21 July - Trains are cancelled regularly and their managers follow suit at meetings
It was announced at the Transport Users’ Sub-Committee
meeting last night that we were to be treated to “an experiment”. The desks were
placed in a horseshoe shape - better - and the microphones were not going to be
used. It worked quite well. Bexley Council’s sound system is a long way from
being good and causes an echo when listeners are close to the the speaker -
that’s the human speaker, not the wall mounted loudspeaker!
Whether someone depending on the hearing loop would be happy is another matter.
The
Transport meeting is a good one - in theory anyway - because it deals with
things that interest us all and Councillor Clark conducts it in a relaxed and easy going manner, far removed from
her Mayoral days.
Roads, both maintenance and accident statistics, trains, buses and cycling are all up for discussion but yesterday the Safer Transport Team cops did not show up and
neither did the Network Rail and Southeastern bods. The meeting was reduced to little more than buses and
bikes. The Youth Council representatives did not show up either, well what would you expect on the last day of term?
The TfL presentation on new and revised bus routes
(click to see slides photographed from the screen) was the same as the one
delivered to the Crossrail Liaison Panel meeting a month ago so I didn’t learn
an awful lot that was new.
We were reminded that the government had reduced TfL’s grant by £700 million
which will have a big impact and new services “must stack up”. Passenger numbers
have fallen by 5% over the past year which also impacts the budget.
The proposed 301 from Woolwich Arsenal Crossrail station to Bexleyheath via
Abbey Wood’s Crossrail terminus which is currently down to be a large single
decker every 15 minutes is just a tentative proposal and could be a double
decker or the frequency might change. It was felt that some minor works might be
required at the top of Knee Hill and anyone who has been forced into the kerb by
the driver of a descending vehicle who ignores the white line will no doubt agree. There will be trial runs.
All the current proposals will commence service “a few days before” the
Elizabeth Line opens, so that’s somewhere around the middle of December 2018.
The 180 will be extended to Erith Quarry via Erith town centre. At the other end
it will be diverted to North Greenwich as Lewisham would be too long a route
and become unreliable. There will be greater demand around North Greenwich too.
(I’d be showing my age if I recall how the 15 passed my office every few minutes on its way from
East Ham White Horse to Ladbroke Grove not many years ago.)
Travellers needing to get to a Crossrail station will want to do so quickly
hence the more direct routing and the increased use of main roads. (I assume the TfL man has never seen the queue in Long Lane in the morning rush hour.) TfL
thought that Welling residents would take the bus to Woolwich Arsenal. Bexley
Councillors familiar with the congestion in Plumstead thought they wouldn’t.
Councillor Stefano Borella advocated a direct Welling to Abbey Wood bus, “it’s
not very far”. He is not wrong.
Councillor John Davey who lives by the top end of New Road (it runs parallel to
Knee Hill) was critical of the meandering B11 bus route and “it takes too long to
get to Bexleyheath”. He is right of course but at the moment it is the quickest
way to get to Bexleyheath from Abbey Wood station. He was also right when he
said there would be a massive movement to the 301 with its promise of a quicker
connection. He advocated a double deck 301; right again.
Naturally this prompted the naysayers about the use of Knee Hill.
Well straighten the kink at the top then! (The TfL
bus consultation is open until 17th September.)
From new bus routes the meeting moved on to old ones. As must be fairly well
known by now the 96 bus to Blue Water (running nonstop from Dartford) will divert to Darent Valley Hospital. The
agreement with Kent is not actually signed yet but it is anticipated that the
service will start in September.
The 89 and B15 have become unreliable and it is due to road works in far away Kidbrook Park Road
and the knock on effects in Eltham and Shooters Hill.
When the cyclists took over the agenda all they seemed to want was more and more
parking stands and the continuation of the single narrow temporary lane at the
northern end of Harrow Manorway which is speed restricted to 20 m.p.h while the
Crossrail related regeneration is underway. Bexley taxpayers have just
provided an extra 38 cycle parking bays across the borough. More are on the way.
With no railway industry presence, Councillors were reduced to talking
trains among themselves. Councillor Davey reminded everyone that there will be no trains to
any of the regular terminals while London Bridge station goes through a critical
phase. No one could remember the dates. (It’s Saturday 26th August to Saturday 2nd September.)
Councillor
Borella took the opportunity to ridicule
the lack of twelve car trains long
after they were promised. He was also unhappy - aren’t we all? - about Bexley
residents paying more for Southeastern journeys which end in TfL territory than
any other rail travellers.
Bexley Council is concerned about the loss of North Kent line services to
Blackheath and Lewisham especially with the loss of the 180 bus too.
Cabinet Member for Transport Alex Sawyer has invited all the potential
rail franchisees to come to Bexley as he doesn’t want Bexley residents to be “screwed over” again.
Chairman Clark asked the relevant Council officer to ask Network Rail
to invite the Committee for a look around the new station at Abbey Wood, like
the one I was offered in May.
On road accidents it wasn’t all good news although the relatively small number
of casualties mean that the percentage change can look on the large side.
The number of vehicle collisions is up and the number of seriously injured
casualties with it but the numbers are less than they were between 2005 and 2009.
There are some good points hidden among the figures; child injuries are
down but one must suspect that the reversal of the previous decade’s improving trend is due to
Bexley’s obsession with narrowing roads and poorly designed roundabouts that force dangerous lane changes.
The Chairman is particularly keen on road safety and praised the Lollypop ladies
(Stop means Stop) now under threat from Sadiq Khan’s proposed cut to Bexley’s grant. She
has also been campaigning in schools and elsewhere for child seats not to be
sold second hand. There is no way one can tell if they have been internally
damaged in crashes. However charity shops were not cooperating.
I shall ask my son - when he gets back from a road safety conference in Germany
- who has been professionally involved in car crash tests for many years what
the official position is with second hand seats. Personally I wouldn’t risk any
child in a seat with an unknown history whatever the official line.
Stop means Stop. It is the law that drivers must stop when
directed to do so by a School Crossing Patrol. It is not optional and there have been prosecutions.