20 years working in the politics & policy of streets. 16 years chairing Hackney’s planning comm. Committed to saving London’s bus services & better streets.
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If @willnorman wants to debate cycle safety in London, I am more than happy to do so. He could of course publish evidence that the rate of killed and serious injuries per KM cycled has declined since 2016 when he became cycling commissioner. Spoiler- it hasn’t. And it’s pathetic that he calls me anti-cycling. @nicholascecil @JohnJohnStewart
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Andrew has been using his white cane to get around independently all his life. He can now no longer get the bus to Chiswick High Road to shop at M&S because of a two-way bike track running through his bus stop. All the major UK blind persons’ charities want to see a halt to this.
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The @MayorofLondon says that those bus stops that comply with @TfL guidance are usable by blind people. This one here in the heart of the City of London does comply, but is clearly unusable for blind people. Retweet to support blind people’s. Access needs:
NFBUK
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Andrew, a blind man from Hammersmith, can no longer catch his local bus to shop at @marksandspencer because his local council installed a floating bus stop. Please follow @NFBUK and write to your MP to demand an end to this discrimination.
ALT Picture of Andrew at a floating bus stop
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I have been asked to demonstrate how some cyclists disregard pedestrians at bus stops they cycle through.
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The @MayorofLondon says that floating bus stops that comply with @TfL guidance are usable by blind people. This despite having warning messages on the bus urging passengers to cross the cycle track with caution! How can blind people be cautious? They can’t see or hear the cycles!
ALT Photo of a bus stop bypass on the A13 in London
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The blind man I was meeting tried to get off the bus at the Chiswick High Rd stop he used before the cycle lane was built. The bus was second at the stop. He became disoriented and ended up walking into the carriageway. He has stopped using this bus stop.
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Today is International Day of Persons with Disabilities. Here is what the cycle lobby has inflicted on blind people wanting to catch their bus:
NFBUK
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If you think this should all stop and everyone should be able to access their bus directly to and from the kerb then write to your MP.
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How inane is this from Jeremy Vine. The issue is that blind people can neither drive nor cycle. Andrew, a blind man, can now no longer travel to Chiswick High Road as he used to.
"The more cycle, the fewer drive. The fewer drive, the fewer die...": Jeremy Vine responds to those "focusing rage" on cyclists, makes the case for floating bus stops "making roads safer for everyone"
road.cc/310833
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I got very angry today. How on earth is Andrew supposed to have the confidence to catch the bus with cycles running through the stop!
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It's Your Right
For those that don’t understand the issues for bus passengers alighting onto a cycle path.
NEW from @VincentStops - London's bus stop bypasses for cyclists are destroying access to the service for disabled people: onlondon.co.uk/vincent-stops….
@NFBUK @TfL @LonTravelWatch @londoncouncils @SustransLondon @LDN_LS @GDIHub #London @GwynTopham @standardnews
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Whaaaat! In which Simon Munk of @London_Cycling excuses cyclists of the criminal offence of running a red light by telling @itvlondon that “in fact pedestrians are actually…slightly worsely behaved”. Can we have an apology from @London_Cycling?
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Disabled and elderly people will no longer be able to access a vehicle whatever their mobility problem because the @mayorofLondon has ignored their needs in favour of cyclists.
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Yes. The pedestrian was in the wrong and it was the cycle that did well to avoid him and the person filming.
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This is the most scandalous of the floating bus stop designs. The entire pavement is removed. Everyone must cross the cycle lane whether a passenger or just a pedestrian. Designed by @TfL implemented by @hackneycouncil. Impossible 4 blind people. @LordPeterHendy @danielmgmoylan
ALT Bus stop where the pavement has been replaced by a bike lane.
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The new normal for bus passengers. Sitting in traffic since @willnorman, London Cycling Czar, took out the bus lane for a bike lane.
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How many cases of reckless & dangerous cycling can you spot at this bus stop, 100 yards from Parliament? This is happening daily & results in real injuries. @TfL says the design is compliant, Government & @Heidi_Labour pretend it’s an accessible bus stop:
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Blind people are telling the @MayorofLondon they can’t use bus stops with cyclists travelling through them at 20 mph and refusing to stop. They can’t drive or cycle. How are they supposed to get about as they used to. bbc.com/news/articles/cn4vg3…
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London’s cycling Czar, @willnorman, had specialist consultation material designed for blind people to have their say at Lea Bridge. They told him they wouldn’t be able to catch their bus. He ignored them and built them. Don’t travel independently if you are blind.
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Please retweet if you support blind people’s call to halt more floating bus stops and once again be able to use the bus. Please write to your MP: parliament.uk/get-involved/c…
ALT Photo of blind people outside No. 10 Downing Street handing in a petition on floating bus stops.
