Harrow Council installed cycle lanes across North West London during the summer as part of a new “Streetspace” programme. The project funded by Transport for London (TfL) aimed to radically change road infrastructure around the capital in order to reduce Londoners’ reliance on cars in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
However, many people have been reluctant to swap four wheels for just two in a huge blow to Mr Khan.
Honeypot Lane in Harrow stretches more than three miles and was one on the roads torn-up as part of the scheme to introduce a cycle lane.
But on Friday, in the space of one hour the lane was used by just one cyclist, the Sunday Telegraph reports.
In the space of the following five hours just six other cyclists used the new lane – compared to more than 2,000 cars, 500 vans and 200 other vehicles which were forced to use the narrowed driving lane.
Reacting to the news on Twitter, Mr Farage said: “What a joke this is.”
The unused part of the road has become known as the “ghost cycle lane” and has prompted fury from local residents.
A petition to get the lane removed or altered has received more than 1,600 signatures.
Harrow Weald councillor Stephen Greek is leading calls for the plans to be scrapped.
He said: “Honeypot Lane, Uxbridge Road and various other lanes are very badly designed.
“It’s much better to have proper cycling schemes on properly defined routes – and this is not what we’ve got.
“The lanes clearly don’t work, they should get rid of them now, and come back with better, more suitable cycling provision.”
Since May, the Government has also made a total of £250 million available to English councils to fund the introduction of initiatives to encourage active travel.
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She added three of the cycle lanes in the borough were used by around 250 people per day in October.
She said: “I appreciate that car usage has increased as we begin to adapt to living in a pandemic, but we have also seen an increase of the number of cyclists using our cycle lanes – with close to 250 cyclists using the three cycle lanes on a daily basis last month.
“We continue to review the schemes on a monthly basis and engage with key stakeholders.”
