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MCC News, Issue 33, Dec 2004 / Jan 2005

Results of the Commuter Challenge!

Paulo Camara of LBM would like to thank you all for taking part in this Commuter Challenge event - the opening of the Merton Good Going Week.I hope you all had fun and enjoyed it as much as I did! The weather couldn't have been better!

Results here - not surprising the cyclists won in all four 'races'. Well done!

From South Wimbledon, it was as quick on the bike as on the Tube - 5 minutes. From Raynes Park it took only 10 minutes by bike, whereas the second quickest mode was the runner arriving in 14 minutes, beating the car at 16 minutes. In fact, the 3 runners arrived at the Civic Centre before the car. This is a very interesting result. Could we say that runners are faster than cars.....or that cars are slower than runners!?

When comes to public transport we had a mix of results - when we look at the bus - the Mitcham bus user was really well despite the fact that she took two buses to get here - and she did as quick as the runner in 19 minutes!

However the bus user from Raynes Park was not that lucky and had to wait for the bus for over 1/2 hour. This is a reality that most bus users face and that puts off many people using the bus. The way of seeing this in that busses bunch because of heavy traffic. So the more people shift from cars to buses the more reliable busses will become. But this requires a bit of persuasion from us - transport planners, bus operators etc.

The only tram user - from Parkway did not bad given that he needs to add to his tram journey a good 10-12 minute walk from Morden Rd Station.

Surprisingly the walkers did really well and have shown that walking can be almost as fast as motorised modes - the walker from South Wimbledon arrived just as quick as the bus user.

The walker from Raynes Park arrived before the bus user. And the walker from Mitcham Parkway arrived only 15 minutes after the car driver.

Unfortunately the walker from Sutton couldn't make it.

The message is - CYCLING IS THE FASTEST and MOSTRELIABLE MODE OF TRANSPORTIN URBAN AREAS.

I really don't know why people do not take cycling more seriously and commute on the bike.

One again thank you all to making the Merton Good Going week start such a success.

Paulo Camara, Transport Planner,

London Borough of Merton

Be Safe & Be Seen!

Staggered Crossing Part 2

I think the front page article of MCC News (issue 32 Oct/Nov’04) is missing the bigger picture!

Firstly I presume the idea of a staggered crossing (good or bad) is that groups of pedestrians can cross one carriageway and then wait for the lights in safety while waiting for the lights to cross the other carriageway. Actually I see nothing wrong with this - but then I am not a Danish planner!

What is the problem in the particular crossing opposite Wimbledon station is the fact that it would appear that despite being a staggered crossing it also seems to have traffic lights arranged for straight crossing which then seem to be on for an inordinate amount of time.

As a law abiding cyclist I wait at the lights to the point of irritation. But the effect on the traffic (I use the buses, and I also walk) is dire as a result - the traffic piles up to well beyond the pedestrian lights opposite Centre Court right down Hartfield Road. Often it is difficult to cross because of the stalled traffic, and to cycle through this "jam" is also a potentially dangerous process.

If the staggered crossing really had two stages (like everywhere else it seems to me) with a shorter crossing time for the two carriageways then life would be simpler and safer.

By the way I have never seen a cyclist use this crossing - if you are coming out of Wimbledon station you can use the taxi route to go up Wimbledon Hill. Laurie North

Response to this from Richard Evans:

My answer to his point is that we favour straight across in one go because it means less waiting for cyclists and peds - and more waiting for cars - in other words it prioritises the environmentally benign modes, and helps them to become more attractive options.

Mystery PPP Ride.