East London Cyclist Archives
The newsletter of Tower Hamlets London Cycling Campaign Group
February - March 2002
Cycle Count
Yes: we like a challenge. You may have noticed from the new year's card you received that we decided that a cycle count was needed.
The first cycle count in the borough since not even Gary knows when, and we choose the most horrendous, fearsome, abhorrent, atrocious - and lots of other adjectives your editor can't spell - roundabout in London.
The Aldgate Gyratory loomed up at us that mercifully rain-free, cool morning, but we felt confident, armed with out clipboards and check sheets at the ready, courtesy of a very organised Alex.
I'd aimed to cheer the troops with warm toast but it had gone a bit cold and soggy, so my dodgy fruit cake was passed around instead. On the rare occasions when I have been unfortunate enough to find myself attempting to navigate this mad feat of traffic engineering I have felt like a pin-ball flung into play.
In fact this is exactly how traffic planners describe the hapless cyclist at this kind of genius 'car is king' set-up. (Actually, I'd be terrified tackling it as a driver.) A cyclist was killed there a couple of years ago and it's finally been agreed that advanced stop lines for cyclists will be installed.
I'll get off my high horse now and hand over to Alex who very brilliantly organised the count:
A big thank-you to everyone who took part in Wheelers' first cycle count of 2002, 7:30 am to 9:30 am in Thursday 10th January: Tom, Keith, Mark, Ian, Simon, Steve, Owen, Andrew, Gary, Jill, Alix and I made 12 volunteers in all. We were quite lucky with the weather: dull but not too cold and none of the rain which soaked us on the way to the Chinese restaurant that evening.
We had two main reasons for doing a cycle count at Aldgate Gyratory. Firstly to give us some current data as regards the frequency and flow direction of cyclists using this junction, to give weight to tour request that they be taken into account when the gyratory is reconfigured prior to the implementation of congestion charging.
Secondly, cycle counts are a proven way of increasing active membership!
Each 'counter' was given a map of her/his specific junction, and a count sheet divided into 15 minute intervals and up to 12 different movement directions.
Fortunately, the maximum number of directions each of our counters had to record was only six, apart from the counter who experienced unforseen cyclists using the pedestrian crossing and pavement at one particular point - north end of Colchester Street.
(Ed: this was me. I thought I had an easy ride with only four possible options to watch out for. Then I spotted bikers doing all sorts of crazy routes to avoid going round the system. Bl**dy cyclists - they always have to buck the trend...)
I have to admit that I haven't yet found the time to properly write up the full report on the data collected that day, but hopefully I'll be able to present something at the next meeting on 11th Feb. If anyone would like a copy, please give me a call on 020 8983 3600 or email
alex_leighton_goodall@hotmail.com
Ed: we are nominating the Aldgate Gyratory for Transport 2000's award for the worst one-way system in London.
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Your GLA rep comments on the LCN budget
As City and East London GLA member, John Biggs was one of the recipients of letters that LCC members wrote about the threatened London Cycle Network budget (reported in the previous newsletter, and in 'London Cyclist'). This was his reply:
"Thanks for your recent letter about the cycling budget. You will be pleased to hear I am sure that under pressure that the Mayor has caved in and confirms that at least £8 million will be available for spending on cycling next year. There will be a review of the network however, and as with all such announcements, we must look closely at the small-print. However, this change of mind is a major victory for your campaign. As your representative I used what pressure I could to assist in this.
"As I say it looks like a happy ending and I will advise you if this proves to have been a premature assumption. Please keep in touch."
Nice one John. But Friends of the Earth London point out that cycling only gets 1% of the Mayor's transport budget, yet people who cycle make up 3% of all trips in London. Even so, as John states, this is a major victory and LCC should be very proud.
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 Eco-Removals
Your editor moved house in the middle of December... by bike! I borrowed a trailer attachment from my good friends Ray and Maggie (of Hackney LCC) and a couple of other kind friends helped me take several trips round the corner to my new flat. My friend Steve insisted on bringing his flashy car but the boot is so small and the 'car route' so circuitous that it was quicker by bike anyway!
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Cycling's meant to be fun you know...
'East London Cyclist' now has a resident cartoonist. Many thanks to Ian for donating his cartooning expertise! Some while ago his pics were used in 'London Cyclist' Letters Page. hopefully his sketches will be a regular feature here in 'ELC'.
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Swift improvements
You may have noticed in the previous 'London Cyclist' (Dec & Jan) that the 'My Way' article was written by two Tower Hamlets cyclists - your editor and my colleague Kate. Kate's route to work starts in the Isle of Dogs, and we meet by Victoria Park and continue up to Dalston Junction (well, we did until Kate moved on to a firm in Finchley!).
Along the way there were a few bugbears that as cyclists we mentioned in the article: awkward pedestrian crossing across Commercial Road, kissing gates along the Regents Canal and glass in the road near London Fields. But in the time between writing the piece and the magazine landing on people's doormats, the first two gripes were fixed!
No doubt the authorities had been planning to straighten the crossing and remove the kissing gates for some time now, so we have decided to write and thank them for this. Hopefully the next 'London Cyclist' will decide to print our letter.
We must be positive when positive changes occur, as well as point out where the street environment (and elsewhere) could be a lot friendlier towards cyclists.
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Take ACTION!
Whilst on the subject of gripes, hopefully we've persuaded you that things CAN change for the better, so if you haven't filled out the 'gripes' form from the last newsletter, please do so as soon as you can. We've had several replies but we'd like some more, so get on the case! (or submit your gripes online.)
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New Orleans funeral
A jazzy 'funeral' was held for the privatised railway by Transport 2000 and the Wheelers had a presence.
Bikes on trains are the way forward, as a recent Dutch study found (the MATTER project, Uni of Groningen.)
Transport 2000 have a new website: www.transport2000.org.uk
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