What's up with TfL and shared spaces?

Saw Richmond Cycling Campaign's draft response to TfL’s consultation on changes at Manor Circus.

 

This consultation is a stark reminder of TfL's absolute incompetence when it comes to designing cycle lanes ; as well as its the fact those consultations are absolute farce since they fail to advertise them to users (no posters on the junction in question) or canvass local residents by way of letterbox flyers.

 

Thankfully they found out and their observations are mostly spot on.
This junction is a danger zone for cyclist, interrupting an important cycle path. As a result, many cyclists use the roundabout.
There's some merit to the proposals in the removal of the 3rd left filter lane on the Westbound A316 and the pavement widening, but the toucan crossings are ill conceived indeed and shared spaces are a recipe for disaster.

 

Here's my response
1. This is a masquerade consultation: why hasn't TfL bothered to post signs on the junction itself to the attention of its users? Why have residents not been leafleted?
2. The intent is laudable: this roundabout bisects an important cycling route and offers no provision for cycling. As a result, many cyclists use the roundabout. In particular, the removal of the Westbound filter lane goes in the right direction.
3. However the execution is ill conceived on many aspects.
3.1. Shared cycle-pedestrians space is in general not safe and should be eliminated ; which should be possible with the filter lane removal and pavement widening.
3.1. Cycle lanes should have right of way to private land entrance -specifically to the BP petrol station and Sainsbury's
3.2. Toucan crossings will introduce much delays and therefore will be ignored -scrap them ; They are set too far back from the roundabout and impose a detour.
3.3. Scrapping those toucan crossings won't impose a widening of the central reservation and thus allow wider pavements -see 3.1.
3.4. Bicycles should not have to give way when merging into Sandycombe road and Manor road
3.5. The cycle lane should have right of way on North road, just like it was decided on Elsinore way.


Previous posts on similar subjects:

• Elsinore and the A316 breadcrumb cycle path
• Alice in Holland, or the tale of crap cycle lanes in Richmond
• Mini-Holland or mini-Neverland?
• Chaos in Chalkers Corner
• Sustainable transportation in Richmond?
• When plan B is not an option either

Elsinore and the A316 breadcrumb cycle path

Some more on the 316...

Transport for London has sent us another consultation, to re-re-re-do a portion of the A316.
To cut a long story short, they re-did a while back a cycle lane on the Lower Richmond Road. They got several things wrong, and fixed some a few month later -for instance they moved the bus shelters where the cycle path was between a shelter and the road (duh) or sign posts right on the middle of the path. Or the turning space discussed below which meant cars had to do a 2 or 3 point turn in lieu of a U-turn (re-duh).

Alice in Holland, or the tale of crap cycle lanes in Richmond

The Richmond Cycling Campaign (aka RCC, on Twitter at @RichmondCycling) has a great post on the A316 here:
The A316 – a correspondent writes …

I've wanted to write about that a long time ago, as this cycle path was redone a few years back, but to very low standards -a complete waste of taxpayer money IMHO. Some additional observations to what the RCC posted:

• Shared paths are a stupid idea, period.
• At the start, they had put bus stops across the path, and moved them after when it became obvious that it was a potential risk as bus users would just cross the cycle lane to board. This shows that TfL has absolutely no idea about cycle lanes best practices. Changes of course cost money.
• I discussed those priorities to cars turning with the TfL engineer at a Richmond May fair and he mentioned that drivers "were not expecting to yield on turning." Obviously, they're not there to change minds and improve attitudes.
• Lastly, the cycle lane surface isn't smooth at all and doesn't drain well -no one likes a bumpy ride and puddles aren't great either when you're cycling. Oh, and it's not cleaned very well -there were two Xmas trees obstructing it yesterday for instance.

See some pictures below. Oh, and don't forget to check this page from the Cycling Embassy on Crap Cycle Lanes (credit to the Warrington Cycling Campaign).

