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).

Is this the shortest cycle lane in Richmond?

Seriously guys, what's the point of spending our hard earned cash on this?



And the point is??? Kew road into Selwyn avenue, Richmond-Upon-Thames



Is this the shortest cycle lane in the World? Selwyn avenue, Richmond-Upon-Thames.

 

Related posts:

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

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?

Cyclists unloved

This week's roundup

RT @RichmondCycling
 "Up to 75% of peak traffic now people on bicycles yet no consistent policy for making those roads safe for cycling" http://cyclelondoncity.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/local-roads-in-london-up-to-75-of-peak.html

Royal Parks finally comes out: they don't like cyclists. Too pleb?
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/royal-parks-put-stick-in-the-spokes-of-new-boris-cycle-link-8878624.html

Cyclist fatalities increase in London -I squarely blame TfL for not providing adequate infrastructure

Cyclists in the City just came up with this Boris-seeking missile:  Outrageous: 33% more pedestrians killed, 60% more cyclists killed and 21% more cyclists seriously injured. Boris Johnson - your traffic smoothing policy is killing people.

Personally, I'm not sure Boris or Ken made much improvements -or to put it correctly, they slowly gave in to pressure but both failed to redesign the city to put bikes first. Because you see, this is what the Dutch have done, something that even the LCC don't really recognise.

In essence, the infrastructure is still grossly inadequate -something I've blogged about previously. In a nutshell, I think TfL has absolutely no idea whatsoever on what a "cycle track" is. I don't think any of their engineers actually cycles. Can't be. Or that would be an all time height for ineptitude.

And those sad numbers? As far as I am concerned, the fact there's been a huge increase in cycling can not play a contributing factor. Many of those cyclists are not that proficient either, nor are the drivers.

Related posts:

• Kennington People on Bikes: Why didn't we use the cycle path?
• Sustainable transportation in Richmond?
• 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
• Cyclists living in fear
• Cyclists to be given the right to ride the wrong way
• 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 cycling
• Some hope for London cyclists?
  

Kennington People on Bikes: Why didn't we use the cycle path?

Here's a good blog post by Kennington People on Bikes: Why didn't we use the cycle path?
Their picture  is worth a thousand words and says a lot about the TfL "engineers" who design the cycling paths.

There's also a link to the http://www.londonersonbikes.org.uk/ website whose pedge I urge you to sign!

 Related posts:

• Sustainable transportation in Richmond?
• 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
• Cyclists living in fear
• Cyclists to be given the right to ride the wrong way
• 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 cycling
• Some hope for London cyclists? 

At long last, Dutch-style cycle parking and repair shed in Richmond?

The Richmond and Twickenham Times reports today that Richmond station gets (is to someday) new cycle hub. 

Transport Minister Norman Baker has announced Richmond station as one of four London locations set to undergo a cycle refurbishment this year.

The hub will be manned by staff, who are able to help fix broken bicycles, and will also be a place to hire and store bikes and have them cleaned.

Refurbishment of the station's cycle facilities are part of a £30m package of developments aimed at helping connect communities, reduce carbon emissions, and get people active.

No date is set, but it's encouraging to see some progress. Now, they should really get to work to fix those dangerous roundabouts on the Lower Richmond road...

Pictures:

• secure cycle parking at Leiden train station from Cycling without a helmet
  
• bike repaid workshop in Groningen train station from Rona Justine (both in The Netherlands)

Related post:

• Sustainable transportation in Richmond?
• 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?

Good to see cyclists campaigning against road planning

I've long said that TfL has got absolutely no clue on incorporating cycling into the urban fabric, or in other words they're absolutely rubbish and useless when it comes to Cycle Lanes.

That's why I welcome this: Be the change; why your help is needed on Blackrfriars Bridge (i b i k e l o n d o n
More details on London Cycling Campaign.

My questions to Barclays Cycle Hire managers

Thanks for your email,

It comes right in time. Together with other users, we were stuck at Waterloo yesterday around 1900 as all neighbouring stations were full. No staff was at hand to help of course.

I really do like the Boris Bikes, but unpredictability makes it hard rely on.

Just this week, for instance:

• no more bikes at Waterloo on Tuesday shortly after 0800 (it's usually empty after 0830 anyway), missed my train and wasted 30 mn
  

• picked up a bike from Red Lion Square on that same day and tried to return it in Covent Garden, circled for 15mn to find a docking point

Here are some suggestions to improve the service.

