A better Cycle and Bus solution where Baylis Rd meets Waterloo Rd

There is a consultation open until 21 December on the Baylis Rd / Waterloo Rd junction. Please read this blog and respond proposing what I suggest, or similar.

My mother rang me from the top deck of a bus some twenty minutes after we'd left the theatre on Strand. I had cycled home but she was still on Strand, her bus stuck behind an endless sea of black cabs, many empty.

I was reminded of this yesterday when I attended an Urban Design London course that looked at the junction of Baylis Road and Waterloo Road and the difficulties of creating a satisfactory cycling Quietway on this designated route, a B road used by a considerable number of commuter cyclists, buses and taxis.

The Quietway at this point is part of Lambeth's flagship London Cycle Network route 3. Approaching the junction with Waterloo Road you cross a taxi access, and most taxis here are empty or have just one passenger - hardly London's mass transit solution:

From here the cyclists move across the Keep Clear area to the cycle lane you can just see between the two vans, to access the Advanced Stop Line at the traffic lights. The traffic lights may turn green as the cyclist approaches, which presents a challenge if s/he wishes to turn left.

 You can see why it needs to be upgraded to become a Quietway for 'Near Market' cyclists ( think taxi users who don't currently dare cycle in London and children going to secondary school who have undertaken on-road Bikeability cycle training in Year 6 primary).

The plan out for consultation until December 21st looks like this:

Yes, it's the same bar a minor detail or two as before.

The 'near market' orange cyclist riding up the Quietway emerges from the left hand semi-segregated cycle lane and still crosses to the green lane in the middle as some red motor traffic (many buses) from the general traffic lane crosses, contra-wise, to the left hand lane. Blue taxis emerge from or enter the side road across the hatched yellow box.

No-one felt this was a good scheme, but the engineers had failed to come up with something better.

Last night I think I did, and I'd like you to propose this, or similar, in your consultation reply.

Let's look at the context. The blue circle shows the junction and we are concerned primarily with the movement from the bottom left. The red lines shows the Quietways. The black lines show the principal taxi entrances and exits for Waterloo Station. The Green line shows the A road approach from the Quietway towards the Imax roundabout, for Waterloo Bridge or continuing across towards Blackfriars.

The first thing to note is that there is no need for general traffic making its way from Lambeth North to the Imax roundabout to use Baylis Road, a B road, and turn left at the end onto Waterloo Road. Any deliveries to that short stretch can be made by travelling up the Waterloo Road from Westminster Bridge Road or from the Imax roundabout.

Secondly, taxis have a traffic light controlled entrance and corresponding exit onto the A road, away from the Quietway. Why ever should we provide taxis, a hugely inefficient form of mass people transit, with two entrances and exits to the station, to the detriment of bus, cycle and foot journeys?

The overwhelming majority of people who take taxis could (my observation suggests) reasonably be expected and encouraged to use public transport, cycle or walk instead. People who need or wish to take taxis still have a perfectly adequate entrance and exit from the station.

We now have a segregated cycle track, shown in green below, running to the junction (stop line moved back to wider road width section allowing space for a traffic light island). There is a bus-only left-turn lane, shown in red, and a straight-on general traffic lane to its right.

Buses are released to turn left while cyclists and the general traffic lane are held at red. Buses don't get held back by taxis and other general traffic turning left into Waterloo Road or on Waterloo Road. At the same time traffic can turn right into Baylis Road from Waterloo Road. The bus lane light, and the corresponding light from Waterloo Road, then go red.

Cyclists then get a green to go straight-ahead or left at the same time as the general traffic gets a green to go straight ahead. There is no turning conflict for cyclists with taxis for Waterloo, nor at the traffic lights, and they get their own time on Waterloo Road separate from buses. (A two stage right turn into Waterloo Road can also be accommodated). This is a child suitable 'near market cyclists' Quietway design.

Cyclists can also have a Quietway link into and out of Waterloo via Lower Marsh (the yellow lines). There could be a larger cycle hire docking station here too.

Buses, general traffic and cyclists aren't inconvenienced or put at risk by taxis turning into Waterloo Station.

Pedestrians have improved public realm between Waterloo Road and Lower Marsh.

Taxi users can still use Waterloo Station at the same cab rank. Some taxi journeys may be a tad longer to exit the station, but I think that's acceptable given their relative inefficiency as a mass form of transport.

All premises remain accessible by motor vehicle.

Finally, let's look at how this matches up to Lambeth's Transport Plan (2011):

The scheme ticks the boxes. Please respond to the consultation NOW proposing an alternative along the lines I set out is provided.

