London Cyclists were once again out in force tonight to protest against the changes to Blackfriars Bridge that will be detrimental to cyclists and pedestrians. TfL has decided in favour of cramming as much motorised traffic over the bridge as humanly possible in an effort to be as green and as popular as possible. It’s not all doom and gloom of course and one person even took the opportunity to cycle with a cone on their head, as you can see in the picture above.
While I was there I even managed to grab a snap of Mark of iBikeLondon fame, who, as you can see, was travelling so fast, not even my high tech camera could capture him.
So where do things currently stand with Blackfriars?
Work is going ahead with TfL’s largely unchanged original plans. The LCC has put forward a proposal for a more efficient use of the space that takes into consideration all of the users of Blackfriars and doesn’t provide unequal weighting to vehicle traffic. However, as things are already in motion it’s unlikely we can have an impact on “our” streets and it would seem cyclists and pedestrians have been brushed aside.
If you are feeling a little down about it all, then perhaps you can take conciliation as I did pedalling home, by overtaking rows upon rows of stationary cars stuck in traffic.
London’s transportation challenges continue..
Update! There’s a good article about tonight’s ride on Cyclists in the City: http://cyclelondoncity.blogspot.com/2011/10/all-four-political-parties-on-their.html Apparently 2000 cyclists attended and members of all four political parties were there!
You got me!! Say hello next time! :o)
It was a fantastic turn out and the London cycling community should be proud of itself for really coming together and showing that they care. Let’s hope Boris will listen!
It was a “is that Mark? It is Mark.. oh too late” moment!
Ha! It was like a ‘who’s who’ of London cycling tonight! Have just finished my own write-up, photos and video of the flashride here http://bit.ly/nklK6p Catch you next time!
It was a great turn out and I felt very proud to be part of such a good natured force for good. Well done London cyclists. Let us act together like this and we will become a force to be reckoned with.
You got me in the first picture, far right, I pay road tax jersey.
There’s MVE on his ‘bent in the LondonSkaters jersey in the second photo.
Interesting discussion on LFGSS about the ‘people friendly streets’ slogan not being strong enough. I agree.
I was there but managed to hid from any photos taken (that I’ve seen).
It was a very good turn out. I’ll get my footage of it up soon.