Oh wow… I left this area 35 years ago for Australia. I’m absolutely blown away about the fantastic effect of LTNs, you could easily run a cricket game on most of those streets if you could cope with the broken windows… in Oz politicians talk the talk but they don’t walk the walk like I’ve just seen here. Biking has to be a better way to get round London now up to medium distances. My huge congratulations!!
If you want to get this sort of thing going in Australia, I suggest you collect up videos like this and other ones from different countries. One of the blockers to LTNs and cycle infrastructure improvements is the car lobby and concern trolling. Things like the wands screwed into tarmac and boxes full of plants with no entry signs, are nowhere near as good as not-easy-to-reverse changes, but they are cheaper to do. And if you can team up with local lobby groups who want to reduce child deaths on the roads or get pollution from rat run drivers out of local streets, you have a lot of video evidence that can show that this works. Get enough people onboard and you can push for a short term experiment and then push for the experiment to be made permanent. Even if you have resistance to this in the area you live in, if you can help lobbyists in one area of Australia get this sort of thing started, you can then collect numbers for things like accidents, the number of people with breathing problems and so on and try to leverage other areas into copying one area where it works. Paris seems to be ahead of London here. And there is big pushback against the London ULEZ from the counties surrounding London. (Historically the Green Belt laws made extensions of London's railways into the surrounding counties non-profitable, and stopped the growth of Greater London, but people move into counties surrounding London with the aim of getting jobs in London and that creates a zone of car-dependancy that crosses political boarders.) It is possible that some of the political inertia you have in Australia is related to how car dependent housing is, at different distances from city centres. If that is the case then it might be easier to start off with calls for city centre pedestrianisation projects, cycle paths through city centre parks and other schemes that are less likely to get pushback from people living 30 miles away. The "low traffic neighborhood" in the City of London, the so called "Ring of Steel", was actually pitched as an anti-terrorist measure, rather than as something that would clean up the air in the City or make the streets better for cyclists. I didn't see any car lobbyists blocking that. So it's possible that certain cities in Australia could get this sort of improvement brought in under a variety of different angles. Good luck finding any sort of angle that will find traction in any part of Australia.
@cemmi8957 newcastle has excellent public transport, have you seen the buses in the city centre plus new metro trains. The roads are too small for vehicles and cycles.
Do be careful in the Clapton area in the side-roads near the A10. I used to commute through there and that's where all my near-misses with cars happened. For whatever reason, it's just full of SUV drivers who emerge from junctions and sometimes even parking spaces and driveways without looking. They don't even see you at the last minute and stop - they just keep coming and leave it entirely up to you to avoid the collision. I used to commute from Walthamstow to Whitehall. I crossed the river by walking my bike over the footbridge at Lea Marina, which is still a really pleasant way to get across. My only alternative would have been Lea Bridge but it wasn't remotely pleasant back then. Glad to see how much it has been improved!
I don't even live in or anywhere near London but I love watching your videos, I love cycling infrastructure and your videos are quite calming and enjoyable :)
@@liamness it's just so shockingly bad like nothing & the size of the cars... I don't even know what a 1.5m pass is. Never had that much room. There is a single gate south of Margaretta Terrace which is too bumpy but the north end is a death trap blind corner. I was exiting one day & saw a car heading south cut into the north lane to do a 45° back to where I was waiting only there was a an elderly gentleman heading south I could see it all 🙈 I think he must've seen my face and stopped as this car sped across the south lane cars and the cyclist he could've so easily killed. There's nothing here. No clear roads, I can look at this and weep. I need to cycle further x
@@ottohashmibut it can't even be pleasant for them either. I'd whack in a giant cycle lane from Chelsea bridge to Putney, make the embankment one way for cars only. Then do the same on kings road, Fulham road & old Brompton. Kensington high Street may have enough room for all x
Those roadworks for the supposed ‘Thames waterworks’ opposite the south west exit to Finsbury Park are almost certainly the new secret underground headquarters being built for MI5.
London is really making strides cycling-wise; would that our more provincial towns would follow suit - we're lucky to get a bit of pathway shared with pedestrians. I was born in Hendon, but haven't lived in London since my family emigrated to the USA when I was 2 (we returned to England 20 years later in 1973)
yeah the strange thing is that its towns, where a bike can get you from one end to another in 10 minutes, that cycling would be an incredible way to get it around! but these areas are obsessed with cars
I moved away from the UK 4 years ago so these videos are fantastic at seeing how much progress is being made towards getting people out of their cars. Hopefully other towns and cities in the UK are following, but I fear it's patchy at best.
lovely trip down memory lane. I used to take the 56 to whips cross everyday for school back in the 90's then in the 2010's I lived just off the Lea Bridge roundabout. :). nice to see the constant evolution of London.
I discovered your channel when scanning for cycling infrastructure in London, as I'm planning my trip there in couple of days. Unfortunately, there is not much time to go through all of your videos, but what I saw was a big inspiration for me. Thanks a lot, you're doing a great job.
Thanks for your great videos! It would be so great if you could maybe overlay the live GPS of where you are, for visual reference / spacial reference. But your videos are great as they are as well. Many thanks for showing all these great routes!
Nice!! The Tesco is actually small. I’d like to see TFL send a dedicated email to subscribers combining all the councils efforts on these routes and promote cycling more. I think it’s not spoken about enough. I’m actually considering using the cycle to work scheme now, get an e-bike.
Great route. Nice to see the new roundabout installed and benefitting you and others. I wish West London was as innovative in this regard as East London is.
Gosh such a quiet cycle route. Such great improvements to the area! A polar opposite to us here in the (Wild) West. There’s a lovely Mauritian restaurant where you finished, need to check it out! 10K incoming, congrats!
Some great cycling and walking infrastructure there. I'm intrigued about the on-road cycle stores that were regular features in the first part of the video. We have nothing like this in Cambridge, as far as I am aware (although I live out in the Fens, so might have missed them). It would be nice to know how they operate.
