Would you like to cycle through London parks at night? Sign this petition

Unlikely to have much effect on the royal parks if they will not approve East -West cycle lanes on their roads.

Why not take the northbound lane on Park Lane, re-incorporate it *back* into Hyde Park and use the space to build a cycle lane?

Then ban cars along the South, North and West Carriage Ways.

It doesn't need to be all or nothing. Keeping the gates open until 6 won't help everyone, but it would be better than the current situation.

All parks (whether Royal or commoner), in London and the rest of the country should be accessible at night. Just like the helmet debate, let's start treating people like grown-ups. Yes, there'll be an increase in crime and general anti-social behaviour, but just like the rest of the urban environment, this will only be tolerated for so-long

Does anyone know if you're allowed to ride through London Fields at night? A very large number of people will need to know that for this evening, due to the Akis Kollaros vigil in Homerton.

Technically, the Royal Parks roads are closed at various set times, but the attitude towards cycling during the "closed" hours varies. Generally they are quite supportive, at least on the roads; footpaths are another matter, and shared used paths I don't really know about, although I've used the Broad Walk in the dark without any trouble (The Broad Walk is now useless because they've painted a 5mph speed limit on the ground, which wasn't there in the summer).

bushy/richmond parks are open 24hrs bar, culling.

though not all gates are, some gates they do shut, NPL one shuts at 9:30am again over anti social behavior.

i suspect thats the real reason. the parks are also not flush with money so for the more urban parks, i suspect this would not be a cost free option.

the parks are one of few areas in London that are dark, and have something approaching a night sky.

Yes, it'd help me. My ride to the station in the morning is pleasant as I can cut through two parks. One the way home it's longer and more dangerous as those parks are closed.

On the face of it this seems a no-brainer: of course they should be open. I've cut through Hyde Park (Speakers Corner to Kensington High Street) on a Boris Bike after dusk which apart from being slightly eerie was fine, although I did think I was going to get locked in when the first exit gate I came to was shut...

I'm absolutely not the sort of person to go all Daily-Mail-hysterical, but I can't help thinking that in London, in reality, it really would be asking for "antisocial behaviour" of various kinds. "Youth" looking for peace and quiet to 'hang out' away from the streets, and so on. I hate to say it, but it only takes one ne'erdowell to string a wire across a path, or attack some innocent girl, and it'd be closed down again. (And this is why we can't have nice things).

Regent's Park closes some of its gates to traffic, nominally, from midnight to 7 am.

There is busy use of the park by early risers - cyclists doing laps, joggers, dog-walkers - who are willing to step around the gates and relish the, mostly, car-free environment (there are always a few lost mini-cabs zooming around looking for an exit gate.

Unfortunately CEPC decides to open the flood-gates at 6:30. I've no idea why, maybe they just like cars in their park.

I ride into work via Victoria Park. It means 80% of my commute can take place without sharing the route with a car. At night it is closed and while there are other routes and also shared usage pavements it'd be nice to be able to just go right through the park each night.

An eminently sensible idea.

Some work would need to be done however to make the parks safe at night. All the barriers and obstacles of a typical British cycle path are doubly dangerous at night.

Here's how they do it in the Netherlands:
https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2015/01/06/rush-hour-in-the-dark/

Remember this from last year?

http://www.dezeen.com/2014/11/12/daan-roosegaarde-van-gogh-bicycle-path-...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEe8firurCY

I really enjoyed riding through Richmond Park in the Winter as part of my commute as it was closed to motor vehicles after dark.

Had some near collisions though with cyclists not using lights, often riding down the middle of the road or on the wrong side of the road, wearing black clothing!

you would probably need to impose some rules. I ride through Hampstead heath on the designated paths in the winter when there are very few people around in the evenings. Even with a 800 lumen light it's not easy to spot people or dogs as it's pitch black where there are lots of trees. Path markings and signs are also unreadable. I don't see any reason to not allow people on lit up paths where they are available.