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Hey, @JCDecaux_UK. Your advertising consent for the nine digital advertising hoardings on the pavements around Shoreditch lapsed last week. The consent unequivocally said they should be removed. When are they going to be cleared away?
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We are told by @willnorman and @MayorofLondon this utter chaos at a bus stop is fine as it’s a national approach to keeping cyclists safe:
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TfL have created chaotic spaces at bus stops with cycles travelling at up to 20mph. Blind people neither hear nor see cyclists who don’t give way let alone stop. It’s impossible to know where on the island one is alighting. These stops are impossible for blind people to navigate.
ALT Cyclist ignoring pedestrians crossing a bus stop bypass Zebra
ALT Cyclist and cargo bike cyclist swerving both sides of a blind man standing at bus stop flag waiting for bus. Both within inches of him.
ALT A new type of bus stop bypass for cycle, but this stop no longer has any pavement because it is replaced by a cycle lane.
ALT Blind man attempts to cross from a bus stop island to the pavement, but wanders into a side road because he was dropped from the bus at the back of the stop.
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It’s stupid of politicians to encourage this moronic trade and take no responsibility for clearing them away. All these could and should be removed and @limebike charged for the privilege, using the powers councils have.
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How fab is this. The largest engineered timber office building in the world constructed in Shoreditch, Hackney! Well done @WaughThistleton.
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Dear @Heidi_Labour,@simonlightwood, @LilianGreenwood,@LordPeterHendy, How can blind people, who can neither see nor hear cycles against the background noise,safely & in comfort cross the bike track at Westminster Bridge bus stop with cycles that mostly won’t slow let alone stop?
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.@willnorman narrowed Lea Bridge Road in Hackney and installed the bus shelter here. It’s impassable for many wheelchairs and unsafe for mums with buggies, pedestrians, everyone basically. No room even for the flag!The only solution will be to remove the shelter.#LedByDonkeys
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In a partial victory for blind people these bus stops will have to be made accessible again. Thanks to all those Lords and Baronesses that supported accessible bus stops.
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Blind people have told @willnorman over and over they can no longer use their bus services because he is running bikes through bus stops. This is discriminatory and therefore illegal. S 149 Equality Act
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Running cyclists through bus stops excludes the people who most need to use bus services. They can neither drive nor cycle. Blind people and those with cognitive impairment are most affected. Government ministers, highways authorities, Mayors & their cycling Czars all know this
ALT Photo of two blind people in the House of Lords lobbying government.
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Terrible news for blind and disabled people who cannot cycle nor drive and will now not be able to catch their bus.
Good news, everyone! Construction is set to begin this summer on the long awaited Streatham Hill changes which will include protected cycle lanes, new pedestrian crossings and improvements to bus lanes.
tfl.gov.uk/info-for/media/pr…
ALT TfL visualisation of the changes on Streatham Hill.
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Peter, it’s the self righteous, sharp elbowed nature of middle class cycling zealots like you people dislike. Not cycling and cyclists. theguardian.com/commentisfre…
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This issue isn’t going away. London is becoming inaccessible for blind people and bikes a menace for everyone else. Bikes are vehicles and belong on the carriageway.
Went back to the floating bus stop opposite St Thomas’ Hospital in London. It simply is not working & never has. Access to & from the bus direct from the pavement is urgently needed please. @MayorofLondon not sure how many times we have to say this but this has to stop please.
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How could sane people promote these bus stops. They are inaccessible to blind people and a f***ing menace to everyone one else. @ellyannab @SebDance @SadiqKhan
Went back to Park Lane floating bus stops in London. They are still not working. Riders are not stopping at the zebra crossings, bus shelters are separate from the bus stops & the island platform is too narrow for people waiting for & getting off bus. They are not fit for purpose
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Many in the cycle lobby suggest the chaos demonstrated by this video is identical to crossing a normal zebra crossing for blind people. It’s not. Some blind people can hear motors stopping, but they can’t hear cyclists travelling at speed against a background of motor traffic.
We need an immediate halt on any more floating bus stops @Keir_Starmer. Blind people are being excluded from catching the bus due to these designs which are still being put in. @NFBUK have no faith in @transportgovuk to tackle this @Heidi_Labour @simonlightwood @LordPeterHendy.
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.@Willnorman of @TfL consulted Yemi and Andrew about floating bus stops. He was told blind people couldn’t use them. He noted that in his equalities assessment, but nevertheless installed the very worst type of floating bus stop. This time in Hackney. Please write to your MP.
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I just got off the bus! The complete failure of London government to deal with @limebike is a disgrace. We need a change to our hapless Walking Commissioner, @willnorman!
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Over a hundred responses to this shocking video. None suggest this is an accessible stop. Most don’t even address the substantive issue. That is, that blind people can no longer travel independently as they once did.
