It’s not very often that we get to see concerns aimed at traffic calming schemes such as cycle lanes and pedestrianisations, especially those which have been debunked time and time again and are not well-founded in the first place, be quelled this efficiently and succinctly.
But at least that’s what happened in Camden. The north London borough council undertook a public consultation earlier this year on the proposed pedestrian and cycling improvements on Clerkenwell Road, some of the changes also including included improvements to public realm in the area, as well as changes to parking and loading.
The consultation report which has recently been made available to the public, includes a list of concerns and the council officers’ responses to those. One of those concerns came from a business owner, who claimed that the reduced parking space on Warner Street would have a negative impact on their business.
The council officer’s response, originally shared on Twitter by Politico correspondent Jon Stone, is what has grabbed a lot of cyclists’ attention, and we’d say, rightly so.
The officer replied, first noting that only the proposed changes meant that the parking space would only be reduced by 15 metres, still leaving 47 metres of paid parking space on Warner Street.
They added: “There is evidence that businesses often overestimate the proportion of their business that comes from people who come by car. For example, a survey conducted by the London Borough of Waltham Forest found that businesses on Lea Bridge Road in Walthamstow thought that 63% of customers were travelling to their businesses by car. In reality, only 20% of customers travelled by car to the area. This is just as likely to be the case in Zone 1 (Camden) as it is in Zone 3 (Waltham Forest).
“In London, as well as other cities, up to 80% of shoppers go to town centres by modes other than a car: walking is the most important mode for accessing local town centres.
“Evidence from TfL, in fact, shows that just 7% of Londoners’ shopping trips to destinations in Camden, including in the Clerkenwell Road area, are made by car. Conversely, more than a quarter of such trips are made by public transport, and two thirds by walking and cycling. In addition and as described in the preceding chapter, 85% of Camden residents’ trips are not made by car. It is, therefore, unlikely that a significant volume of people visiting businesses in the Clerkenwell Road area are arriving by car.
“Officers, therefore, consider that the proportion of people travelling to the Clerkenwell Road area by car is low and that the proposed paid for parking facilities, would be sufficient to accommodate those who do choose to travel by car. The Clerkenwell Road area is well served by bus routes and a railway and tube station, providing a high level of public transport accessibility for those who are able/need to use those services. The proposed changes include the addition of new cycle parking stands to make it easier for cyclists to access local businesses. There are also multiple “shared transport” facilities in the area including Santander cycle hire, and e-scooter/e-bike hire parking bays.
“The measures make it easier for people to walk and cycle to businesses along the Clerkenwell Road corridor and surrounding area. This means that visitors to local businesses have an opportunity to choose to travel by a more sustainable mode of travel and that the corridor can be reached easily and safely without using a car.”
And as mentioned before, cyclists on social media can’t get enough of it.
“Can that be extended to the waltham forest team that spent weeks on lea bridge road asking businesses and their customers to get the evidence?”
“Not surprising at all. Studies concluded business owners tend to hugely overestimate how many of their customers drive to their shops.”
“But Jon, that’s just facts and figures, why should we believe that above anecdatal evidence?”
The post was retweeted by Tower Hamlets Living Street, who captioned it: “This is what we need to see!”, as well as Westminster Cycling Campaign.
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It's been one hell of a ride Cav, thanks for letting us share some of it.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/nov/09/mark-cavendish-final-race-...
Do floating bus stops work?
They work very well as a form of transport infrastructure in Europe
They work extremely well as a battlefront in the latest anti-cycling culture wars in the UK
Which league do they play in?
RE: “They work fine in Europe so why not here?”: Are floating bus stops a “non-issue” or is there scope for design improvement?
Obviously they don't work here because we're not in Europe!
The one in the video is the 2nd or 3rd rate design (apparently called a "Copenhagen-style" one here - apparently common in Copehagen, see detailed article here). That is definitely inferior to the style more commonly seen in NL (see a whole article and video on those ones).
The "problem" with the latter style is it needs a bit more space. Very often in the UK this space does actually exist - why aren't we willing to "find" it? "Of course we can't have other traffic waiting behind a bus!" or the more subtle "we can't narrow the main carriageway - because of the width required by buses!" (bus companies lobby too).
Plus some recent noise from lobby groups on bus stops - with a range of opinions from "these are untried in the UK and we have concerns" to "NO! It's an assault on the elderly, blind and those with disabilities!"
Some concern is valid - those in the latter three groups are normally more affected by changes. It will probably take a generation of "new problems" e.g. some "conflict" (startled, angry and upset people and probably even crashes) until everyone has adapted and adopted new social conventions around cycle infra. Just like when cars appeared. Sadly this is further delayed by the UK's mixing of pedestrians and cyclists, inconsistent infra designs and glacial rate of deploying new infra.
I came here to basically write the same thing, the floating bus stop near me has a very narrow cycling lane between a very narrow pavement and a very narrow bus stop waiting area. It's not an enjoyable experience to cycling it and I imagine it's not a very nice experience walking past it or waiting for a bus. The devil is in the details and we don't really consider walkers, cyclist or bus users in this country other than a box ticket exercise and the box at the top is 'don't take anything away from drivers and motorists'.
Pogacar team use Shimano powermeters that are well known for their lack of accuracy from what I hear...
I'm more curious about Remco taking amphetamines (for his ADHD) these drugs are powerful performance enhancers!
woah, Remco has a TUE for amphetamines? Oh come on...