• Add more capacity in Waterloo. I mean way more, as London is clearly under-served compared to Paris: http://richmondtransits.blogspot.com/2010/09/boris-bike-vs-french-velib-unfair.html
  
• Busy stations need more staff to replenish and empty slots in the mornings and evenings
• The maps on the service points are next to useless: the detailed one should list station names (as it's hard to figure out which station indicated by the computer is which on the map) and the map of the larger area should indicate Boris Bikes stations.
  
• Also, they should always point to the North as normal maps.
  

Could you let me know what you're planning to do to address those points?

Regards,

Ludovic Windsor

---

From: Transport for London <Transport_for_London@info.tfl.gov.uk>
Sent: Wednesday, October 12, 2011 10:26 AM
Subject: Information for Barclays Cycle Hire members

If you are having problems viewing this email, you can view an online version To ensure our email updates are delivered to your inbox, please add Transport_for_London@info.tfl.gov.uk to your email address book Dear Mr Windsor, As a member of Barclays Cycle Hire, I thought you might be interested in taking part in an online "Meet the Managers" forum we will be running on Tuesday 18 October, from 19:00 to 20:30. The forum will provide you with the opportunity to contact both myself and other senior managers with any questions or suggestions you may have about the scheme, for example, regarding its operation or future plans. The scheme has now passed its first anniversary and we would welcome your input. To join in the live forum, please visit tfl.gov.uk/meetthemanagers Alternatively, if you will not be available to join us, we would be happy to receive your questions in advance. Simply email your questions to us at bchmeetthemanagers@tfl.gov.uk Yours sincerely, James Mead Head of Operations, Barclays Cycle Hire Transport for London These are our customer service updates about Barclays Cycle Hire. To unsubscribe, please click here Copyright in the contents of this email and its attachments belongs to Transport for London. Any unauthorised usage will infringe that copyright.

When will TfL realise they need more BorisBikes at Waterloo?

Now the Summer's gone -and everyone's back-, it's cruelly obvious Transport for London need to add more capacity to its Barclays Cycle Hire scheme.

The scheme is over-subscribed in several locations, including in Waterloo where at peak time (after 0815) one can't hire a bike nor drop it off after 1815.

The staff at hand -two guys and a trailer- can't cope with the quick-forming lines, often 20 deep.

At a time when the motorist is robbed more than ever, when train tickets have increased for years above inflation (as incomes stagnated), it is time to better resource alternative transportation schemes. They are both 'green' and low cost, as well as popular.

King regards,


Ludovic Windsor

Why pay for the gym when you've got the Boris Bikes?

A new application for the Boris Bikes.

See also my previous posts on this cycle hire scheme:

Waterloo: more Boris Bikes but still no sign of life for the Eurostar old platforms

The Boris bike vs. the French vélib -unfair comparison?

At last, TfL goes mobile

Transport for London has finally realised that people need travel information the most, well, when they're travelling.

Armed with this great finding, they've released a mobile version of their website -a great initiative.

Just a suggestion though: why don't they use geolocation to figure out where one to speed up the journey planner or find the closest and next bus about?

Dear email subscriber, I am writing to let you know that you can now access TfL travel information on your mobile by browsing the TfL website direct from an internet enabled phone. The website will automatically recognise the model of your phone and tailor the screen view accordingly. Journey Planner and live travel news can now be used directly via your mobile. In addition, you can check for planned weekend improvement works and find traffic updates on London's roads. For more information, visit tfl.gov.uk via your mobile. Yours sincerely, Vernon Everitt Managing Director, Marketing and Communications       Copyright in the contents of this email and its attachments belongs to Transport for London. Any unauthorised usage will infringe that copyright.

Cyclists living in fear

Seen on the BBC Helmet cameras capture bad driving: a cyclist is wearing a camera to record evidence of dangerous driving -in this case a quite graphic example of a van driver cutting off a cyclist and then abusing him.


IMHO, a consequence of lax policing (speed cameras don't do much for cyclists safety) and bad cycle lanes design.

See related posts:

• Sustainable transportation in Richmond?
• 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?
• Cycling in London: it's about time to do something!

cycle, cyclelane, cycling, DfT, London, richmondtransits.blog, TfL, transportation, UK,

TfL still has little ideas about cycling lanes...

A sobering read in today's Evening Standard on the Elephant & Castle roundabout redesign. It is described as a cycling blackspot where a a fitness instructor died on her bike last year.

Yet, the proposal design still doesn't show segregated cycle lanes.

Will they ever learn from best practices? All it takes is a trip to Rotterdam!

