Cycling moves up a gear in jammed streets
The bike is back among middle-class Londoners. At dinner parties, conversation has turned from the question of whether to cycle to whether cyclists should obey the rules of the road, such as stopping at red lights, and to grumbling about the growing shortage of spaces at central London's crowded bike parking racks.
Tomorrow is the last day of Bike Week, a government-backed series of media events designed to promote the benefits of cycling. In the capital people appear to have got the message.
Outside London, however, it is a different story. Cycling is in decline and experts say a fundamental cultural change is needed to reverse that trend.
Over the past year, cycling has become much more fashionable. Riding his bike to the House of Commons while his shoes and papers were delivered by car might have brought ridicule on David Cameron but he is undeniably in touch with the mood of his Notting Hill neighbours.
On Wednesday, more than 30 MPs posed with their bikes for a photo-opportunity ride from St Pancras station to Westminster. But the growing popularity of cycling remains a largely metropolitan phenomenon.
Transport for London, the mayor's transport body, reports a 72 per cent in-crease in cycle use on its roads between 2000 and 2005. Cycling now accounts for about 4 per cent of passenger kilometres in London ag-ainst just 1.5 per cent five years ago.
Part of the rise in the profile of cycling in London has come since the July bombings last year. But the 20 per cent increase in cycle use in the past year was in line with what had been relatively steady growth over the past five years.
In London, cycling has been encouraged by the introduction in 2003 of the congestion charge, rising train and bus fares and improved cycling facilities.
But few other local authorities have backed cycling with the same vigour that has been shown by Ken Livingstone, London's mayor.
Outside the city, cycling has continued the decline under way for decades as a result of increasing levels of car ownership.
For the UK as a whole, bicycles accounted for just 3.9bn vehicle kilometres in 2004, fewer than 1 per cent of the total.
In the 1930s, bicycles accounted for 37 per cent of vehicle kilometres.
Phillip Darnton, chairman of Cycling England, the government's promotion body, says he used to believe that extra funding was the vital missing ingredient. He now thinks the problem is political will.
"Things would be different if the cabinet had three or four ministers - transport, education, health and environment - who said, 'We're very, very busy but let it be known that cycling is one of the modes of getting about that in the next 10 years we have to have'."
The government insists that it is working hard to promote cycling. It has provided ￡8.4m for Brighton, Darlington, Exeter, Lancaster and Aylesbury to become cycling demonstration centres, where Cycling England will work with employers and schools to encourage cycling.
However, many observers believe that more fundamental cultural issues still need to be addressed.
David Begg, director of the Centre for Transport Policy at Aberdeen's Robert Gordon University, says cyclists are still widely regarded as "a bit strange".
Mr Darnton says that many local authority leaders and other politicians tend to agree with his arguments that cycling can reduce congestion, help the environment and improve people's health. But he often feels that their eyes are glazed.
"I want to shake them and say, 'What's the matter?'" he says. "They say, 'Well, it will never happen'."
He adds: "I have a horrible feeling that congestion in a serious way is the best hope."
The real rebirth of cycling in Britain might come only when traffic has become so bad in provincial centres that, as in parts of London, the bike offers the only way to get around.
交通拥堵让自行车“复兴”
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行车重新回到了伦敦中产阶层中间。在宴会上，人们的谈论的话题已经从是否该骑自行车转向，比如骑车者是否应遵守红灯时停车等交通规定，以及抱怨伦敦市中心拥挤的自行车停放处的地方越来越小。
6月24日是“骑自行车周”(Bike Week)的最后一天。这是一个政府出资的系列媒体活动，旨在推广骑自行车的益处。在伦敦，人们似乎已经领会到了这一点。
然而，在伦敦以外的地区，情况却有所不同。骑车人数日渐下降，专家表示，要扭转这一趋势，需要一次文化上的根本变革。
过去一年间，骑车已变得更加时尚。骑车去下议院(House of Commons)上班，却用汽车运送鞋子和文件，这可能使戴维?卡梅隆(David Cameron)遭到了奚落，但无可否认的是，他跟上了他那些诺丁山邻居们的节奏。(戴维?卡梅隆是英国保守党领导人，诺丁山是伦敦西郊一个著名的时尚街区，编者注。)
6月21日，在一次从伦敦圣潘克拉斯车站(St Pancras)到威斯敏斯特的骑车活动中，30多位英国国会议员摆出姿势与他们的座驾一起合影。但很大程度上来说，骑车日益风行依然是一种都市现象。
伦敦市的交通机构伦敦交通管理局(Transport for London)的报告显示，2000年至2005年间，伦敦市内道路上的自行车使用量增加了72%。自行车目前约占伦敦乘客出行里程的4%，而5年前，这个数字只有1.5%。
伦敦自行车地位的上升部分源于去年7月份的恐怖袭击。不过，过去一年自行车使用量增加20%，与过去5年相对平稳的增长速度一致。
在伦敦，2003年引入的交通拥堵费，火车、汽车票价的上涨，以及骑车设施有所改善等因素，都推动了自行车的使用。
然而，极少有其它地方的机构表现出伦敦市长肯?利文斯通(Ken Livingstone)支持骑车的那种热情。
在伦敦以外的地区，由于汽车拥有量不断上升，自行车一直持续着数十年来的衰败之势。
