Southampton Street Docking Station

Near to Covent Garden, this new docking station is one of the continuous program of additions to the Cycle Hire network.

Unfortunately, there is no program of making the neaby streets safer or more usable for cyclists. From this docking station, there is almost nowhere you can legally cycle. You cannot cycle onto The Strand (although you could dismount and wheel the bike across the pavement). You cannot turn left into Maiden Lane or right into Tavistock Street, which means you have to continue to Covent Garden, where you are forced to turn left into Henrietta Street. This means that if you wanted to cycle to the London Transport Museum, a mere 100m away, the shortest legal route (without dismounting) is 1km long.


That's partly because Westminster Council would rather no-one cycled, and partly because Boris is seemingly more concerned with the headline effect of his policies rather than how well they work in reality.