City of London - Update

Docks coming soon - St Bride Street

Just occasionally one has too much time to spare and you unearth an interesting document on the internet. This happened to me today when I discovered the City of London's most recent council document on cycle hire.

The document recommends that as part of the current expansion of the scheme, four previously agreed docking stations should be installed. It also mentions a possible dock on Upper Thames Street, which is part of TfL's route network.

It's getting better - Bouverie Street

I had a cycle round these streets today. St Bride Street is under construction, and an area of Bouverie Street has been fenced off for an extension. John Carpenter Street has major building works, so nothing here at the moment, and Houndsditch also has work going on - though this would be an excellent new dock so I hope it does appear. Nothing yet on Upper Thames Street either.

The report acknowledges that demand outstrips supply in the Square Mile. I look forward to the new docks, and also hope that this won't be the end of expansion in the City.

City cyclists

Just a brief post to flag up the new dock on Monument Street (22 docking points) which is not live yet, but is ready to go soon. With new docks already live on Fore Street and King Edward Street, there has been a welcome increase in capacity in the City of London. Queen Street's expansion is underway, and a new dock should appear on Houndsditch according to plans (though I've not been up there in a while). Still a lack of capacity close to Cannon Street and Blackfriars stations, but things are moving in the right direction.

New City docks

Cyclists in the City has a useful map of the proposed new docks, at this stage, for phase 2 of the cycle hire scheme in the City of London. A useful comparison is the aspirational phase 2 map obtained by the Green Party.

It's unlikely to satisfy demand, especially with extra commuting from the new docks in Tower Hamlets, but at least it's an indication that the City is starting to take cycling seriously.

Does the City love Boris bikes?

Living and working in the City of London is a great experience, and more so since just over 12 months ago we got a whole new set of shiny blue bikes to get around on.

I thought today I'd do a little review of Boris bikes in the City; many of the issues I'm going to touch on are are just as relevant in other boroughs. And if you think you've read all this before, you probably have, there's been plenty of talk about City cycling on the Cyclists in the City blog and on the Boris bikes forum.

Yesterday the City's newest dock opened on Cheapside. Originally there was smaller dock on the other side of the road, but between then and now the road has been totally remodelled to widen the pavements, and the replacement dock has just reopened. About time you might say, Boris bike docks (like cycle parking) are in short supply around here, considering how many people visit the City for business or tourism every day. In the morning, as commuters arrive, the docks fill; in the evening, vice versa. By mid evening there are usually few bikes to be had, a pity really consdiering that later on, once the traffic has quietened down, it's a good place to cycle. Of course, there is no easy answer to remedy this. Redistribution of bikes would need to be on a huge scale, and reliable, and I doubt that's affordable. With so few people living in the City it would be hard to get any natural inflow of bikes, except brought in by tourists and commuters, who tend to arrive together in the morning. More docks we need, naturally, but the City authorities are understandably cautious about losing valuable pavement space.

But Boris bikes do have one valuable contribution to make. The City's streets are choked with traffic most days; Lower and Upper Thames Street are among the busiest and most polluted roads in London. City workers on Boris bikers are a good reminder to the City authorities that things can be different, and we don't necessarily need to prioritise motor traffic on every road. The political wheels of the City move slowly, but a 20mph speed limit is under consideration, eight new docks are due for construction in the phase 2 expansion (see a map), permeability is improving (Wood Lane has gone two-way and 17 other streets are up for consideration, Cyclists in the City reports), and a Boris bike will take centre-stage at the City Cycle Style event. As someone whose first experience of cycling in London was wobbling down Eastcheap on day 1 of the Boris bikes, I'm hopeful for a better future for cycling in the Square Mile.