The blind man I was meeting tried to get off the bus at the Chiswick High Rd stop he used before the cycle lane was built. The bus was second at the stop. He became disoriented and ended up walking into the carriageway. He has stopped using this bus stop.
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This is what Hackney residents wake up to every morning - discarded lime bikes littering their pavements. It’s an offence to obstruct the highway. The council has a legal duty to keep the highway clear.
ALT Lime bike all over pavement
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The government’s SoS for transport, @heidialexander, thinks it’s somehow OK to favour un-evidenced notions of cycle safety & getting more people cycling at the expense of bus passengers. Some of whom are blind and can longer catch their bus! This is intolerable Write to your MP.
The pause on floating bus stops by @LordPeterHendy @simonlightwood is for shared use bus borders as shown in the video, where passengers board & alight the bus directly from & into the cycle lane. This pause needs to be made permanent, along with all types of floating bus stops.
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A big thank you to Green Party peers @GreenJennyJones and @natalieben who voted for blind and disabled people to again be able to catch the bus and travel independently without having to cross a cycle track to catch the bus.
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These are some of the worst bus stops where the entire pavement is given over to cycling. It’s not in any design guide. Figure how you would use it if you were blind. PS this is one of 12 random bus stop designs blind people are expected to navigate.
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Andrew has lost his right to travel independently to his local high street by bus as he used to. Blind people’s access needs are being systematically ignored by London government.
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All four national bodies representing blind people in the UK, @GuideDogs, @NFBUK, @RNIB and @PocklingtonHub along with 280 local groups are now calling for a halt to bus stop bypasses because they can no longer catch their bus.
A report published by University College London has outlined the difficulties caused by so-called 'floating' bus stops for visually impaired people. The charity Guide Dogs are now calling for their rollout to be halted.
@JonnyHarvey3 | bbc.in/47GOq4s #politicslondon
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Not a single one of the cycling journos have covered the @guidedogs story detailing the ‘fear’ blind people have of crossing cycle lanes through bus stops and their call for a halt to such schemes. @BBCTomEdwards @RossLydall @peterwalker99 @laura_laker
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In which a cargo bike veers off the bike lane (to avoid boarding wheelchair user) behind a blind man (waiting as he should at the stop flag), whilst second bike squeezes between wheelchair user and man. This is lauded as a flagship scheme, cost £15m, funded by @BorisJohnson
This is what our President who is blind said about the bus stop design where you step off the bus onto a narrow bus boarder next to a cycle lane on Lea Bridge Road, Waltham Forest
‘Not fit for purpose. It really is totally inaccessible. These sorts of designs should be scrapped’
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Pavement cycling is a nuisance for everyone. For blind and older people it makes the streets inaccessible and means they can’t catch the bus as they once did.
Routing cycle lanes on the pavement at bus stops has to stop. Floating bus stops / bus stop bypasses are not safe or accessible for blind people. Access has to be from the kerbside without having to cross or step into a cycle lane first. This is in Camden close to St Pancras Int.
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.@willnorman was asked by @SadiqKhan to review bus stop bypasses in response to the access concerns of disabled people. Instead he is gaming the review and looking at collisions reported to the police. He is a public servant. This is fraudulent and an abuse of a minority group.
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The government has effectively said cycle segregation will trump blind peoples’ access to their bus services. Their right to independent travel just trashed. Their world just shrunk.
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Powerful case made by the @NFBUK and @guidedogs for an end to bus stop bypasses on @BBCBreakfast. Includes horrific crash with child and @seandilleyNEWS being shouted at by director to stop at zebra crossing to avoid collision.
ALT Bike crashing into young child at bus stop bypass.
ALT Sean Dilley, BBC blind journalist stopping to avoid collision after being shouted at by director
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The test for the cycle-centrics, like @Chris_Boardman, who sell us the line that they know how to get people cycling is for them to get residents of Stevenage cycling. A town built on the model of a Dutch town with a network of separated cycle tracks where almost no one cycles.
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.@BBCTomEdwards @RossLydall In case you missed it. Blind BBC reporter and guide dog almost getting struck by a bicycle on a bus stop bypass whilst reporting from the same spot about a child that got struck there.
ALT Blind reporter and guide dog almost struck by cycle on bus stop bypass whilst reporting on child getting struck!
ALT Child being struck by cycle on bus stop bypass.
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It’s shocking that disabled and older people can be discriminated against by measures in favour of cycling, but that’s what is happening. Here’s how the unintended consequence of equalities legislation is disadvantaging these groups. Read my Blogpost: cycleandwalkhackney.blogspot…
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We learnt last night two organisations were advising government on access and floating bus stops: @activetraveleng and @TfL. Both have been strong advocates for floating bus stops! You couldn’t make it up.