UPDATE
a) I estimate that there is room for the necessary traffic control islands if the stop line is roughly where the line is for the existing ASL (i.e. where motor vehicles currently stop on red)

b) This  TfL PDF gives some interesting information on Taxi use:

c) From the comments below, there appears to be a clear opportunity to avoid wasting drivers's time in the station through providing a drop off point or two outside.

Are so many taxi journeys really needed?

Many streets in Waterloo (such as The Cut) swarm with taxis, frequently making their empty way to the station and I wonder why so many space wasting, air polluting vehicles are needed. Especially on a sunny day like today when a burst water main has caused major congestion in the area.

I decided to spend half an hour between 5.10 and 5.40 pm looking at people walk up to and get into cabs at the Waterloo station rank. The line of cabs stretched back from the rank as usual, round the corner and down to the mini roundabout on Spur Road. The drivers kept their cabs' diesel engines running even though they were stationary for minutes at times - certainly long enough to read an article or two in a paper. Given the high temperatures, the price of fuel, and the harm that the emissions cause to people and the planet I'm amazed the drivers don't switch their engines off while stationary.

During the half hour I looked for:

People for whom a taxi was clearly a sensible option:
a. Those with a heavy burden of luggage - 6 taxis (though a benefit-of-the-doubt call in two instances)
b. People with a clear lack of mobility - 2 taxis

Total: 8 taxis

People for whom an alternative mode of transport seemed to be a reasonable option:
a. solo passengers - 28 taxis (18 female, 10 male passengers)
b. two passengers - 5 taxis
c. three or more passengers - 6 taxis

Total: 39 taxis

Within those 39 taxis there may be people for whom a tube or bus and/or a short walk is not feasible, but I'm guessing that for the great majority it was just a choice, and I'm interested in how they could be persuaded not to choose to take a congesting, polluting taxi.

None of the people looked in a desperate hurry. Some were clearly tourists and some people seemed habitual taxi users here.

For the tourists a carefully positioned desk and interception on the approach to the taxi rank by an official Travel Adviser (similar to the inmidtown scheme) may switch many people to a tube, bus, walk or cycle hire.

I think such a scheme should be trialed by TfL or the local borough(s) as a congestion busting measure, though I am aware that it flies in the face of a capitalist system that doesn't expect entrepreneurs such as taxi drivers to pay the full external costs of their business.

That thought led me to consider how the public transport system is sold here currently - I hope, firstly, that Oyster cards are promoted and sold on the Gatwick Express and other services from airports and ports, with onward public transport advice available - including promotion of relevant apps etc.

In the station itself; as you exit the platform you are met by this sign:

Taxis and Cars are prominently placed; Buses and Travel Information are non-existent.

There is no Travel Information or Tourist Information desk at Waterloo. You go to Victoria for the former, Leicester Square for the latter.

There is however a Rail Information desk - hardly an intuitive place as you leave a railway station to seek bus information, and indeed no bus maps etc. are available there, though a tube map is.

Tourists may well prefer to use an Oyster card rather than try swiping a debit card, but an Oyster card cannot be bought here - you have to go down the escalator to the tube station to buy an Oyster card then come back up to exit the station to catch your bus.

On the approach to the cab rank there is currently this poster on the wall, but is a lengthy walk really the preferred option for someone with a compact wheeled case - and anyway, where's the accompanying map or Legible London signpost?

A public transport map board with an Oyster card machine also seem sensible options to have just by the taxi rank, though I think a Travel Adviser is also needed to really sell more civilized options than city clogging, belching taxis for people leaving the station.

Finding a way to switch even as little as 10% of taxi journeys in London to smarter modes would make such a difference in the centre of London. Let's hope a way can be found to do it.

Network Rail sends clear message to cyclists

 I was going to cycle past the Hire Bikes to the cycle parking at Waterloo Station only there was a Network Rail van parked in the cycle path / pavement that's there because the street is one-way towards you.

Sorry, make that six of their vans.

(The van drivers may have been inspired to park here en-mass having viewed today's post by Freewheeler)

Waterloo Station versus Antwerp Central Station

The London SE1 community website reports the excellent news that 

'A 'cycle hub' offering secure parking along with bicycle sales, hire and repair will open at Waterloo Station before the start of the Olympic Games at the end of July, transport minister Norman Baker confirmed this week.'

Meanwhile Copenhagenize has visited Antwerp and says,

'Not only is Antwerp Central Station the most beautiful train station I've ever seen, they have the most gorgeous and comprehensive bicycle parking facility I've ever seen. Nothing, anywhere, can beat this.'

