The Times Applauds Cycling… The Times of London, That Is.

Here's an editorial one wouldn't expect to see in The Times: An unabashedly pro-bicycle manifesto anointing cycling as "the cheap, green answer to so many contemporary troubles" and urging city authorities to use congestion-charging revenues to create a first-class cycling infrastructure.

Alas, this remarkable editorial was published not in the New York Times, but in the Times of London. Here in New York City our leading editorial board is busy pushing the police to hand out more traffic tickets to bike riders while debating State Senator Carl Kruger's absurd proposal to fine pedestrians who cross the street while listening to an iPod.

Cycling, the London Times editorial argues, "is a way to reduce stress and demonstrate an environmental conscience at the same time." The modern urban cyclist "is making an elegant and intelligent response to pollution and traffic congestion." The editorial even alludes to Peter Jacobsen's revelatory "safety in numbers" finding, something I've never seen in a mainstream, general-audience publication:

Even the obligatory mention of bad biking behavior feels half-hearted and concludes on a rising note:

The contrast between London and New York City's civic elite is stark. "Far too many traffic officers fail to hand out tickets to bicyclists who don't follow the rules," the Gray Lady scolded earlier this month, in that ridiculous iPod editorial that, actually, had nothing to do with cycling. The Times' most recent editorial on bicycle policy, Cyclists, the Police and the Rest of Us, seemed to imply that people who ride bikes in New York City are not, well, "the rest of us."

The London Times editorial steers way clear of casting cyclists as The Other. Here's how it wraps:

Just so. And may some of us live to see the day when our paper of record dons its glasses, clears its throat and delivers a ringing endorsement of cycling in our city. It's just a matter of time.

Photo: Dave Gorman / Flickr