Ask for Regent Street cycle tracks today

Good news, but…

A new consultation has landed for Regent Street, Piccadilly Circus and nearby streets that will reclaim acres of road space for people. Regent Street St James (formerly Lower Regent Street), for instance, will become completely traffic free.

It’s great news, but where’s the cycling? Will shoppers, families with young children, women or people with disabilities feel safe to cycle in the area? Not under the present plans.

Once again, central London can do walking or buses but never cycling – despite there being massive potential to increase cycling across the area.

Act now to make sure that safe, inclusive cycle routes aren’t locked out of the West End for another ten years or more! Take a minute now to fill in the consultation and demand proper protected cycle tracks and safe junctions, or find out more below.

This consultation is open until 10 August.

The proposed new look for Regent Street…

Cycling as an afterthought – again

As we’ve seen many times before, Westminster City Council (and now its partner for this project, The Crown Estate) risks treating cycling like an afterthought.

Piccadilly Circus is at the intersection of two highly strategic cycle routes, according to Transport for London, with huge potential for many trips switching onto bikes. Yet the consultation drawings show no plans at all for safe cycling at this junction.

In the drawings for Regent Street, cycle lanes are marked in dotted lines. What does that mean? Is any improvement planned from what’s there now – narrow, painted lanes interrupted by bus stops?

If not, we won’t see new people taking up cycling in the area anytime soon.

What we need

Please ask for the changes that will genuinely enable all kinds of people to cycle around the West End:

• Safe, high-quality cycle tracks that don’t give up at junctions, built to carry the large numbers predicted by TfL, on the roads going north-south and east-west through Piccadilly Circus: Regent Street, Piccadilly, Shaftesbury Avenue and Haymarket (or Regent Street St James)
• Safe space for cycling at Piccadilly Circus itself
• A plan for low traffic across the whole West End. This would make cycling so much safer and schemes like this easier to design.

So while you’re at it, please also ask the Mayor to Dare To Dream of a Low Traffic West End!