please empty your brain below
The 'Maps' section of Tower Hamlets Council's website doesn't work so I'll have to guess that the bus stops are in Bow East ward, in which case the relevant councillors are Amina Ali, Rachel Blake and Marc Francis. Do any of them live in the ward? Do they read Diamond Geezer?
Your local council (through the ward councillors) should be aware of the problem and, like you, should be putting pressure on TfL.
I get continual moans from a friend about similar things at Elephant & Castle.
just walk to the other stop, it's really not that far
the benefits of having more people cycle in london far outweigh the small inconvenience of walking to the next stop
given your lefty politics, maybe you should stop thinking about your little patch of the bow road and think about the bigger picture of london transport.
(If anything, he might be anti- private motoring. A long time ago I thought his occasional references to 'jamjar days' were about going for a car ride somewhere. How wrong I was about that! Turned out he was actually talking about a jamjar)
But experience in, say, Amsterdam or Copenhagen shows that cycling can, if properly provided for, make a useful contribution to the mobility and ambience of a city. With such proper provision, everyone, not just the cyclists, benefits.
It ought to be perfectly possible to introduce cycle-safe infrastructure without making life worse for other transport users. In this case my beef is with those implementing the changes, not the cyclists (who are being made to ride down a dangerous carriageway while all these roadworks are completed).
Straying a bit off topic, as a cyclist (and motorist) myself whilst I generally welcome schemes like this, I can't help thinking that some of the budget could be better spent on policing of our roads as driving standards have definitely declined of late. Maybe with a deterrent i.e. the likelihood of getting caught, drivers would be less prone to speed, jump red lights (yes, cyclists too), use mobile phones etc, as a result of which cyclists would feel safer without the need for segregation?
Which is why you stated in your post, "Thanks cyclists, you did this.".
In the light of that statement, Alan's comments are understandable.
I believe the only groups objecting against the superhighways are the City of London, Canary Wharf and The Royal Parks. This is not surprising as they have their own interests to protect. I do wonder if TfL are banking on re-routing the 25 bus with no fuss or objections because the majority of the people it will impact don't know it's happening. Maybe TfL have done a letter drop to all houses in different languages explaining the pros and cons?
If TfL wanted to build a superhighway along Kings Road or re-route a bus in Hampstead, I'm sure the local residents would be consulting thoroughly with TfL.
The 25's disappearance is likely the fault of us pesky pedestrians wanting to cross the road safely, and nothing to do with cycling.
It is also worth noting that I understand the route 25 contact is only awarded for 3 years (not the usual 5 plus potential 2 year extension) and retains existing diesel buses. People had been expecting new hybrid buses at some point. Given route 25 enters the ULEZ which goes live in 2020 and Crossrail opens in 2019 it looks to me like radical changes to the 25 will happen in 2019 most likely splitting the route somewhere near Aldgate or Whitechapel. This will be the umpteenth time that the 25 corridor has had such route splits on it.
"That an organised & articulate special interests group gets its way at the expense of local people who are not as well organised, articulate or aware of local changes.
The same could be said of most development, especially that which is backed by statutory powers (e.g. compulsory purchase). In Bow, you only have to look at the Olympics and what that necessitated e.g. displacement of existing local businesses.
However, in this case, it's not so much a "special interests group" being the instigator of change but a belated and dawning realisation amongst politicians (and others) that to continue with current transport policies, with cities grinding to a halt inter alia, is not going to work in the long run, something which was realised in the Netherlands back in the 1970s and elsewhere since.
There are other considerations too. Only this week, the poor air quality in London was highlighted in the BBC news, something which a change of mode towards walking and cycling will help with.
Since the Tory cutbacks started, there are now only two buses a day, to the nearest small market town, in my parents' village in Shropshire, plus one bus a week to Hereford (on Wednesdays, summer only).
So a furlong is more than 201 metres.
By "Tory cutbacks" I mean since 2010. Before 2010 there were 10 buses per day. Now there aren't. The village hasn't changed since then - it has an elderly population with some social housing and younger people - all of whom have to arrange lifts now.
