Why is Cycling to Canary Wharf so Complicated?

One of my semi-frequent routes is from the City of London to Canary Wharf. The vast majority of my work is in the City, but I also have occasional meetings elsewhere in London, mostly in Canary Wharf. At around 3-4 miles depending on the starting point, mostly along the fully segregated CS3 route, its ideal for my kind of slow cycling in a suit, especially on a cool dry day. Its no quicker than the DLR, but is pleasant and cheap.

The problem is that its so hard to actually get onto the wharf itself.

The light blue line above is route recommended by Google Maps. At other times the same service has recommended crossing through the CrossRail station development, which is equally inaccessible. Even if you can find the route above via the little-known Willoughby Passage, you'll find a gate across it and a series of "Cyclists Dismount" signs to push the bike along a narrow path alongside the road. But you probably won't find it anyway, its not signposted at all. Every alternative (other than the slightly hellish road climb up to WestFerry Circus) involves steps, lifts, dismounting, or walking the final bit.

The management of Canary Wharf (Landlords rather than tenants) are notoriously anti-cycling. They have routinely objected to any cycling improvement scheme in the area, including CS3 and the proposed River Crossing from Deptford. It was a long while before Boris bikes were seen on the estate, despite their original sponsor, Barclays, having their head office there. Conversely most of the tenants are very pro-cycling. Not just Barclays, but HSBC and KPMG both tout their environmental sustainability as a major selling point. Most of the bigger Financial and Legal firms located there have a strong health and environmental ethos. And yet its crazily difficult to ride a bike up to the front of the offices.

And the thing is - that's madness. Like the City, Canary Wharf is densely populated with office workers. Public transport has improved massively over the last decade, but with only 2 Tube lines serving it (compared with 6 in the City), its still overcrowded even when running perfectly. When either the DLR or the Jubilee lines fail, the other is forced to close stations due to crowding. Surely creating capacity for a few thousand bicycles would we way more efficient than space for a few dozen cars?

In the meantime, I'll carry on pottering happily along CS as far as Westferry Road, and struggling through the last hundred yards. My current favourite route is via the lift behind the Royal China on the river front. One day - it may well be a new river crossing. But in the meantime, don't give up - if lots of us are trying it - something will get done.

Why did the Cabbie Punch me?

When I first started cycling in London around 30 years ago, many people warned me about the dangers of Black Cabs performing U-Turns without warning, typically as a cyclist was passing them in an otherwise stationary line of traffic. However I found Black Cab drivers to be amongst the most courteous of fellow road users, seeing themselves alongside cyclists as part of the solution to problems of mass car ownership.

The construction of segregated cycling infrastructure under Boris Johnson as mayor seemed to cause a sudden turnaround in the attitude of Black Cab drivers, varying from minor resentment over roadspace to calls (mainly on twitter) to threaten cyclists and a noticeable lack of willingness to give way or show much consideration.  I had generally put some of the twitter chat down to a small bunch of angry old-timers with too much time on their hands - people like me in fact - but with a black cab rather than a bicycle.

Then rather unexpectedly, whilst I was slowing down for a right turn, a black cab driver drew alongside me, leaned out of his window, and punched me, before driving off.

It was so unexpected that I didn't really have time to react. The punch wasn't hard, but it was enough to knock me off my bike and bruise myself against the kerb of the central reservation. Two passers-by immediately ran over to help; one called out the registration plate of the taxi to commit it to memory, but seconds later all 3 of us had forgotten it. I reported it to City of London Police as an assault rather than a traffic incident, and they found cctv footage of it, but not clear enough to identify the taxi, let alone the driver.

But the biggest mystery is why on earth did he punch me in the first place. There have been plenty of small incidents where right of way is disputed, resulting in a torrent of verbal abuse, and some incidents where it could be argued that Cab Drivers had driven in a deliberately threatening manner, but this wasn't one of those. We had had no previous contact, there was plenty of space on the road, it was quiet, nothing to provoke any action, let alone a punch. There was nothing threatening about my clothes - it was a woolly hat and plain jacket, no Brexit or GTFC slogans that might have triggered some-one with different views; no helmet or camera to suggest I was trying to catch someone out.

