Can Boris’s bikes make London a cycling city?

12 April 2012

The launch today of the Mayor's new bike hire scheme is an important to step for cycling in the capital.

Modelled on the Parisian Vélib' scheme, it encourages Londoners to use the chunky bikes for short hops around the centre of the capital.

The goal is to increase the number of people cycling at the same time as making some small reduction in traffic and the pressure on public transport.

There will inevitably be some glitches, and neither the walk-up hire option nor all of the docking stations are yet operational. The bikes are not equipped with locks: the idea is that people use one, park it, then get another for their return or next journey. That will require an adjustment in our attitudes to bikes. But Paris managed it remarkably quickly: from the Vélib's launch in summer 2007, it has been highly popular.

London's scheme has required a significant investment to put it in place — £82 million – although if successful, that will be a worthwhile expenditure. The estimated annual operating costs will be covered in large part, the Mayor hopes, by user charges and by sponsorship from Barclays.

Now, though, Boris Johnson must give greater thought to how to boost cycling elsewhere in the capital. Last week the first two Cycle Superhighways opened, also sponsored by Barclays, but the rest of those will take five years to put in place, and they have been criticised for essentially rebranding existing cycle lanes for much of their routes. London needs more comprehensive ways to make cycling easier. For today, though, the new hire bikes a are fine addition to the capital's transport system.

Giving for London

The extraordinary public response to this paper's Dispossessed fund appeal is a testament both to Londoners' concern over poverty in our city, and to their generosity. In 10 days, the total has passed £500,000, a sum capable of making a real difference to the dozens of small, grassroots charities where the money will go.

We should be under no illusions about the scale of the challenge. As we report today, new research from Barnardo's shows that four out of five children living in Tottenham are growing up in poverty. In the study, by parliamentary constituency, several East End areas came close behind. Some of the Tottenham parents we interview today tell heartbreaking stories of their struggle to make ends meet. Barnardo's chief executive Martin Narey rightly described this situation as "intolerable".

Such deprivation may be unimaginable to most of us, but in their response to such reports, Londoners have proved their generosity. Our fund will not erase poverty in the capital. However, by making grants to a wide range of voluntary and community organisations, it will make a significant difference to the lives of some of London's poorest people. We need £1 million for the fund to work as planned: please give at standard.co.uk/dispossessed.

Admiring the view

Mayor Boris Johnson's new planning guidance to protect London's most famous views was urgently needed. Several magnificent vistas of St Paul's and other landmarks on the London skyline have come under threat from development in recent years.

Protecting those historic views was a key election pledge of Boris Johnson in 2008: we hope today's guidance is now enforced so that it saves these views of the city for us and for future generations.

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