Side Zebras
Side zebras - a new (and bizarrely contentious) kind of crossing - are painted stripes on the junction of side roads (minus flashing beacons). There are only 11 in London and they’re all in Westminster. Since a change to the highway code in 2022, drivers must give way to pedestrians on ALL side street junctions, but Westminster City Council did its own study of compliance to the new(ish) rule found that 50–75% of drivers did NOT give way to pedestrians. Worrying data also found not only did 37% of pedestrian fatalities happen at junctions, but 50% of serious injuries happen within 20 feet of one.. So can a bit of paint significantly change that? If yes, there would be benefits beyond greater safety. Not only are painted stripes much easier to roll out, they cost a fraction of traditional zebras, which run up to £120,000 to design & install, with London side zebras starting at £5k.
The new C43 ‘stepped’ cycle path will operate on George Street and be similar to the rendering here, for Gower Street
At the side zebra installed on Great Peter Street/Millbank, peak vehicle flow on the side road is about 250 vehicles per hour, with a peak pedestrian rate of approx. 600 people per hour. As a result of the side zebras, Westminster City Council saw vehicle compliance improve from 50% to 80%!
The final route for Cycleway 43. The council considered an alternative route along Upper Berkeley Street, but George Street won out.
Horseferry Road and Regency Place is the site of another installation, It's close to a taxi rank, causing a lot of U-turns for black cabs, so a good spot for one. The Westminster City Council survey found compliance improved here from 35% to 85%!
Two side zebras have been installed by Edgware Road tube station, where 1500+pph use the street to enter/exit the station. Here, there have been staggering compliance improvements, from 20% to 80%.
Cycling in Westminster: “You’ve got to be a bit ballsy, otherwise you get run over”
While Councillors continue to work at a worryingly slow pace, pedaling Londoners are continuing to risk life and limb, traversing this highly trafficked area of the capital. Westminster Cycling Campaign recently caught up with people who are trying their best to navigate it safely by bike.
Henri uses a rental bike to get from Edgware Road to Soho every weekday and says he can’t find any clear cycle lanes for his route. He knows that there are great cycle lanes up by Kings Cross (provided by Camden Council), which make him feel much safer, but he has none available on his route and says it gets noticeably worse, as he nears Oxford Circus.
Henri navigating Westminster’s roads.
Chris (below), ‘If I had a dedicated cycle route…wouldn’t that be wonderful?’
Chris said of his cycle route, ‘I don't feel totally safe, but I have actually hardened myself to it, so I totally understand why most people feel completely petrified of the journey I'm just taking. You’ve got to be a bit ballsy, otherwise you get run over.’
Balraj, one of Westminster’s many rental cyclists
Balraj, using the one available cycle path in the area (C27, which has no protected space for cycling), was on his weekday commute from Notting Hill, to Bloomsbury. He said traversing this part of London was just a case of finding the ‘least worst route’ and that having a dedicated lane would be ideal but he doesn’t know of any.
Risks for cycling set to increase with Mayor’s plans for Oxford Street
The new, as yet unbuilt, C43 cycle route only goes part of the way to solving the ‘black hole’ cycling shortfall, especially when considering the mayor’s plans to pedestrianise Oxford Street. Westminster Cycling Campaign fully supports the efforts to take wheeled traffic off the Nation’s High Street but surely this means that Westminster City Council needs to take creating more safe cycling routes a lot more seriously?
Currently, traffic data shows that about 4,500 people cycle along Oxford Street every day, but cycling will not be allowed under the new pedestrianisation scheme. The need for a cycle lane through the ‘black hole’ is now even stronger. This is not just to cater for the existing brave souls who cycle here. The West End has several routes identified by Transport for London as having ‘highest’ or ‘top’ potential to shift people to cycling from other modes, if safe infrastructure is created.
Some of the thousands of cyclists on Oxford Street
The way forward
We’re now at a point where almost a quarter of the capital’s residents report that they cycle and there are an estimated 1.26 million daily cycle journeys. This is equivalent to almost a third of all daily tube journeys, proving that cycling is an increasingly vital means of transportation in the city.
Westminster sees a huge amount of this ridership, and the council recently boasted that they enjoy the most rental bicycle use in the capital - with July seeing 670,000 e-bike trips made in their jurisdiction – the most in London.
But with the protracted delays on C43, the perilous black hole running through the West End and the pending Oxford Street plans, Westminster must double down on its own platform pledges and improve on its ‘worst in the capital’ safety record.
Do you live, work or study in Westminster, or cycle in the area? Westminster Cycling Campaign needs YOU!
Help us to make our vision come true - of a Westminster where anyone can safely cycle any journey. Find out how you can get involved to win safer streets for everyone, from handing out flyers to designing them, helping out on bike rides to organising events.
Email westminster@lcc.org.uk to find out more, or click here to join our mailing list.