LONDON CYCLE NETWORK - DESIGN MANUAL
Thank you for your recent letter regarding the Design Manual. I am pleased that you have been able to read a copy and make your comments, these have been noted, considered, or added to the list of possible additions/changes that may be issued. I have attempted to ignore the various abusive and derogatory comments that you have made.
Your view of cycling is not the majority one that is expressed. Most requests from cyclists are for more segregated and dedicated cycle facilities, both off and on the carriageway. I accept that there are a range of views on this, generally the split tends to relate to the vulnerable or confident category of cyclist, or that proposed by Babtie, the engineering consultants, reference section 1.6 in the Manual. we have a responsibility to design for the majority of cyclists, increasing numbers of whom appear to prefer to ride on the footway or some form of segregated facility.
Many of your comments on the Manual emanate from the confident cyclist stance and it is noted that you are generally against cycle lanes, cycle tracks and shared cyclist/pedestrian surfaces. The manual adopts a more conventional view with regard to most of the cycle facilities permitted in the UK.
Normal design widths for cycle gaps in the UK used to be 0.7m. To facilitate the easy passage of a wider variety of cycles we have tended to increase this within the Manual. However, wider gaps often allow both motor cycles and small cars through, so we generally accept 700mm as the maximum design cycle width.
Regarding cycle lanes, one of your main concerns relates to debris on the road surface, and I accept that more efforts need to be made to sweep these. I do not agree that letting motor vehicles sweep them is the best solution, motor vehicles also 'sweep' cyclists. The bad advisory cycle lanes in St John's Street Islington are being reviewed/re-designed. I do not consider that they are representative of cycle lanes in London
Yours sincerely
Project Manager London Cycle Network
Guildhall 2
Kingston upon Thames
Surrey KT1 1EU
England