20 December (Part 2) - The Wrong ’Un
I hitched a lift to Crook Log with the intention of catching the first bus into Bexleyheath.
A 96 approached and the timetable said it was only 26 minutes to Bluewater so there was a quick change of plan.
Unusually I sat in the front seat upstairs to enjoy the view. It was the most
uncomfortable journey imaginable as the front wheels dropped into a multitude of
potholes. I shall revert to sitting in a middle seat in future which will even
out the bumps. Simple physics!
A short traffic queue at the top of Gravel Hill and a very slow trip through
Dartford stretched 26 minutes to 42. Bus drivers must have the patience of Saints.
Half an hour in Bluewater and £30 lighter I was back waiting for a bus home. Three 96s
arrived in quick succession and after a short delay the second of them opened
its doors. By the time it approached Bexleyheath it was nearly four o’clock and
the bus was crammed full of mainly standing school children.
After going nowhere for five of ten minutes the elderly lady sitting next to me. complete with
shopping trolley and unable to see a window began to panic. “Is this Clocktower” she asked.”
“No, we are approaching the Civic Offices; two more stops.” When we finally got to the
roundabout the reason for the hold up became clear. A succession of pedestrians
was setting the traffic lights to red every few seconds and the traffic queue
extended back over the roundabout impeding progress in every direction. I
watched three cycles of the lights on Erith Road before the bus was able to
force its way on to the roundabout after which it had a clear run into Market Square.
On recent Thursday evenings I have been meeting like minded residents in a pub
in Bexleyheath. An SL3 would be the preferred bus to Lion Road (Councillor
Davey please note) but over the last four weeks the shortest
wait has been 28 minutes. (According to the TfL Bus App because apparently the Elizabeth line terminus
does not justify a departure board.)
I drank nothing in the pub because I ration myself to a maximum of two pints a week and
I had already reached that limit.
While there I was recognised and the conversation moved from bus delays to road
congestion by design and from there the knockout punch. “Why do you think
Bexley’s Highways Department is based on lies and incompetence?” (As if the latter is not obvious to all.)
I trotted out the old story about Andrew Bashford using Transport Research
Laboratory reports to justify making Abbey Road
more dangerous than it was
before but I was met with scepticism if not total disbelief. At this stage I
began to think the lady was Andrew Bashford’s sister or something. I said I
would send her the evidence which I would except that I do not have any contact
details. So here’s something that has not been published before…
23rd July 2009.
That of course was before he knew that my son was Technical Lead of the Department that published it
and at the time Co-Chairman of the European Union’s Committee on road transport related things.
For obvious copyright reasons I cannot publish TRL’s reports and the best
that can be done to
prove I have read them is show you the two front covers.
The accompanying reply said that Bexley Council’s response to my complaints was “meaningless”.
I, along with most Bexley residents, may have been successfully blinded by
Bexley’s science but not the report authors.
The reply did not come until the 28th due to duties in Brussels.
For a more recent example of idiocy which every Bexley driver will have
experienced I refer readers back to the 96 bus trip from Bluewater to Bexleyheath.
In
March 2018, soon after those traffic lights began their reign of terror over
Watling Street, Labour Leader Stefano Borella voiced his concerns.
Andrew Bashford defended his madcap idea by saying that the lights didn’t hold
up traffic for long, forgetting that any one of the four going red holds up
traffic on all four entry and exit points.
I wonder if there is a TRL report on that too?
Note: Readers unfamiliar with Bexleyheath may wish to know
that The Wrong ’Un is a Wetherspoons pub and the SL3 not-so
Express bus stops
right outside.