CEoGB Blog

London’s cycling revolution was launched in 2010 with the aim that by 2026 5% of journeys would be made by bike. A distinctly unambitious target (5% is the current European average for cycling mode share) that may yet prove to be unrealistic, cycling continues to limp along at just 2% of journeys. If you took away the significant number of cyclists who primarily use their bike to commute then I suspect cycling levels would be so low as to be almost non-existent. London is a long way off being a cycling city.

OK, before you get too comfortable settling down and reading this, today is your last chance to join the 1200 people who've signed the petition to the WI rejecting calls for compulsory helmet laws before it goes off so please go and do that - and if you're not sure what it's all about read this.

Last January, I decided to call a meeting to launch the idea of a Cycling Embassy to promote the idea of better cycle infrastructure design and implementation. As the Internet was able to bring home the bicycle riding experiences of people overseas, I started to consider my own experiences campaigning at local and national level and how futile it seemed in the context of a country that’s not only wedded to the motor car but seemed to view any other mode as an obstacle to progress resulting in street designs utterly hostile to anything without an engine.