I believe you have to apply for a space through the local council for these ‘cyclehoop bikehangers’, and for a yearly cost, you can get a place to store your bike. They’re in pretty high demand, so getting one isn’t the easiest.
Yeah they’re cycle hangers, they’re run by the council and you have to pay a small fee for a space… there’s generally a waiting list. They’re very useful in London as people frequently don’t have the space to store a bike in the house
@@LondoncycleroutesStill a tiny provision compared to the available on-road car storage. I thought there should a law change to allow residents to fund and install their own on-road bike storage. Technicality you can do it now but it has to be in the form of a road-worthy vehicle (e.g. a van or car), which is an extremely inefficient way of doing it.
I would love you to do a safe cycling with children route videos. We visit with our 6 and 8 year old quite a lot as we have relatives in town and would love some route suggestions. Ideally past some famous landmarks and only on raised cycle paths, through parks or in very quiet LTNs.
generally I do try and make all the routes doable for a competent 12 year old! obviously different kids can do different stuff at different stages and younger ones you'd want to be more careful with... but hopefully you can get an idea from the videos of what different places are like
Checkings on Google Maps, it seems they're not up-to-date on the roundabout. I'm viewing this from thousands of kms away, but even from Google maps/street-view compared to your vid, that roundabout is day from night. Absolutely enjoyed this. OMG, this is more addictive than drugs. I'm slowly being seduced by London again. And your trees are turning green. This is therapeutic...
A question for the QnA. What are your thoughts on the improvement of Londons cycling infrastructure in the last 10 years? Also congrats on 10k subscribers!
OK. a question for your 10k subs vid. Would you want to review bike lanes and general biking experience in other cities? As a Nottingham resident I'm really impressed by the facilities and progress in London and feel we need these to be compared directly so other cities and areas get their arses in gear. Here in Nottingham it's by no means awful, the city council have made continual commitments in recent years and there are good bike lanes to get from certain areas to certain other areas. But there are likely issues caused by how half the urban area is technically outside the city boundary and also by how the city council is now bankrupt. It's certainly less safe to ride here than in London going by the POV of your vids. But it doesn't have to be that way. Would be cool to see your perspectives and comparisons of London with other cities all over the UK. I think there are a lot of lessons to be learned on all sides tbh.
Congrats on the 10k! If you can create some playlists which will categorize the videos into East, West, North and South London that would be awesome! I am in East London using the C3 and Q22 quite often, but would love to know more about other routes in the area as well.
Work on the lea bridge roundabout went on for well over a year. Many cyclists like turn by the Round chapel and use Powerscroft road and Millfields park to enter lea bridge road at the Princess of Wales pub, in both directions to completely avoid lea bridge roundabout.
Question for the Q&A video (unless you want to make an entire video about it): Given your familiarity with so many of these cycle routes, if you were given funding to make one new cycle route, where do you think one is most needed?
I lived in Clapton until eight years ago. Waltham Forest was already really good and I used Lea Bridge Road frequently. It was disappointing when I got to the Hackney side of the bridge though. Now I’m in Crouch End which is rubbish. But made worse by having to go up steep hills in all directions except towards Tottenham.
That round about is sweet - have you seen the round about at Whipps Cross? I used to go school round there in the early 2000s & we used to take our lives in our hands crossing to the bus stop. It's so easy now days!
Thank you for your work; excellent channel and content. I really like the format and the information provided. For your 10k Q&A, I know it is too much to ask, but if in a corner of the video is shown the map as the ride is developing, the videos will be perfect. How possible would be to see this feature in the future? Please, keep up with your excellent channel.
Another nice video! 👍🙂 Coincidentaly I'd just thought of a question to ask when you mentioned the q&a so happy to wait for an answer if it makes the cut.... " Is there a direct correlation between the "wealth" of a London Borough and its quality of cycling infrastructure.?" I'm no expert on LBs, (my FB name might give that away!😁) but there seems to be great cycling routes in E and NE London, but less so in the west. K&C etc. Keep up the good work! 👍
Waltham Forest and Enfield (and one other borough?) where "mini Holland" boroughs so received a lot of funding. I guess Hackney and Islington have ended up with a neighbour effect as, as mentioned in the video, you REALLY used to know when you hit Hackney on Lea Bridge Road. The segregated cycle lane just stopped and then you were on your own. So maybe the west London boroughs residents don't have as close an example to try pressuring their council, they might not know what's possible (also, Tory boroughs would likely push back on anything that impacted their "right to drive").
Very nice! If London had a modal split ( and the infrastructure to go with it!) like Amsterdam or The Netherlands as a whole, we could declare it paradise 😂
@@Londoncycleroutes I'd love to actually cycle through London with my eBike... But can I take my bike on the Eurostar? And affording accomodation is probably prohibitive when going for a week...
Another great video, thank you. Congratulations on the 10,000 - well deserved. My question in two bits - do you cycle to the start of your routes and then home again? I’m guessing you do. How do you decide which direction you’ll go, eg why FP to Leyton and not the other way round? Part of a longer circuit which will get you home? Thanks again - keep ‘em coming, please.
Great route! I’ll join you for a street party on Finsbury Park Road to celebrate 5 years of those annoying Thames Water works! I normally prefer to cycle through Clissold Park and down Clissold Road rather than go round the park, although it can get a busy with pedestrians when the weather is good.
Wow. London, in terms of the amount of infrastructure an quality of the infrastructure is fast overtaking Cambridge as a cycling friendly City! of course we have a huge density of bikes here in Cambridge but not very much in the way of protected infrastructure...
Question of the Q&A: How do you remember these routes? (I know you shot a bit of the video another day after making a wrong turn.) And how do you think it could be easier for other cyclists to learn the routes? Are more cycle route signs needed? Would tie-in highlight videos that just show the turns at the ends of roads help people jog their memory? Could a written itinerary of turns (maybe backed up by mnemonics help? None of these quite streets look like "highways" so how do you make non-locals realise they are good places for cyclists to choose, while not making cars turn into these roads?
