Smarter Living in London, England

Tuesday, May 31, 2011 Written by: Andy Lambert

My sister, Lara, moved to London about 8 years ago to work for Harrod’s department store. She’s hopped around since then in the retail fashion industry working for; Burberry, Eskandar and now Liberty. Her positions have largely been sales related, which entails a lot of travel to places like Italy, France, Spain and Israel. Her passport is an amazing collage of stamps and visas.

Lara has always been drawn to dense urban cities: Chicago, New York and now London. Getting around in these cities is easy and relatively cheap given their strong public transportation infrastructure. Like many people in these cities, my sister has usually opted for subways/trains or the bus to get around (she hasn’t owned a car for over 10 years). However, Lara is starting to think there might be a smarter way to get around her neighborhood, she has started commuting to work by bike!

The last vivid memory I have of riding a bike with my sister was at our cousin’s farm in Missouri on an 80cc motor bike. I was about 5 years old, sitting on the back of the bike, arms around her waist when all of a sudden the rear wheel fished tailed on a turn and we were both bloodied and laying on the ground. We both still bear the scars on our knees. 

A couple weeks ago, Lara decided she was going to bike to work. The commute is 5 miles, a straight shot, and she can shower at work. It hadn’t rained for 2 months in London so she was pretty sure it’d be a pleasant, sunny ride, both ways. The first thing she noticed was that she had to watch out for other cyclists rather than cars. “There are tons of bikers in London. About 90% of them stop at stop signs and lights and they’re far more polite to pedestrians and motorists than cyclists in New York.” (Lara lived in NYC for about 2 years). Her commute doesn’t sound too shabby either. Despite the lack of bike lanes on the streets, her route takes her through Hyde Park and the Notting Hill neighborhood. Rolling at a comfortable pace, the commute took her about 30 minutes, slightly longer than taking the Underground (a.k.a the "tube"). Aside from feeling more awake from the ride into work, “you don’t have to deal with armpits in your face on a bike like you do on the tube”. Lara isn’t the only one in London realizing the benefits of using bicycles as transportation.

Barclay’s Cycle Hire (a.k.a Boris Bikes) is a bicycle sharing system in London that is based on the Bixi Cycle rental system that originated in Montreal, Canada. Barcelona, Spain and Paris, France have similar bicycle sharing programs as do a handful of cities in the U.S. Bicycles can be rented on a membership basis, or with a credit or debit card at any of the 400 docking stations around London and parts of the 8 boroughs. The program was launched on July 30, 2010 and boasts a fleet of 6,000 bikes. Among the many incentives for using a bicycle as transportation is London’s “congestion tax” which charges motorists 10 pounds ($16) to drive their cars in the center of the city. London’s Libertarian mayor, Boris Johnson, is a proponent of the bike sharing system and hopes that one day, bicycles in London will be become as commonplace as black cabs and red double-decker buses.

Civia has close ties with Ison, a distributor of bicycles, accessories and components in England. Established in 1992, Ison is an established and trusted distributor of high quality products in the bicycle industry. Through Ison, Civia has seen significant growth in England this year. There are now 6 independent bicycle dealers throughout England that carry Civia bicycles, parts and accessories. Keep Pedaling is one these shops and was recently featured on the Manchester Evening News web site. If you live in the U.K. and would like to see Civia in your local bike shop, ask them to contact Ison for information about ordering Civia!

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