Yesterday it was 2 years from the day when Svitlana Tereshchenko was killed at Bow Roundabout. On behalf of friends and family we would like to thank Gerry Matthews and other 3 ladies from Tower Hamlets Wheelers for joining us last night and sharing our memories with us. Many thanks!
Tanya
Tower Hamlets Cycling News
Submitted by gerry on 12 November 2013
Submitted by caroline on 11 November 2013
Long term good news for anyone who uses the foot tunnels to cross the river - renovation work has now resumed, following a long period of inaction.
However note that the Island Gardens-Greenwich tunnel will be shut every night between 20.00 and 05.00 during November, but fortunately now you can take your bike on the DLR after the evening peak period so there is an alternative up to about midnight.
For more details on what is being done check out the tunnel friends' group FOGWOFT - their website is http://fogwoft.com
Submitted by gerry on 26 August 2013
All users of the towpaths in the borough agree that at times the canals are victims of their own success; there are too many users!
The Canal and River Trust are working on alternative routes to ease congestion and LCC borough groups are helping. Encouraged by a recent Hackney Cyclists' event, Tower Hamlets Wheelers and friends are holding a workshop with the C&R Trsut on ways of making routes near the Regents Canal attractive and safe for pedestrians and cyclists.
Date Thursday 19th September, at Arts Pavillion, Mile End Park (location details), time 6.30 to 9pm (snacks and beverages from 6pm). All welcome.
Submitted by caroline on 13 August 2013
If you travel via Island Gardens you may have noticed a "pop up" cycle repair facility by the foot tunnel entrance. Glen (ex Bikeworks) started Pit Stop Cycles as an informal service to local cyclists and now wants to apply for a licence to formalise it. When I chatted to him he told me about the many people he has helped, and not just bicycles - he has assisted a motorised wheelchair and a few baby buggies too! The aim is to run the service as a social enterprise. He is located on a popular cycling route and often seems to be busy.
If you think this sort of facility is useful, and would like to support his application then there is a petition which you can sign in person at the kiosk or cafe in the park. He would also welcome any messages to pitstopcycles@live.co.uk and if you could copy those to councillor Gloria Thienel at cllrgrthienel@aol.com that would be helpful.
Submitted by owen on 7 August 2013
Poplar & Limehouse MP, Jim Fitzpatrick is requesting your views on cycling in London. This is ahead of the Commons debate on cycling taking place on 2 September.
Read his full request on his website www.jimfitzpatrickmp.org then leave a comment on that site or email jim.fitzpatrick.mp@parliament.uk (subject 'Cycle Safe') or via twitter @FitzMP.
Feel free to copy us in with any of your views using wheelers@towerhamletswheelers.org.uk.
Submitted by owen on 4 August 2013
Free family cycle training sessions will be taking place in Mile End Park this August. The training is open to parents and accompanying children in years 3-7 who have not received cycle training in school.
Bicycles are provided for those that require them and the training will take place from outside Mile End Stadium on Sundays at 11am-1pm from 11th August to 1st September inclusive.
Pre-registration is required. To book your place please go to cyclinginstructor.com.
For further information please contact cycling@towerhamlets.gov.uk or ring 020 7364 6940.
Submitted by gerry on 9 July 2013
Join the London Cycling Campaign protest ride on Friday, 12 July calling for clear space for cycling on our streets.
- Meet 6pm for 6.15pm start at Tower Hill (where it meets Minories) http://goo.gl/maps/8Czme
- The protest ride will last approximately 20-30 minutes, including a brief stop at the junction of A11 Whitechapel Road and A1202 Commercial Street to pay respects at the place where last week's victim died
- The ride will be marshalled by LCC staff and volunteers, and will finish at Altab Ali Park around 6.30pm
Submitted by owen on 13 June 2013
Art Spokes is a local social enterprise set up by Sarah Hammond in 2012 providing creative workshops for primary schools.
Their star project, Best Bikers for children, puts "cycling, the environment and healthy living centre stage of the school" whilst "helping promote a cycling culture and positive attitudes towards active travel and healthy life styles amongst their peers, staff and parents".
The Best Bikers workshops integrate into the school curriculum and are often combined with cycle training and safety sessions. They have worked well combining with Bike to School Week activities which ran from 10-14 June this year. Read the flyer for further information.
You can also read an article Sarah wrote for the London Cycling Campaign's website explaining how the project started and what it has achieved: The power of bikes and one way to get more children cycling to your primary school.
Submitted by owen on 31 May 2013
The London Cycling Campaign reports that a six month's trial of bikes on DLR will begin on 1st July. People will be allowed to take their bikes with them at off-peak times on all DLR services except for Bank station. Bikes will be not be allowed between 0730 and 0930 or 1600 and 1900 on Mondays to Friday (except bank holidays).