This other RCC post is also a must read: What the Cycling Strategy Should Say…



Cycle land on Lower Richmond Road, interrupted by Manor Grove ; see also bus stop dangerously close.



Cycle land on Lower Richmond Road (A316) interrupted by Sainsbury's entrance.



Cycle lane stops at Manor Circus, where you need it most. Shared path with pedestrian is very narrow. At that point, the A316 is 3 lane + 2 lanes wide (left filter lane into Manor Road)

Richmond Circus approach -the A316 cycle lane ends there and there are no provisions to merge into traffic to get into the city centre.

Related post:

• Mini-Holland or mini-Neverland?
• At long last, Dutch-style cycle parking and repair shed in Richmond?
• Sustainable transportation in Richmond?
• Kennington People on Bikes: Why didn't we use the cycle path?
• Cyclists unloved
• Cycling in London: it's about time to do something!
• Has cycling reached a critical mass in London?
• Good to see cyclists campaigning against road planning
• My questions to Barclays Cycle Hire managers
• Cyclists living in fear
• Cyclists to be given the right to ride the wrong way
• Waterloo: more Boris Bikes but still no sign of life for the Eurostar old platforms
• TfL still has little ideas about cycling lanes...
• Cycle superhighways: an expensive joke?
• When are we going to see this in London?
• Reversing the burden of the proof would encourage cyclingss
• Kingston worst for bike thefts
• Some hope for London cyclists?

Mini-Holland or mini-Neverland?

So, here we go, the London Borough of Richmond Upon Thames (LBURT) has gone forth with its proposal to apply for a cycling scheme funding.

Given the shoddy work they've done on cycle path in the past, no doubt they'll excel this time around. Call me a cynic, but shouldn't they have done this anyway?

Here's the application:
http://www.richmond.gov.uk/mini_holland_proposal_stage_two.pdf

And my comment on this article, reacting to grumpy residents:
http://www.richmondandtwickenhamtimes.co.uk/news/10882680.Twickenham__mini_Holland__scheme_on_its_final_lap_for_funding
Clearly, no one reading this thread (probably not even the LBRUT planning committee members) have been to the Netherlands.

Doing school runs and any other short journeys by car, as it is the norm in our borough, is not sustainable. It is about time to provide safe facilities for cyclists -and yes, that means reallocating space.

Looking at the A316 for instance, it is quite clear that space is mostly designed for cars. The Richmond roundabout is a great case in point of that flawed approach: when it was redesigned, another lane was added for cars but cycling is still on a shared space with pedestrians -a recipe for disaster. Not one single cycling approach provides a safe and continuous passage to bicycles.
In a nutshell, it's designed for through (non-local) car traffic, at the expense of (local) pedestrians and cyclists.

Why should we allocate highways to folks passing through?

PS: see also this RCC post

Chaos in Chalkers Corner

If you're just back from holidays you're in for a surprise at rush hour: Chalkers corner is completely grid-locked, so is Lower Richmond Road (A316) Eastbound, Manor Circus and Richmond Circus aren't better...

I'll post later on this but it seems it's largely due to Clifford avenue being closed to Southbound traffic due to water mains replacement.

To compound the things, they (not sure who is "they") have reversed the one way in Kingsway (from Lower Richmond Road) for no apparent reason as now Shalstone road and Kingsway are both only leading into Clifford avenue (Northbound), creating even more congestion...

Daft really?

richmond, roads, transportation, richmondtransits.blog

When plan B is not an option either

Richmond residents are quite well placed when in comes to transport networks: we've got easy access to the M3 (via the A316), M4 (via Kew Bridge, a bit better now they've removed the bus lane) and the A3 (via Roehampton lane because someone in the Royal Parks decided to close Robin Hood gate for good although it was only going to be temporary).

And we've got the tube (District line to Edgware road, takes a while but still gets you there), Silverlink trains, usually to places one doesn't want to go) and South West trains -when it works.
Two weeks ago, they shut down the service because of some engineering works and this week end, there's no trains and no tubes. Our friends visiting us from South London are coming on the bus, it will be a late and short dinner...

