I was in London about three months ago and I can see exactly where the author is coming from. While it's great that so many people are using bikes to commute, the fact is London is a fast, twisty, maze of streets. The streets are quite narrow and don't forget this is the land of double decker buses. As a tourist, unaccustomed to the pace of London (let alone riding on the left side of the road) I skipped the bike and just walked, and took the tube in and out of the city. By the time I made it to Nottingham a week or so later I was willing to ride a bike around the city since it was slower and more spread out than London.
Many of the Londoners I talked too were not excited about upcoming events such as The Queen's Jubilee [last month] or the upcoming Olympic games, simply because their already crowded city would become even more so. One of the biggest concerns I gathered, was tourists on the tube. It could be that bikes are being encouraged in order to compensate for the expected overcrowding on trains and buses.
Good to know. I'll be in London in September and have looked forward to the idea of using the Boris Bikes - at least if I can avoid getting hopelessly lost.
David
I'm so glad you posted this. The article cracked me up and I meant to share it here. Thanks!
PS: Right now, it's a Brit, Bradley Wiggins who's wearing the yellow jersey in Le Tour de France.
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