Haringey Living Streets are disappointed and have a knack for understatement

[Adrian Essex]

I know because I received this email from them https://aaf1a18515da0e792f78-c27fdabe952dfc357fe25ebf5c8897ee.ssl.c..." class="CToWUd a6T"/> Dear Adrian, Please find below a message from the Haringey Living Streets group. We would like to ask you to join us on Tuesday, 22 September at 7.30-8.30pm for our next meeting. Details to join the call are at the bottom of this email. We are very disappointed at the lack of progress in providing safe walking and cycling routes in Haringey at the start of the school year, and as residents have returned to work. We raised concerns in a statement in July with Haringey Council and TFL that urgent action was needed on active travel, to ensure that our public transport routes weren’t overwhelmed, and that our roads didn’t become congested with cars. This last week was a crucial moment and yet we have an absence of school streets, of protected cycling lanes, and low traffic neighbourhoods, despite the borough securing over £1m for emergency transport measures. 53% of households have no access to a car, many are being advised by employers not to use public transport, and as a borough we have provided them with no alternative. Those who have access to a car will drive more, and those who don’t will have to risk public transport or unsafe walking and cycling routes. At the same time we have seen boroughs across London move ahead with the agenda at speed. We are calling on the Council now to urgently support the following actions Install a minimum of 10 school streets, which include the closure of roads outside schools during pick up and collection time (not pavement widening) Self-fund a cheap low traffic neighbourhood in the borough with its own funds – this should be targeted in areas of higher social deprivation, where air quality is often worse Install protected cycle lanes along the routes of Haringey’s tube lines to ensure that residents have safe environmentally friendly alternatives to public transport Before our meeting on 22 September, we would like to ask all members to contact their local councillors to share these actions. Please copy us in, and ideally share photos and examples with your councillors to illustrate just how important safe walking and cycling routes are to you. In mid-October Haringey’s walking and cycling plans are being presented to Haringey’s cabinet. At our next meeting, we would like to discuss how we can mobilise Haringey residents to speak to their councillors and let them know just how urgently these measures are needed. Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85312926861?pwd=a1ZzUkgxakVWcS9jT1EyTUhVU... Meeting ID: 853 1292 6861 Passcode: 428344 We look forward to speaking to you on 22 September. Best wishes, Haringey Living Streets

[Mark Crouch End]

The problem - transport in the covid world - is a real one, which the options offered fall somewhat short of addressing.

The school streets might help a tiny bit with traffic, having a single LTN in Tottenham won't at all, and the extra cycling routes? Well, to come to the aid of the ex-public transport users you'd have to increase cycling by three orders of magnitude. Won't happen overnight chums.

Meanwhile, London traffic, according to the report I read the other day, is already peaking at 150% on Sept 2019 numbers, with worse to come.

There are only 3 answers. 1. Shutdown the traffic (road pricing?), 2. Increase public transport closer to normal (despite covid), 3. Tell everyone to stay at home.

[David Winskill]

I'm beginning to wonder if TfL's current service levels are as good as they are ever going to get.

TfL's total 20/21 budget is £9.7bn. Strip out capital costs and capital spend and the operating costs come out at £6.6bn. This is nicely and nearly balanced by the money we spend on fares (£5.1bn) added to "other income" - rents, advertising etc (£1.2bn)

COVID has massively reduced the number of journeys in London and hence TfL's income.

A few months ago a grudging Grant Shapps bailed out TfL and applied some pretty tough conditions to allow TfL to run the current level of service. 

It is clear that any move back to work will be slow and a lot of London workers will never return - either because they will continue to work at home or, sadly, will have no job to go back to. From what I am seeing on the roads at peak times, more and more people will be driving/car sharing for their journey to work and back home. All of this adds up to a pretty heavy hit on TfLs income.

Unless the government acknowledges the environmental threats of a significantly reduce level of bus and tube services and sticks its hand in its pocket, all the cycle lanes in the world will do little to ward of a significant increase in private car journeys and the concomitant environmental impact.

[Mark Crouch End]

Shapps's TfL support package runs out on Oct 17th. Not long. The official review of TfL's finances by KPMG should have concluded by now. I guess we're about to find out what comes next. Perhaps we'll begin again with Andrew Gilligan? Aslef is already balloting its members, but what effect a rail strike in a pandemic? In space no one can hear you steam.

[Adrian Essex]

Mama Moose is not given to understatement