This is the moment brazen London bikers race down one of the capital’s many cycle highways and dangerously weave around two disabled people trying to board a bus.
Video shows two cyclists speed past and narrowly miss a blind man carrying a white stick and a woman in a wheelchair at a ‘floating bus stop’, which forces passengers to cross a cycle lane to get on and off a bus.
One delivery rider, with a hefty cargo box at the front of his bike, steers onto the pavement rather than slowing down or stopping for the two disabled bus users.
National Federation of the Blind UK (NFBUK) shows charity president Andrew Hodgson (in the blue jacket), who is blind, standing at the bus shelter on Lea Bridge Road in Waltham Forest, north-east London last Wednesday afternoon
The cargo bike swerved left onto the path narrowly avoiding Mr Hodgson’s back
The second cyclist then went to the right of the bus shelter narrowly threading between Mr Hodgson and the woman in the wheelchair boarding the bus
A cargo bike swerves left onto the pavement narrowly missing Mr Hodgson and another bicycle pedals closely past him on his right, narrowly missing the wheelchair-user boarding the bus
‘Floating bus stops’ – or in TfL’s language ‘shared use bus boarders’ (SUBBs) – have a cycle lane between the bus shelter and the road – forcing passengers to venture through incoming bike traffic to board their bus.
The Highway Code states: ‘Cyclists should give way to pedestrians on shared use cycle tracks’ and that they ‘should always take care when passing pedestrians, especially children, older or disabled people, and allow them plenty of room’. It adds, bikers should: ‘Always be prepared to slow down and stop if necessary’.
They have become more prevalent in the capital since the pandemic, during which London Mayor Sadiq Khan rolled out 62 miles of cycle lanes in just 12 months.
One such bus stop installed in Camden in 2020 sparked outrage among commuters, with one describing them as an ‘accident waiting to happen’.
The footage shared with MailOnline by the National Federation of the Blind UK (NFBUK) actually features their charity president Andrew Hodgson, who is himself blind, and the man at the bus shelter on Lea Bridge Road in Waltham Forest, north-east London last Wednesday afternoon.
Despite the concens raised by the NFBUK, Mr Khan has refused to pause the development of floating bus stops.
In a letter to the NFBUK, the mayor said an indepdenet review into floating bus stops will be completed later this year and he ‘looks forward to reading it’.
As she reverses her chair to align with the ramp, a cyclist on a cargo bike and and another cyclist directly behind him approach the bus stop at speed.
The cargo bike rider swerves sharply to the left of the bus shelter and onto the pavement, narrowly missing Mr Hodgson’s back.
The second cyclist then, instead of stopping and waiting for the woman in the wheelchair to board the bus, pedals to the right of the shelter through the narrow gap between Mr Hodgson and the wheelchair user as she heads towards the ramp.
A third cyclist then speeds past her as she boards the bus via the ramp.
As he was unable to see the cyclists zooming past him, Mr Hodgson only became aware of the incident after it had happened when his colleague, NFBUK street access campaign coordinator Sarah Gayton, told him.
When he found out he said he was concerned that he could have been injured if he had decided to step forwards or backwards – or that an accident could have happened if he had stuck his cane out.
He said the cargo cyclist was probably riding very dangerously and could have ‘mown him down’ had he not been standing in exactly the right position.
He advised both cyclists involved ‘to be more careful and keep an eye open for vulnerable pedestrians’ like himself and the woman in the wheelchair.
But Mr Hodgson also slammed the dangerous bus stop designs as ‘not fit for purpose’, adding: ‘It really is totally inaccessible. These sorts of designs need to be scrapped, those that have been installed need to be taken out and there need to be no new ones.’
As Mr Hodgson (left) holds his white cane close to himself, a woman in a wheelchair is waiting in the middle of the cycle lane as the bus driver starts to lower the ramp for her to get on
A third cyclist then sped past the woman in the wheelchair as she boarded the bus via the ramp
Mr Hodgson told MailOnline: ‘The main hazards of cycles for blind people is that you can’t hear them. I don’t have any sight, I didn’t know either of them were present.
‘I was standing in the right place because Sarah and her colleague had put me there as we were waiting to see a local councillor.
‘The first I knew of the danger was after the incident. It was very dangerous but I didn’t know about it.
‘If I had been there by myself I could not have been in the exact right position and been mown down by the cargo cyclist.
‘The environment is very ill-defined between the cycle lane and the pavement because the curbs are very shallow making it very difficult to detect as a blind person.
