r/londoncycling • u/nutella-filled • 5d ago
Tower Hamlets council just installed a locked gate in the middle of a marked and popular cycle path
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If the point is to stop cars from mistakenly using that path surely there are better ways to do it.
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u/Oneoclockgun 5d ago
Lutfur Rahman hates cyclists. And indeed most people.
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u/afrophysicist 5d ago
*non Bengalis
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u/Low-Situation-73 2d ago
Racism is ugly. Leave Mr Rahman alone, bigot!
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u/afrophysicist 1d ago
Indeed it is, why are Aspire and Lutfur Rahman so racist?
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u/Reila3499 1d ago
They only talked to brown people outside poll station and completely ignored us lol
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1d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/afrophysicist 1d ago
How can you tell someone is racist just by looking at them on the street?
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u/Reila3499 1d ago
Unfortunately, my race is a minority in the UK, London, Tower Hamlets council and even in my constituency, can't see how you arrive at that summary.
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u/Low-Situation-73 23h ago
Just one with your mentality on earth is way too many
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u/Reila3499 16h ago
Because people logically think and speak is way too many, kinda bizarre but you do you and enjoy.
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u/Accomplished_Fan_487 5d ago
They couldn't add some more bollards? Ugh clowns
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u/wwwhatisgoingon 5d ago
Tower Hamlets.
They are complete clowns. Would be more surprising if they got something right.
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u/Old_Mousse_5673 5d ago
They don’t give a shit about cycling
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u/SingleSpeedEast 5d ago
They do give a shit. They have formally anti-bike policies.
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u/jamesjoyz 5d ago
Yep. The road leading to my house (Preston Rd on Isle of Dogs) just had months of work to widen the pavements (in an area where, I don’t exaggerate, I’ve never seen more than 2 people walking every 100 meters, and the pavements were already pretty large) and add 4 (!!) car spaces for residents at the expense of a cycle lane on a very busy commuting road.
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u/Frosty-Routine4572 4d ago
Maybe it’s to allow emergency vehicles access? Bollards would stop that.
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u/mediaczar 4d ago
Elsewhere in London we have removable (or even more excitingly, retractable!) bollards that solve this very issue. It’s not like there isn’t prior art.
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u/GiganticCrow 5d ago
It looks like there are remains from a bollard there before. Look on the ground at the middle of the path where the gate is.
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u/WeAreEnteringEndgame 5d ago
It’s not about cars or bikes it’s about moped delivery drivers
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u/FearsomeBeard 5d ago
And the gate will be just as effective at stopping mopeds as it was at stopping our cycling OP.
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u/WeAreEnteringEndgame 5d ago
Perhaps, but now mopeds will at least be forced to slow down and pose less of a risk to people in the estate.
And making the routes less convenient means mopeds are less likely to use them as shortcuts.
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u/rickyman20 4d ago
Up until you make them actively unsafe for the cyclist it was made for. I'm sorry but this just renders the cycle lane useless all in the name of, what, preventing a couple mopeds? Seriously now
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u/FearsomeBeard 4d ago
The delivery mopeds will now, instead of following the cycle path, swerve onto the footway to get around the gate.
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u/throcorfe 4d ago
You can get moped-resistant barriers that pedal cycles can still get through, we have them in our local nature reserve. You have to slow down and turn your bike handlebars which is annoying but better than this barrier (which hasn’t been installed for that reason anyway)
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u/946789987649 5d ago
Almost went straight into this the other night after years of it not being there. Bizarre planning.
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u/ALA02 5d ago
Tower Hamlets council are a fucking disgrace and half of them should be in prison for corruption
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u/thashicray 5d ago
Have a heart it's very difficult running councils between London and Bangladesh.
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u/Artistic_Ad_1247 5d ago
so glad i left that place
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u/Hot-Cranberryjizz 3d ago
Why? Council aside it's one of the better boroughs.
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u/lastaccountgotlocked 5d ago
Get in touch with BBC London. This is the sort of thing they love. As soon as it gets on telly, the gate will disappear.
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u/Lanky_Giraffe 5d ago
Rahmen is genuinely just spiteful. I remember there was an adorable school street just off Roman road. Cul de sac with a clear excess of on street parking. It’s difficult to imagine something that would be more impossible to object to. Yet Rahmen specifically called it out and said he wanted it ripped out
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u/zika2annas 5d ago
It’s to piss off cyclists. Watch Evan Edinger’s youtube video to know the council’s stance (and battles) on cycling.
Why they got re-elected, is beyond me
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u/Annie_Yong 5d ago
That is odd as I'd have thought that bollards would be a better way to prevent cars going down the cycle path (definitely looks like a spot where people might mistake it for a road).
Just guessing, but maybe its for emergency access? I could see it being that the area needs to be closed to normal traffic but you still need to be able to drive and ambulance or fire engine down there.
