With London to get a dozen segregated cycling highways and “borough cycling zones” in some of the “less-traveled” routes in the city, and the new higher congestion charges (as high as £25 per day for gas guzzlers), there’s never been a better time to take to the streets on your bicycle in the capital.

Ken Livingstone had this to say to Cycling Weekly: “People shouldn’t assume that this is cyclists taking something away from people with cars. This is aimed at people with cars, getting them to give up their car and actually cycle. And everybody who switches relieves road space. There is now such a tide of opinion, all the mayoral candidates are pro cycling, and they are all making it a central plank of their campaign. That would have been inconceivable eight years ago. There are some who thought cycling was going to die out. But now, having created a critical mass of more cyclists, it is now ready to go to the next stage.”