Walking and cycling in outer London

I used to cycle regularly to work, some 14 miles each way from outer London to central London. I avoided dangerous junctions, where possible, but was never too worried by the traffic as it was fairly slow and reasonably well behaved on the main roads.

In 2003 I retired and started cycling occasionally across outer London. I found it very scary as the traffic was faster and overtook very close. People also get very aggressive if you "hold the road" at pinch points.

I was off my bike for about 9 months following a road traffic accident on my bike in Spain. As I started to recover, I initially drove the route I had formerly cycled (Barnet/Enfield borders to Borehamwood to go swimming and shopping). As a driver, I saw there were hardly any cyclists on my route and, when you did meet a cyclist, it took a long time before you could overtake safely. I therefore decided that returning to suburban cycling was too dangerous.

I walk a lot and in good weather walk rather than use public transport

However, I almost never use my bike because I just don't find cycling on the road safe enough. The provision of cycling routes that are completely separate from the road would encourage me to cycle more.

I don't drive a car myself, but will go in the car with other people.

I would like to cycle part of the journey to work regularly. To do this I would need to be able to cycle to a local station, be confident that Southern will be running a train and that Southern will run a train in the evening to get me home. Unfortunately, I have two choices. I can use a major train line, then cycle the remainder of the way but that means cycling through a really busy area with many buses, a massive roundabout and one way system and a huge intersection. I'm not confident enough and it feels almost suicidal. Alternatively, I can use a quieter cycle route which means using a smaller local trainline. I would be happy to do so but Southern cancel the entire train route with no notice for weeks at a time. They started cancelling the entire train line long before the strikes started. If you want to get people cycling to work, you need to make the roads safer and you need to have train companies that can be relied upon to run trains as advertised, on the local London lines not just on the mainlines.

I cycle regularly, prioritising lower pollution routes over quick routes. Useful to have signage of routes that arenºt polluted, including shared pedestrian - cycle routes through parks, and on wider pavements next to main roads. Would be helpful to allow 2 way usage of 1 way streets (i.e. have ºexcept cyclesª under the No Entry sign) where appropriate.

I would say that there are also many junctions and crossings in inner London where it is difficult to use them as a pedestrian as well.

The odd time with some crossings such as Goswell Road/Old Street it can be due to the poor timing of the lights, which mean motor vehicles are still leaving the crossroads even though they entered on green or amber.

More of a problem however is the number of cyclists going through red lights and not respecting pedestrian crossings. So it means even when green man lit still have to watch out for cyclists speeding through.

Lot of street furniture on pavements also causes problems walking, particularly when road works and of course cyclists going on pavements even when cycle lane right next to the pavement available for use, this often happens with the hire bikes.

Recently Bank junction use restricted so other roads nearby more busy, but no thought applied to add pedestrian crossings on them, such as Gresham Street.

The junction between Gresham Street and St Martins Le Grand has been bad ever since from daft raised road part replaced a proper junction, which is absolutely useless for pedestrians, who now need to be able to swivel their head like an owl when crossing. No road vehicle or cyclist gives way to pedestrians wanting to cross.

Morden Road (A24), northbound, where the road turns right on to Merantun Way, is dreadful for cyclists. The carriageway opens up to 5 lanes northbound and cyclists have to cross to lane 4 to turn right. One has to have courage to do this. There is no way I would allow a child to cycle along this section of road.
Examples of recently created but badly thought out cycle lanes are:
1. High Street Colliers Wood (A24), southbound, at the Christchurch Road junction. Traffic turning left crosses the straight on cycle lane however when left turning traffic is queuing, it invariably sits across the cycle lane. While I accept this is primarily due to absence of consideration by drivers, TfL could help instil considerate driving by at least having a sign up which tells drivers to not block the lane.
2. On Christchurch Road, there has been significant changes to the road recently. This is a busy main road yet no cycle lanes were installed as part of the recent restructuring. This is despite the pavements being wide. In fact, the already wide pavements were made even wider so now the carriageway lanes are only of standard width, forcing bicycles to share the lane with all of the heavy traffic on this arterial A road. It is infuriating that no common sense seems to be employed. Two metres' wide cycle lanes could have been additionally incorporated on to the carriageway, while leaving a wide pavement for pedestrians. Similarly, on the northbound section of this road between Merantun Way and the new junction, there is only one, standard width lane for all traffic. It would be sensible to widen the carriageway to include a 2 metres wide cycle lane, or even a little wider and have a 24/7 bus lane instead. This would mean taking some of the grassey area to the side of the pavement but as this grassy area is simply the back of the shopping centre, the loss of a small section of grass would be more than jusitifed if it resulted in a proper cycle lane or bus lane.