Cyclists to be given the right to ride the wrong way

Read in the Times of this morning:
Cyclists will be given green light to ignore one-way signs - Times Online

At long last, it seems that common sense is prevailing and that the DfT is recognising that road rules made for cars are not appropriate for the poor souls plodding the street with no armour and taking little space.

The main advantage is to allow cycles to use quieter roads, moving them off busy and dangerous main roads in many cases. It is also a good traffic calming measure for one way streets, where cars tend to go too fast.

It's a small step in the right direction towards better ways to share the space between users of the roads. We just have to get proper cycle lanes now (post series on the subjet coming soon on this blog!)

cycle, cycling, bikelane, cyclelane, transportation, UK, London, DfT, richmondtransits.blog

The parking rip-off continues in Richmond

It seems the bright sparks in our council are doing all they can to extract more money from motorists and kill local business:

• after charging for parking on week-ends (it used to be free, remember?)
• employing aggressive or scary parking attendants to enforce unclear rules
  
• charging for CO2 emissions when cars are not polluting (parking by CO2 emissions, just as a memo to the council, CO2 is NOT a pollutant)
• introducing spy cars, often parked illegally to fine you when unloading

... and now, Richmond Council proposes extending emission based charging. Of course, there are no details as to how this will be implemented, for instance for old cars, bought way before all that CO2 emission nonsense (read Focussing on CO2: good for bears, bad for humans?). More annoyingly, all cars will need to be registered first, at a cost of £2.50.

I predict this will put off many casual shoppers, who will go to Kingston insead -that's much revenue lost of local shops.

Being greener is a laudable goal, but I am annoyed at getting the tax stick every time. Here's what I suggest:

• introduce a proper, safe and segregated from cars, cycling network, without interruptions, for instance on Lower and Upper Richmond roads
  
• introduced safe (monitored and patrolled), sheltered bicycle parkings at all stations and public buildings (such as Richmond library or Sheen Lane Center which was revamped without such a parking lately
• remove many cul de sacs that force motorists to take detours and emit more CO2
• introduce shared spaces for car-pedestrian-cycle spaces in central Richmond, around the Green
• introduce a cyle-hire scheme, like the Vélib
• give council tax cuts for those insulating their houses or installing green roofs -the current national guidelines are far too low
  

Is that enough?

richmond, parking, environment, green, urbanism, traffic, 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

Cycling in London: it's about time to do something!

With the congestion charge now at £8, Transport for London clearly signalled that only rich people can afford commuting by car to London. Shame if you happen to be working in a profession with night shifts, like for instance hospital nurses... (the charge operates from 0700 till 1830).

So, if you want to avoid both this new hidden tax and overcrowded and unreliable AND expensive public transport, cycling to work seems a good idea. Other options include buying a minibus (or a Land Rover Defender LWB) or an eletric car (I wonder what Sir Clive Sinclair has to say about this?).

The snag is that a cycling culture doesn't seem to be part of the British personality: "proficiency" levels are low and the network is terrible:

• The network is small and presents a lot of discontinuities (the paths stops and starts again after each bus stop, etc...)
• The segregation with motor vehicules and pedestrians is either poor (cycling path being just a terracotta-coloured path onto the street with no delimiters) or non-existent (shared tow paths with pedestrians for instance)
• Road surface is often bumpy and abrasive/high-friction (meaning increased effort from the biker and more damage in case of fall), quite often the cycle path is on the pavement and snakes around lamp posts and other obstacles. I'd like to speak to some borough planning officers...
• The cycle paths rarely have their own traffic lights for junctions, roundabouts are often just ignored
• Schools do not have secure bike sheds (surely cycling to school reduces congestion and helps kids excercising, but for instance at Darrell, our local school, there's no option for leaving bikes while kids are in class).
• Train stations do not either have secure locations where to store bikes, and taking bikes onto trains is restricted and badly signed (we came across one idiotic train SouthWest Trains conductor from Windsor to Richmond that forced us to move up the train into the so-called bike carriage where there was no space as two families with buggies were there). In contrast, every major train station in The Netherlands offers secure storage, bike rental and even a repair shop.
• Little use is made of the vast expanse of green real estate that the Royal Parks offer us: again, paths are shared and the parks are not linked into a network.
• There are little contraflows

Links:

• London Cycle Networks (is there one?)
• Bike safety by Myra VanInwegen
• Cyclehelmets.org (check the safety chart)
• Cycle path safety: summary of research on John Franklin's Cycling Digest
• Camden Cycling Campaign
• BBC: Safer cycling 'needed in London'