Something Is Going On In Berkshire...

I had almost forgotten that Transport for London was involved in off street trials of dutch style roundabouts. it seems there is a bit more being looked at.

A real live British-Dutch roundabout!
Image from TRL.

The BBC is running an item on its website reporting the trials being undertaken by the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) into the operation of Dutch-style roundabouts. However, it seems that TfL has asked TRL to look at quite a few things.

TRL list the following things being trialled;

• Segregated cycle lanes
• Low level cycle signals
• Ways of turning right for cyclists
• Bus stop island
• Dutch style roundabouts
• High level signals
• RFID cycle detection by HGVs

Look, there are even TfL's double red clearway lines, but perhaps a
bit too much hi-vis to be truly Dutch!
Image from BBC News.

Each trial has its own little page on TRL's website and it all seems to be interesting and encouraging. There is also a form on TRL's website for people to register interest as a participant in the trials - I think I will be filling this in myself!

TfL was criticised by many people for its design for the roundabout on Lambeth Bridge North and a huge amount of objections led to the scheme being put on hold while further work was done - seems like this was the tipping point to getting this trial under way.

I have read through the various pages on TRL's website and there is a chilling phrase "subject to Department for Transport Approval"; the DfT doesn't like change to happen too quickly (if at all), so I hope that TfL and the Mayor will genuinely push these ideas hard to the on-street phase. 

Low level signals.
Image from TRL website.

Looking at the roundabout, there are Dutch-style markings to show cycle priority where the cycle tracks cross the carriageway and Belisha beacons being used in the "wrong" place. This is the kind of thing over which DfT takes in a sharp intake of breath - but, I think we need to trial these markings to see how it might translate into English (why invent something new?) and cannot wait to see the outcomes.

Right, time to hit the mean streets to work - I wonder what my journey may look like in ten years' time...

Right You Blasted Politicians, You Damn Well Need To Act!

The all party parliamentary cycle group has published its report following the "get britain cycling" inquiry. For me, there is a huge amount of evidence-based detail and expert view, but the one thing which shines through for me is that politicians of all parties and at all levels need to get off their backsides and provide leadership.

The full report by Professor Phil Goodwin can be accessed here, with the summary and recommendations accessed here. This blog will not debate the detail, but I want to cover three things.

First, here are two paragraphs from the foreword to the summary by Ian Austin MP and Julian Huppert MP;

"Above all, we need a bold vision from government that puts people first. We need those strolling the corridors in Westminster, throughout Whitehall departments and in town halls around the UK to recognise the powerful case for substantial investment in cycling, and the huge benefits this would deliver for town and countryside alike."

and;

This generation of politicians has the chance to be long remembered for having a vision for cycling that includes us all.

Second, the summary recommendations are;

• A new priority for investing public funds
• Redesigning our roads, streets and communities
• Safe driving and safe speed limits
• Training and education
• Political leadership

Third, there is a petition calling on the Prime Minister and Government to implement these recommendations.

I have still to digest the full report, but as far as the summary goes, I fully endorse the whole lot; and all of us with an interest need to stand united in support. I am sick of not being able to design the schemes I think we should be designing, I am sick of having to weave through stationary traffic and I am sick on not being able take my kids to school, the shops or the park by bike. 

This either feels like a tipping point or a last stand to me...


UPDATE 25TH APRIL 2013

The report was raised by Julian Huppert of the APPCG at Prime Minister's Questions on 24th April which can be viewed here from 29'53". The House was noisy and seemed to try and drown out Huppert with a slightly sarcastic intervention by the Speaker (in my opinion) between the question and the response.

To save you the effort, I have transcribed the exchange;

Dr Julian Huppert

Today sees the publication of the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group's report “Get Britain Cycling” which calls for leadership from the very top on this issue. Will the Prime Minister look at the report, will he make sure that he produces a cross-departmental action plan, will give his personal commitment and leadership to get Britain cycling?

