Love Clapham website is the local guide for residents and visitors of the Clapham area, London. This includes Clapham Common, Clapham North, Clapham South, Clapham Old Town, Clapham Junction and the surrounding areas of Battersea, Balham, Stockwell, Vauxhall and more.
Clapham Cycle Superhighway
Love Clapham is prone to the odd over-the-top superlative here and there (obviously!) but believe it or not, that is the actual name of those new blue streaks down Clapham High Street. Yes ladies and gentlemen, thanks to the heads up from Clapper @XanderBrown, say hello to Clapham’s section of the Cycle Superhighway!
The Transport For London website explains it best with “The project is one of TfL’s and the Mayor’s main ways of bringing about a London cycling revolution. We aim to increase cycling in London by 400 per cent by 2025 (compared to 2000 levels).” Although it’s quite depressing that they set a goal fifteen years into the future, which may as well be 50 years into the future it’s so meaningless.
It is an admirable scheme though and one Love Clapham welcomes with its open arms to give it a massive bear hug to say hello. Not only is the blue quite cool, it will make cycling that little bit safer but there can never be enough superhighways in this world. Read more and watch a video here.
10 Responses to Clapham Cycle Superhighway
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| 1. | Le Petit Boulangerie, Abbeville Road | 1. | Lack of waffles on sale in cafes |
| 2. | Gastro, Venn Street | 2. | Too many Sainsbury's |
| 3. | Clapham's new Leisure Centre | 3. | Rainy weekends :o( |
| 4. | Venn Street Sat market | 4. | Rubbish shops on the High Street |
| 5. | Costa in Clapham Junction station | 5. |
Personally I was really thrilled to see these go down after many a near miss cycling passed Clapham Common. However, I don’t cycle at rush hour and my housemate does.
She says that these lanes are a disaster and has seen an increase in accidents as you get a congested mix of slow and fast cyclists jostling in a lane that isn’t quite wide enough for the both of them. Meanwhile car drivers assume that cyclists are all sorted now in their funky blue lane and don’t expect some of them to have to enter the car lane to overtake the slower or more inexperienced cycling commuters.
Anyway, I thought this point of view was interesting and thought I would share. Hopefully this is just her experience of it in the early days and it works out well in the long run. Anything that makes cycling safer and easier in London is good news in my book.
TFL road construction crews keeping lucky residents on the main drag awake during the hottest nights of the year, drivers parking their cars in the lanes all the way to Tooting and beyond, peak time drivers and motor bikers seeing a new way to overtake, confusing random blue squares at intersections…
Yeah we all love Boris and his brilliant schemes
I’m all for joined up thinking when it comes to transport policy so how the new Barclays sponsored cycle hire scheme (of which the superhighways form a part) are not designed to accept Oyster Cards is beyond me! Surely that should be a pre-requisite of any scheme like this…?
Hopefuly it stops people riding on the pavment. And if it doesn’t what a waste of money. Because there have their own lane, plus the pavement and the rest of the road to cycle on.
I did see two buses ploughing down the Superhighway today… not exactly ideal.
I think the blue colour is far too bright. Completely dominates the streetscape to the detriment of buildings and planting.
They aren’t great in Clapham, if I’m honest. I cycle from Clapham South to Beckton every day, and the section in Clapham is predominantly gravel, rather than paint, which causes punctures and slows down cyclists. Why have they wasted so much money painting green cycle paths blue, when there are no legal enforcements for these blue stripes? Taxis and buses are free to use them, and in Stockwell, at least a mile of motorists are sat in them between 5-7pm.
Can anyone confirm whether the money for these cycling superhighways has come from the money removed from local government cycling budgets or is an injection of new capital? And how long is Barclays involvement for? And why don’t we have motorways sponsored by large corporations or would that not be politically palatable?
As A transport planner living in Clapham I am aghast at the negativity of some on here.
What this is proving is that no matter what, people still need to change their perspective and attitude regarding alternative modes of transport.
Dinstinctive blue? Yes it stands out – A bit like any Thurs to Sun morning of the high street full of rubbish I gues. This is clearly a safety implication and identify the area by whi ch if a cyclist is using the highway area, no other traffic would have right of way to use it. Pragmatic attitudes (which seem to be lacking with some Londoners)would say it’s common sense that buses and taxis can use this area when a cyclists is not in the area. Queuing traffic, which costs the capital the wealth of a small country will always take areas of the cycle lanes – cyclists SHOULD understand that (and most do) that whilst using the road, they have to adhere to the same rules as other road users (Highway Code). This means that until car usage reduces by getting peoples mindsets to change (there was a time when cars were not used you know folks?) that it’s probably a better choice to use alternative modes of transport, thus improving safety for cyclists not just for the future but for now.
Barclays have put in a substantial amount of investment in these schemes, this was needed as without it, tax payer money would not be sufficient to provide the facilities that were required (Yes, they were required and predicted reduction of accident statistics, which also has a knock on effect regarding traffic jams etc has been exceeded) – do not underestimate the power of branding. This cycle highway improvement scheme, along with cycle hire, are a globally recognised media focus… Local councils still pay for these improvements but the long term maintenance of cycle scheme areas compared to main roads are vastly different and pay for themselves in no time in comparison. Even a 50% increase in cyclists in 5 to 10 years could mean a noticeable proportional rush hour reduction in vehicle usage…
The comment regarding motorway sponsorship may not be as much a pie in the sky idea as you think in the future – watch this space as they say…
Any promotion for the use of cycling by improving facilities compared to the conditions say 5 years ago is a great step forward. Some of you may not agree, that’s an opinion to be respected if the points are of value.
Next year, it’s predicted with the cost of fuel to rise again as well as the cost of living, the use of cycling as a transport mode will increase and this is predicted to be proportional with a reduction in the use of private vehicles.
with the recent tube strikes in Sept 2010, what was seen was the use of commuting by cycles rise to record levels (unofficial figures only). But what is shown is that when people HAVE to they CAN use them.
Increased cycling = healthier environment & lower NHS bills
BBC1′s Inside Out London is making a programme looking at TFL spending.
As part of that, we’re looking to interview cyclists about the new Cycle Superhighways. Have they benefited you, or do you feel less safe as a result? Is the investment in Superhighways worthwhile, or a waste of money?
Please get in touch with us at toby.strutt@bbc.co.uk or 07951 223964