Can cyclists and pedestrians share a path?

The answer depends entirely on traffic volumes. There are no problems if they are low but sharing is impossible if the volume of either pedestrians or cyclists is high. In London, the regulations take no account of this obvious truth.

The Thames Path from Westminster to Tower Bridge works well as a shared cycling-pedestrian route except for (1) the busy section near the London Eye, where cyclists are asked to dismount (2) busy periods – when most cyclists dismount because cycling through a crowd is impractical.

In London’s Royal Parks cycling is allowed only on designated routes and cyclists are fined if they cycle elsewhere. This is a foolish and unfair policy. It is foolish because some of the shared routes are very busy. It is unfair because pedestrians are not fined for walking on designated cycle routes.

The worst aspect of pedestrian-cycle sharing in London is that so few cycle routes are marked on the footpaths which adjoin roads, and when they are marked it is very badly done. On busy footpaths, like those which adjoin Regent Street and Oxford Street, there can be no question of sharing the pavements. But London has many wide and very lightly trafficed  footpaths beside main roads which could and should be redesigned as shared cycle-pedestrian paths – as they are in Germany, Japan and many enlightened countries.