Women's Freedom After Dark report finds nearly a quarter of the total length of TfL’s cycle network is ‘socially unsafe’ after dark.
Nearly a quarter of the total length of TfL’s Cycleway network is ‘socially unsafe’ after dark – in other words there is a risk of harm from other people – such as stretches through unlit parks, industrial estates or alongside canals with no escape routes.
In addition, our analysis shows that over half of all TfL Cycleways have at least one socially unsafe section, 11 Cycleways are over 70% unsafe, and seven are 100% unsafe after dark.
Lack of safety after dark is a formidable barrier to cycling for women.
Our previous report What Stops Women Cycling in London? found one in three women of over 1,000 surveyed stopped cycling altogether after dark or in winter, due to a lack of safe routes.
While it’s not surprising to find this barrier where good cycle infrastructure is still lacking, such as most of outer London, we should not expect to find it on TfL’s official Cycleways.
AFTER DARK MAP
Supported by
Percentage of TfL’s Cycleway network is socially unsafe after dark - 85 km in total
Percentage of TfL’s Cycleways have at least one socially unsafe segment
Number of cycleways which are socially unsafe for 70% or more of their length
C10 near Millwall Stadium
Borough: Lewisham
This section of Cycleway 10 is an isolated path alongside a railway line, with no escape route and blind corners. It is a known hotspot for crime where muggings and bike jackings have been reported. The nearby main road alternative lacks safe space for cycling and is busy and hostile.
Click below to see the full report, and steps we recommend are taken to make this route safe.
Grand Union Canal Cycleway
Boroughs: Kensington & Chelsea, Hammersmith & Fulham, Brent, Ealing, Hillingdon
This signed TfL Cycleway runs west from central London for 23 km, and provides an excuse for five boroughs to avoid building other east-west cycling routes. Yet most people do not feel safe cycling on the towpath after dark, unsurprisingly as it’s poorly lit, overgrown, not overlooked, has few escape routes and some known crime hotspots.
Access to and from the canal is often dangerous, including roads such as Scrubs Lane and Old Oak Lane, and access at some points is via steps only, making it inaccessible to anyone unable to carry their cycle to and from the canal path itself.
Click below to see the full report, and steps we recommend are taken to make this route safe.
C1 in Enfield
Borough: Enfield
In Enfield, Cycleway 1 provides miles of direct, protected cycle tracks along the A1010 (Hertford Road) from near the M25 in the north to Edmonton in the south. But as it approaches the North Circular, it veers off into Pymmes Park – a poorly lit park known for drug dealing and antisocial behaviour – and then crosses the North Circular via an underpass.
The underpass itself is well lit but has no CCTV, and users can’t see the other end before going in due to its low ceiling. Groups carrying knives and dealing drugs are known to gather there. It sometimes floods in wet weather.
Click below to see the full report, and steps we recommend are taken to make this route safe.
Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens
Boroughs: Westminster, Kensington & Chelsea
This Cycleway runs east-west along Hyde Park’s South Carriage Drive (C5) and continues west on a path through Kensington Gardens as an unnamed Cycleway (‘C’ on the TfL map) to exit the park at Palace Green. South Carriage Drive is wide and well-lit, but it can feel isolated late at night.
The Kensington Garden section is poorly lit and isolated outside of peak hours, but worse, closes its gates after dark. Users have to exit the park via West Carriage Drive onto the busy Kensington Road (A315), leading to Kensington High Street, a notoriously dangerous road.
Click below to see the full report, and steps we recommend are taken to make this route safe.
C22 - the Greenway
Borough: Newham
The Greenway is a great traffic-free route for walking and cycling in the daytime across east London from the Olympic Park, but it is isolated and not overlooked by residential properties, while vegetation creates an ambush risk and there are few escape routes.
There are no safe, direct alternatives for cycling east-west across the
borough, and the Greenway’s Cycleway status (C22) provides TfL and Newham Council an excuse not to build any nearby.
Click below to see the full report, and steps we recommend are taken to make this route safe.
This would rule out poorly-lit, isolated areas – see our full criteria here – and ‘directness’, to rule out convoluted, indirect routes that are unsafe after dark.
Sections of existing routes, or entire routes, should be upgraded or rerouted in order to meet the criteria.
Cycle routes through parks and so on are a valuable resource to be enjoyed – and can be delivered and funded by parks and others – but should not count as part of TfL’s core cycle network. Transport funding should be reserved for delivering strategic, inclusive Cycleways.
This would be done with more CCTV and lighting in places like underpasses and routes that are isolated after dark, particularly at crime ‘hotspots’.
For instance, Dutch designs of bridges and underpasses could be adopted that are far more welcoming than British ones.
Two men tried to push me off my bike as I was going past Millwall stadium. I didn’t cycle for months after because I was so scared. I now cycle on the main road alongside cars. I don’t feel safe there but it’s not as traumatic.
Only a third of London Cycle journeys are made by women. In the Netherlands it's more than half. Support the campaign and help us demand Freedom To Ride.
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