Dave on a bike.
Image from The Guardian.

David Cameron

I don't always agree with what the honourable gentleman says but on this occasion he is absolutely right and the house should heed what he says, we should be doing much more in our country to to encourage cycling, I think the report has many good points in it, I would commend what the Mayor of London has done in London to promote cycling and I hope local authorities follow his lead in making sure that we do more.

The Mayor of London, oh wait, that's Gary Busey.
Image from The Guardian.

So, there we have it, Cameron is not bothered about leading on what is a national issue which touches far more than just transport. He essentially thinks it is down to local authorities to deal with this issue, using the Mayor of London as the example of best practice; and they have all done so well up until now!

Brushing Up On....

I wouldn't normally do this, but as this was such an entertaining show (for an engineer), I thought I would share it.

Motormouth Baker takes a look through tunnels at
about 500 words a minute. Image from BBC iPlayer.

Danny Baker presents a 4-part series on BBC4 called "Brushing Up On....". In the first episode he takes an irreverent look at tunnels and in the next, he will be looking at bridges.

Using archive footage of tunnels and tunnelling, often taken out of context for comedy value, Baker reminds us yet again that there is nothing engineers cannot do.

For those who like their tunnelling raw and primal, there is always crawling through caves;

"For some people, though, it's not enough to wait around like mindless sides of beef while giant corporations build tunnels for them to journey through in style and comfort. No, these folks are the pro tunnel enthusiasts, they take their tunnels where they find them"

Shown Thursdays at 20:30 and Tuesdays at 00:20 and on iPlayer.

Primary School Expansion Means More Traffic, Stupid.

In the last few years, countless primary schools have been sold off around the country, because a falling birth rate meant that they were surplus to requirements. The transport fall-out is coming home to roost.

In my part of London, we had a handful of primary schools close around 5 years ago. Some of the closures resulted in mergers and some closed completely. The "surplus" schools were sold off for housing developments which raised money for the council's capital programme (including some school improvements), but now there is a problem as the birth rate went up around about the same time the closures took place - a big "I told you so" from those who opposed the closures and "we were following government advice" from the local politicians.

The problem is even worse than that - not only do (and still do) local authorities sell of land (including schools), the NHS and other public bodies have been doing the same for a long time (because they are "told" to by government or they otherwise have to cut services) and locally, there are parts of our area with no local primary schools because the house-building has taken place in areas which were not previously densely populated or populated at all.

So, to solve the "problem", we now have "primary school expansion" which is also known as shoehorning more kids into existing sites. Locally, planning consent was granted for the first batch before Easter and will be operational for September - looks less like planning and more like a panicking to me! You just have to Google "primary school expansion" to find out that this is happening up and down the UK. 

There are lots of examples of this expansion programme, such as using some of Dundonald Park in Wimbledon, a school to be over 3 sites in Bristol and an expansion in Sevenoaks, despite traffic and parking concerns. This last one of course is relevant to this blog, but seems to be a re-occurring theme in my area and across the country.

Before I rant on, I would just like to take a step back to look at parent choice. This is the tenet of both the current and previous governments (coming in under Thatcher, continued by Major and then New Labour). The basic idea is that you are free to send the kids to whichever school you like. The good schools will be popular which means that poor schools will have to improve in order to compete - yep, free market economy played out on the education of our children. Mind you, Vincent Cable had a different view a few years' back!

We have all seen the news stories where people move into an area because of the schools, or they lie about where they live (little Johnny really does live with Aunt May next to the school), or they take legal action to get their child into a good school. This is all understandable as parents want the best for their children. I found an interesting article from a few years ago in the Guardian which suggests that choice creates social divide - read it for yourself. Of course, there are catchments for primary schools, but also lotteries are run on places and academies, free schools and faith schools will skew catchments even more.

School Run Fun
Let's play who can actually get their car into the classroom first!