What are the little Quonset hut structures, like on the left after the water works project @ 1:31? I saw several of them in the limited access neighborhood streets.
they're cycle hangers, the local borough provides them and you can rent a spot to keep a bike. there's a waiting list to get them but the number is expanding quite quickly in most places
Leabridge Road roundabout looks great although users / viewers should be aware of the large number of bike jackings that takes place on the leabridge rd cycle path uptowards the ice rink and esp on the bridges where people can loiter out of view from the road . I use the bus lane at all times on that stretch
Honestly my hope is that the upgraded roundabout and new cycle lanes on the section of LBR in Hackney will just lead to an increase in cycle traffic such that muggers don't feel comfortable hanging out there anymore. Safety in numbers and all that.
Hi Jon, wish I could think of more questions atm but the only ones coming to mind are, how much does our 32 borough system hinder us in developing a London-wide cycling policy and could Anne Hidalgo have done the great work she is doing in Paris over here or would she have been hamstrung by it. A follow up question would be do you think there should be more joined up thinking or certain powers such as road infrastructure/planning transferred over to the London Mayor? I can see this being quite controversial haha. Congrats on 10k coming up soon!
It could be that the borough system actually allowed these bicycle lanes to be created in the first place, as the boroughs against them had no say in their creation. You see the same thing in Montreal, where the Plateau neighbourhood developed a thriving bike culture decades ago, which ignited the movement in the rest of Montreal. Contrast that to Toronto, where suburban boroughs like Etobicoke continually block bicycle infrastructure improvements in the rest of the city, particularly downtown.
Congrats on the imminent 10k! Love the vids. My question is this: You're always very law-abiding in your videos. When the cameras are off, do you ever go a bit ahead of a red light? Or mount the pavement to avoid a sticky crossing? Or - my personal guilty crime* - cycle through the Greenwich or Woolwich foot tunnels?! (*at quiet times only!)
I like the oval bike storage on the streets I saw in the video. Are these public or private? I do know them but as private bike storage for the front/back yard. And if they’re public, are they locked with a key, card or code? And does the borough give away these or do you have to take a subscription?
Yeah they’re public run by the borough as residential parking for a fee, there’s usually a waiting list. I don’t know how access works, I think it’s a key
I would like to see more challenging routes (and coping strategies) to get from the badlands (eg NW postcodes) to the decent infrastructure. Maybe an alternative to the (long dead?) CS11.
Looks like someone from the council took a trip to the Netherlands to see how they do it there, looks a lot more useable than typical cycling infrastructure that seem mandatory in new build housing estates eTc.
Q&A: How do you find out about all the new LTNs and cycle routes? I find it impossible to keep tabs on everything in Hertfordshire, so London must be a huge amount of information.
One thing that slightly bothers me is how on the roundabout there's no request buttons accessible from the cycle lanes, even though there are for pedestrians. The signals for pedestrians and cyclists are on the same alignments and on the same timings, so I imagine this means the request buttons for pedestrians have no actual effect. But the absence of anything indicating that the junction's brains are aware you're waiting, plus the fairly long wait times, I think is just going to result in very few cyclists actually waiting for their signal. To be fair the junction is a fantastic upgrade generally and will be much safer even if more cyclists go across on red than green. You have safe places to wait and check that it's clear, and you only need to look for traffic coming from one direction at a time.
Yeah totally agree with all this, the long wait meant I wasn’t actually sure if it was working! And most people crossed on red, several went through in the time I was waiting (cut out)
@@LondoncycleroutesYeah I went to try it out in January, and so I could get an impression of the signal timings, I was very well behaved and waited for my signal at each arm of the junction. Got some quite puzzled looks from people! Back then (not sure if they've adjusted things since) it seemed it could take up to about five minutes to navigate a right turn across the junction, if you wait for a green at each arm, and are particularly unlucky with the timings.
2 things, 1. have you at any time contacted the water company as to why the works are taking so long? 2. with the new superloop bus routes, have you given thought to see how long it takes to cycle the same route?
They’re upgrading the water main there, I did contact them and they told me the works would finish about a year ago haha… the date keeps slipping. The other one I’ll answer in the Q&A!
01:33 I see some sort of bicycle garage there on the right. I bet it is locked up, but how much is it resistant to vandals. I see at least 5 to 6 bicycles fitting in there. I wonder if it's completely private, amongst few neighbours, or maybe provided by a council or something? Also I've seen it before on one of your videos, maybe it was the same one, or there are more of them around London? ... and there's another one at 01:38. Is it bolted down to the road? I mean it doesn't look heavy, 2-3 people could easily lift it up. And another one at 04:05 xD and after 5th minute there are loads more, even a double one! Wow! Well I would keep an ordinary bicycle there, like one for commuting for work, school, etc. but not my main bicycle :)
They are pretty tough and locked but a determined person with enough time and an angle grinder could probably get in - thefts aren’t unheard of but they seem to work for most people
Congrats on the 10k. My question would be how to get an LTN if you’re not an outgoing campaigner type of person? I live in Waltham forest on one of the few back street residential roads that’s not an LTN. It’s a major rat run with speeding cars and then honking traffic jams at rush hour. I wrote to the councillor, and they said they’d consulted on it in 2019 and there wasn’t the appetite for it locally. I’ve been looking for speed cameras to maybe try and prove it’s dangerous, but haven’t found anything. So yeah, any advice on campaigning for an LTN.