Engineering work starting on 24/11/07 at Barnes.

Track improvements and maintenance are taking place from 00:01 on 24/11/07 to 23:59 on 24/11/07 at Barnes. Whilst work is taking place, buses will replace trains between Clapham Junction and Twickenham via Richmond between Clapham Junction and Kew Bridge Show Further Information All lines in the Barnes area will be closed all day. All train services due to pass through this area will run via alternative routes or be replaced by buses for parts of their journeys. Trains between London Waterloo and Reading will be diverted between Clapham Junction and Twickenham to run via Kingston with longer journey times. Trains between London Waterloo and Windsor & Eton Riverside will be diverted between Clapham Junction and Twickenham to run via Wimbledon and Kingston. Trains will call at all stations between Clapham Junction and Twickenham to cover for the altered Message Received: 15:07:37 17/11/2007

DISTRICT LINE: Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 November suspended between West Kensington and Acton Town/Richmond. Replacement buses operate for local journeys only.

Two rail Replacement bus services operate:

Service A: between Hammersmith and Acton Town, calling at Ravenscourt Park, Stamford Brook, Turnham Green, Chiswick Park and Gunnersbury.

Service E: a late night coach service between Heathrow and Paddington station.

Journey times may be increased by up to 60 minutes.

Tags: trains, transportation, Richmond, richmondtransits.blog

Sustainable transportation in Richmond?

With Richmond park and the Thames towpaths, one could think Richmond is an ideal spot for cycling. It is probably better than many places, but there are still many improvements to be made:

• Theft, is quoted as one of the key deterrent to cycling (17% of cyclists got their bike stolen in the past 3 years, of which 24% no longer cycle at all and 66% cycle less often). Secure parking is an obvious answer, but there are few places to attach your bike in Richmond and few primary schools have bike sheds.
• Cycling routes are designed to an appalling standards, with high-friction sufaces (more effort is needed to pedal on the green paths!), potholes and manholes covers protrude often (the Upper Richmond Road is a bad example) and in the park or towpath, the shared pedestrian/cyling path is a recipe for disaster (which cyclist has never experienced hesitating pedestrians jumping left and right to make way or bullying runners packs?). The standards are seldom respected -have you seen many lanes 1.5m wide?
• Passive road infrastructure safety is a topic where we have much to learn from the Dutch experience. There's little concept of segregating the traffic (establishing a physical separation between cars and bicycles): "advisory cycle lanes" are an example of this thinking. Take again the A205 (Upper Richmond road): there's no provision for segregating traffic at major junctions (there could be separate traffic light for cyclists) and minor intersection (there should be a "hard" traffic island before the junction so that cars turning right have a visual obstacle reminding them of observing the cycle lane priority. Large roundabouts like those on the A316 are also dangerous for cyclists.

Cyclists' rants? Maybe, but increasing the cycling sahre in commuting (now less than 3% of journeys to work) is the easiest way towards sustainable transportation. Sustainability in transportation is not a buzzword for tree-hugging ecoxtremists but has direct and major benefits for all:

• reduced pollution
• reduced noise
• reduced congestion
• positive impact on public health
• decrease in working hours lost in public transport delays and traffic jams
• increased turnover for city centre retail
• ... and it's cheaper than any other alternative but walking!

What needs to be done by Richmond borough?

• Upgrade the cycle lanes, to ensure they are un-interrupted and segregated from cars
• Allow two way use for bikes of one way street
• Transfor "advisory" cycle lanes into "hardened" cycle lanes
• Increase numbers of bike attachment posts (aka Sheffield stands) close to shops
• Build 24-hour secure parking for cycles at the borough stations to promote combined rail-bike use (see Munster example on page 41: 25% rail customer now cycles to or from the station)

Links:

• Wikipedia article on utility cycling
• TfL cycling reports
• Richmond Cycling Campaign

Tags: cycling Richmond richmondtransits.blog