thirdcrank wrote:From a distance of 200 miles, Bozzer Jozzer seems to be the only politician in a position of authority who's prepared to upset drivers to provide anything for cyclists. Whether the result is any sort of improvement, I can't judge from this distance.
I ride there sometimes (I'll be riding to the funeral on Saturday - see other topics), so ask away if you want (maybe in another topic?). It feels like an improvement, but it's not really right yet. The biggest improvements so far were the congestion charge and hire scheme, which were both started pre-Boris but credit to him for keeping them going. Both of those caused noticeable surges in cycling in the areas they serve... which probably highlighted how inadequate the streetscapes had become.
The CS routes so far seem a very mixed bag - with too many junctions where designers seem to have chickened out, leaving a lot of problems that still need fixing - and I've not really got an overview of what's working and not there. The new NS and EW ones look better but seem to be getting bogged down over concerns from groups caricatured as "old bankers in limos" despite surprisingly wide mass support.
Like with Bedford and Cambridge, whatever we think will happen, we'll only be able to tell what's really worked or not after it's built: monitoring is key. Please, even if you're sceptical, push for monitoring if it goes ahead - if they fail to do so, go out and count in a systematic way if you can, then be honest and report the news, regardless of whether it's good or bad.
I agree that Boris seems better than most, but even he has his bad motorists-friend moments, like going on about headphone-wearing when he shouldn't have. Ultimately, it probably helps that he's a rider but not much of a racer so seems like he should have a bit more idea of what would help mass cycling... but then the same seemed true of Dave, who seems to have given up cycling since election rather than deal with Westminster's car culture (almost half a million on limos for Minister Pickles, I read this week), and whose government keeps sacrificing cyclists on the altar of motor vehicles, coming up with half-baked short-notice funding rounds like the one which has given us these roundabouts.