Olympic lanes: bliss it is to be alive!
Utopia dawns.
The Olympic lanes across London send a powerful signal across all Britain’s cities about the art of the possible. I set off this morning from a meeting in Highgate, north London, and cycled down to our studios in the Kings Cross area.
This is a route with regular bottlenecks that snake traffic up every major road you can see. Today the pavements thronged with pedestrians walking to work, the streets were dominated by cyclists and what traffic there was made up of largely unoccupied taxis and small delivery vans.
Some businesses to which I have spoken have organised early morning and evening deliveries to avoid adding to, and suffering from, any jams.
It happens that this has been brought about by the installation of Olympic lanes. But it could just as easily have been a day when for the sheer easing of the urban traffic madness a completely new approach was adopted.
What the Olympic traffic scheme tells us is that for it to work there can be no obstruction, minimal traffic lights, minimal right and left turns to keep trunk routes moving.
As a cyclist I have no objection to being banned from these lanes or roads. (Just as, as a driver, I have no objection to being fined £130 because I will quite simply never go near them in a car).
Many drivers have decided not to come near central London in a car. They must be encouraged to develop this habit.
There are no votes lost in developing proper transport strategies. When Ken Livingstone researched the potential of a congestion charge, he found that fewer that 15 per cent of car journeys in central London were undertaken by people actually living in London. Hence it was possible to introduce congestion charge without electoral damage.
The same would undoubtedly be true if the private car were heavily restricted from ever entering central London, Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow, at all.
Today I have seen London buses at speed bearing significant cargos of comfortable humans. According to Government statistics (Defra), just under 6 per cent of the UK land mass is covered in urban development (staggering figure!). Yet according to the Office for National Statistics, some 90 per cent of the population of England and Wales are town or city dwellers.
Is it any wonder that roads are jammed up with traffic?
If our urban centres are to be saved we need to follow where the Olympic lanes lead.
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In previous blogs: Jon Snow’s manifesto for safer cycling
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There are 39 comments on this post
Bravo, Jon! Campaigning group Climate Rush and others have been calling for a London car-free zone 1 for over a year. Wouldn’t only ease congestion but improve public health by reducing pollution-linked respiratory diseases and the particularly insidious (irreducible) reduced lung-capacity in children – where once it was lead that damaged their lives, now it’s particulates
http://bit.ly/hXY73G.
It’s a win-win situation: better health/happier populace/reduced NHS costs; less congestion/fewer lost working days/more relaxed populace. And it would have a spill-over effect on to surrounding borough roads – even in Islington where the current Council politicians think encouraging short car-journeys (the most polluting) A GOOD THING! Its Roamer Parking scheme lifts parking restrictions 11am-3pm in order to (depending to whom you speak) encourage shopping! Meantime, the borough has amongst the highest rates of CPOD (chronic pulmonary obstructive disorder), asthma, heart disease, mental health and – according to latest Census data – is the most densely populated boro in England/Wales. Less than half its population owns a car.
Please keep up the pressure to Let London Breathe!
How about treating the zil lanes as a real time trial of road space reallocation and handing the lanes to cyclists post Olympics?
I’m hoping that predicted traffic chaos fails to emerge and that Londoners overwhelmingly support handing over the zil lanes to cycling/walking post Olympics.
That would be a real Olympic legacy.
Right on! Now everyone knows it can be done it is time to make the use of the car when good greener alternatives exist as unacceptable as smoking. If we can reduce car use we can save thousands of lives. If anything else was killing the number of people cars are something would have been done about it a long time ago.
Leeds and Bristol would both be perfect places to go (as good as) carless. Both have geography and street patterns that make car journeys into miserable events for all concerned. Driving is torture and parking is murderous. Park and Ride, improved local rail nad bus servicce, trams and other plans are built or on the horizon. Both have car clubs for unique within-city needs. There are great opportuities for both.
As you suggest Jon, it just takes political courage to go ahead and do it. The fear of losing something will always provoke addiction to the status quo – decisive changes have to overcome the timid objectors.
I live in Bristol. Bristol has a problem caused by multiple car ownership in streets designed for horses, carts, pedestrians and bikes. Add to this the limited number of crossing points over the river which bisects it.
It’s also interesting to note in warm weather the streets trap pollutants raising their concentration above EU air quality limits.
Bristol is planning a circular transport route, but I’ve been unable to find any analysis of the increases in pollution; light, noise & air quality, expected from its implementation.
