The only busy major route on the proposed network is the Westway Flyover (where, incidentally, I probably wouldn't use a segregated route - I hate heights, and I'd be constantly worried about a motor vehicle coming into the segregated lane and knocking me off the bridge). There are viable alternatives for most of the other routes - and if Westminster would only implement a 20mph speed limit like all its neighbouring councils they'd all be much safer.
Of course they're not. But I've noticed (being a regular commuter in the City) that since painted bike symbols in the middle of the road have appeared I've been treated with more respect.
Can't say I've noticed any difference at all. Now as then, the vast majority of drivers are fine and the twats remain twats.
Which you can still use. Segregated paths are designed to make cycling attractive to those who find it too scary at present. They also tend to gain momentum: the more you create, the more people cycle and the greater the political demand for more of them. I welcome them.
I think they decided that the south of the Thames one could never negotiate New Cross one way system safely so they ditched it at NX Gate.
It's not much used by cyclists because there are other more useful routes. There are almost no destinations on Upper and Lower Thames Street, so they have little direct magnetism. They're useless as routes to anywhere because they don't connect with the bridges and require steep hill-climbs to get anywhere people might actually want to be. The fact they're hideously busy, and just about the only roads in the City which haven't been speed-limited to 20mph just adds to their repellent nature.
THey certainly have their place. I'm not convinced that through the middle of a city where cyclists have created their own desire lines, and where plenty of people cycle without segregated paths is a great place for them.
Sorry - you're plumb wrong. The sort of people I know who cycle in London wouldn't dream of inhabiting a cycling forum. For them, a bike is a mode of transport. Fortunately the number of such people is increasing all the time. One segregated path on a route that is either not wanted or else is already chock full of cyclists isn't going to change that materially.
You're arguing against something I haven't said. Obviously those on cycling forums are a small subset of those happy to cycle in London. What I actually said was:
Yup. They don't want to. Simple as that. London has a great public transport network. Some people want to avoid it while getting a bit of light exercise, some don't. Gradually, over time, more people are realising that cycling is a good way of moving around the capital, but that's coming through generational shift and through example - and through publicity and the (relatively) cheap and dirty existing network and small local interventions to make individual junctions safer, not through one very expensive white elephant.
