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MCC News, Issue 49, April/May 2008
Transport boffins focus on cycling in Merton!
Some of the country’s leading transport academics have selected Merton
as a case study for their research into the ‘determinants of bicycle mode
share’. Merton was just one of four places in the country (along with Bradford,
Doncaster and York) selected for the study.
The research (published in ‘Transportation’
issue 35, 2008) which focuses on the journey to work, found a general
‘saturation level’ for bicycle use of 43% (Cambridge has 28%). The physical
conditions of the highway, rainfall and temperature each have an effect on the
proportion that cycles to work, but the most significant physical variable is
hilliness.
The boffins included Merton in their research as it had the average
journey to work proportion for London (2.55%) in the 2001 population census.
Merton’s hilliness (proportion of 1km sqares with slopes of 3% or greater) was
measured at 26% compared with 100% for Bradford and just 5% for York.
The research forecasts that, if an additional 25kms of off-road route
was provided in the borough, levels of cycling to work would increase by 101%.
If highway defects were eliminated, a 20% increase in cycling to work could be
achieved. However, if car ownership was to increase by 20%, there would be a
decrease in cycle commuting by the same amount.
The authors also found that wards with greater proportions of ‘higher
professionals’ displayed higher levels of cycling to work, and wards with
greater income deprivation display lower levels.
The work has contributed to official government guidance on estimating
changes in cycling (Webtag 2007), and the planning of bicycle access for the
2012 London Olympic Games.
Neil Guthrie
Open letter on 20 mph
subject
Dear Cllr Ahmad
“Make 20mph the standard speed limit on London’s
streets to reduce road danger and encourage cycling and walking.” That is the top of ten items on our mayoral manifesto for the London Assembly elections
this year.
You will recall that we met on 25th July last
year to discuss more widespread use of 20mph in this borough. I’m now writing to you to suggest we meet
again to discuss recent developments, which now include the possibility of
widespread speed limits without necessitating humps or other engineering
measures all over the place, which is what people object to. Enforcement would
be achieved using average speed cameras.
The main reason is of course to improve road
safety - a TfL study in 2003 concluded that 20mph zones in London have more
than halved numbers killed and seriously injured.
More recently the Portsmouth city-wide 20mph
scheme has achieved very similar safety benefits. We also believe that 20mph will be good for cutting motor traffic
levels, and therefore congestion and pollution too, as well as CO2
emissions. It will also play an
essential role in “civilising” our streets, according to Richard Hebditch of
Living Streets in an article in the current edition of Local Transport Today
(LTT 488, page 16-19).
The resources for a pilot in Merton would come
from TfL. In a recent letter to Jenny
Jones, the Mayor’s road safety advisor, Ken Livingstone wrote: “TfL will work
with the boroughs to encourage and support the implementation of borough-wide
default 20mph speed limits in all residential areas. It will provide technical
and legal guidance and financial support for appropriate measures, including
the introduction of time distance safety cameras when approved”
It is clear from DfT
circular 01/2006 that wherever average roads speeds are 24mph or less (i.e.
most roads in Merton), 20mph limits can be implemented without any engineering
measures.
I met with Jenny Jones recently to discuss this,
and she is looking for pilot boroughs to take a lead.
Can we meet to discuss please?
I realise that arising from our discussion may
be more questions than answers, and I would be hoping that we could together
take a trip up to City Hall to meet Jenny Jones and other key advisors in the
Mayor’s team for answers to our questions and initial exploratory talks on
whether Merton might be one of the pilot boroughs to take this forward.
I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Best regards
Richard Evans, for MCC
Watch this space: Bike Week 2008
Put the date on your diary! It will be 14th – 22nd June. The theme for
this year’s Bike Week will be called “Free the family”. Look out for the details of local events in
Merton & other events throughout London in next issue of MCC News
newsletter. Plus watch out for the new-look ‘Bike Week’ website: www.bikeweek.org.uk/
Duncan Harper
MCC AM 2008 @ 22/05/08 @ 8:00PM
Our Merton Cycling Campaign Annual Meeting
this year will be at 8pm on Thursday 22nd May in the All Saints Centre, All Saints Road, SW19 1BX. All members are welcome, see the agenda here, and if you want to stand for a post or put a
motion to the meeting, please read the constitution here
A good sign
At the
December Cycle Liaison Meeting with Merton Council Officers, Merton’s ‘Highways Maintenance’ man (David Edsor)
promised that, from Dec 11th 2007, any road painted cycle symbol in Merton will
conform to the ‘London Cycling Design Standards Appendix C’ as below:
After the meeting, the MCC’s Hugh Morgan said
‘we need signs to have authority;
slap-dash presentation is a bad start. David Edser’s promise is a very GOOD SIGN’. The meeting also noted that,
perhaps one day, we might get a person riding the cycle symbol (like the French
equivalent), illustrated by our courageous colleague’s demonstration.
Hugh
Mor