The Central London grid

aw, just thought... how about

black, grey & red – Road Haulage Association

LFGSS blue would make a change from Barclays

(Though that, sadly, goes black sometimes)

yeh,I can see that black might be a bit of a problem

Wouldn't make much difference to most drivers behaviour if they could see the bike lane or not.

So all these segregated lines and other measures to 'de-lycrafy' are to make sure cyclists all do a nice 4-5 mph on upright 40lb town bikes with nice baskets with puppies in? I'm all for improving roads for cyclists, but providing lanes to narrow to overtake wobbly nodders will just make the main carriage-way narrower, and worse for cyclists that don't want to be in a segregated lane, and motorists more cross when cyclists don't use them. Like many cyclists, I'm perfectly happy in amongst the traffic. This all feels very lowest common denominator and treating all cyclists like untrained children. I don't want to be a second class road user, with my own little special padded lane.

In TfL's defence. They are in process of finalising the new London Cycle Design Standards. On the training course to introduce them to highway engineers and transport planners Professor John Parkin opened by stating that in any design engineers must remember that 'A bicycle is a vehicle capable of speed', a factor that should ensure that fast riders are catered for. I do see an issue with driver attitude (as usual) and whatever they design on the ground there must also be much better education for drivers.
Things like this are a good start:

That is more encouraging! Thank you.

Poking through the map around the areas I know (Holborn/Soho/Oxford St. to points west and southwest), I am left with the following impressions:

1) Looks like they are primarily looking at routes with low bus usage - I could be wrong, just a general impression
2) London does not ever give you a reasonable road route from A to B. This would mean longer journeys for some cyclists
3) This looks exactly like a short cut/rat run route map for black cabs. The vast bulk of the traffic I've encountered on the proposed roads are taxis. A potential source of conflict?

On a similar note - most of the worst driver behaviour I've personally encountered has been primarily on the smaller side streets. So, no thanks. I'll still stick to my main roads.

Tron Legacy The Grid - YouTube

Great debut album. The rest meh.

I don't want to be a second class road user, with my own little special padded lane.

Agree very strongly with the above.

Well how about Red Gold and Green?
Rastafari.

depends on the sponsor, maybe:-

red – Coca Cola
red & yellow – Shell oil
grey – Nestle
white – Apple
blue & black – BMW
yellow – Livestrong
pantone blue – General Lucifur

any more for any more?

what about Red Green and Gold
Rastafari

The trouble with the narrower back streets is that you're out in primary due to loads of parked cars and traffic calming/pinch points and you get impatient drivers trying to squeeze past (Market Road between York Way and Caledonian Road is a good example, and it's meant to be part of the national cycle network).

From the poster above it looks like tfl may be acknowledging this but it's going to take a while to take any affect.

^^ to my uncertain knowledge Rastafari is not any kind of corporate/consumer organisation. Maybe the Rastafarian community would like to sponsor?

don't read the comments about the london cycling grid on TFL's facebook page...

Whenever I see plans like this all I can think of is how little it'll affect me. The first 11 miles of my commute will still be a bloody nightmare, but once I get to Vauxhall Bridge I'll be laughing for the last few hundred yards of my ride. Great.

http://lcc.org.uk/articles/tell-transport-for-london-its-vital-the-bikegrid-is-a-genuinely-safe-and-inviting-network-of-cycle-routes-in-central-london

Stop pissing around with blue paint and fix the bloody potholes.

Not a chance, you'll have to become a hippo for real now:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26014054

^^ to my uncertain knowledge Rastafari is not any kind of corporate/consumer organisation. Maybe the Rastafarian community would like to sponsor?

haile unlikely

One of the really annoying things about the Grid is that nothing much is going to improve in Kensington and Chelsea. If you're starting from, say, West Brompton Cemetery and you'd like to head north, you've no choice but to use Warwick Road, which just isn't safe for cyclists, given that you're forced to be in the right-hand lane (either to turn right onto Cromwell Road - another 3 lane road, or use any of the existing, ill-thought-out cycle lanes) which almost all motorists think is for overtaking/going as fast as humanly possible before the inevitable red light. Southbound along Earl's Court Road is just as bad, although there are a few alternatives available. Ken High Street is often on this forum for being unsafe. K&C is awful for cycling - in particular the Earl's Court One Way System, and The Grid doesn't make any meaningful change here. As a resident, I really don't see nearly as many cyclists around K&C, than I do almost anywhere else in this city, and the way K&C and TFL manage the roads here, ignoring the real needs of cyclists, must be the cause. A bold decision for a proper cycle lane on Warwick Rd and Earl's Court Road would have been welcome, and The Grid misses the chance to do so.
As posted above, pointing out (at great expense) that side streets exist, and sometimes the (primarily intended for motor vehicles' needs) one-way system may allow you to go vaguely in the direction you want, really isn't doing enough. Seriously, anyone with either a map or a mobile telephone could have worked that much out on their own...

A quick check in from Miami, America where lanes have a painted bike and signage saying said bike can use the whole lane! It works well as cars have to respect the nodder as well as the competent cyclist. Just having the signs makes one feel like the cars are reminded all the time that we have as much right as you.

useful thoughts on the grid here:

http://aseasyasridingabike.wordpress.com/2014/02/12/the-central-london-grid/

consultation closes tomorrow

get your comments in so they have proof of some public support when confronting angry residents...

more details of the problems in the west:

http://hfcyclists.org.uk/2014/02/london-cycle-grid-response-west/