Part 2: What piece of cycling culture or infrastructure might London benefit from adopting from somewhere else? And what do you think is something other places can learn from London's cycling development? Love your videos & always looking forward to the next one! Greetings from Queens, NY! Xx
Not too many- Brussels, Paris, Ghent and Rotterdam spring to mind…. Rotterdam was best by far, probably not a surprise! Ghent is also good. Paris has come on amazingly in recent years. Brussels is around the same as London, better in parts but not in others
wf has done a good job in most main roads however the more conservative/suburban chingford has nearly 0 protected infrastructure and the main chingford-wstow road (a112) has 0 protections all the way from chingford through wstow, leyton to stratford other than tipex, which is a shame because its quite an important rd
Yeah there’s a huge divide north and south of the south circular in that borough - hopefully they start to creep up north! (Tho check out my Chingford to Walthamstow video)
@@Londoncycleroutes Yes indeed, choosing a safer route choice in the countryside can mean quite a detour. When my children were toddlers, I used to tow them to my parents house for childcare. The main A37 was not a safe option, so it was a case of using the quieter country lanes that was much longer.
The issue is basically Barnet and Brent councils haven’t done very much… they’re apparently working on some projects but they’re very behind. I have a few ideas around Wembley and Harrow for historic routes but it’s difficult terrain!
@@Londoncycleroutes That's odd as Brent is one of London's more scoially-aware councils. One issue is that the area south of Willesden is an unholy mess of rail property, running through to Wormwood Scrubs.
The video is speeded up which makes for an exciting experience (and keeps it within a reasonable length) - but you lose the real-time sense of negotiating city streets and the informational value is reduced . . .
you can slow it down again on UA-cam if you want, hit the cog icon and set it to 0.5x. Some people I know double the speed again haha so I think it’s a matter of preference
Worth reminding people to register to vote. The Tory Mayor candidate, Susan Hall thinks these LtN’s and cycle lanes are “virtue signalling” (rather than critical infrastructure that saves lives) and wants to rip much of it out if she is elected. Depressing really
@@rubie2 It might be useful to cite some. Certainly there are some roads I'd hesitate to venture down, as the intentional death rate is alarming, but that's an entirely different issue: it's never struck me that any are dangerous through ;lack of upkeep.
As a cyclist I think majority cycle lanes are dangerous, like in this clip they are many unsafe sections, it’s time road markings are added for cyclists not lanes, letting cyclists know what lanes to be in and have priority over vehicles when in these lanes that are shared with vehicles
Don’t really know why I watch your videos as I never use these routes; a sign of a good channel!
Thanks for watching!
Oh wow… I left this area 35 years ago for Australia. I’m absolutely blown away about the fantastic effect of LTNs, you could easily run a cricket game on most of those streets if you could cope with the broken windows… in Oz politicians talk the talk but they don’t walk the walk like I’ve just seen here. Biking has to be a better way to get round London now up to medium distances. My huge congratulations!!
Really interesting perspective! It’s definitely made a difference
If you want to get this sort of thing going in Australia, I suggest you collect up videos like this and other ones from different countries.
One of the blockers to LTNs and cycle infrastructure improvements is the car lobby and concern trolling.
Things like the wands screwed into tarmac and boxes full of plants with no entry signs, are nowhere near as good as not-easy-to-reverse changes, but they are cheaper to do. And if you can team up with local lobby groups who want to reduce child deaths on the roads or get pollution from rat run drivers out of local streets, you have a lot of video evidence that can show that this works. Get enough people onboard and you can push for a short term experiment and then push for the experiment to be made permanent.
Even if you have resistance to this in the area you live in, if you can help lobbyists in one area of Australia get this sort of thing started, you can then collect numbers for things like accidents, the number of people with breathing problems and so on and try to leverage other areas into copying one area where it works.
Paris seems to be ahead of London here. And there is big pushback against the London ULEZ from the counties surrounding London. (Historically the Green Belt laws made extensions of London's railways into the surrounding counties non-profitable, and stopped the growth of Greater London, but people move into counties surrounding London with the aim of getting jobs in London and that creates a zone of car-dependancy that crosses political boarders.)
It is possible that some of the political inertia you have in Australia is related to how car dependent housing is, at different distances from city centres. If that is the case then it might be easier to start off with calls for city centre pedestrianisation projects, cycle paths through city centre parks and other schemes that are less likely to get pushback from people living 30 miles away.
The "low traffic neighborhood" in the City of London, the so called "Ring of Steel", was actually pitched as an anti-terrorist measure, rather than as something that would clean up the air in the City or make the streets better for cyclists. I didn't see any car lobbyists blocking that. So it's possible that certain cities in Australia could get this sort of improvement brought in under a variety of different angles.
Good luck finding any sort of angle that will find traction in any part of Australia.
They have been scrapped in parts of Newcastle due to the traffic chaos they cause.
@@lloydnaylor6113 you cant have LTN's without good cycle infrastructure and public transport (which newcastle is severely lacking)
@cemmi8957 newcastle has excellent public transport, have you seen the buses in the city centre plus new metro trains. The roads are too small for vehicles and cycles.
Impressed by London's initiative and progress for becoming a cycling city.
progress has been made!
I've been waiting for this roundabout for a long time. I was very happy the first time I could go around it.
Such an improvement!
Do be careful in the Clapton area in the side-roads near the A10. I used to commute through there and that's where all my near-misses with cars happened. For whatever reason, it's just full of SUV drivers who emerge from junctions and sometimes even parking spaces and driveways without looking. They don't even see you at the last minute and stop - they just keep coming and leave it entirely up to you to avoid the collision.
I used to commute from Walthamstow to Whitehall. I crossed the river by walking my bike over the footbridge at Lea Marina, which is still a really pleasant way to get across. My only alternative would have been Lea Bridge but it wasn't remotely pleasant back then. Glad to see how much it has been improved!
Good advice about Clapton thank you!