‘The cargo cyclist as far as I understand it was probably riding dangerously. But what is at fault is the environment, it’s not fit for purpose.
‘For a blind person to get off a bus and cross a cycle lane is dangerous as you expect to get off a bus onto a pavement.’
Talking about the behaviour of the cyclists who narrowly avoided him, Mr Hodgson said: ‘The cyclists probably weren’t riding that carefully, so how can we trust their behaviour when we get off the bus in the future?’
Diagram of a shared use bus stop boarder like the one on Lea Bridge Road in Waltham Forest, north-east London
Describing how he boards a bus from a normal bus stop, Mr Hodgson said: ‘I have to listen for the doors opening on the bus and I go to where that noise is, but my cane out, find the step and board the bus.
‘But with a bus stop like this it’s more complicated as I have to cross the cycle lane to get to that point – there’s that added hazard.
‘If I had tried to get on that bus I could have been injured and if I had stepped back it could have been worse because the cargo bike is more substantial.
‘This would deter me from using buses in that area and put me off using bus stop bypasses anywhere – we can’t be certain that we’re safe.
‘We have sufficient evidence that the cyclists behaviour is a lot worse than we would desire – it really is a problem. Educating cyclists would be a massive task so I think a better solution is to alter the environment to make it more safe.’
When asked what he would say to the two cyclists, Mr Hodgson said: ‘They need to be more careful and keep an eye open for vulnerable pedestrians – including visually impaired pedestrians, wheelchair users and elderly people.
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NFBUK street access campaign coordinator Sarah Gayton, who was filming, hit out against the recklessness of these cyclists, telling MailOnline: ‘It’s dangerous riding. They could see two disabled people in front of them and they still carried on.’
She said that if Andrew, who was unable to see the cyclists zooming past him, had stuck his cane out or decided to move the results for him could have been ‘horrendous’.
Ms Gayton said: ‘When the bus driver put out the ramp for her wheelchair she has to be in the middle of the cycle lane.
‘Everyone got off the bus, she’s stuck in the middle of the cycle line and you see the cargo bike rider looks behind and sees a bike behind him and he shoots behind Andrew in a hair’s breadth.
‘Andrew was stuck in the middle – but he wouldn’t have seen them and could have decided to walk off. If Andrew had moved it would have been horrendous.’
She added: ‘You expect to step off and be safe and you can’t because of the speed these bikes are going – you have to take these bus stops out.’
In 2020, a bus stop similar to the one in Waltham Forest was blasted as ‘crazy’ by commuters who were forced to dodge speeding cyclists as they get on and off bus near Kings Cross.
In 2020, a bus stop similar to the one in Waltham Forest was blasted as ‘crazy’ by commuters who were forced to dodge speeding cyclists as they get on and off bus near Kings Cross
A cycle lane which runs right through the middle of a bus stop was blasted as ‘crazy’ by commuters who are forced to dodge speeding cyclists as they get on an off the vehicle
The elderly and young parents with buggies were among those who face the risk of being knocked down as they attempt to cross the newly built cycle lane
The elderly and young parents with buggies were among those who face the risk of being knocked down as they attempt to cross the newly built cycle lane.
The lane is aimed at protecting cyclists on a busy road stretching from Kings Cross to Tufnell Park in north London.
But one commuter who was almost hit by a cyclist as he exited the No 390 bus near Kings Cross told Mail Online the installation was an ‘accident waiting to happen’.
At the time he said: ‘There are no warning signs and people getting off the bus have no idea that cyclists are bearing down on them.
‘I was almost hit by a cyclist as I stepped off the bus. Imagine how hard it must be for a young mum with a pram trying to exit backwards. It really is crazy.’
It is believed that this bus stop still has a cycle lane running through it.
Helen Cansick, TfL’s Head of Healthy Streets Investment, said: ‘Keeping everyone travelling in the capital safe is our top priority and the needs of blind and partially sighted people are always taken into consideration when designing cycle lanes. Bus stop bypasses and shared use bus borders are a nationally recognised approach for avoiding the dangers of cyclists going around buses into oncoming traffic. TfL and the London Boroughs, like many cities across the country, have integrated this approach into the cycleway programme and there has been a dramatic increase in number of people cycling in the city.
‘We have met with the NFBUK to discuss this, and other such facilities, and are conducting a review of safety at these facilities. We welcome all feedback on our cycle routes and will continue to work with disabled people and accessibility groups, taking people’s concerns into account to ensure that changes to our roads work for everyone.’
