Yesterday I experienced my first London rush hour for many years. Things have changed quite a bit since my days of riding the Tube twice a day in the 1990s – far fewer ties, a lack of newspapers and ubiquitous AirPods. Something that was very different was the chorus of clunks just outside Waterloo Station as commuter after commuter unfolded their Brompton folding bikes and set off towards their place of work.

On Waterloo bridge, where a whole lane on each side has been converted into bike lanes, the Bromptons were joined by a diverse peloton ranging from clunky, chunky Boris Bikes to sleek carbon fibre racing machines. The volume of bikes made the rather terrifying looking junction at the north end of the bridge a matter of safety by numbers as the riders briefly merged with motor traffic. I mused at the congestion if each of these cyclists had chosen to drive.

By international standards, the London cycle network is patchy in quality – in Clapham the supposed cycle superhighway was just a strip of blue tarmac in a bus lane. Subjectively, usage appeared directly proportional to the level of segregation from motor traffic. Overall, cycling in London continues to rise with 24% of Londoners reporting having cycled in 22/23 compared to 21% in 19/20. It would interesting to see what would happen if London went the full Paris cycle-first mode.

This all illustrates the first law of Sustainability: you can’t expect people to behave in a Sustainable way without providing high quality facilities to do so. Provide safe, convenient and well signposted routes for cyclists and people will cycle. If you expect them to take their lives into their hands to ‘do the right thing’ most won’t. It’s very simple, but there’s too much wishful thinking out there.