Chris Kenyon

Farringdon - TFL segregated bike lane...spot the issue

What you tolerate you encourage....

 

TFL and the Corporation of London have just spent over a two million pounds refurbishing Holborn Viaduct, a bridge that crosses and narrows one of the most important road routes through London.  

 

Leading up-to Blackfriars bridge where cyclists outnumber cars, taxis and buses every morning.... Farringdon road is used by thousands of working Londoners cycling to work everyday.

 

The bridge itself is a Victorian masterpiece.  Despite having span that is four lanes wide the bridge is narrower than the carriageway to it's North and South.

 

This is a choke point, the carriage way is narrowing, the cycle lane curves into route of motor traffic and the road darkens as you enter under the viaduct. 

 

 

 

Photo:  Looking South.

 

So how did TFL do?  To protect the bridge from vehicles striking it, TFL have built concrete kerbs on either side of the bridge.  The new raised kerb is a significant improvement on the previous concrete walls that used to be in place.

 

You can see from the photo below the raised kerb by the inside wall of the bridge.  This is  an understandable design requirement and ironically, the construction of it is similar to the type of kerb used to segregate a cycle lane for motor traffic.

 

 

Photo - Looking North on Farringdon

 

 

Photo - Looking South on Farringdon

 

 

I say ironically because you will notice that TFL have put the cycle lane on the wrong side of the separator. 

 

That's right,  in the Mayor's Vision for London, cycling is supposed to be encouraged and segrated bicycle lanes on busy roads are part of TFL's road design tool box.   This cycle lane could and should have been built on the inside of the kerb. This solution would not have narrowed the traffic lane at all.

 

In fact you could have combined the raised kerb with the cycle lane and widened both the cycle lane, the roadway and had the same protection for the bridge (allowing for a proper cycle land on the Northbound lane)

 

But no...... lazy, wasteful, unacceptable planning from TFL continues to be the norm.

 

 

 

Photo: TFL Buses and TFL licensed taxis travelling at 30 mph and clipping the cycle lane

 

 

 

Photo: 30 MPH overtaking and about to swerve to the left as dictated by TFL's roadmarkings

 

I work in a business in Southwark street, where forty of the hundred plus employees we have cycle to work.  Businesses depend on workers getting to work by bike. As a Londoner,a resident,  a worker, a father.... I don't understand why taxpayers money is being spent with so little thought.

 

Around the corner from this idiocy  Skanska are building the New Ludgate complex opposite the Old Bailey. I read with interest the quote on the hoardings last week, did anyone at TFL?

 

'The quality and availability of workplace cycle facilities influences the career choices of more than 50% of respondents'

 

 

 

We don't always need more money to build a great cycling city but we do require that TFL reject thinking that a LA highway engineer would be proud of.

 

This is London in the 21st century.

 

London. Jan 2014

London cycles, now join the Big Ride to make London a better city!

March 20th is the first day of Spring and of the London electoral campaign.

Londoners are cycling and walking in London like never before and I shot this video yesterday on the way to work just capture the sheer volume of cyclists now in London.

 

 

Put simply it is time that:

- London had people friendly streets
- we had a 20 mph speed limit across town
- our streets are made safe enough for children to cycle on them

You can read all 10 principles of the Love London, Go Dutch campaign on the LCC website 

So what can you do to support this:

Join the Big Ride.  The street's of London will be closed for a fantastic bike ride from Hyde Park through to Blackfriars Bridge on Saturday @ 11am on the 28th April. Meet @ Marble Arch.  More information

Sign the Love London, Go Dutch petition 

Now start cycling, skating or walking to work, school or play.

 

Operation Lucid - Ubuntu in London

My brother casts light and shadows for a living and we have been talking about a little project for a while. The release of Ubuntu 10.04 (aka Lucid Lynx) this week was the perfect opportunity to put the plan into action.

Mission

• Spread a bit of Ubuntu love to celebrate the launch of Ubuntu 10.04 a.k.a Lucid Lynx

 

 

 

  

 

 

Pictures released under Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0

  
 Equipment

• 1 x suspicious white van
• 2 x spotlight
• 1 x temperamental generator
• 2 x hi-visibility electricity board jackets (urban camouflage)
• 1 x Canon Digital SLR
• 1 x clipboard

Location

• Barbican tower
• St Paul's (taken from Shakespeare tower)
• Tate modern
• National Theatre
• London Eye
• Millbank tower

Crew

• Jono Kenyon (Lighting Guru and photos), 
• Chris Kenyon (Generator technician)
• Jane Silber (Gaffer) 

The camouflage worked pretty well. We had a curious security guard at the Gherkin, which incidentally turns out to be difficult to project onto (shape and internal lighting)

We finished the last shot at 02:45 outside Millbank at which point we had a little excitement...

