Paddington Station exit for Santander cycle docking station?

[tornado]

Hi,

I was wondering which is the best exit from Paddington to get to South Wharf Road to pick up a "Boris bike" (yes I know not his idea!)? It seems you can walk out the front and round the side but rather a long way round. I'll be coming in on a GWR platform from Reading.

Also, in these COVID times I am going to attempt to cycle from Paddington to Victoria to avoid the tube. Seems fairly safe going across Hyde Park and then down through Belgravia, and through the side entrance to Vic. But any other suggestions on route are welcome. Perhaps with London such a ghost town I should just go along all the main roads or even just get on the tube.

 

[Trailfinder]

If you take the lift or escalator from platform 12 to the taxi rank, turn left and take the exit onto SWR.

 

[Cherry_Picker]

Install the Citymapper app on your phone. Not only will it show you where the docking stations are, it will show you how many cycles are at each station. There are four or five docking stations within a couple of minutes walk of Paddington and the first one you see isn’t always the best one to go to if there’s a queue.

**edit**
London really isn’t a ghost town anymore. The roads are fairly busy, certainly Edgware Road/Park Lane which is the route you’ll be taking. The streets are relatively busy too, however tube is still pretty quiet, you’ll have no problem doing the social distancing thing in the off peak.

 

[AlbertBeale]

Agreed - some roads in London are back to being hell for cyclists; though there's still a lot of the centre which continues to be a ghost town for much of the time. Major through routes can be bad - eg Edgware Road; other normally [ie in "normal times"] crammed places like Charing Cross Road are now - a lot of the time - like it used to be on Christmas Day about 50 years ago. I live in the centre, yet after several months of this, I continue to be surprised by which bits are still nearly always deserted and which bits - often close by - have bounced back.

I certainly wouldn't go the Edgware Rd / Park Lane route. (Though there is now a segregated two-way bike lane the length of Park Lane, on the west [park] side, but it's not at all obvious how to join and leave it at each end if going southbound.) Hyde Park Corner in particular is not recommended! As a regular central London cyclist, personally I'd always do this by wiggling almost due south from Paddington to get into the park at Victoria Gate, then south down over the Serpentine Bridge, along South Carriage Drive, leaving the park via Albert Gate (by the French Embassy); then straight across the main road and onwards via Lowndes Sq, round Belgrave Sq, past the end of Eaton Sq, and coming out almost in front of Victoria Station. Some of the stretch after the park can be busy with cabs cutting through and so on, but it's mostly big roads which are quite speedy and easy on a bike.

Just one point - I don't think the bike docks are as thick on the ground at Victoria as they are at Paddington. So give yourself time at that end if you have a train to catch!

PS: Outside rush hours, many of the tube lines are very quiet still, as has been pointed out above. Though I can't specifically vouch for the route involved here.