As a wheelchair user I find it very difficult to get about as the footpaths are too rough lots of pot holes the same with the roads far too many pot holes, dropped kerbs are also a problem I can ride for quite a long way only yo find that I cannot get off the footpath as there is no dropped kerb or if there is it is still too high to get the chair down which means I am stuck in doors for a majority of the time.
Another reason for not going to the parks as much as I would like is the irresponsible dog owners that do not pick up after their animals there is also a problem with cats and foxes

We live near Charlie Brown's Roundabout and the North Circular, and it is awful for both walking and cycling. There are no pleasant and safe walking or cycling routes in the area, and even our relatively quiet residential street is used by many drivers as a shortcut to the roundabout/motorway, often speeding as they do so.

When we lived in central London (Islington), my husband used to cycle to work, but I'd be very reluctant for him to do so now. As another person commented, we now rely heavily on our car, so we are just adding to the congestion, noise and pollution. Bit of a vicious circle!

Regarding further the imposed cycle lane along the A105: Enfield - Palmers Green:

This A105 cycle lane scheme was not welcomed by many residents in the area and the Council allowed folks with vested interests to vote where in many cases, those folks did not even live in the Enfield area.

During the rush hour periods, the A105 becomes congested both north and south bound, thus making it difficult for an emergency service vehicle to pass through - emergency services have voiced their concerns, which have been over-ridden by the Council.

I think it is a tragedy that around £42M of taxpayer money has been wasted in this way, with acute housing shortages and other measures of austerity being applied. How on Earth can these cycle lanes have been given any sort of priority?

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I like to cycle through Enfield back streets to Hillyfields and to Forty Hall, where we are blessed with pretty much open countryside. I also like to cycle along the Lee Valley canal both north and south, but we usually drive to Enfield Lock first, then get our fold-up bikes out of the car boot and cycle.

One local problem is that Enfield Council are implementing a cycle lane along the A105 from Enfield - Palmers Green and this is causing a lot of local aggravation.

One of the many problems with the imposed cycle lanes along the A105 is that whenever a bus stops around the rush hour periods, then all the traffic behind the bus also stops, thus increasing air pollution. Away from the rush hour periods, cars do try and overtake a stopped bus, but that can be dangerous as cars are coming the other way. Apart from rush hour periods, the A105 can also become congested when the nearby M25 has a problem, which is frequently the case.
Enfield Council are trying to encourage more folk to cycle, which of course is a goodly thing, but I do not see that these cycle lanes are a good way of doing that. I sometimes cycle, but would not dream of cycling along the main road - much better to cycle in the side streets which are quieter and often provide a quicker route.

Another problem with the A105 cycle lane scheme is business delivery vehicles having nowhere easily available to park and businesses subsequently closing down, thus going against the regeneration aspect of the Council.

It is early days yet of course, but I am an Enfield resident and frequently take a bus along the A105 and have seen very few cyclists using the cycle lanes stretches that are available.

Extra speed bumps have appeared for no great reason, which have slowed down busses, thus adding even further to the air pollution and journey times. The bus companies do not like this cycle lane scheme, but since it has been part funded by TFL, they cannot say too much publicly.

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For me its a simple issue of the weather. I wear glasses and have extremely poor eyesight. When it rains, which is often, I cannot see where I am going. At the moment during the Summer I am walking everywhere as it is mainly dry and warm. This will tail off as the weather worsens. Cruelly my health has taken a hit due to all the extra traffic pollution I am currently breathing in.

Getting from the Walthamstow Overground stop on the GOSPEL OAK-BARKING line to the Walthamstow Overground stop on the CHINGFORD-LIVERPOOL street stop. Tfl does not have clear signage if tapping out and then tapping back in is necessary. It would also be great if we could take bicycles on more public transport options so that we do not have to do entire journeys completely by bicycle if they are long.