I don't even live in or anywhere near London but I love watching your videos, I love cycling infrastructure and your videos are quite calming and enjoyable :)
Too kind! Thank you
It's so mental looking at those LTNs when I live in Chelsea - just a giant motorway in comparison x
Yes terrible borough for it!
cycling in K&C is depressingly bad, the whole borough is like a driveway for oligarchs
Hopefully continued progress by surrounding boroughs eventually embarrass them into accepting change is necessary
@@liamness it's just so shockingly bad like nothing & the size of the cars... I don't even know what a 1.5m pass is. Never had that much room. There is a single gate south of Margaretta Terrace which is too bumpy but the north end is a death trap blind corner. I was exiting one day & saw a car heading south cut into the north lane to do a 45° back to where I was waiting only there was a an elderly gentleman heading south I could see it all 🙈 I think he must've seen my face and stopped as this car sped across the south lane cars and the cyclist he could've so easily killed. There's nothing here. No clear roads, I can look at this and weep. I need to cycle further x
@@ottohashmibut it can't even be pleasant for them either. I'd whack in a giant cycle lane from Chelsea bridge to Putney, make the embankment one way for cars only. Then do the same on kings road, Fulham road & old Brompton. Kensington high Street may have enough room for all x
Those roadworks for the supposed ‘Thames waterworks’ opposite the south west exit to Finsbury Park are almost certainly the new secret underground headquarters being built for MI5.
Almost certainly!
I would definitely cycle more if we had this type of cycling infrastructure in my city , you got another subscriber , well done on 10k
It really helps!
Hi, that roundabout is going to change a lot of my routes, As you said it's going to make getting to central london easier. Thanks for higlighting it.
Enjoy it!
London is really making strides cycling-wise; would that our more provincial towns would follow suit - we're lucky to get a bit of pathway shared with pedestrians. I was born in Hendon, but haven't lived in London since my family emigrated to the USA when I was 2 (we returned to England 20 years later in 1973)
yeah the strange thing is that its towns, where a bike can get you from one end to another in 10 minutes, that cycling would be an incredible way to get it around! but these areas are obsessed with cars
Thanks
Cheers mark that’s very kind!
Lovely to see so many people out on their bikes!
It really is!
Love it, so good to see new infrastructure!
Slowly getting better!
I moved away from the UK 4 years ago so these videos are fantastic at seeing how much progress is being made towards getting people out of their cars. Hopefully other towns and cities in the UK are following, but I fear it's patchy at best.
Yeah some places are doing good stuff- Manchester and Leicester come to mind - but most aren’t!
lovely trip down memory lane. I used to take the 56 to whips cross everyday for school back in the 90's then in the 2010's I lived just off the Lea Bridge roundabout. :). nice to see the constant evolution of London.
Thanks for watching! Must have changed a lot
I discovered your channel when scanning for cycling infrastructure in London, as I'm planning my trip there in couple of days. Unfortunately, there is not much time to go through all of your videos, but what I saw was a big inspiration for me. Thanks a lot, you're doing a great job.
Thank you I hope you have a nice trip!
Thanks for your great videos! It would be so great if you could maybe overlay the live GPS of where you are, for visual reference / spacial reference. But your videos are great as they are as well. Many thanks for showing all these great routes!
Thank you - re the GPS map this is a frequently asked question and I’m going to talk about it in a bit of depth in the Q&A!
Clearly Londoncycleroutes has Terminator vision, similar to the Cyberdyne Systems Model 101 and gets told which way to turn by a heads-up display. 🤪
Another fantastic vid. Keep up the great work. Lea bridge roundabout looks excellent.
Cheers Alex, thanks as always!
Nice!! The Tesco is actually small. I’d like to see TFL send a dedicated email to subscribers combining all the councils efforts on these routes and promote cycling more. I think it’s not spoken about enough. I’m actually considering using the cycle to work scheme now, get an e-bike.
The cycle to work scheme is awesome and especially as a way to get an e bike! Such a good deal
Great video like this route much more convenient way than going via Tottenham hale 👍
Yeah the junction there isn’t great!
Lovely bike track and route. Thank you for sharing too
Thanks for watching!
Great route. Nice to see the new roundabout installed and benefitting you and others. I wish West London was as innovative in this regard as East London is.
Agreed, there’s a real asymmetry at the moment
Gosh such a quiet cycle route. Such great improvements to the area! A polar opposite to us here in the (Wild) West. There’s a lovely Mauritian restaurant where you finished, need to check it out! 10K incoming, congrats!
One day the west will rise!
congrats on 10k mate.
Cheers, not quite there yet!
More routes from E17 🎉🎉Congrats on the subscriber numbers🎉
Cheers Marsha, more to come!
Some great cycling and walking infrastructure there.
I'm intrigued about the on-road cycle stores that were regular features in the first part of the video. We have nothing like this in Cambridge, as far as I am aware (although I live out in the Fens, so might have missed them). It would be nice to know how they operate.
I believe you have to apply for a space through the local council for these ‘cyclehoop bikehangers’, and for a yearly cost, you can get a place to store your bike. They’re in pretty high demand, so getting one isn’t the easiest.
Yeah they’re cycle hangers, they’re run by the council and you have to pay a small fee for a space… there’s generally a waiting list. They’re very useful in London as people frequently don’t have the space to store a bike in the house
@@LondoncycleroutesStill a tiny provision compared to the available on-road car storage. I thought there should a law change to allow residents to fund and install their own on-road bike storage. Technicality you can do it now but it has to be in the form of a road-worthy vehicle (e.g. a van or car), which is an extremely inefficient way of doing it.
Another great vid! You'll reach 10k easily!
Thank you!!
I would love you to do a safe cycling with children route videos. We visit with our 6 and 8 year old quite a lot as we have relatives in town and would love some route suggestions. Ideally past some famous landmarks and only on raised cycle paths, through parks or in very quiet LTNs.
generally I do try and make all the routes doable for a competent 12 year old! obviously different kids can do different stuff at different stages and younger ones you'd want to be more careful with... but hopefully you can get an idea from the videos of what different places are like
@@Londoncycleroutes definitely, it's why we enjoy your videos so much
Checkings on Google Maps, it seems they're not up-to-date on the roundabout. I'm viewing this from thousands of kms away, but even from Google maps/street-view compared to your vid, that roundabout is day from night.
