A tube map for cycling - yes please

Louise Gebbett

22 September 2011

I can't count the number of times I've trawled the internet, asked friends and colleagues or turned to an A-Z to piece together a cycle route across London. The problem is there are so many factors to consider.

Even when a quick journey is important, I want to find a route that is bike friendly and scenic, takes advantage of cycle networks, but also uses canal and park pathways. I want the best of all worlds, and with so many of us now using our bikes to get from A to B, I'm sure I'm not the only one.

I recently came across the London Cycle Map Campaign's idea that London should have its own easy-to-use tube-style cycle map. This would show a combined network of cycle routes across Greater London. Now that could help us cyclists find our way - especially if, like me, your sense of direction is poor.

It could also help get new cyclists on the road. And they would be able to enjoy the benefits we cyclists are sometimes a little smug about - saving money, keeping fit (without having to go to the gym), shortening commutes, cutting pollution, dodging traffic jams and flying past those overrunning engineering works. All in all, it really is worth the odd wet day and occasional wardrobe malfunction. 

Maybe we could even grow to love the cycle map as much as Harry Beck's Tube Map, which has inspired so many artists and memorabilia - it's even been nominated as Britain's best-known design icons.

With many Friends of the Earth staff and supporters in training for our 500 mile London-to-Edinburgh Big Green Bike Ride next year, a map of this kind could certainly be a great help. Meanwhile we'll have to learn to map read more successfully.

Louise Gebbett, Big Green Bike Ride Team