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London travel watchdog calls for impact of cycle superhighways to be assessed

Is London TravelWatch representing cyclists as it should?

London TravelWatch has called for a comprehensive assessment of the positive and negative effects of cycle superhighways to be carried out. The request features within a document entitled   “10 key policies to keep Londoners moving” which has been produced by the capital’s travel watchdog ahead of mayoral elections.

The organisation, which is supposed to represent all modes of transport in the capital, says it hopes that the priorities identified within the document will be reflected in mayoral manifestos.

Point two, which centres on “a road network that makes the best use of scarce capacity,” reads:

Without action, congestion will worsen as traffic grows and capacity is reduced to facilitate town centre, cycle and road safety schemes. To make best possible use of the available space:

  • A planned and co-ordinated approach to reducing road traffic demand is needed, which considers all measures including road pricing
  • Pedestrian needs should not be forgotten. They need clear, level, continuous pavements
  • To reduce casualties, speed limits should be lowered, dangerous junctions remodelled and HGVs made more suitable for London’s roads
  • A comprehensive assessment of the positive and negative impacts of the new cycle superhighways should be carried out.

Strikingly, that is the only time cycling is mentioned in the document.

London TravelWatch has previously come in for criticism for the way in which it has represented cyclists. In November, Valerie Shawcross, chair of the transport committee at the London Assembly wrote to the watchdog’s chair, Stephen Locke, to say:

“Cycling organisations in London have long campaigned to improve the safety of London’s roads, and in particular to help reduce the number of collisions between buses and cyclists. Some concerns have been expressed to us that London TravelWatch has not sufficiently taken the interests of cyclists into consideration, when determining the organisation’s priorities and policy positions.”

The Green Party’s Darren Johnson also expressed concerns following a meeting in January.

“Cycling is the fastest growing mode of transport in London. London TravelWatch has a statutory duty to represent all users of London’s transport system but unfortunately up until now it appears to have been either silent on issues that matter to cyclists or it has opposed schemes to encourage cycling, such as the superhighways.”

However, earlier this month representatives met with Stop Killing Cyclists. The campaign group has previously been critical, but said the meeting had been broadly positive and that London TravelWatch had seemed genuinely open and interested in hearing about transport issues from a cyclist’s perspective.

Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.

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Donnachadh McCarthy | 8 years ago
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Stop Kiling Cyclists have contacted the Chair of Policy at LTW to raise our unhappiness at this report, which fails completely to address the safety of cyclists and the expressed wishes of over 60% of Londoners who say they want to cycle but are afraid to, due to lack of protected infrastructure.
The policy officer for London Travel Watch is an extremist vehicular cyclist - opposed to all protected cycle lanes.
Whilst our meeting with their chief-executive and Chair of Policy  last month to lobby them to address their failure to deal with cycling travel issues was constructive, we expected that it would take some months before their policy making / decision processes would produce results.
Thus we have agreed to an update meeting in 5 months time to review progress. It was the first time any cycling campaign group had approached them to challenge them on their failure to deal with cycling travel issues.
 

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mmag1 | 8 years ago
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Does anyone seriously think there was no business case before the superhighway was approved and there isn't going to be an evaluation once it is fully operational? Nothing more than  empty posturing by Zac and the self appointed representatives of no one at LTW.

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brooksby | 8 years ago
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I'd read before that London Travelwatch wasn't that fussed about cycling as a mode of - er - travel, so this surprises me not at all.

On the other hand, at least London *has* an organisation like this (even if it is a bit rubbish vis-a-vis cycling...).

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