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Comment by vivan | Hacker News Reader

I live in London and I'd love to cycle to work, but the infrastructure (for my route) just isn't there. And for people who aren't experienced cyclists, it is even worse as lack of confidence actually leads to more accidents.

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Maybe try it? Once I started cycling in London there was no looking back, even if I had to be on busy roads. Many residential roads in London are very quiet during the day so there may be a windy circuitous route that is very pleasant to be on. Or a busy direct route that is not as bad as you think. When theres a proper cycle lane that's nice but it is by no means vital.

I was pleasantly surprised by how nice the route to work a cycling route planner gave me in London was. There are less nice parts at the beginning and end (as I get onto and off the cycle-friendly streets), but the majority of the route (some on Q2, some on quiet 20mph roads with no specific cycling provision) is not bad.

https://www.cyclestreets.net/ is one such planner that may have bike only shorcuts that aren't marked on other map sources (it's based on OpenStreetMap and feeds cycle specific data back I believe).

Absolutely true. Once you're confident, you realise how to get good infrastructure anywhere: share the road with motor vehicles if the dedicated infrastructure sucks.

Sure, some people will hate you for that, but I prefer disliked over smeared onto pavement any time of the day.

I cycle commute in London every day and you don't need dedicated cycling infrastructure. It's great to use if it's there but otherwise you make do. Rather than trying to take the most direct route, I cut through small laneways and alleys and ride through a couple of parks. Get on a bike and start exploring. There's nothing more soul crushing than London's public transport during peak hour.

BRouter might find you a better route

http://brouter.de/brouter-web/#zoom=13&lat=51.5097&lon=-0.12...

Yet you have quite some cyclists that ride in crazy traffic among double deckers and fast cars. Most of them wear neon yellow clothing. Is it required by law?

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