The initial Metropolitan Police response car screamed to a halt next to us followed by an armed response vehicle with sirens blazing.  On reflection, a white van parked at an odd angle with me holding a long black spotlight over my shoulder and pointing it towards the building was just a little suspicious. 

'So what sort of software is this?' elicited an elevator pitch on Ubuntu and the perplexed policeman cancelled the assigned air support unit.  Thank goodness I had my Millbank tower ID on me (Canonical's London offices are in the building). 

All in all, an amazing release and a fun Wednesday night.

Download Ubuntu - www.Ubuntu.com

'I am who I am because of Guy Kewney'

Orange ran a advertising campaign last year in the UK that took the concept of Ubuntu (I am, because we are) and turned it into a campaign that linked the impact of people we have known on us as individuals.

I mention this, because a friend and mentor who I have known since I was a toddler passed away last night and Guy left more than a couple footprints on my life.

Guy Kewney was one of the UK's leading technology journalists. He started in the trade in the explosive years of personal computing in the late 70s.  

I knew him from a different angle, initially as the father of Lucy and Alice whom I knew from a local Children's choir and then as a friend.  The Kewney's lived around the corner from us in Finsbury Park, North London. To visit them was to be welcomed into a home bursting with new computers, peripherals and gadgets.  It was a struggle to sit for for the carpet of gadgetry that covered every shelf, table and stair in the house. 

It was here that Guy introduced me to seminal game Elite [2] on the BBC Micro. It was 1985 and I was was 11 but I remember the surprise of discovering that an adult could be into computer games. When I explained how much I enjoyed the game, he grinned confessing he had spent four months playing Commander Jameson exploring a parallel universe.

Guy, originally from South Africa, was into his sailing and swimming.  Aged 8, I was amazed when he responded to my challenge to see who could swim further underwater by doing three full lengths without coming up for air. Guy as ever playful, modest and full of surprises.  More recently we got a chance to sail on the West Reservoir in Stoke Newington, Guy reminding me that dingy sailing was sailing at it's purest and most fun.

People sometimes ask me how a graduate in political science got into technology.  Well the answer is that the seeds were planted a long time ago - partly by my father but a in a very good part by Guy.  Introducing me to WiFi in the early 90's  he explained- 'Chris, wireless networking is going change the way we fundamentally use computers. Simply put, insurance claims for laptops being dropped in the bath are going to rise!'

In the last five years, Guy and I met either at my parents' or at a conference. We would talk about the technology industry - me seeking gems of wisdom from someone who had seen it ALL before.  Be it discussing Microsoft's DNA or the likely success of WIMAX - Guy had an encyclopaedic knowledge of both technology and the business around it.

I saw him four weeks ago and tried in vain to see if we could sail once more before the cancer that he had fought bravely took him from us.  Sadly it was not to be.

Guy  - you will be sorely missed by many. I remember you fondly as a wonderfully warm, witty and wise soul with uniquely insightful twist on the world. 

Chris, London April 8th 2010

Plantlock = Cycling + an urban garden

I enjoy cycling to work tremendously yet one of the challenges with bicycles is having a place to lock them up at home. 

• Should you block a corridor?
• How about locking them to railings? (blocking light for neighbours)
• What about a tree (obstructing footpaths)?
• Are people on the second / third floor really supposed to take bicycles up stairs everyday?

It seems wrong that I can park a car outside my house but I cannot use the public highway to lock a bicycle up.

Several months ago I spotted a PlantLock and decided that this was the solution to the issue.

What is a PlantLock?

Designed by the Front Yard company, an innovative London design team the Plantlock is a strong planter with a hardened solid steel bar to lock a bike to.  It looks great and weighs over 75kg when filled.  While I would not leave a top of the range road bike on the street overnight, I feel comfortable locking my simple commuting bike to it.

As a family of two cyclists with many cycling visitors we decided to experiment with a Plantlock on our street. Having consulted our  neighbours we placed two Plantlocks on our street with enough space for four - six cycles. 

Duncan, who runs Front Yard delivered the Plantlocks to our door with stickers and bolts to screw it into the road.

To make them more visible we planted a 1.5m orange tree on the side that cars reverse on (ensuring that a dirver can see it in a rear view mirror).  I also added a simple reflective strip on the traffic side of the one making it ultra-visible to oncoming traffic.

The reaction

One month in and the reaction from neigbours and passers by is great and universally positive.  People stop, stare and smile and we are regularly asked who put them there and where they can be got from.

The council have popped by and actually seemed supportive although it was not an official visit. So now we have a place to keep our bikes, a place for neighbours to keep theirs and an attractive addition to the street :-)

More Photos here