Source : Internet
The bike lanes of London: Tube-style map reveals how capital's web of cycle lanes connect together
- London has a steadily improving network of cycle lanes but there are few at-a-glance maps covering the city
- A new map reveals the web of lanes in the style of a Tube map, as well as which parks are bike friendly
- Transport for London divides its cycle lanes into superhighways, quiet routes and orbital routes
Cycling in London can be confusing at the best of times.
The cycle-lane network is improving steadily, but it can be hard to find safe routes when out exploring new areas because there is a definite shortage of at-a-glance maps that reveal how all the lanes connect up.
But now help is at hand in the form of a map of the capital’s cycle lanes drawn up in the style of the famous Tube map.
 |
| A map of London's cycle lanes has been drawn up in the style of the famous Tube map |
The design - the handiwork of the London Cycle Network and Route Plan Roll - reveals how the various superhighways, quiet routes and orbital routes connect up across the city in a simplified style that will be familiar to millions of London Underground users, with the routes marked out like Tube lines.
The map also shows which parks cycling is allowed in, which areas the Santander cycle hire scheme covers and it has markers that show how many minutes away by bike London’s districts are from centrally located Blackfriars station.
Carlton Reid, Executive Editor of bikebiz.com, told MailOnline Travel that he thought the map was ‘neat’, but that it ‘really ought to link in with what Transport for London (TFL) and the London Cycling Campaign have already mapped’.
The London Cycling Campaign itself, meanwhile, was impressed, but said its use was limited.
Simon Munk, Infrastructure Campaigner for the LCC, said: 'As the network of cycle routes develop, simplifying cycle mapping to look like a Tube map is a great idea – but until the network is substantially more complete, or the mapping shows the quality of the network links and nodes, and more of them, particularly in central London, then it’s going to be of somewhat limited use.'
 |
| The cycle-lane network is improving steadily, but it can be hard to find safe routes when out exploring new areas because there is a definite shortage of at-a-glance maps that reveal how all the lanes connect up |
Reid said that perhaps the best maps can be found on smartphone apps – ‘so long as the smartphone is attached to handlebars or stashed in a pocket, of course’.
He continued: ‘The Bike Hub app guides hesitant cyclists on side streets or bike paths. It’s a 3D cycle-specific satnav produced free by the Bicycle Association. It works best on iPhones, but is also available for Androids.
‘When I use it in London, and am not in a hurry, I set it to “quietest” and get routed through all the narrow alleys – it’s like being guided around Dickensian London.’
He also recommended the BeeLine handlebar navigation device, which gives cyclists a compass-style helping hand by showing them the direction and distance to their chosen destination.
TFL has an online journey planner that highlights A-to-B cycle routes from any points in London.
It also offers printed maps of London for free.
Reid added: 'While maps are great, there’s really nothing quite like signage.'
No comments:
Post a Comment