Jeremy Parker <JeremyParker@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> [snip]
>
> >> Goodness gracious. All this is very un-British. I live, and ride
> >> my
> >> bicycle in London, which seems to be the far-away land that you
> >> are
> >> talking about. London's a pretty good city to ride a bicycle in,
> >> no
> >> need for new laws or conventions.
>
> >Oh, c'mon. The article was written by a Briton about Great Britain.
>
> As, indeed, was my previous e-mail. As indeed is this one. I can
> look out of my window, right here, at actual London traffic.
>
> >I've said your driving laws are very good
>
> Thankyou. I missed that posting, I guess. My apologies. What is it
> about our laws that impresses you? Are we unique, or do other places
> have similar laws?
>
> > and your new laws
> >restricting traffic into London are very encouraging,
>
> Well, I have to admit that we haven't quite reached perfection yet.
> Oxford Street, for example, from which private cars were already
> banned before the congestion charge, has obviously - all too
> obviously - not had its congestion reduced at all, because all those
> buses, taxis, and delivery vehicles still clog it up. The "City"
> part of London probably benefited more from the "ring of steel" anti
> terrorism precautions which were introduced somewhat before the
> congestion charges reduced motorised traffic still further.
>
> >but I trust the
> >writer's statement that cyclists still live under the law of the
> >jungle in London to be right.
>
> Hmm. As one who lives here, and cycles here, I would say that is
> unwise. Cycling is safe enough here that, if you do choose to live
> by the law of the jungle, your mean free path between collisions
> might be long enough for you to get away with it, but it's still not
> a good idea.
>
> >>Either London is like Amsterdam, or it's not a welcoming place for
> >cyclists.
>
> Now you are just being silly. Cambridge is the British city which
> has more cycling than Amsterdam, but I think that London is a better
> city to cycle in than Cambridge. Of course, London has a good enough
> public trans****t system for really the only reason to ride a bike in
> London to be because it is fun. People travel thousands of miles to
> come and ride on our buses, and our taxis, and their drivers, really
> are wonderful. A London taxi can carry a bike, too, in case of
> emergency.
>
> London is rather bigger than Amsterdam. London was the largest city
> in the world when I was growing up, although other ciries have long
> since overtaken it. Amsterdam is such a dinky little town that you
> can **walk** from the center of town - the main train station - to
> the Ring Road, their beltway, in an hour.
london public trans****t is good outer to inner, going outer to outer,
tends to be more probmatic at least by bus/train. which leaves car or
bike or rather it can do.
>
> >How many people ride bike in London?
>
> The should be new annual figures out any time now - watch for a press
> release from Trans****t for London on their web site www.tfl.gov.uk.
> Last years figures estimate 480 000 journeys a day. I would guess
> that most people take around two journeys a day, rather than getting
> on the train with their bike to come home again. Whether this
> includes journeys to a train station, I don't know. Most London
> statistics count only the "main leg" of a journey, so riding to the
> station to catch a train might not be counted
>
> >Give me a percentage to
> >show.
>
> About 1.5% averaged over all London. Around 7% in Central London
> (roughly the congestion charge zone). The south western part of
> London seems to have a higher rate of cycling than average, nobody
> knows why. London is tending now to base its statistics on the
> automatic bike counters on the TLRN (Trunk London Road Network)
> Because of the nature of the TLRN this might lead to some
> undercounting in Outer London.
>
has some big parks, bushy park and richmound together with the river and
the mostly fairly narrow roads lends it's self to bike more than say the
large freeways.
quite a few use back roads etc, i will tend to go though bushy park than
round it, something thats not usefully possible with the car, (the park
has a road that connects teddington with hampton court but never really
much use for me.
> >Anyway, I'd rather ride a bike in London than in places where still
> >the drivers ignore any civilized rules of the road. In America we
> >have
> >to tame the beast first. ;)
>
> Having ridden many miles on both sides of th Altlantic, I would say
> that there is not much in it, though there are, of course, many
> places in the USA where I have not ridden (Chicago, for example).
> Civilized or not - that might depend on your definition of civilized,
> which doesn't always seem to be the same as everyone's on this
> newsgroup - I would say that there always are rules, and when you
> ride or bike, or are anywhere among other people, it's advisable to
> know what those rules are.
>
> >I read the reviews of the book, but I'm sure even bullfighting can
> >be
> >done in a safe way if you know the tricks of the trade
>
> [snip]
>
> The moral of which, I take it, is to know the tricks of the trade.
> Buy a copy of "Effective Cycling"
>
> Jeremy Parker
roger
--
www.rogermerriman.com
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