I sympathise somewhat with Alan, who seems to have been stung into a sharp response by the introductory sentence. (I did briefly wonder if DG was employing the time-honoured journalistic trick of beginning with something startling to make me keep reading.)
Alan’s reference to DG’s high horse conjures up a mental picture of DG (unidentifiable of course) clip-clopping along Bow Road, having given up on public transport.
This means that during TfL's so-called consultation there have been no fewer than three neighbouring stops all designated as 'M'. Similarly, the PDF shows two neighbouring westbound stops designated as 'L'. I'm surprised there aren't rules against duplicating lollipop letters in the same area, especially on the same route in the same direction.
All these shenanigans mean that the consultation (which TfL had to update soon after its launch) is now fatally flawed. Whether this is a result of incompetence or a wish to make the process confusing and opaque, it's unacceptable. The consultation should be cancelled, fully corrected to reflect the reality on the ground, and then re-launched. Pending the outcome, the non-express 25 service should be restored.
One is the reduction in BSOG (Bus Service Operator Grant) meaning marginal services are less likely to survive. Second is changes to the National Concessionary Fare Schemes in England / Wales / Scotland which have pulled down reimbursement rates for operators thus imperiling services. There have also been wide fluctuations in fuel prices. Several old independent operators have sold up / closed down because there were no family members willing to continue the businesses in the face of increased costs and lower revenue. Finally we have had the pressure on local authority spending and the scale of cuts has been such that a growing number of authorities have had to scrap / vastly reduce spending on socially necessary services.
All of the above has combined to create a massive massive crisis for bus users outside London. You're probably OK-ish if you live on or near a profitable corridor in a large town or city (ideally with a big university or two). Beyond that things look dire and the Chancellor's increasing "fiddling" in bus policy and no clarity about what the "Buses Bill" will contain is damaging investment in bus companies.
If these problems were affecting the railways or car users there'd be riots in the street and a lot of stressed politicians. The fact it affects millions of bus users seems to be neither here nor there politically.
It is also just worth stating that London's bus network will plunge into crisis if Mr Osborne does what is threatened and withdraws all revenue grant for TfL. You simply cannot find £350m overnight to deal that scale of loss and don't forget the £250m worth of concessions for older people, the disabled, children, students, veterans, 60+ etc where the costs fall greater on the bus network. Either concessions are scrapped (politically dangerous for any new Mayor), fares go up hugely (say £2.60 flat fare) and services are slashed or else Mr Osborne is told the "facts of life" about how the bus network supports a massive amount of economic activity. His obsession with "infrastructure" and ignorance about funding services (other than through high fares and charges) poses a great risk to transport services in this country. He is clueless.
Yeah...wonder if bus/taxi drivers said that about bus lanes
And also this "Btw, cyclists please remember that there are many who cannot ride bicycles,or leap out of their way when they take a 'shortcut' over the pavements!"
I have experienced this in my neck of the world.
Further, the design for London, with PT users stuck on an island in the middle of the road between whizzing cyclists and cars is wrong on all levels. It means that mobility / visually impaired people will have to negotiate two sets of kerbs. It means that those waiting for a bus are crowded on to a small landmass, with limited egress if they need it in a hurry. And they have to wait for cyclists before they can move from island to footpath. Surely each island should have a crossing giving PT users right of way from island to footpath?
TfL's consultation on Route 25 has been amended (and extended by a fortnight)
https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/buses/route-25-bow/consult_view
Update - 13 October 2015
Changes to Bow Church and Bow Flyover bus stops
As a result of the Cycle Superhighway 2 upgrade, bus stop M (Bow Flyover) is now closed and bus stops E and G at Bow Church have been amalgamated into one stop, which has been re-designated as bus stop M.
Route 25 will continue to serve this new stop M, as will all other routes that previously served stops E and G. These changes do not affect the proposals for route 25.
The consultation has now been extended to Friday 30 October.
Confirmation that Old Bus Stop G is New Bus Stop M. And an extra fortnight to whinge about the 25's diversion.
One for Geofftech's 'Secrets of Route 25'? Almost as good as the one where you board a northbound tube, get off at the next station, change to another northbound one and find the next stop is the one you started from...
.... kidding.
(but maybe i should?)
I'm counting. Is this not obvious?
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