Bristol would be an ideal city in which to introduce the enforcement of the following for cyclists aged over 18; registration plates, 3rd party insurance, compulsory passing of the National Cycling Proficiency exam for bikes and riders.
As a pedestrian (I don’t drive or own a car) I am fed up with avoiding cyclists on pavements or watching them go through red lights, abusing zebra crossings, blocking bus lanes or going the wrong way up one way streets. Bristol is rife with this selfish, often dangerous behaviour.
Nothing to do with the wonderful weather we are having at the moment? lets see what happens when there are torrents of rain and it’s blowing a gale…
I agree Jon you’d be mad as a cyclist to ride in a lane which has been set up for motor traffic moving at a consistent speed.
I might even dare to propose these lanes are considered for retention and use by commuter coaches and group travel along with other ‘premium’ moving traffic.
Some lanes may even provide an option for proper bus rapid transit – not the mickey mous efforts we see using single door pay on entry buses but Curitiba and Bogota style with multi door 200+ passnger vehicles which suck in 100 passngers in under a minute when they stop. Some day we might even convert them into tram routes but for immediate delivery an earning money faster than a full blown tram we should seriously look at BRT and the opportunity being presented.
My big cycle issue tough is that, faced with the delays in transferring to the Tube, & the proven effects of St Pancras (2004) & Waterloo (2006) we shall see a huge surge in bikes left overnight for which Network Rail and TfL have no contingency plan in place, and at London Bridge they’s even removeed the existing provision. My solution there – Go Dutch and like Amsterdam put a cycle park on a barge moored by London Bridge on the Thames.
Surely you don’t expect the Government to stand up to the car lobby! It’s the British equivalent of the NRA & the “right to bear arms” (OK it’s rather less lethal but still shortens many people’s living living in towns & cities)
The last couple of days have been great, so many cyclists, and not the Lycra aggressive city workers, but people like me.
This is what London could be, with so little effort.
What nonsense! Our urban centres will not be “saved” by banning cars… just look at Edinburgh! The town centre is failing because the road transportation system has effectively been broken by tram works. People stay away from the city because it’s so hard to get to and from.
Intelligent town planning would encourage people to drive to town centres and provide adequate car parking. Design city centres to avoid congestion by providing good roads and spaces to leave vehicles on the edge of the central area. That way you avoid the true energy waste – cars caught in congested streets.
Deliberate attempts to cause extra congestion by restricting road availability would be one of the most effective ways to damage cities like London, and prevent them from being global centres.
Every other week I work in Edinburgh. £700 Million wasted on a tram system the citizens don’t want in a City with an excellent bus service.
Plus businesses forced into failure by the loss of customers due to road closures caused by the tram fiasco.
Nobody appears to carry the can for the failure even though a number of people who were meant to be leading this strange project have left.
Jon, just heard you claim ENGLANDS womens footballers beat France in the opening match of the olympics.
Though it was team GB.
No wonder us Scots couldnt care less about the games.
Good point,Robbie Devine!
It smacks of the Andy Murray billing – Brit when he wins, Scot when he loses.
Slip of the tongue in Jon’s case surely?
Actually and on reflection,shouldn’t it be TeamUK?
If the Scots were less curmudgeonly about any English success (e.g. supporting “any team but England” in any international competition), I’d be a little more bothered about this. I doubt very much whether it was anything other than a slip of the tongue…and I suspect we’d all be happier if we were less thin-skinned (and I’m a quarter Scots & a quarter Welsh…and an eighth Latvian – so I’m not St George’s cross flag waver at all)
I know I am in a very small minority. Disabled driver with very low immune system not advised to use public transport. Use my car for essential trips like getting to work and back.
As the enforcement of the zil lanes becomes harsher and more and more roads are blocked off, my trip to work is taking longer and longer and longer. So we extend the use of the lanes to Disabled Badge holders? Ambulance, police cars and other emergency vehicles, bikes, buses, pedestrians (see above), taxis, motorcyclists also qualify. Maybe the lane for ordinary cars and trade vehicles may end up being quicker?
It’s school holidays, which always empties the streets of school-running Chelsea tractors.
Streets with Games Lanes have become extremely dangerous for cyclists because motorists are desperately staying out of them, which means they are not using them to safely overtake cyclists.
When someone gets killed as a result the blood will be on LOCOG’s hands.
