Mayor's guided cycling scheme axed after attracting only one rider
Oct 26 2010 By Dan Hodges
Guided cycle rides set up to help Hammersmith commuters get into central London were cancelled this summer – after only one rider turned up.
Figures obtained by the Chronicle show there were no takers for the heavily promoted guided ride on June 30, set up by Transport for London to encourage more people to cycle into work.
The following week's ride was cancelled, and a final ride in Hammersmith on July 14 attracted just one participant.
The £15,700 programme was scrapped the following day, prompting critics to label the exercise an 'expensive flop' that repeated the mistakes of a similar campaign spearheaded by the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, over the previous summer, when a very low turnout was also recorded at meeting points across the capital.
More recently, an attempt to mitigate the impact of Tube strikes with another guided cycle ride from Ravenscourt Park on September 7 – one of six laid on by TfL at a total cost of £1,650 – attracted nine riders.
Caroline Pidgeon, leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group and vice chair of the London Assembly transport committee, said: "Last year's Cycle Fridays were an expensive flop. Yet instead of learning any lessons the Mayor insisted on going ahead this year with guided commuter cycle rides before suddenly cancelling them half way through the summer.
"There is much that needs to be done to encourage cycling across London, but guided commuter cycle rides are clearly not the answer. The Mayor should instead concentrate on expanding the bike hire scheme and making roads safer for cyclists."
An attempt to encourage residents of the borough to take part in the collective Skyride day in central London was more successful, attracting 215 cyclists from Hammersmith and Fulham for the event on September 5.
A spokeswoman for TfL said: "We believe that guided rides could be really effective in improving confidence and safety amongst people who are keen to take to two wheels.
"However we were always been clear that the rides would only be laid on if the demand justified the expense. The programme was advertised widely but there was low take up, which led to the remaining summer rides programme being cancelled."
She said the guided rides laid on during the Tube strikes were one of a range of measures to help people get to work, along with extra bus and river services and marshalled taxi ranks, with 'tens of thousands' of Londoners choosing to make their own way to work by bicycle.
