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What Does This Taxi Driver Think About London Cyclists? 🚲

The Eager Cyclist

3,744 views

What does a London taxi driver really think about sharing London’s roads with cyclists?

With so many people cycling around London, I join brilliant black cab driver Clifford for a ride through London and hear his perspective — what he finds challenging, how cyclists can ride well, and what we can all do to make sharing the road easier.

A different perspective on London cycling — from the driver’s seat.

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#LondonCycling #Cycling #LondonTaxi #TaxiDriver

TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 - Intro
1:24 - London's cycling boom
4:48 - Cycling infrastructure changes
5:47 - Challenges when navigating junctions
8:31 - No space to avoid contraflow
9:47 - Clifford's cycling
10:35 - Difficulties crossing cycle lanes
11:53 - Following the rules
13:53 - Discussing 'Pass Me' / 'Follow Me'
15:44 - Cycle lane redesign?
19:56 - Challenges picking up customers
22:55 - The Knowledge
24:24 - Discussing filtering cyclists
25:44 - Tune in next week!
26:58 - Links to Films 16 & 22

IMPORTANT NOTE ON HOW YOU RIDE:
This channel will show videos of cycling that intend to stimulate reflection and discussion on how we ride so we can all develop as riders.

I cannot take responsibility for how you ride after you watch the videos. The cycling shown may not be suitable for all situations. Remember that you may need to be flexible when you ride and you should always adhere to the rules for cycling in your area. Cycle training with a qualified instructor can be invaluable, whatever your level of experience, so check out options in your area. If you or your workplace would like me to deliver training for you, then please get in touch via email.

CLIFFORD'S SIGHTSEEING TAXI TOURS:
Facebook: 1HapZKhHTX
Instagram: mrcliffordbingham

HELPFUL LINKS:
Travel Like You Know Them Campaign (DfT): https://www.think.gov.uk/campaign/tra...
The Highway Code (England, Scotland and Wales): https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highw...
TFL cycle route map: https://tfl.gov.uk/maps/cycle
Riding Competencies Mind Map (Eager Cycle Coaching): https://www.eagercyclecoaching.co.uk/...
The National Standard for Cycle Training (Department for Transport): https://www.gov.uk/government/publica...
The Bikeability Trust website: https://www.bikeability.org.uk/

MUSIC:
Special thanks to the very talented Pim Jones for supplying music for the channel. Check out Pim's music here:
SoundCloud: QuHz2PPpZLnd8KHeGH

RIDE SMART | SHARE THE JOURNEY | BUILD A COMMUNITY

20 Comments

@TheEagerCyclist Creator 1 day ago Pinned

A huge thank you to Clifford for sharing his time, experience and perspective on London’s roads.

What did you think of our discussions, and do you have any thoughts of your own to share?

🎬 Enjoyed the film? Please subscribe to The Eager Cyclist and help our community grow! You can watch the full series here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOmHF6p5JhShmdk5u691tKwiLn6bCPzQT&si=fAPLoFuFrN5LdJTn

@grahambonner508 1 day ago

Clifford's driving standard appears to be at the top end of what I encounter every day, if only everyone had his level of awareness.

@GregorioLouis 1 day ago

Clifford, is a good friend and colleague of mine - an absolute gentleman who always puts things across fairly.

@TomF-I 20 hours ago

Great vid Barnaby. Such an experienced driver admitting that even he is overwhelmed and often in hair-raising situations proves that it's not safe to have private vehicles in city centres.

@adamf7 1 day ago (edited)

Contraflow cycle lanes aren't just for cyclists to have short cuts. They also mean cyclists don't need to worry about motor vehicles overtaking, and can also keep them off the busier roads.

@alexsnape4740 22 hours ago

Entertaining and informative, more please. Huge respect to London cabbies! Passing the knowledge takes years of dedication and is an incredible achievement, bear this in mind the next time you take an Uber.

@dyotoorion1835 8 hours ago

Really nice balanced discussion! :-) I'm an E-Bike Courier in Central London and I share many of the experiences and concerns expressed by our friendly cabbie here. I will however confess that I DO cut red lights in London on my E-Bike - BUT, I have a strict code of personal conduct, which is to never conflict with other road users (or pedestrians) right of way. Ergo, I will cut a red light, if there is absolutely no traffic. But if there is traffic, then I will not cut the light. In the Netherlands there are some nice rules for cyclists such as "Free Right Turn" allowing cyclists to treat red lights as "Give way" instead of "Stops" on some right turns. I'd like to see London adopt some similar systems. In a lot of situations red lights can be very frustrating, such as when you reach a red light and can see for miles that there is no traffic, so logically, why not pass it? I'd like to see red lights allowed to be treated as "Give Way" signs instead of "Stops" in these situations. At the end of the day it's always important to be a courteous and careful road user. Cheers!

