Southwark is set to get more bike docking stations over the next eighteen months, Transport for London (TfL) has said.
The number and location of the new docking stations is currently unclear. The most recent expansion was in Bermondsey and Rotherhithe last year, near the stretch of Cycleway 4 along Jamaica Road and Lower Road.
Southwark Council also said in a report last year that it plans to put in more docking stations in Camberwell, Peckham, Nunhead and along the Old Kent Road by 2023 and has more than £1m in developer money to fund the expansion.
TfL said in its monthly commissioner’s report for October: “Preliminary survey work has now started that will enable the introduction of a small expansion of new docking stations in Southwark.
“This is fully funded by the borough and the plan is to make these stations operational by 2022/23.”
Southwark’s TfL hire bikes are now mostly concentrated in the north-west of the borough, closer to central London. Last year’s expansion saw Southwark get its furthest east set of bikes, near Canada Water Tube station. The docking stations furthest south in the borough are close to the Elephant and Castle roundabout.
Large parts of the most deprived areas of Southwark have no TfL bikes, including Peckham, Camberwell and south Bermondsey. TfL has said that it is keen to promote cycling to get people healthier and reduce traffic. This has been successful: this September was the busiest ever for bike hires across London, with an average of more than 40,600, up from 37,900 last year.
Southwark Council said last year that its bike expansion plan “will support the council’s commitment to meet the needs of Southwark’s diverse community”.
The bike programme in neighbouring Lambeth goes much further south, down to Brixton and Stockwell. North of the river, docking stations go as far west as Hammersmith and Fulham and as far east as Tower Hamlets.
Docking stations are expensive. TfL said in 2015 that an average-sized row of 27 bikes costs £197,000, although the agency added that this could vary. The docking stations are often paid for by developers as part of settlements with local authorities when they build new housing.
TfL also said in the commissioner’s report that 30 per cent of the Evelyn Street section of Cycleway 4 in Deptford has been finished and is set to complete in spring 2022. Drivers have complained of traffic problems caused by road closures as a result of building works along the stretch on Lower Road and Evelyn Street.