Absolutely enjoyed this. OMG, this is more addictive than drugs. I'm slowly being seduced by London again. And your trees are turning green.
This is therapeutic...
Haha I can’t wait until the trees are out!
A question for the QnA.
What are your thoughts on the improvement of Londons cycling infrastructure in the last 10 years?
Also congrats on 10k subscribers!
Thank you, and a good question!
OK. a question for your 10k subs vid.
Would you want to review bike lanes and general biking experience in other cities? As a Nottingham resident I'm really impressed by the facilities and progress in London and feel we need these to be compared directly so other cities and areas get their arses in gear. Here in Nottingham it's by no means awful, the city council have made continual commitments in recent years and there are good bike lanes to get from certain areas to certain other areas. But there are likely issues caused by how half the urban area is technically outside the city boundary and also by how the city council is now bankrupt. It's certainly less safe to ride here than in London going by the POV of your vids. But it doesn't have to be that way. Would be cool to see your perspectives and comparisons of London with other cities all over the UK. I think there are a lot of lessons to be learned on all sides tbh.
Good question! I’ll answer in the video
Congrats on the 10k! If you can create some playlists which will categorize the videos into East, West, North and South London that would be awesome!
I am in East London using the C3 and Q22 quite often, but would love to know more about other routes in the area as well.
Definitely check out the map of routes linked in the description, it should give a good idea! I should shout about it more
Work on the lea bridge roundabout went on for well over a year.
Many cyclists like turn by the Round chapel and use Powerscroft road and Millfields park to enter lea bridge road at the Princess of Wales pub, in both directions to completely avoid lea bridge roundabout.
Yep it was a major rebuild, took ages
Question for the Q&A video (unless you want to make an entire video about it): Given your familiarity with so many of these cycle routes, if you were given funding to make one new cycle route, where do you think one is most needed?
Nice question! I will answer
I lived in Clapton until eight years ago. Waltham Forest was already really good and I used Lea Bridge Road frequently. It was disappointing when I got to the Hackney side of the bridge though.
Now I’m in Crouch End which is rubbish. But made worse by having to go up steep hills in all directions except towards Tottenham.
I wish there was some kind of better link to Crouch End, it’s a bit cut off cycle wise
That round about is sweet - have you seen the round about at Whipps Cross? I used to go school round there in the early 2000s & we used to take our lives in our hands crossing to the bus stop. It's so easy now days!
Yeah I actually went there yesterday to shoot another video, the junction is so much better!
Thank you for your work; excellent channel and content. I really like the format and the information provided. For your 10k Q&A, I know it is too much to ask, but if in a corner of the video is shown the map as the ride is developing, the videos will be perfect. How possible would be to see this feature in the future? Please, keep up with your excellent channel.
Thank you and I will address that question in the Q&A as it’s something people ask for a lot!
Another nice video! 👍🙂
Coincidentaly I'd just thought of a question to ask when you mentioned the q&a so happy to wait for an answer if it makes the cut.... " Is there a direct correlation between the "wealth" of a London Borough and its quality of cycling infrastructure.?" I'm no expert on LBs, (my FB name might give that away!😁) but there seems to be great cycling routes in E and NE London, but less so in the west. K&C etc.
Keep up the good work! 👍
Waltham Forest and Enfield (and one other borough?) where "mini Holland" boroughs so received a lot of funding. I guess Hackney and Islington have ended up with a neighbour effect as, as mentioned in the video, you REALLY used to know when you hit Hackney on Lea Bridge Road. The segregated cycle lane just stopped and then you were on your own. So maybe the west London boroughs residents don't have as close an example to try pressuring their council, they might not know what's possible (also, Tory boroughs would likely push back on anything that impacted their "right to drive").
Good question! I’ll answer
What are the yellow cargo bikes we saw several times? Is that a local company or cargo bike hire? Or just random fluke?
Yeah I did see clock that and looked at the second one and saw a company name on them but I forgot what it was, looks like a courier thing
If you mean the one at 9:49, I think it says Zoom by Ocado on the side, which searching up tells you it's a service that delivers groceries
Very nice! If London had a modal split ( and the infrastructure to go with it!) like Amsterdam or The Netherlands as a whole, we could declare it paradise 😂
That would be nice!
@@Londoncycleroutes I'd love to actually cycle through London with my eBike... But can I take my bike on the Eurostar? And affording accomodation is probably prohibitive when going for a week...
Eurostar has been a bit difficult about bikes recently, probably better to rent one while you're in town! @@CARambolagen
Thanks! ... What a bummer!
Great video
What do you think is the best way to go from Euston to Westminster
Any help much appreciated thanks
I’d go down Gower Street and Endell Street then Savoy St to the embankment and along there!
@@Londoncycleroutes thank you just watched your Victoria video looks like the best route thank you
Another great video, thank you. Congratulations on the 10,000 - well deserved. My question in two bits - do you cycle to the start of your routes and then home again? I’m guessing you do. How do you decide which direction you’ll go, eg why FP to Leyton and not the other way round? Part of a longer circuit which will get you home? Thanks again - keep ‘em coming, please.
Great question, will do it in the Q&A!
Great route! I’ll join you for a street party on Finsbury Park Road to celebrate 5 years of those annoying Thames Water works! I normally prefer to cycle through Clissold Park and down Clissold Road rather than go round the park, although it can get a busy with pedestrians when the weather is good.
Yeah that’s not a bad shout, I’ve been that was in previous videos- probably a bit more chill most of the time
Wow. London, in terms of the amount of infrastructure an quality of the infrastructure is fast overtaking Cambridge as a cycling friendly City! of course we have a huge density of bikes here in Cambridge but not very much in the way of protected infrastructure...
It’s definitely moving in the right direction!
The roundabout modifications are great. However they haven't finished doing cycle lane on West bound side of Leabridge Road.
Yep it’s still under construction as of now
Congrats on the 10k! What's your favourite LTN in London?
