LBC reporter branded "liar" by London Cycling Commissioner maintains most riders shun new Cycle Superhigway

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in accordance with Dutch best practise by having a one way lane either side of the road - See more at: http://road.cc/content/news/171800-lbc-reporter-branded-liar-london-cycl...

I'm no expert, but I've cycled over 400 miles in Holland and there are numerous cycle tracks/paths/lanes which have bi-directional traffic on them.  i.e. you need to be aware of people travelling in the opposite direction, and there are no markings.  But, as you would expect, everyone just gets on with it, no arguments and it all just works.  All down to mutual respect.

True Story: The last time I went to Holland we had to get a train from Schipol down to Weert in the south east.  We got to Eindhoven where the train was suspended as someone had fallen/jumped onto the tracks and the whole network was shut down.  We had to get one of our Dutch colleagues to come pick us up.  As you can imagine, the road network became very busy (it was around 4pm also).   At several junctions there are scenarios where the cycle lanes (painted) venture across a couple of lanes of traffic, and we saw cyclists having to nip in and out of traffic to get where they needed to be.  In the UK this neccessary manouvering would be blasted by motorists, but in Holland they just got on with it, made space where they could, left plenty of room for cyclists, and not a single horn was tooted or voice raised.

So the infrastructure in these places was not segragated, but the respect is there, and that I feel is what makes it all work.  There are so many places in Holland where cycles and vehicles come into "conflict" i.e using the same peice of tarmac, but there is no real "conflict".  They are amazing, tolerant and respectful people.  I think we can get there, but it's going to take a while.

Tweeted out by Theo Usherwood this morning

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There are some very bad cyclists out there but they should be nicked but you can't nick a cyclist.. They should have to carry ID...

Just in case anyone had any doubt about the impartiality of his reporting (and about as factually accurate).

The new lanes are obviously to anyone a fantastic improvement and a huge move forward with enabling people to cycle.  

However, dare I say they could have been even better - in accordance with Dutch best practise by having a one way lane either side of the road. But, due to the amount of political will and effort needed to get even these bi-directional tracks in,  a compromise was necessary, hence a comment like -

sm  [362 posts] 1 hour ago

"I don't think I'd cross the road to use it if travelling in the other direction unless the joining and end points are really well done" 

might mean that some cyclists could prefer to stay with the traffic on the side of the road without a lane.

In Camden, it took many years for Brian Deegan to find the best solution to the two way tracks on Royal College Street and we now have a prime example of  separate, lightly segregated bike lanes on each side of the road. 

Light segregation means flexibility - improvements can be made as cycling numbers increase.  

The newest example of separate single lane tracks opened yesterday at Tavistock Place in Bloomsbury and are a fantastic example of best practise, providing double the amount of space for cycliing and removing the conflict that existed before with the single bi-directional lane, in what is one of the most cycled streets in London.

The scheme over Vauhall Bridge does not (yet?) afford this luxury, but nevertheless is something to be promoted and celebrated. All of these new schemes will have teething problems, and naturally people take varying degrees of time to switch from one transport mode to another - but they will.

The next steps  should now be to link up all these sections of infrastructure, to get people cycling at all times of the day - not just  rush hour as is normal for people in Dutch cities. 

I saw Usherwood on the bridge yesterday at 8am and I can assure you it's way more than 40% of riders using it. Time he gave up his job, since he can't report facts correctly why should anyone believe anything he says?

Its not about the percentage of riders using it but the number of riders using it. Seems like they are rising. I don't think I'd cross the road to use it if travelling in the other direction unless the joining and end points are really well done. Will have to check it out.

I'm sure there's traffic cameras covering the area, if any of them can be bothered just count them and so end the spat. Would be interesting to see who apologises.

Seems obvious that there will be people who don't use it immediately.  Give people chance to see it's there and where to get on it.

The the M60 east of Manchester first opened, it was deserted.  And then, remarkably, once people knew it was there, they used it.  Now it's as busy as you'd expect.

It's almost as though Theo Usherwood has an agenda.

Andrew Gilligan was on BBC Radio London this afternoon, just listening to it now on iplayer to find out what he said. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p037kd1t#play  (wind forward to 37 minutes)

Update: No direct mention of Theo Usherwood (as to be expected), but a polite insistance that the majority of cyclists are using the new infrastructure.  An exception made for people cycling east on Embankment, as the section opened is tiny and not yet worth crossing over for.

My biggest disappointment in this whole affair is the confirmation that LBC has finally become Daily Mail FM.  I've been listening to the station for years, but since Global took over they've brought in some terrible presenters with ever dafter opinions that wouldn't sound out of place in a cabbie's hut.  It's all about the presenters view, rather than the listeners. They even gave Katie Hopkins a show!

Oh well, at least there's still Clive Bull. It's a shame Sven from Norway doesn't call him anymore.

So almost 6 out 10 are using it, and they are new to cycling, so very good. Notice they are all moving, not standing still like all the cars (and lorries) next to the CSH. So we can already say that there are 12 riders per minute, and 1 driver per minute on a road which is almost twice as large . Plus, no pollution, no noise, no casualties, etc etc.

It won't be long before Mr Theo stops his reports because he will realize the comparison is no good  for the car industry he support.