You cannot be serious..

[David Martin]

Who dreamed this layout up, and who then approved it?

[Kim]

Jon Pertwee, I reckon.

[clarion]

I reckon they should try it out on the M25 first.

[andygates]

Hahahaha!

Where is that crap?

[spesh]

I guess there are no prizes for correctly assuming that none of the perpetrators have ridden a bicycle for decades.

It's so wrong it's almost inspired...

[Moloko]

Yeah but, no but, yeah but, no but RABBASH!!

[red marley]

Looks like Tavistock Place to me. I regularly cycle along there, although I take the road (which is two way and there seems no reason to use the cycle way).

It illustrates the problem that will always exist with segregated cycle lanes - that topologically you cannot keep them segregated without doing stupid reverse crossing things like that

[clifftaylor]

I haven't seen anything that intriguing since the great crop circle epidemic of 1980 whatever it was.

[Redlight]

Looks like Tavistock Street. Classic case of planners with a budget wasting it by failing to solve a problem that didn't exist.  I ignore it, as does (I imagine) any cyclist over the age of 10. Why do we need cycle lanes when there are perfectly good orads there already?

[ed_o_brain]

Reminds me of a gem found in Manchester today where a cycle lane leads you unwittingly into slip road traffic! I thought it was a lethal prank and I fell for it!

[ian]

It is Tavistock St. I kind of appreciate it, but then I have spent too long playing Mario & Sonic's Dream Olympic sports. Frankly it could only be improved if I had to bounce off a giant mushroom to get across Tavistock Square.

Back in the realverse, it is a bit odd. I think they planned 90% of the cycle route, then stalled when attempting to figure out how to join up the sections so took the best option available in these situations and went to the pub. Any bad idea starts too looks progressively like a good idea when viewed through a succession of beer glass bottoms. Quick scratch of the pencil on return to the office, and et voilà, one cycle route.

As said elsewhere, I am not sure what this cycle lane is supposed to do. It follows the path of perfectly reasonable and non-threatening road. And as a boon, if you use the lane, you end up waiting at the lights because traffic on the main road gets priority.

[TimO]

It really is quite spectacularly odd.  I've just gone along it on Streetview, trying to work out why they did it, rather than just a normal road, or even cycle paths at the side of the road.  Sometimes you wonder how people get jobs designing road layouts, or in cases like this, whether they just let the tea lady do a bit. Training, or even a mild attack of common sense doesn't seem to be required. 

If the stuff I designed was as useful as this, I'd probably lose my job.  I'd certainly be embarrassed with it.

[style over speed]

If the stuff I designed was as useful as this, I'd probably lose my job.  I'd certainly be embarrassed with it.

I bet it still won an award, like the crappy one at the south of Lambeth Bridge.

[TimO]

As I recall the cycle paths at the south of Lambeth Bridge are just fairly "normal" fuckwitted paths around a roundabout, not particularly exotic, not very useful either.  On the rare occasion that I go around there, I just ignore them.

Someone won an award for that?

[arallsopp]

Surely a contender for Cycle Facility of the Month