Good question! Will have a think…
Question of the Q&A: How do you remember these routes? (I know you shot a bit of the video another day after making a wrong turn.) And how do you think it could be easier for other cyclists to learn the routes?
Are more cycle route signs needed? Would tie-in highlight videos that just show the turns at the ends of roads help people jog their memory? Could a written itinerary of turns (maybe backed up by mnemonics help?
None of these quite streets look like "highways" so how do you make non-locals realise they are good places for cyclists to choose, while not making cars turn into these roads?
By this, I mean, what do you think the psychology of cycle routes is...or needs to be?
Good questions I’ll make a note!
What are the little Quonset hut structures, like on the left after the water works project @ 1:31? I saw several of them in the limited access neighborhood streets.
they're cycle hangers, the local borough provides them and you can rent a spot to keep a bike. there's a waiting list to get them but the number is expanding quite quickly in most places
Cool - around 15 bikes in the space of one car.
👍
Leabridge Road roundabout looks great although users / viewers should be aware of the large number of bike jackings that takes place on the leabridge rd cycle path uptowards the ice rink and esp on the bridges where people can loiter out of view from the road . I use the bus lane at all times on that stretch
Good advice thanks, I’d have mentioned this if I knew about it!
Honestly my hope is that the upgraded roundabout and new cycle lanes on the section of LBR in Hackney will just lead to an increase in cycle traffic such that muggers don't feel comfortable hanging out there anymore. Safety in numbers and all that.
5:07 are those on-street bicycle lockers? I'm seeing them everywhere.
Yep they’re council bike hangers, you can rent a space for a small annual fee and they’re expanding a lot
Hi Jon, wish I could think of more questions atm but the only ones coming to mind are, how much does our 32 borough system hinder us in developing a London-wide cycling policy and could Anne Hidalgo have done the great work she is doing in Paris over here or would she have been hamstrung by it.
A follow up question would be do you think there should be more joined up thinking or certain powers such as road infrastructure/planning transferred over to the London Mayor? I can see this being quite controversial haha. Congrats on 10k coming up soon!
It could be that the borough system actually allowed these bicycle lanes to be created in the first place, as the boroughs against them had no say in their creation. You see the same thing in Montreal, where the Plateau neighbourhood developed a thriving bike culture decades ago, which ignited the movement in the rest of Montreal. Contrast that to Toronto, where suburban boroughs like Etobicoke continually block bicycle infrastructure improvements in the rest of the city, particularly downtown.
Happy to give my take on that one!
Congrats on the imminent 10k! Love the vids. My question is this: You're always very law-abiding in your videos. When the cameras are off, do you ever go a bit ahead of a red light? Or mount the pavement to avoid a sticky crossing? Or - my personal guilty crime* - cycle through the Greenwich or Woolwich foot tunnels?! (*at quiet times only!)
Haha great question! I’ll answer
Question... which camera do you use?
GoPro hero 11!
@@Londoncycleroutes Thanks! It does a good job. Thanks too for your videos. I feel tempted to take my bike to London - haven't done that in years!
I like the oval bike storage on the streets I saw in the video. Are these public or private? I do know them but as private bike storage for the front/back yard. And if they’re public, are they locked with a key, card or code? And does the borough give away these or do you have to take a subscription?
Yeah they’re public run by the borough as residential parking for a fee, there’s usually a waiting list. I don’t know how access works, I think it’s a key
I would like to see more challenging routes (and coping strategies) to get from the badlands (eg NW postcodes) to the decent infrastructure. Maybe an alternative to the (long dead?) CS11.
Tempting… for now I’m going to stick to the good stuff but it’s something I’ll consider!
at 2:38 on the right side, is that secure bicycle parking you guys have? or a collection bin for trash?
3:47 oh wow, they are :o I got a folding ebike because there's no secure parking (yet alone normal bike racks) here in Florida... jealous of you guys
Yeah we call them cycle hangers! There’s been a big expansion of them recently
Looks like someone from the council took a trip to the Netherlands to see how they do it there, looks a lot more useable than typical cycling infrastructure that seem mandatory in new build housing estates eTc.
Yes it’s reminiscent!
What camera setup do you use to film these?
I’ll go into detail in the Q&A! But the camera is a GoPro hero 11
Q&A: How do you find out about all the new LTNs and cycle routes? I find it impossible to keep tabs on everything in Hertfordshire, so London must be a huge amount of information.
All will be revealed!
One thing that slightly bothers me is how on the roundabout there's no request buttons accessible from the cycle lanes, even though there are for pedestrians. The signals for pedestrians and cyclists are on the same alignments and on the same timings, so I imagine this means the request buttons for pedestrians have no actual effect. But the absence of anything indicating that the junction's brains are aware you're waiting, plus the fairly long wait times, I think is just going to result in very few cyclists actually waiting for their signal.
To be fair the junction is a fantastic upgrade generally and will be much safer even if more cyclists go across on red than green. You have safe places to wait and check that it's clear, and you only need to look for traffic coming from one direction at a time.
Yeah totally agree with all this, the long wait meant I wasn’t actually sure if it was working! And most people crossed on red, several went through in the time I was waiting (cut out)
@@LondoncycleroutesYeah I went to try it out in January, and so I could get an impression of the signal timings, I was very well behaved and waited for my signal at each arm of the junction. Got some quite puzzled looks from people! Back then (not sure if they've adjusted things since) it seemed it could take up to about five minutes to navigate a right turn across the junction, if you wait for a green at each arm, and are particularly unlucky with the timings.
Hi LCR, what would you say is the best way to campaign for cycle infrastructure in local areas?
Thanks will answer in Q&A!
Which bike do you ride, how many bikes do you own.
Good question! I’ll do it
2 things, 1. have you at any time contacted the water company as to why the works are taking so long? 2. with the new superloop bus routes, have you given thought to see how long it takes to cycle the same route?
