Ken paints London

London mayor Ken Livingstone has made solving London's traffic schlerosis his mission. Congestion charge of £8 per day to drive in the city is funding new buses, Tube upgrades, bike lanes and subsidised cycle training. The results: buses are much more efficient, the Tube less unreliable, and the number of bike commuters is up 84% in 2 years.

You can pay £8 for the pleasures of driving for a day, or the same £8 pays for a cycling lesson with a lifetime of benefits.

Cycling has become a symbolic solution to a host of issues: sustainability, congestion, health, liveable communities and a remade, saner world. Mainstream newspapers run columns and features; there's a heap of new books; and cycling is no longer just for lycra-clad road warriors. The new cycling tribes include fixies, fakengers (wannabe bike messengers), old skool vintage riders, cargo bikers, recyclers and even suits on folders.

Vive le Velo!