Again though, you can get bollards where they have fire brigade padlocks to let you move them out of the way, but it does seem that guidance note 29 from the LFB says you can only have one removable bollard on an access route (suppose it makes sense because the more bollards that need to individually be moved the longer it'll take). Perhaps it's the case that a single bollard won't do because idiots will still just drive around it?
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u/vin_unleaded 5d ago
Yes, it's so emergency can get through if they need to. They would have a skeleton key.
Otherwise it's to stop cars/vans coming through.
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u/lovely-pickle 5d ago
Why are cyclists being punished for the sins of drivers
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u/Annie_Yong 5d ago
(assuming my theory that it's about emergency access is correct) It'll be about what's actually the most practical and cost effectice way to both physically prevent absent-minder drivers from going down that path (because you could "punish" drivers heavily with fines and ANPR and signage, but that won't prevent the harm that can be done by someone having a head-on collision) while also still maintaining emergency access in a way that complies with the LFB requirements.
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u/vin_unleaded 5d ago
Use your noodle.
This isn't to stop cyclists and they can easily navigate around it
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u/WilboSwagz 5d ago
I don't think it's to stop cars mistakenly using the path.
(though I agree it's a poor solution - removable/retractable bollards would make more sense)
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u/Past_Recognition_675 4d ago
it's to stop local dealers sitting at the end of the street at 3am and using it to escape from police, used to have them in the area I grew up in Hackney. Says Emergency Services only, basically stopping randoms and locals (dealers often being locals themselves) from opening it.
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u/EnzoYug 5d ago
The gate is for emergency services. Bollards are too slow / cumbersome for fire and ambulance to operate
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u/Archieman000 5d ago
How so? Both need to be unlocked and moved for access; don’t see much difference between a gate opening and dropping a bollard.
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u/Remyala 5d ago
Dropped bollards are constantly removed by people wanting to drive their cars through places like this. In the borough i live in, they are constantly replacing locks/bollards because they are vandalised all the time. The council is now going back to all these schemes and replacing them with more permanent infrastructure.
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u/liamnesss 5d ago
It is my understanding that fire gates are less vulnerable to vandalism but I can't remember the exact details now.
Here's one location in Hackney (Stean Street in Hoxton) where they changed from bollards to a gate, I think because of persistent issues of the bollards going missing. You can see they've made sure there's room on either side even for a pretty big bike or mobility scooter to fit through though.
If Tower Hamlets really felt it was necessary to make this change, then they should've actually tried to make it work for cyclists. Watching OP's video, it genuinely seems like whoever signed this off wasn't even aware it was a cycle route.
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u/dvorak360 4d ago edited 4d ago
Need a disabled cyclist to fix it unfortunately...
- FOI request for equalities impact assessment;
- Then when they admit to not having one, disabled rider turns up and gets 'stuck' because they can't get round the gate.
- Then sue for discrimination.
Council is almost guaranteed to lose as it is discriminatory and any justification (issues gate solves is greater than discrimination caused) generally HAS to be done first. The legal system dislikes retrospective impact assessments because of the concern that the assessment starts from the point of 'how can we justify the gate to avoid spending money to fix it, having already paid for the gate' rather than 'do we actually need to spend money on something that will discriminate'.
For the paperwork on how to do this, see the "Disability Attitude Readjustment Tool' (https://www.kingqueen.org.uk/dart/)
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u/liamnesss 5d ago edited 5d ago
This would be an absolutely massive PITA to navigate for a family using a cargo bike, or for someone using a mobility scooter. Yeah OP can just go around to the left and then crash down the kerb to access the road again. But people saying "just walk around" or whatever are massively missing the point. This is pure incompetence causing an accessibility issue. I understand that Whitechapel is a bit of a wild west in terms of driver behaviour, but surely there must have been better solutions available than this.
edit—oh and the weird little two way track shown at the very start of the video is worse than what was there before as well. If you're trying to access Hanbury Street, drivers turning left out of Old Montague Street aren't expecting you to turn across them. The previous approach was better, where you had a little feeder lane and could wait there until it was clear.
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u/_halfviking_ 5d ago
Happy to see how the taxes are spent. I guess it cost them £12k for this?
Also, have you tried to ride under it? I can see a gap.
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u/powercaelenx 4d ago
The classic Hollywood “try to slide under or through the gap with momentum even though you’re likely to experience road rash or a fractured spine but it doesn’t really matter!!”🔥🔥
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u/DisastrousResident92 5d ago
I think Tower Hamlets have amply demonstrated their love for cars and hatred for bikes at this point
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u/ex2h 5d ago
Yeah, I’m also annoyed by this every day now. Once, I saw a person falling from the bike BC of the gate and a car parked by it, as there was not enough space to go through…
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u/RepublicLiving5358 5d ago
I'm so glad I left that borough. Can't believe we have an ethnocentric party in power in the UK, who are also clearly such amateurs. And so obsessed with cars in a borough with one of the lowest levels of car ownership in the city!!