They’re upgrading the water main there, I did contact them and they told me the works would finish about a year ago haha… the date keeps slipping. The other one I’ll answer in the Q&A!
01:33 I see some sort of bicycle garage there on the right. I bet it is locked up, but how much is it resistant to vandals. I see at least 5 to 6 bicycles fitting in there. I wonder if it's completely private, amongst few neighbours, or maybe provided by a council or something? Also I've seen it before on one of your videos, maybe it was the same one, or there are more of them around London? ... and there's another one at 01:38. Is it bolted down to the road? I mean it doesn't look heavy, 2-3 people could easily lift it up.
And another one at 04:05 xD and after 5th minute there are loads more, even a double one! Wow! Well I would keep an ordinary bicycle there, like one for commuting for work, school, etc. but not my main bicycle :)
They are pretty tough and locked but a determined person with enough time and an angle grinder could probably get in - thefts aren’t unheard of but they seem to work for most people
What are your top most frustrating gaps in the London cycle network?
Great question I’ll save it!
Congrats on the 10k. My question would be how to get an LTN if you’re not an outgoing campaigner type of person? I live in Waltham forest on one of the few back street residential roads that’s not an LTN. It’s a major rat run with speeding cars and then honking traffic jams at rush hour. I wrote to the councillor, and they said they’d consulted on it in 2019 and there wasn’t the appetite for it locally.
I’ve been looking for speed cameras to maybe try and prove it’s dangerous, but haven’t found anything. So yeah, any advice on campaigning for an LTN.
Good question! I’m not an expert but can give a take
Have you cycled around in other cities around the world? Which cities' networks have you found most impressive?
Part 2: What piece of cycling culture or infrastructure might London benefit from adopting from somewhere else? And what do you think is something other places can learn from London's cycling development? Love your videos & always looking forward to the next one! Greetings from Queens, NY! Xx
Not too many- Brussels, Paris, Ghent and Rotterdam spring to mind…. Rotterdam was best by far, probably not a surprise! Ghent is also good. Paris has come on amazingly in recent years. Brussels is around the same as London, better in parts but not in others
Protected junctions like they do them in the Netherlands is probably the main thing we’re missing a lot of. But mainly just more lanes!
An obvious question for Q&A: Do you do all of these rides for leisure in your spare time? Or are you commuting to various areas of London for work?
It’s on the list!
i have another idea for a route in south london
Go for it
@@Londoncycleroutes waddon to mitcham via beddington park
@@PGATProductions thank you I'll check it out!
wf has done a good job in most main roads however the more conservative/suburban chingford has nearly 0 protected infrastructure and the main chingford-wstow road (a112) has 0 protections all the way from chingford through wstow, leyton to stratford other than tipex, which is a shame because its quite an important rd
Yeah there’s a huge divide north and south of the south circular in that borough - hopefully they start to creep up north! (Tho check out my Chingford to Walthamstow video)
You see less cars using these roads on this video, than I see cycling in the countryside.
Just goes to show how route choice is key.
And infrastructure!
@@Londoncycleroutes
Yes indeed, choosing a safer route choice in the countryside can mean quite a detour.
When my children were toddlers, I used to tow them to my parents house for childcare.
The main A37 was not a safe option, so it was a case of using the quieter country lanes that was much longer.
Just got to not get mugged going through hackney marshes…… 😢
Do you mean the millfields rec bit? Didn’t realise there was an issue there
If you were mayor for a week what would you change and why?
Very difficult question Heather!! I will do my best
Question: The coverage of North-West London is rather sparse. Is anyone in a position to offer ideas on West of Southgate, please?
The issue is basically Barnet and Brent councils haven’t done very much… they’re apparently working on some projects but they’re very behind. I have a few ideas around Wembley and Harrow for historic routes but it’s difficult terrain!
@@Londoncycleroutes That's odd as Brent is one of London's more scoially-aware councils. One issue is that the area south of Willesden is an unholy mess of rail property, running through to Wormwood Scrubs.
The start of Lea Bridge cycle lane is not safe. Loads of bike mugging
I’ve heard a couple of people say this now, is there anywhere to read more about it?
@@Londoncycleroutes Google and a few Reddit posts
The video is speeded up which makes for an exciting experience (and keeps it within a reasonable length) - but you lose the real-time sense of negotiating city streets and the informational value is reduced . . .
you can slow it down again on UA-cam if you want, hit the cog icon and set it to 0.5x. Some people I know double the speed again haha so I think it’s a matter of preference
@@Londoncycleroutes I didn't know you could speed it up or slow it down on UA-cam. Thanks for the info . . . !
Worth reminding people to register to vote. The Tory Mayor candidate, Susan Hall thinks these LtN’s and cycle lanes are “virtue signalling” (rather than critical infrastructure that saves lives) and wants to rip much of it out if she is elected. Depressing really
She seems pretty bad!
You still cycle on the wrong side of the road.
I don’t understand what you mean sorry!
@@Londoncycleroutes
Why don't you give the right side of the road a try. Just for a week or so. See how it feels.
Amazingly poor road surface at the start! Don't you pay Council Rates in London?
I think it’s to do with the Thames water works, I imagine (hope) they’ll resurface that bit whenever that’s done (so in 40 years time)
We do, but certainly don't get anything like value for money. It mostly keeps Jobsworths in the style to which they've become accustomed.
Harringey Council generally is responsible for some pretty shocking roads
@@rubie2 It might be useful to cite some. Certainly there are some roads I'd hesitate to venture down, as the intentional death rate is alarming, but that's an entirely different issue: it's never struck me that any are dangerous through ;lack of upkeep.
I thought it might have been one of your Ultra Low Maintenance Zones ! 🙂@@Londoncycleroutes
As a cyclist I think majority cycle lanes are dangerous, like in this clip they are many unsafe sections, it’s time road markings are added for cyclists not lanes, letting cyclists know what lanes to be in and have priority over vehicles when in these lanes that are shared with vehicles
Each to their own!