Borough finds new way to promote cycling

04 June 2008

Cyclists will be allowed to ride the wrong way down one-way streets as part of a trial in west London.

Council leaders from Kensington & Chelsea formulated the plan after meetings with lobby groups, including Cycling England, the Cycle Touring Club and the London Cycling Campaign.

The move comes as part of a package of measures to facilitate cycling, including turning under-used pay-and-display car bays over to bicycle stands.

The council’s deputy leader, Daniel Moylan said the move, to be trialled on six streets, would encourage more people on to bikes. ‘The Government constantly lectures us about the health and environmental benefits of bicycling, but does very little to encourage more people on to the roads,’ he said.

‘Cyclists feel they are offered very little in terms of safety and convenience – I hope our trial will encourage other boroughs.’ Moylan said the conventional approach to providing against-the-flow cycling involved a huge amount of engineering interventions on the highway, which confused road-users and could be abused by motorcyclists.

‘The ideal solution would be for us simply to put up a sign saying “No entry except for cyclists,”’ said Moylan. ‘But the Department for Transport, despite the pleas of many highways authorities and bicycling organisations, flatly refuses to allow this. Instead, therefore, we shall be using a combination of other, permitted signs, to offer new freedoms to those using bicycles.’

The Cyclists’ Touring Club welcomed the move, and said it was a common occurrence in Europe. Policy manager, Roger Geffen said: ‘The alternative to cycling the wrong way down a one-way street is often to use a much less safe busy road.’

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