This is part of the Mayor's Vision for Cycling that promised a trial of allowing people with bikes to use the Docklands Light Rail network.
This has been a long time coming...
Submitted by owen on 13 April 2013
March's edition of our bicycle maintenance workshop was the 10th anniversary of it being held at Limehouse Town Hall. In this month's edition we'll get round to celebrating this milestone.
At 12.30pm we will take a break from our usual bike maintenance proceedings to have a short celebration. No doubt that will mean there will be even more cake than usual!
Saturday, 20 April 11.00am until 3.00pm
Limehouse Town Hall, 646 Commercial Road E14 7HA
Submitted by gerry on 25 March 2013
We had a quick look in the Vision for Cycling in London to see what's in it for east London. Published in early March the Mayor of London's document is described by LCC as, "one of the most ambitious plans to promote cycling ever produced by a major UK political leader".
Tower Hamlets has two Cycle Superhighways, major barriers to continuous cycling journeys, busy towpaths and a great deal of London's lorry traffic on busy main roads. How will the specifics affect us?
Johnson intends to double cycling over the next ten years. Cycling journeys will be delivered on a 'tube network for the bike', a linked system across London of Superhighways for fast commuting traffic on main roads and Quietways for more leisurely journeys on a network of less busy roads and parks. The 'bike Crossrail', an east-west segregated highway from Barking to west London linked to local routes, will be delivered by 2016.
The existing CS will be 'substantially' improved and some rerouted onto roads 'more easily convertible into genuinely high-quality cycle routes'. The document promises that, 'timid, half-hearted improvements are out we will do things at least adequately, or not at all.'
The new segregated east-west route will link to CS3 at Tower Gateway (from Victoria Embankment and through the City). We welcome that Tower gyratory will be tackled but are concerned that CS3 from Tower Gateway to Poplar is described as 'one of the most successful stretches' of a superhighway. We need to make sure that it gets the improvement it needs for cyclists and pedestrians through a permeability scheme. Such schemes are recognised elsewhere in the document as essential for the delivery of the 'Quietways'. 'Quietway CS3' will be our demand.
Safety aspects. This document stresses that cycling is a safe activity but that serious incidents and deaths 'happen disproportionately'. At busy junctions and contact with lorries, hence the Mayor's safety strategy focuses on these points.
"Better Junctions" - there is a committment to improve financial resources for the junction review programme and a focus on the worst junctions. Tower and Aldgate will be tackled in the next three years. Better Junctions design options are currently on the table for Aldgate gyratory and Whitechapel High Street (western end) and may therefore go back to the drawing board. There is specific mention of Mile End Road/Burdett Road junction as one of the current schemes to be reworked as it doesn't meet the ambitions set by the Mayor's 'vision'.
Amongst a raft of measures for safer lorries and vans, the Mayor commits to participation in the comprehensive review established by British Cycling "of how the criminal justice system functions when people are hurt and killed on the roads". We have seen how east London cyclists such as Svitlana Tereschenko and Mary Bower were let down by the judicial process and welcome this review.
The Mayor recognises the benefits of 20mph limits on TLRN roads but intends to implement on a case-by-case basis. We welcome the introduction of "major safety education campaigns, ...which will address road user behaviour and encourage Londoners to share the road safely".
As a borough with a substantial towpath system we note the Mayor's intention to work with Canal & River Trust to invest in towpaths, so that less crowded stretches can be used as 'Quietways' or by creating additional parallel routes to lessen commuting cycle use.
Olympic Park has a very small mention as one of the new schemes the Mayor aims to improve by working in partnership.
Boris Johnson also said in his Vision for Cycling: “We will trial allowing bikes off-peak on the DLR” – after years of campaigning to allow this by politicians and cycling groups.
Further reading:
Submitted by owen on 20 March 2013
Representatives from Tower Hamlets Wheelers and the London Cycling Campaign (LCC) today urged LB Tower Hamlets to publicly engage and lead on reducing the danger from lorries in the borough.
Meeting outside the Town Hall, a letter was handed to Councillor Shahid Ali, Cabinet Member for Environment and Jamie Blake, Director Public Realm asking for the council's support of the LCC's Safer Lorries, Safer Cycling pledge.
The letter highlighted that large lorries are involved in about half the cyclist fatalities in London and in the past two years, five out of the fourteen cyclist deaths involving large lorries happened in LB Tower Hamlets.
At the start of the Safer Lorries campaign, an initial assessment by the LCC of each London borough regarding their commitment to lorry safety gave Tower Hamlets the lowest ranking. With the delivery of today's letter, Wheelers and LCC have now opened a dialogue with the council to work towards improving this ranking and ultimately supporting this campaign's pledge.
Photo by Chas.
