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A cyclist's answer to the Tube map reveals London's hidden bike lanes

A cycling enthusiast is attempting to change the way the world views London’s bike lanes – and show people how easy it can be to get from A to B in the city.

Drawing inspiration from Harry Beck’s famous map of the London Underground, Dermot Hanney, under the guise of Route Plan Roll, has developed a Tube-style view of how cyclists can travel across the city.

See a full-size version of the map here.

“The main thing when you’re looking at something like Google Maps is how much the main roads jump out at you,” Dermot Hanney told Telegraph Travel.

“But when you’re planning a bike ride, these traditional roads may not be the best routes for people to cycle on.

“I wanted to create map where the cycle routes stood out – trying to apply mapping simplification to cycling, rather than just road or rail. There’s been a lot of new infrastructure in the past few years, too, and I was trying to consolidate that.”

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Hanney, who lives in London and is a transport planner by trade but produces the maps in his own time, said that he wanted people to be able to see bike-friendly routes that might otherwise disappear among the traffic.

The different colours indicate the status of the roads – for example, a Cycle Superhighway, a local road or part of the Quietway network. Lines are then styled according to how much protection they offer cyclists. Parks and the cycle hire zone are also shown.

Blackfriars Bridge, a key cycling junction, where two Cycle Superhighways meet, is used as the map’s epicentre.

Hanney has plans to record helmet-mounted GoPro videos of different cycling routes to show two-wheelers when and where to turn to stay on the safest roads.

The London Cycle Lane Map was produced last summer but is starting to garner interest, with Hanney looking at developing more detailed maps focussing on different parts of London.

Hanney’s is of course not the only map for cycling in the city.

Transport for London (TfL) has a point to point journey planner that calculates three different routes for each trip – easy, moderate and fast – with descriptions on the sorts of roads, traffic conditions and average speed.

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National cycling charity, Sustrans, instrumental in developing Quietways routes, also has maps of the city. Nicholas Sanderson is its senior policy officer for London.

“This is a useful map because it shows the whole of London, so you get this overview of which places link up,” he said. “If you were in Marylebone and wanted to get to Blackfriars, you could see there is a decent cycle route.”

Sanderson said that generally cyclists should get an understanding of their basic route, then follow more detailed maps as well as a sat nav app on their phone.

“This is a nice addition to the more detailed maps. It also shows that there’s still a lot to do.”