Check out the Copenhagenzie video and let's see how the cycle hub at the UK's busiest railway station compares when it opens this summer.

Drinking water fountains for Waterloo Station?

At the Vauxhall, Nine Elms, Battersea exhibition the other day I discovered (when a person I gave my name to said 'Ah, it's you') that over fifty people had written in response to Lambeth's consultation asking for drinking water fountains to be installed. I'd written this post and sent it around a bit.

Iwas told that this was the issue cited most often by respondents to the consultation on the Waterloo plans (which shows how few people generally comment) and the Project Manager told me,

I still have to go through a process on the Waterloo documents and expect to be able to publish the final versions in February. As it stands, my intention is to include something on drinking fountains to address the point you made.

Well done to all those who sent an email - let's hope we see free water, prominently positioned and delivered by tap rather than lorries, at Waterloo soon.

By coincidence I'm talking for 7 1/2 minutes about drinking water fountains at the next Movement for Liveable London Street Talks on 6th December.

Demand drinking fountains at Waterloo

94,000,000 litres of bottled water are sold in London each year with a clear knock-on effect on traffic volume and pollution that drinking fountains and taps don't have.

Lambeth Council has two planning/development policies for Waterloo Station and area out for consultation, both ending this Friday 22nd July at 5pm and you might consider dropping the council an email, such as the draft below, asking them to build in a requirement for prominent free drinking water fountains/taps to reduce the dependency on bottled water.


The email, with your name and address at the bottom, should be sent to  MTrevethan@lambeth.gov.uk


Please can the Draft Waterloo Area Supplementary Planning Document and the Waterloo Station and Interchange Draft Development Brief be amended to ensure the prominent and abundant provision of freely available drinking water (fountains or taps) within Waterloo to reduce the traffic, waste, pollution and expense associated with bottled water. It is appalling that Waterloo Station has no public water fountains/taps, given the number of tourists and commuters passing through. Equally the entire South Bank appears to have no working water fountains/taps for public use. Please build in a condition that these taps are not hidden away but are positioned and promoted to the standard that the bottled water manufacturers and retailers achieve.

Waterloo Station Retail Development

Tomorrow evening the South Bank Forum features an update on Network Rail's £10 million project to create 18 new shops on a balcony at Waterloo Station.

According to Network Rail, 70% of all rail users either start or finish their journey in London giving an exquisite opportunity to make filthy great profits from flogging bottled water, shiny paperbacks and the like, brought in by the congesting, noisy, stinking, lorryload.

The opportunity to grossly rack up the profits at the cost of the environment is enhanced if you ensure your stations don't have drinking water fountains or taps for refilling your water bottles, charity shops or libraries.

Let's see what their website says:
Greener stations

We're committed to reducing our environmental impact throughout the infrastructure that we own and operate.
 
Our Commitments:
Achieving sustainable consumption and production
Protecting natural resources
Improving energy efficiency and reducing reliance on fossil fuels
Improving the economic value of the existing railway
Encouraging people to use the railways.

Yeah, right.

Why not ask whether there'll be prominently positioned water taps in the newly refurbished station at the meeting tomorrow night.

Biggest Boris Bike dock to date at Waterloo

 126 bikes are now available to use outside Waterloo Station on Mepham Street. Interestingly the previous cycle lane and pavement have been made into shared space for pedestrians and cyclists. The powers that be have put up the sort of sign that would be sensible to use on the Thames Path.

Waterloo Station cycle entrance

A useful update on cycling developments at Waterloo Station can be found at

http://cyclelondoncity.blogspot.com/2010/11/waterloo-new-giant-cycle-hire-station.html

A new drinking fountain for London

An officer at Lambeth Council's Sustainability Forum this week alerted me to London's first fully approved drinking fountain in 30 years!

The fountain is at the northern end of the wobbly bridge, alongside St Paul’s Churchyard, near the City Information Centre and opposite St Paul’s Cathedral.

It has been installed with the approval of Thames Water, the Water Regulations Advisory Scheme and the Drinking Water Inspectorate. There is a thorough maintenance programme which includes daily cleansing and regular tests to ensure the water is of the highest quality.

This is a trial installation as part of a proposed scheme to introduce new drinking water fountains around the Square Mile and restore the City’s historic drinking fountains. Depending on the success and use of the fountain it could lead to a roll out of similar drinking fountains across the City during 2011.

I therefore urge you to use it and pass on word of its existence far and wide.

