One of two new segregated cycling lanes on Westminster bridge that were funded by TfL
(Picture: Ross Lydall)London will become more dangerous for cyclists if road safety schemes have to be axed due to Transport for London’s funding crisis, Sadiq Khan has admitted.
The Mayor is concerned that an enforced £483m cut in TfL’s “healthy streets” budget will have long-term consequences for efforts to eradicate road deaths and serious injuries.
His warning came after it emerged an Imperial College PhD student was the victim of a HGV hit-and-run incident on Wood Lane in west London - a route that had been due to be made safer for cyclists.
Mr Khan told the Standard that cuts outlined to the TfL board this week, including 18 per cent fewer buses and a nine per cent cut in Tube services, would be “just the tip of the iceberg” if TfL were forced to adopt a policy of “managed decline”.
TfL’s current bailout runs out on Friday and a further short-term deal is thought likely, despite pleas for TfL’s ability to invest in long-term projects to be secured.
Mr Khan praised the Standard’s coverage of road safety issues and added: “You have rightly put pressure on me about the need for urgent remediation of junctions that are dangerous.
“The bad news is that managed decline means not only can we not make the pace of progress that cyclists want, but we won’t be able to preserve those junctions that we have [improved].
“So, we can’t make the junctions safer that are dangerous - and the neglect of the streets in our city means even more junctions, even more streets, will be dangerous going forward.”
Latest TfL data shows there has been an 11 per cent year-on-year increase in the number of cyclists being killed or injured in London. However TfL says the injury rate is falling as more people take to two wheels.
A total of 10 cyclists were killed in 2021, including Imperial student Chuijiang Kong, 23. Known as Christina, she was hit by a lorry on Wood Lane, near the junction with the A40 Westway on October 19. She died at the scene.
The lorry was later traced by police and the driver interviewed. Scotland Yard said consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service was ongoing.
Cycle campaigners are increasingly concerned that a failure to secure long-term Government funding will mean new cycle routes, such as Cycleway 4, will be left half-finished, others will be ditched and long-awaited improvements to dozens of dangerous junctions will be axed.
One source told the Standard it could mean TfL not having the funds for any new schemes and only being able to do emergency road changes ordered by coroners in prevention of future death reports.
Borough councils have not had any TfL funds for road safety schemes since December and fear having to make specialist transport staff redundant.
Wider transformation of the Holborn gyratory has been delayed due to a lack of funds, though Camden council has recently begun work to make permanent the temporary changes at the junction of Southampton Row and Theobalds Road it introduced last September.
The changes include segregated cycle lanes, bus lane improvements and improved traffic lights for cyclists.
Cllr Adam Harrison, cabinet member for a sustainable Camden, said: “It is important to understand that this change has come about thanks to the pace of work undertaken by Camden and TfL staff, who embarked on a highly focused project, rapidly delivered, to make this junction as safe as possible.
"But money played a role here too, as TfL committed a significant sum using funding they were still able to draw on.
“To keep people safe on our roads, London desperately needs a proper deal. Uncertainty over what TfL can fund next means we may not be able to fix what we need to, and in discussions about other parts of the borough of Camden where I have concerns it is clear that the current situation means we are unable to plan properly for other, much-needed safety changes."
On Thursday a man was taken to a major trauma centre after being seriously injured in a lorry collision while cycling in Tottenham.
Last week a cyclist was seriously injured in Surbiton after a collision with a skip lorry.