Your suggestions please - Why did the Cabbie Punch me?

6 reasons why it’s OK to drive along the pavement

A byelaw in London forbids motorised traffic from parking on pavements, and it’s generally well observed, at least in the centre of town. However outside London there is a rather awkward compromise where driving a car or van along a pavement is banned, but pavement parking is not. This raises an obvious question of the car gets onto its pavement parking space, but leaving that aside, it’s quite normal to drive along the pavement in my part of Hertfordshire, and generally accepted. I have listed a few common reasons below for people who generally regard themselves as good, safe drivers - are they good reasons? And when are they OK to justify cycling along the pavement but not driving?

1. Solid road traffic at school time  

This tends to occur very close to drop-off or pick-up times at primary school, after most of the kids have safely been deposited at the gates with a few minutes to spare. We’re not one of those families, we know exactly how long it takes to walk to school, so end up leaving the house a few minutes later than we should and run along the pavement. More organised parents do leave on time, but if they are driving, unpredictable traffic leaves them still queuing in traffic jams with seconds to go until the bell rings. The only option here (apart from abandoning the car in the jam) is to drive onto the pavement and complete the journey that way. This requires wide pavements, and regular sounding of the horn to warn other kids that you’re coming through, but does avoid getting your kids a poor punctuality record. 

2. Looking for a house number

A very popular sight during the working day is a delivery van driving slowly along the pavement looking for a particular house number. They will have pulled onto the pavement where the SatNav told them to, and thereby avoided blocking the road. But then they find the postcode covers a wider area and need to drive along the pavement to find the right house. The same applies to taxi drivers, especially late at night. This can be more hazardous than other situations as the driver will be looking for house numbers rather than other pavement users.

3. Avoiding oncoming overtaking cars

Picture the scene, you are driving (or cycling) peacefully along a quiet street, probably within the speed limit. You see an obstacle on the other side of the road, maybe a slow moving bicycle, or perhaps a parked car. It’s of little concern to you as it’s not in your way. However, it is in the way of oncoming traffic, so what happens when they steer into your path? Should you stop and risk getting crashed into, or veer onto the pavement to avoid it?  Honesty here - this is by far the most frequent cause of me cycling onto pavements.

4. Avoiding solid traffic to turn left further up

My house is about 100 yards from a set of traffic lights. Just before the lights, there is a separate turn left filter leading into the left turn and a pub car park. Traffic normally queues beyond my house when the lights are red, inconveniencing drivers turning left who have no need to queue for a traffic light that doesn’t apply to them. Many left-turners therefore use the pavement as an unofficial filter lane to avoid waiting behind traffic going right or straight ahead. 

5. Running a series of drops / pick ups close together

Another popular school run technique for ecologically aware parent drivers who share lifts, but it applies to any lift shares where all the sharers live on the same street close to each other. Rather than rejoin the carriageway between each pick-up (or drop-off), or encourage picking up at a common point, it’s more usual to drive from one to another along the pavement. Arguably this is more jsstifable than (2) as its for the good of the kids, although its a pain for those walking to school, or cycling (also illegally) along the pavement with kids.

6. When the road is too narrow for the vehicle

There are times when the road is too narrow for the vehicle being driven down it. This applies to delivery trucks as well as larger cars, and is exacerbated by parking on one side of the road, often illegally. In this case, the pavement offers an informal temporary road widening scheme allowing easy access for wide vehicles on narrow steeets.

In all cases, these are everyday examples of practical reasons where driving on the pavement is somewhere between inconvenient and dangerous to pedestrians, but not caused by something as obviously stupid as speeding or drink-driving.  We generally accept these as the danger caused to pedestrians is small. But with the hundreds of people being run over on pavements every day, is it something that pedestrians should tolerate?