The Met beefs up its Cycle Task Force

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The Met beefs up its Cycle Task Force
Post categories: Cycling
Tom Edwards | 11:09 UK time, Wednesday, 29 September 2010 Comments (3)

While the "cycling revolution" in the capital rolls on - more news today on what I've noted before - signs of a continuing crackdown on those who disobey the highway code.

The cycle task force (cops on bikes paid for by Transport for London) created to tackle bike theft is being expanded by 10 more officers.

These are traffic cops who have taken to two wheels and will focus on traffic enforcement. So it's not extra resources, more a reorganisation of existing resources.

Transport for London claim:

"Cyclists and their bikes will be safer than ever with 10 more officers joining the MPS's Cycle Task Force just three months since the team was introduced."

There will be those who dispute that claim and say this is just moving the furniture in the Met and more a re-branding exercise. They will argue it actually won't make anyone safer if traffic cops are on two wheels or in a car.

Many cyclists though will welcome more police.

Today's press release also says:

"The unit ran a six week long operation this summer to target road users who disobeyed traffic signals, encroached on advance stop lines, cycled carelessly or on pavements, or used their mobile phones on the two pilot Barclays Cycle Superhighways.

The operation resulted in:

More than 900 Fixed Penalty Notices (FPN) of up to £60 issued to drivers and motorcyclists;
Over 400 FPNs of up to £60 issued to cyclists;
Around 300 people attended an Exchanging Places safety education course to encourage considerate and safe behaviour from all road users and to promote sharing the road safely;
106 cyclists who were given FPNs for less serious offences were given the option to have their ticket cancelled if they attended an Exchanging Places safety education course. Fifty per cent of those offered the opportunity attended and had their ticket revoked;
More than 20 arrests made for a variety of offences, including for bike theft and driving while disqualified to do so.
It certainly seems the team have been busy.

Cyclists will note there have been 400 £60 fines - I'll bet many of them are for shooting red lights.

It's also worth noting that this isn't ALL the tickets given out to cyclists. The Met in total issued around 730 Fixed Penalty Notices to cyclists in just June and July.

And an interesting point about the "Exchanging Places" education course. Half of cyclists would rather take a 60 quid hit than attend the safety course. Defiance?

You can contact the cycle task force at: CycleTaskForce@met.police.uk

Hire bikes being taken for repairs

Also I've been given some more stats on the bike hire scheme from questions asked by Caroline Pidgeon, of the Liberal Democrats on the London Assembly.

It does show that many of the bikes have been repaired and there is a chance Barclays have had some of their outlay returned due to glitches.

Question: Has any money been returned to Barclays since the start of the scheme for any reason?

Answer from the Mayor:

The Barclays Cycle Hire sponsor agreement does incorporate measures to reflect the success of the scheme. The precise details however are commercially sensitive.

(That's not a no...)

Question: How many complaints has TfL received about the scheme and what general areas have been raised as concerns since it went live?

Answer from the Mayor

As of 7 September 2010, TfL have received a total of 1,431 complaints regarding the scheme.

Key areas of concern include confusion over the billing for access periods - particularly when a member has multiple keys, the location and availability of docking stations, and enquiries over how to successfully return a cycle to the docking point.

Question: How many reports of faulty cycles have there been since the start of the scheme, broken down by fault?

Answer from the Mayor

At present, Serco's reporting system does not report exact information regarding the nature of faults but are expecting to be able to provide this information in the future.

As of 7 September 2010, a total of 2,774 repairs have been carried out by Serco with the majority of these being minor repairs and adjustment on-site without the need to take the cycle out of service.

Let me know your thoughts.

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