It might be more manageable if business’s were encouraged not to focus on city centres Retail parks work. Where would Tesco etc be if they didn’t operate out of town?
The problem is figuratively commuters are still trying to enter the same room and it is bulging at the seam, almost becoming a hoarders paradise.
The city isn’t that important. It isn’t even a status symbol any more. Public transport is good, but in the future as alternative types of individual transport take over , e.g electric small cars , the feasibility of cars again going into cities loks more promising.
I do not lke my freedoms being taken away The congestion charge and banning car drivers from entering the city reminds me of the series “The Prisoner” When I visit I would love to be able to drive into a car park , book in a hotel and enjoy the tradition of the City , but this is what prevents me travellling down to London more. London needs to find a way around the problem , not make it harder for people to visit.
Agree 100% Jon!
@Margaret:
Your freedom to drive and park in the city impedes my freedom to get around it, as a resident. A bit like if I visited your house on my bicycle and brought it inside and left it in your hallway.
There is not the space for everyone who lives in or visits the city to all drive and park everywhere, nor the need: London has very well-developed public transport links.
If you want to visit somewhere you can drive around and park anywhere in, I recommend Milton Keynes. I would suggest that part of the reason people visit London over places like MK is that it is much more pleasant to walk around than MK and other car-dominated cities. Perhaps that is what you mean when you speak of the tradition of the city?
If there is a reason that you cannot walk or use public transport then taht is fair enough, but in that case it is in your interest to support things like the congestion charge, as by making it less convenient for people who are able to use other forms of transport, road and parking space is freed up for those who need it.
No this is the reason. you don’t seem to welcome people, you make it difficult for them, you become unreasonable when clean alternatives are suggested, the public roads are dirtied by buses driving up and down and belching out fumes , not electric cars.The levels of particulate are on the increase , but public transport really adds to this..
When I go down to London I always stay in that way out place Milton Keynes , then need to spend the night there , before getting the train , to get the tube ..what for? to see an art gallery for the day .. come on there must be easier ways of managing and London just hasn’t got the nouse to come up with it .
If Jon ever visits my house he can park directly on my drive, or even better in my garage ..
Jon,
Looks like rain for the “opening ceremony.”
Personally I hope it lashes down for the entire drugs fest
You won’t catch me watching one second of the diversionary farce, or its ensuing junky “athletics.” Most of us out in the real world aren’t fooled.
I WILL watch some of the Paralympics though, assuming there’s no drugs used in that as well.
The sooner the whole phony facade is demolished the better.
As someone who walks and uses public transport I’m irritated by the closure of the pedestrian crossing over the dual carriageway section of the Cromwell Road. I use it nearly every day. Alternative crossings are signposted as being 143 metres and 240 metres away, but both require one to cross another main road before one can cross Cromwell Road. Not surprisingly most people are ignoring the closed sign at just “jaywalking” across the road. Since we are all being encouraged to walk and use public transport anyway, the closure seems counter-productive especially since it places walkers at greater risk. I doubt it really saves any drivers any significant time – 30 seconds maybe?
“Most of us out in the real world aren’t fooled”
A spokesman for “most of us”? Wow!
Give me a break Jon Snow, consentrated, misserable, damp, leftwing news every night. Is there anyone in our news media, to help our country, without constantly pulling everything down.
What would you suggest, John Burgin?
Reading out the catalogue of the next austerity measures wearing clowns’ outfits?
Or slip in a joke between the latest corrupt bank(er) news and that of the errant politician du jour?
Or perhaps a quiz?
Guess which zillionaire is ripping us off today?
“I say,I say,I say… “
Bravo
Let’s go further and just get rid of all cars, and while we are at it why not get rid of all industry and commerce since they simply create a demand for people to travel and to move goods in the first place.
Why so curmudgeonly, Philip?
You don’t like the Olympics – fine. I am not bothered either,although I went to loads of events in Munich 72. (I was living and working in Germany at the time) Despite what happened there, it was a great experience – simply to come together with the rest of the world in a common cause – to see the best do what we couldn’t- Mark Spitz, David Hemery, Mary Peters.
Blimey,Scotland (capt. Billy Bremner)even beat Zaire in the group football.The Zairean goalkeeper was a witchdoctor!
The atmosphere during the Games was one of global friendship and common joy (or maybe the beer kicked in early!)