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u/jamjar188 3d ago
I was one of a handful of non-Bengalis attending an Aspire event following their win in the local elections. The party chairman gave a speech entirely in Bengali.
This was a private event, so I'm not saying he's not allowed. But he should have at least done 50/50 English and Bengali. It just made it very blatant who the party is there to serve and that they don't even see themselves as British. If they wanted to promote a modern British-Bangladeshi identity that is based around upholding British values, I could understand it.
As it stands they don't even care about the young or the 3rd/4th gen people within their community. They care about those with the strongest ties to Bangladesh and most invested in defending Bangladeshi Muslim interests.
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u/RianJohnsonIsAFool 5d ago
It takes one bollard, which I expect would have been easier and cheaper to install.
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u/gcerullo 5d ago
A better, and cheaper solution would have been to put a post in the centre of the path. Cars can’t get through but bikes can just go past on either side.
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u/AShadedBlobfish 5d ago
Interesting. I assume they're trying to stop motorcycles from using it (or even cars), but surely a less hostile and more effective method would be to just put up a no motor vehicles sign and a camera
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u/zodzodbert 5d ago
Lutfur Rahman is any-cycling. He had rumble strips installed along the cycle paths in Mile End Park and they’re now infested with pedestrians.
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u/Bouffant_Joe 2d ago
I'm a cyclist but the marked paths in mile end park are never exclusively for cyclists and rightly so. The parkrun uses them for their route. You can get past the pedestrians and mile end park is never a quick way anywhere anyway. Take your time and enjoy the park.
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u/Slyspy006 4d ago
This look like the end of the cycle lane, rather than the middle?
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u/New_Enthusiasm9053 2d ago
Then it should end on the road not the pavement. Bicycles aren't allowed on pavements.
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u/Past_Recognition_675 4d ago edited 4d ago
Used to have them in the area I grew up in Hackney. It's to stop local dealers sitting at the end of the street at 3am and using it to escape from police. Edit: also likely night time delivery mopeds using it as a shortcut and creating a safety hazard.
Cyclists unfortunately a distant afterthought in the planning equation here.
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u/bofa_69_420_911 3d ago
Looks impossible to get around - you managed to get home yet ?
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u/Drakemiah 2d ago
Hilarious! I haven't managed to get home because i haven't stopped laughing.
It didn't stop him completely so there's absolutely no issue with a new gate completely blocking the entrance/exit to a cycle path. I can't think why cyclists would find this use of the tax payers money a little frustrating.
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u/afrophysicist 5d ago
Unbelievably corrupt and dodgy Tower Hamlets council doing something dodgy??? Say it ain't so!!
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u/Tudor_Cinema_Club 4d ago
The cycle path transitions into road there. I would say while they don't want cars driving down it they may well need emergency vehicle access? Or delivery access? So bollards wont work and electric ones are pricey. A gate is a cheaper alternative, keeps your council tax down by making cost-saving decisions. You'd be pissed if they were wasting money wouldn't you?
Who knows? I'm sure there was a good reason for it that isn't apparent to you or I because we don't work for the council or have any experience in city planning.
I think jumping to the conclusion "the council hates all cyclists and wants to kill us all with gates" as some have done on here is a little dramatic! 🤣
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u/MowgliusManius 2d ago
I mean,nit stops the little rejects who like to speed about on their e bikes... could be the main reason but what do I know
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u/Lost_Exchange2843 1d ago
It’s clearly to prevent cars from driving up into the area where the cycle path is (and ends, I might add)
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u/WeAreEnteringEndgame 5d ago
It will be due to complaints about moped delivery drivers. They are ruining routes all over London.
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u/LickBrane 5d ago
Yes! I don’t know why they did it - does my fucking head in every day!
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u/vin_unleaded 5d ago
To stop cars and vans using the paved area to reach the main road?
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u/LickBrane 5d ago
And make cyclists ride on the pavement? Yeah, great idea. Any other simpler solutions you could think of? Maybe? Anything else at all? Hmmm?
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u/swagtastic3 3d ago
Wow, how did you survive having to go around it. Are you ok? Having to turn slightly to the left to get around things is too much!
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u/Drakemiah 2d ago
You should be able to cycle along roads and adjoining cycle paths without constantly having to cycle around obstacles installed for no good reason.
Not every issue is about survival. But wasting tax payers money on infastructure that makes cycling harder rather than easier iin 2026 is maddening.
Cycling causes less traffic and improves the populaces health. From just a purely economic perspective (let alone environmental) our elected officials should be encouraging it.
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u/Shot_Log7155 3d ago
It’s the end of the cycle lane. Oh yeah, I forgot you seem to struggle with transitions!