A possible design flaw is that it's so discrete as to not shout 'DRINKING FOUNTAIN - USE ME' - something I wondered about another recent fountain in Hyde Park. I can't imagine Evian being so shy in asserting their presence.



A further minor quibble is that it's more of a public tap than a drinking fountain as it's been designed to refill water bottles. and the water flows quite forcefully so it's not ideal for sticking your mouth under.

However, the key point is that visitors to this bit of London have a working, hygienic source of water that isn't in a one-use container and isn't delivered by thundering lorries. I imagine it's been selected as being pretty vandal proof and easy to maintain. Let's hope that hundreds are rolled out across London. Locally, Waterloo Station and the South Bank would be choice places to install them.

Work starts on biggest docking station at Waterloo

Work began today on a 124-space 'super' cycle hire docking station close to the main entrance of Waterloo station.

The new station will be the biggest yet for the Mayor's flagship Barclays Cycle Hire scheme, which now has more than 100,000 members.

The docking station will be installed next to the existing cycle parking facilities on Station Approach between the Victory Arch and central concourse entrances.

It should be operational by mid-December.

Great local sights while cycling - no.3

Waterloo Graffiti Tunnel (aka Leake Street) is a hive of artistic activity with the air heavy with the smell of spray paint. This legal, ever changing studio/gallery under Waterloo Station links Lower Marsh and York Road. It offers an alternative car-free route to the Westminster Bridge Road tunnel, albeit with a bit of pavement at the Lower Marsh end.

A gloomy outlook

A Kennington cyclist recently told me how much she dreaded going into the dark chasm below the Waterloo and former Eurostar lines on Westminster Bridge Road.

Like her I hate this sudden change from light to stygian gloom and the panicky feeling that one day a driver coming out of the light on the multi-lane chicane will run straight into the back of you.

To maintain the suspense Transport for London have arranged things so you normally have to spend a dark minute nervously waiting for the traffic lights in the tunnel to change while taking deep breaths of taxi exhaust.

As you set off you realise you need to move out to the 'fast' lane if you're not going to spend more long minutes of your life breathing diesel particulates while stuck behind a bus at one of London's foulest bus stops.


Transport for London and the rail companies (the overlying cause of the gloom) should be ashamed of themselves for creating such an unpleasant environment for cyclists and pedestrians and not resolving it.

Bizarrely The South Bank Employers Group didn't mention this horror in their draft Cycling Strategy, despite (or maybe because) Netwonk Rail being a member.

This is the kind of dire infrastructure that puts people off active travel and results in hospital admissions for heart disease and obesity surgery. Given that the tunnel is adjacent to St Thomas' Hospital I hope that the Guys and St Thomas' Trust (another member of SBEG) are actively campaigning for improvements. Then again, the lack of reference to this in the thick draft strategy they helped write suggests they're not. Naybe they're scared active travel will put their fat cat consultants out of work and out of their Mercedes? Most likely though, as the largest employer nearby with a particular duty of care to the residents, they just don't consider it any of their business.

No Water in Waterloo Station

The draft South Bank and Waterloo Cycling Strategy, written by The South Bank Employers Group (SBEG), aka POMT (Purveyors of Mindless Tat), under the guidance of its members has this sad comment about Lambeth Council's Road User Hierarchy which puts walking first, cyclists next, then buses, rail, taxis, motorcycles, then freight transport with cars last:

...representatives of the larger businesses that rely on HGVs to transport goods to site raise questions about its specific application to the South Bank area.

Network Rail, owner of Waterloo Station, was a member of the report's steering group. Clearly it is important to keep all the retailers in Waterloo Station stocked with essential products.

Just look at the window of that fine newsagents, W H Smiths. Full of essential water driven in by bloody great lorries.


and on the other side


I stopped counting the number of places flogging bottled water in the station when I ran out of fingers, thumbs and toes.

I didn't spot a single tap or water fountain for the thirsty traveller so I asked at Station Information.

Nope I was told, not one. Nowhere.

Network Rail is a non-profit distributing company set up by the Government. So they needn't whinge about needing to screw the planet to appease their fat-cat shareholders.

So WTF can't they ditch the bottled water, get rid of shedloads of HGVs and simply install taps to the pipes I'm sure they already have in the station. (And likewise at Victoria Station which also hasn't drinking fountains or taps .... and probably all the rest they own)

As for the River Walk - there's clearly no rush to fix an existing fountain when the planet killing landowners can extract rent from planet killer stalls and narrow the walkway with yet another A-board into the bargain.