Excellent Map
I was thoroughly impressed by Simon Parker's map, the amount of time committed to this endeavour is truly admirable, and its adoption would certainly be the classic rags-to-riches material, and a practical celebration of British design.
Alas, the maps success has been impeded, not by its flaws (and there are a few) but by the causal suspects: self-aggrandising dead-weight (i.e. councillors, self-interested organisations, and other bums-on-seats, from the public-sector, with the gift of the faff: to bluff their way to significance, as obstacles.)
With the imminent
London Cycle Scheme, the timing for adoption of this sort of thing could not be better; I have mentioned before the need for more and
better signing, which is why it really ought to be done properly.
This is why the otherwise, well thought out website, frustrates me with its dispersion of priority, where the author on his
commentary decides to brainstorm various frills and fancies, such as user-generated maps. Such an careless slip, betrays their lack of understanding on the subject. The idea is not to appease the 'iGeneration', but to provide a robust and durable set of routes with which people can use as a reference with which to base their own journeys from. This would (hopefully) imply / assist the need for signage, and would provide a consistent means for centralising quick travel. The nearest equivalent, I can think of is that of Motorways: I may wish to get from Southampton to Luton, if I want a custom map I can use my Tom-tom or get something generated from Google; if I want a straight-forward route then I know that I cannot go too wrong by following the M3 -> M25 -> M1, regardless of alternative routes.
Furthermore, we know how ineffective councils can be on certain issues, like water the path of least resistance will be chosen, and sadly unless pushed by visible consequential public opinion, the resistance is usually the opposite of whatever the said goal is - thus the idea of pushing water uphill.
This is why, I believe the article (not magazine), and the petition frustrate the issue. With such a small time-frame in which the scheme shall be launched; many eyes shall be on London (not least those pesky Parisians) and there will inevitably be political interest. Therefore, a vague declamation shall get people nowhere. At present, one can say that the
maps do exist, if pushed they can be shrunk down to basic pamphlets, or a few extra irrelevant signposts could be sprinkled inconspicuously across the city.
We should be advocating the adoption of Simon Parkers Map, after all it is a near-finished article for initial adoption. Calling for just 'a map' is too vague, and makes it too easy for this petition to be lost, ignored, or if pushed then bodged. It is interesting that the LCC don't seem to advocate the map, perhaps it is an idea to present it to them for adoption, even if it just a case of featuring the map on their website (think of the audience numbers). The fact that the map is not shown independently on Cyclelife site, despite the commentary appearing under Features, is also irritating, at the very least; although fortunately it is shown in the magazine.
So, my view is that it is a great idea, needs a few final touches (including key stations) and clarifying route names, but the campaign / drive is poorly executed. The latter is the far greater sin and until that is corrected, I doubt I will be signing up.