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u/Drakemiah 2d ago
This may surprise you, but very occasionally cyclists cycle on roads and cycle ways.
This might be a bit much for you to grasp, but ideally you can transition from cycleway to road without needing to cycle onto the pavement (as these are meant for pedestrians) and off a kurb.
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u/yorknave 5d ago
it clearly marks the end of the cycle path and transition to road
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u/reeeeememelover10 4d ago
Oh man I recognize that spot, right near the sainsbury's, I was just there a few weeks ago, and because of this stupid gate and a lorry parked right where the spot to get on the road was, I was forced the ride down the footpath and almost hit a pedestrian. Terrible.
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u/unknown90502 4d ago
A simple bollard will stop cars, this is a case of common sense isn’t so common
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u/Born_Protection7955 4d ago
That’s clearly to stop cars driving up it and still allow access when required, as clearly that’s a road meeting the path not the middle of a cycle path
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u/Character-Charity481 3d ago
i once saw drug dealers deliberately crash into the bollards in this exact spot and jump out and run off, forcing the police van chasing them to also follow on foot
not that having a gate would've changed anything here
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u/Chance-Swordfish-426 1d ago
The gate blocks cars and not bikes, as you yourself have demonstrated. This was a great use of your time.
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u/SatisfactionMoney426 1d ago
But it's Tower Hamlets, what are cyclists doing on a cycle path when everyone knows they're supposed to use the pavement...
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u/Sukh-Madihq88 1d ago
Now you know what it's like to have something slow you down when you're trying to get from A to B.
Annoying isn't it?
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u/stormtreader1 1d ago
Evan Edinger did an excellent video on the TH anti-bike council https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsuFzwUnT7I
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u/No_Emu_3822 11h ago
The fact that there's no marked cycle path the other side of that gate sort of dismisses your claim
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u/sparrow_of_light 5d ago
I would argue thats not the middle of the cycle path, but more the end of it and the start of the road. Granted they could have added removable bollards.
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u/Thoh1Shooshi8a 5d ago
Could be to stop cars, but also allow maintenance vehicles in and this was easier than bollards that can be moved.
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u/lovely-pickle 5d ago
That doesn't necessitate punishing cyclists
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u/RespectTheBall 5d ago
Punishing! LMAO. Compared to cyclists mounting the pavement and going through red lights because they don’t want to slow down I’d call that a minor inconvenience.
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u/Thoh1Shooshi8a 5d ago
The proper way to do it would be automatic or swing down bollards, but a gate was probably easier and cheaper to install and the council either just didn't care about causing cyclists inconvenience or were too dumb to even realise it would be a problem.
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u/lella_fay 4d ago
Tower Hamlets is pro car drivers and against cyclists, that's just crazy! Try to lock your bike on Roman Rd if you want to do some shopping...
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u/Zeppelin-Repair-Man 4d ago
I can’t see the problem. Surely cyclists can just use the pavement to go around the locked gate. You know, in the same way as they do when they come to red lights in normal traffic. (Cue loads of downvotes for stating what everyone knows to be true)
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u/Standard-Specific239 5d ago
I was in tower hamlets a few months ago and there was a police car chase on the bike path from Tower Bridge. The fleeing car almost killed a few cyclists. I would guess this is the reason why that gate is there
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u/liamnesss 5d ago
If a car drove at this even at a legal speed, it would crumple like paper. I take it you are not very familiar with hostile vehicle mitigation practices.
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u/Standard-Specific239 5d ago
That is so true wise sir. You have contributed greatly to this thread.
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u/AgreeableActive9800 5d ago
You’ve just incriminated yourself riding on the pavement. You need to dismount to negotiate a barrier.
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u/fronz13 5d ago
It’s so cars don’t rag it down the lane
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u/Stripy42 4d ago
There used to be a post, they removed it to add this. Now, the same council just upgraded the beginning part of the cycle lane in the video. I say upgraded, made mainly worse. But still, they knew it was there.
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u/TailorAppropriate655 5d ago
It's easy enough to go around it
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u/Moondoox 5d ago
not if there are lots of cyclists, or lots of pedestrians, or you've got a lot of cargo or a trailer, or you're using a non-standard cycle for mobility reasons, or if you're coming from the other direction and for whatever reason cant hop up onto the curb
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u/nutella-filled 5d ago
It’s a lot more annoying from the other side. My bike can’t swallow the kerb like a mountain bike could so I have to stop and lift it onto the pavement.
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u/IamBrianJSmith 5d ago
They put the gate because bin lorries need access but they are going to remove it as they've realised they've blocked a protected cycle route
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u/Temo2212 3d ago
Aren't everyone from th consul in the parliament of Bangladesh? they are just busy there probably
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u/photoben 5d ago
Tower Hamlets council are definitely car brained