My own view with my kids has been that they go to the local primary school. The other local school is a half-hour walk and so it would have ended up as a drive or a bus journey which would have been madness. 

When I do the school run, it is a 5 minute walk and then I carry on by bike to work! There are people in my street who drive their kids to the other local school and then carry on to work, so that is choice for you.

So, bringing the post back to transport. The short-termist political decisions taken nationally and locally over the last 25 years have basically created the illusion of choice, the free market economy applied to schools, short term planning for school places and the start of privatisation through the academy and free schools dogma. Sitting in all of this and not really reported or debated is the impact on how children travel to primary school. 

In my area of work, we have achieved some high modal shifts from private car to walking in the last 10 years (for primary school travel). In my experience, walking tends to be be the mode shifted to as opposed to cycling - there is a desire from children to be able to cycle, but parents are not happy about the safety on cycling on local roads which is understandable.

Some of the modal shift has been helped with infrastructure such as 20mph zones around schools making parents and children feel safer (subjective safety) - casualties have not (in general) significantly changed as in reality, they are (and have been for years) fairly low around schools anyway (feeling safe is far more important to achieve a modal shift). 

As funding for engineering works has dwindled over the last 5 years or so (and more so since the cuts), I have suggested that schools look away from the school gate for improvements - for example, a zebra crossing over a busy road half a mile from the school may be more helpful than one outside the school gate. Schools which have been been most successful have also taken on the challenge themselves and worked with pupils and parents to effect change, looking at a range of interventions and not always physical measures. In London, TfL has used the STAR system to give accreditation to schools most improving their smarter travel choices - I know locally, competition is high amongst the schools and pupils.

Not a nice place to walk and even less so for cycling. It will only
be getting worse as primary schools expand.

Of course, being able to walk or cycle to school in conditions which feel safe are important and so I am worried that the primary school expansion programme will undo a lot of hard work and indeed investment made over the last 10 years. 

A larger pupil contingent will not only see a proportional increase in children being driven to school, the expanded catchments will mean children coming in from further away and so more likely to be driven. Local authorities are finding funding for the expansions themselves, but very little funding (if any) is being provided to build walking and cycling infrastructure to mitigate the impacts of expansion. 

I have read a number of transport assessments for the first tranche of local expansions and amazingly, none of them are predicted to have any impact on local roads. The consultants preparing the TAs have undertaken parking surveys and they confirm that there is plenty of space within a 5 minute walk. Seriously? No, what is going to happen is many of those driving will cruise around to get a space near the school, or park on restrictions, or junctions or other stupid places and make the experience even worse for those already walking and just forget about cycling.

The TAs also suggest that walking routes are well-established and available for use (having footways along a street seems to be sufficient) with no mention of getting the kids across the roads and junctions. I have yet to read any commentary on cycling provision - the comments are limited to pointing out the lack of cycling provision and therefore the expansion programme assumes that because none is there, no new provision is required.

School run congestion - it will only get worse

I realise that this is more complex than I have presented in this blog, but we have reached this point because of decades of political "leadership" which has only ever looked to the short term and transport to primary schools has been ignored at the highest level. What we are left with now is a situation where we don't have enough school places, schools have been flogged off and now we will end up with large-catchment primary schools and all of the problems this will bring. 

Perhaps it would have been better to accept that population changes over time and to plan long-term. We could have closed a few classrooms when numbers fell (and I just mean close the rooms and turn the heating down low!), so they were ready for population rises. Rather than spending all of out money on closing schools and building extensions, we could have invested in local walking and cycling networks. We would be left with smaller and local primary schools which could be reached by foot or cycle easily. 

But no, business as usual in the UK is to lurch from crises to crises, not worry beyond the next election and woe betide anyone who wants to cut parental choice or the free market economy. We could have had smaller and more local primary schools, all being good where local children could go to school locally - perhaps I am a communist!


UPDATE 23RD APRIL 2013
See, although the transport impact is not mentioned, who was asleep in London to miss the change in birth rate?