@davidmyers9581 1 day ago

I did like how clifford observes that the pedestrians are crossing the cycle lane when the lights for the cycle lane are green.

What would be good would be another trip, with clifford, on a bike with him giving his assesment of how it feels in comparison to driving the cab, and his assesment of how he thinks other drivers are, and how safe he felt.

like many of the others I would like to commend Clifford, he seems to be the gold standard for drivers.

@kevelliott 1 day ago

This is a great video, and an important one. However I can't help but think that Clifford is at the more reasonable end of professional drivers in London...though I'd love to be proven wrong. Yes, 20mph in primary is a good place, but remember that uphill, or in a headwind, that 20mph erodes pretty quickly, but you still need to maintain primary!

@TheHoveHeretic 1 day ago

I'm surprised Clifford had any tyres left, from what I remember of the hard shoulder on the A2 east of Falconwood.

On Friday afternoons, I used to cycle from the school's playing fields in Eltham, along what's now just the Rochester Way, between Westmount Road (Eltham) and Welling Way, back before the new Rochester Way Relief Road to Blackwall Tunnel, when that stretch was still part of the A2 and it was bl°°dy terrifying (but still preferable to going over Shooters Hill!)

@a1white 19 hours ago (edited)

Asls: If motorists adhere to the rules of the ASL they’re perfectly safe for cyclists and allow cyclists to turn right or safely get away (especially when paired with advance cycling traffic lights). Too often drivers ignore them. I agree though they do get full and in that case I’ll stay back

@wrightwoodwork 1 day ago

For me im in the rural parts of the country so very different to this . As a cyclist I tend to take pride in how I ride. So I tend to want to give a good impression. In London you will have such a large range of skill levels confidence and pride taken by riders. To me there has to be give and take on both sides and a bit of mutual respect

@vfclists 1 day ago

It will be nicer Clifford allows you to place a camera in the front so we get a better view of his perspective. Those headrests did a pretty job of obscuring his view.

@hmmwhatnametohave 4 hours ago

Even with perfect infrastructure what plays out on the road is in large part a product of the respect each group within the system gives to the others that share that system.

The respect given to cyclists has largely been and will continue to be eroded by the actions of the vast majority of those on lime bikes etc or e-bike delivery riders who ignore red lights and often use little to no methods of ensuring they are seen by other road users.

@tonyeggeling2693 8 hours ago

This would have been much improved if the camera was up front with the driver so we could see from his perspective.

@keithblower1091 2 hours ago

One thing I've learned is humanity is selfish to an absurd level. Drivers, cyclists and pedestrians will break any law or rule to knock a couple of seconds off their journey time. I cycle, but increasingly only on empty roads or paths. It's too stressful to be nearly killed by other people, who don't give a damn about anyone else.

@vfclists 8 hours ago

I think on many narrow streets the bike lanes should be removed, large bike markings placed right in the middle and drivers told expressly not to overtake cyclists, unless they can use the other lanes. On dual carriageways overtaking should be banned in lane 1 and allowance made for cyclists moving into lane 2 to turn right at appropriate stages.
Those narrow bike lanes and relabelled as "bike filtering lanes", and drivers should be made to understand that they exist for cyclist to filter through when the traffic is backed up and that they are not expected to be used in free flowing traffic

@wibblywobbly99 22 hours ago

Two great guys with a very rounded view. The infrastructure is still very very poor and to some degree the sheer volume of cyclists and their variable experience almost makes it impossible. This applies to pedestrians and car drivers. You could argue that most car users should be partially excluded from central London and busy city centres at peak times.

@grahambonner508 1 day ago

A. I like ASL's and painted cycle lanes as a means to access them seem like the only real solution in many cases where space is very limited.
Unless I am close to the front of a traffic queue I will normally try to filter to the front, I do this regardless of the presence of an ASL or cycle lane, the reason being I do not want to sit for one or more light sequences breathing traffic fumes.
The ideal solution would be to completely separate cyclists from motor and pedestrian traffic at junctions as is the case at some junctions in NL, but this is expensive and in many of our old towns and cities available space would not allow such a solution.

@PaulGannon-y7y 8 hours ago

The taxi driver said "It was impossible to pass the cyclist" but failed to add: "and get to the traffic lights 5 seconds earlier than would be presently possible" (however pointless that would be).