Your argument of a “drugsfest” is facile and does all the athletes who have spent years of their lives for this moment a great disservice.Yes,it is extremely unfortunate that the Games come at this time and they are/will be used by the government as a diversion from the ills of our nation.Cameron et al will of course cash in on the glory.We are not fooled – you are correct.
So don’t watch the Games – that’s fine but don’t let your disgust with the state of the nation,which we all pretty much share, spill over into wishing a pox on all things Olympic.
Go Team GB!
Well said Kate! This is the one chance most of us will ever have to enjoy this happening here & we have a choice – we can be positive (while recognising that the world isn’t as we’d like it to be & we wouldn’t start from here, as the proverbial Irishman said) or we can be negative. Then if we get a chance at the end of our lives to look back on our lives, what will we look back on – a series of negatives, disappointments, unhappiness – or things we did and saw and achieved which actually makes us feel our lives were worth living?
Jon, as regular viewers of Channel 4 news we have come to rely on you to provide us with a daily dose of reality and cynicism. Unfortunately, last night we found ourselves deeply disappointed at your gushing enthusiasm and positive attitude towards the overtly commercial advertising campaign disguised as the Olympics. We thought we had inadvertently turned over to the BBC!
Please Jon, do not let the dizzy heights of the new Olympic studio go to your head – come back to us cynics… at least give us some sarcasm. With thanks, Keira & Paula, Scotland.
Btw, Jon – sorry, I’m on a roll here:)- please don’t allow your current euphoria over the Games to stop the delivery and enquiry into all that ails the nation.
Don’t let any of our corrupt/amoral/incompetent/add your own masters off the hook during this Olympic period.
No doubt they are counting on it.
well say
i am shocked by, A the blog, B the comments, what madness is this?
Public roads, payed for by the working private sector workers to use to get to there private section jobs.
lets not let the public use the public roads, madness the lot of you
All that will end up happening is that more people will use the trains to and from work and they are also over crowded and at times dangerous now as well.There will be more and more people using them. I have seen platforms so busy in rush hour that they escorted people out of stations and closed them due to dangerous over crowded. If they are to do this then why should we pay car tax then. Thats like paying full price for only half a bar of chocolate.
I say all those over 60 with osteoarthritis and wondering what is going on in the capital , but can’t afford to actually get into or stay in the capital get off your arses and walk .. or better march into London..then witness cardboard city , and pay extra to do so. Perhaps you could buy a super duper new bicycle and if your knees actually move in a circle at 80 ,You could by pass all the public transport and get really fit.All the way from Manchester to London in a few hours.!
We promise that you would be weighted and your meal would be three time as much as anywhere else,but then the ageing poplulation have only given their lives to the country and what is so important about that?
When I was at school I think I read Town & Country Planning was a listed event in the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
If true; perhaps it’s time to bring it back.
“Town & Country Planning was a listed event in the 1936 Berlin Olympics.”
You seen the ’36 Stadium? Very utilitarian… an unrelenting concrete mass.
There may be no electoral damage in the short term, but in the longer term there could be huge financial consequences when companies relocate to somewhere more accessible, and that new location may not necessarily even be in the UK. Add to this the fact that the ability to avoid London may only be possible in the short term and even then only because of the Olympics and you end up with a situation that can’t be sustained for any real length of time.
You also seem to assume that the public transport system can cope with the increased level of demand this sort of change would create, despite it already falling apart at the seams and unable to cope with present day usage thanks to all those commuters.
Even the proposed lengthening of trains in routes through stations such as Reading barely patches over the problem, let alone deal with it properly. By the time these changes come into force the level of demand would have increased again leaving us with an unusable service that still needs to be updated to cope with that demand. If it can’t cope now, how will it cope if the changes you envisage ever come to be?
@Clare and all others who are sceptical about cycling over the year
Go to Berlin, and you will be surprised how many cyclists persist rain, storm, cold temperature and snow. 50% of all traffic in inner city is made on a bicycle. I’m sure that Jon Snow would write in his blog after coming back, “there has been the one or other moment when I felt irritated by the incredible amount of cyclists I was surrounded.”
I think we can all learn that a car is not that non plus ultra, as we believe, especially not in town.
Today Sunday 5/8/12 Ch4News all sport
just 30 seconds on the shooter in a Sikh Temple USA.
On Our SkyNews & Our CNN
but not BBCNews as they are all sport like Ch4News
Now sadly Ch4News all Sport as well.
This Live event started before the ch4 News Report started.
I have now lost faith in Ch4News
Well Done SkyNews and CNN Europe.