandemic, why does cycling matter? One of the London mayor’s major mandates is transport. Cycling and walking are a key part of that, not least while many people are avoiding public transport or working from home.

If people switch from public transport to driving, Transport for London (TfL) forecasts a huge rise in motor traffic and a corresponding surge in pollution. With road transport accounting for 20% of London’s emissions, providing alternatives to private cars is key.

Opponents of LTNs claim they delay emergency services – but look at the facts

One thing is clear: there is virtually no evidence that low-traffic neighbourhood schemes hold up emergency vehicles

If you were to read certain newspapers for long enough, the message would seem clear: the main cause of traffic congestion is measures to boost walking and cycling – that is, separated cycle lanes, and so-called low-traffic neighbourhoods, or LTNs.

LTNs, schemes to dissuade through traffic on smaller residential streets by filters permeable to people travelling by foot or cycle, but not by private motor vehicle – whether camera-enforced or in the physical form of planters or bollards – are at the centre of a particularly fierce transport-based culture war.

Opponents of LTNs claim they delay emergency services – but look at the facts

One thing is clear: there is virtually no evidence that low-traffic neighbourhood schemes hold up emergency vehicles

If you were to read certain newspapers for long enough, the message would seem clear: the main cause of traffic congestion is measures to boost walking and cycling – that is, separated cycle lanes, and so-called low-traffic neighbourhoods, or LTNs.

LTNs, schemes to dissuade through traffic on smaller residential streets by filters permeable to people travelling by foot or cycle, but not by private motor vehicle – whether camera-enforced or in the physical form of planters or bollards – are at the centre of a particularly fierce transport-based culture war.

How the coronavirus crisis got me back on my bike and feeling free

Having not been in the saddle for 15 years, Toby Chasseaud overcomes his nerves to beat the travel shutdown

See all our coronavirus coverage

Like many Londoners, the majority of my journeys over the past 13 years have been underground. I last cycled, briefly, in Brighton in 2005 and found even that short spell somewhat nerve-racking, with drivers cutting in front of me without indicating or even looking to see if anyone was there.

If you can’t beat them, join them, I figured. I gave my bike away, bought a car again and thought nothing more of cycling. When I moved to London the tube became my default mode of transport and would remain so for years – until a few weeks ago.

Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, we have been told to avoid using public transport unless absolutely necessary. I’ve always considered my work to be important, but could I justify squeezing into the underground with doctors and nurses – the true heroes of this crisis – potentially putting them, as well as myself and my Guardian colleagues, at risk?

So I resolve to buy a bike again to allow me to stay mobile while keeping a safe distance from others. I had feared that every Londoner would have the same idea as me, so when I arrive at the bike shop I’m pleasantly surprised to find I’m the only customer there, and the owner proceeds to talk me through the options available.

Channel 5's nonsense will make me and other cyclists less safe

Cyclists: Scourge of the Roads? isn’t just as bad as the title indicates – it’s irresponsible

On Wednesday morning, I’ll be a little bit more wary when I cycle into work. I’m always hugely careful, anyway – the trip involves sharing space with tonne-plus lumps of speeding metal – but this time I’ll be particularly on my guard. Why? Because Channel 5 are putting me, and others, at risk.

At 9.15pm on Tuesday, a reasonably sizeable number of people, the majority of whom probably drive motor vehicles, will sit down to watch what is undoubtedly the worst, most scaremongering, inaccurate, downright irresponsible programme on cycling I’ve ever seen.

Many motorists see cyclists as scum of the roads – speeding through crossings, riding where they shouldn’t, and generally hogging the roads.

For many drivers in the capital, cyclists have become public enemy number one.

What really winds motorists up is the feeling that cyclists are allowed to pedal outside of the law.

It’s not just in cities that some riders are on a right old rampage.

The pastoral dream – or it was until the cyclists came.

Cyclists sure can be a pain in the rear end, and some are a danger on the roads.

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London mayoral election: which candidate is best for cycling?

Opponents of LTNs claim they delay emergency services – but look at the facts

Opponents of LTNs claim they delay emergency services – but look at the facts

How the coronavirus crisis got me back on my bike and feeling free

Channel 5's nonsense will make me and other cyclists less safe

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