A Haringey cycling campaigner has criticised Mayor Boris Johnson’s proposed e-bike scheme as “gimmicky”.
Adam Coffman from the Haringey Cycling Campaign said it was too soon to get excited about the potential benefits of the scheme because so few details have been released. The cost of hire and the company providing the bikes, for instance, remain unknown.
He said: “The roads aren’t fit for cycling. Boris bikes have done very little to make roads more attractive for cycling. You need to provide the right environment before anything else.
“Islington’s major problem is road surfacing and the quality control of repairing the roads is appalling.”
Mayor Boris Johnson announced last month that Haringey will become the first electric bike borough. A docking bay will be installed by Finsbury Park station next year to cater for Muswell Hill, Crouch End and Alexandra Palace.
The pilot will not be directly linked to the Barclays Cycle Hire Scheme and will take place on a smaller scale. But the cost will still be taken from the Mayor’s £913m ten-year cycling budget.
Mr Coffman said e-bikes are generally too expensive to become popular in London: “We don’t have enough of a cycling culture. Compared to the Netherlands, ours is more of a sporting cycling culture for young people – it’s disappointing that we’re not embracing European style cycling in normal clothes”.
But some residents and commuters are more positive about the scheme. Frank Marr, a PR company director and Crouch Hill resident, said: “It’s been very frustrating that Boris bikes haven’t gone further north of Angel and Mornington Crescent. [The scheme] will make other areas of London more accessible to people in Finsbury Park.
“With an ageing population as well, they might encourage more elderly people to get back on a bike!”
Natasha Frost, a cyclist in the Finsbury Park area, said: “The purist in me feels that they involve a bit of cheating, but considering that they may encourage many more people out of their cars, that can’t be too terrible a thing and the plus of arriving sweat-free to work is a big bonus!”
On the scheme’s long-term impact Mr Coffman said: “We could have a cycling culture like the Dutch in London – there’s just not the political will to take away private road space.”
A spokesperson for the Mayor’s office said the scheme was currently “being looked at”, and promised an update in the New Year.
