As a teenager, I remember being really impressed with the first segregated cycle lane I got to ride on, right on my doorstep on the Uxbridge Road in Hayes. In my youthful naivety I thought these would spring up everywhere. Forty years later the same cycle lane is still there, and nothing much has been improved, added or connected to it.
Over the years I have wondered, who put it there, and why did it never get added to? Recently I came across the following video, and saw what the hardy cyclists of London in the 1970s and 80s had to put up with. It became apparent who had created that lonely cycle lane on the Uxbridge Road: the Greater London Council (GLC). The GLC, which was abolished in 1986, had responsibility for roads and travel, in a similar way to TfL now. The Deputy Leader of the GLC from 1984-1986 was John McDonnell, now better known as the local MP for Hayes and Harlington.
Since the responsibility for roads and cycling passed to Local Authorities, nothing at all happened for local cyclists between 1986 and 2000, when the GLC’s successor the Greater London Authority (GLA) was created. Not a lot has happened in Hillingdon since then either, but TfL has clearly made massive progress in installing high quality cycling infrastructure elsewhere in London.
You can only imagine what would have happened if the GLC had continued and how 40 years of continous development might have transformed the city for cyclists.