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The cycle lobby are keen to make the case for cycling and town centre shopping trips. But because the numbers are so small they combine them with walking. Here, just published by TfL on their FOI page, figures for shopping trips by cycle and walk from Travel in London report 13.
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Blame for the decimation of London’s bus services will be deflected elsewhere, but neither Mayor Khan, nor Mayor Johnson should be allowed to get away without blame. Both failed to stand up for buses, choosing the apparent populism of cycling over the workhorse of the London bus.
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This makes me so happy. Vine was just the worst of cyclists in attitude and behaviours. Maybe he’ll find time to take some training.
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This crazy bus stop in Waltham Forest will need making accessible again as per @LordPeterHendy’s statement in the Lords on Wednesday.
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On Thursday the entire London Assembly unanimously supported a motion calling for a FULLY INDEPENDENT review of bus stop bypasses! Clearly @WillNorman and @TfL marking their own homework wasn’t convincing!
On Tuesday the @RNIB told the London Assembly Transport Committee that bus stop bypasses were "Not accessible for people with sight loss". piped.video/clip/Ugkxjdk_jdy…
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The whole of the UK sight loss community are calling on highway authorities to halt the installation of floating-bus-stops. The @cityoflondon are carrying on regardless.
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The shelter at this bus stop will be moved, but the removal of the pavement to be replaced by a bike lane is permanent. The @MayorofLondon should sack his Cycling Czar for persisting with and defending this idiocy.
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London has a Walking Commissioner, @willnorman, that I don’t think even has a view on this issue, never mind the wherewithall to do anything about it. And a @mayoroflondon who wants to “create one of the finest public spaces in the world”.
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Routing cycles, at speed, through bus stops is making catching the bus a nightmare for many bus passengers and impossible for blind people. The law requires them to take account of disabilities.
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Last night blind and disabled people were a hairs breath from winning back access to their bus services. The so-called floating bus stops were in the spotlight. 214 Lords supported the call to be able to get on and off a bus at the kerbside and not have to cross a cycle track. 🧵
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How on earth did we allow a small number of cycle fanatics to redesign streets and bus stops like this and that bus passengers would just have to put up with it?
Cycle lanes and bus stops signed off by @royalgreenwich are neither safe or effective in ensuring social distancing measures are adhered to, despite being rushed in under the guise of ‘emergency’ Covid-19 measures. @David_Llew - are you still singing their praises?
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.@TfL and @Willnorman intend to move this bus stop to a more isolated position 75m to the east adjacent to Millfields Park. They are not doing this for the 1000s of passengers who use the stop, but for the cycling lobby groups who want a bike lane
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Here’s Andrew describing in his own words how the introduction of a bus stop bypass on Chiswick High Road has affected his right to travel independently. 1/2
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.@mragilligan wrote in the @guardian that he hadn’t wrecked London’s bus services. Well he did a pretty good job on Balls Pond Road by removing the bus lane meaning the 38 now sits in traffic.
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The cycle lobby demanded bikes be routed through bus stops. They have created chaotic, confusing and inaccessible places for bus passengers. Some groups simply cannot use them. TfL have been told this at every level of the organisation numerous times.
This is what our President who is blind said about the bus stop design where you step off the bus onto a narrow bus boarder next to a cycle lane on Lea Bridge Road, Waltham Forest
‘Not fit for purpose. It really is totally inaccessible. These sorts of designs should be scrapped’
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This is the finished ‘backless bus stop’, as @TfL calls them. It is completely inaccessible to blind people who will not even be able to navigate the pavement, let alone use the stop to catch their bus.
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No wonder TfL delayed publication of its Travel in London report looking at ‘active travel’. Cycling by London residents has decreased since last year! So they included different charts to last year to try & muddy the waters. Here’s the two years’ charts they have published. 1/2
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.@UniWestminster analysed London LTNs to conclude there had been an average of 1.3% increase in traffic volume on boundary roads. This is spin. I use Hackney’s 13 boundary roads counts from the London Fields scheme to show how their results were achieved. 1/6
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.@willnorman says: “we are doing all we can to educate cyclists about the rules of the road,” It’s the f***ing pavement Mr Norman. telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/03…
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This pavement was narrowed by the London Walking Commissioner, @willnorman. It is now inaccessible in the terms of the national guidance, #InclusiveMobility! There was a perfectly good bus lane that cyclists had used for two decades. #LedByDonkeys
Anyone else find it odd that many bus lanes don't operate on Sundays? Why not? Buses are for everyone and they should get priority all year round - quick win for the next @MayorofLondon.
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So my last Planning Committee this evening. 16 years, 160 odd meetings and I guess 1000 or so decisions.
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Just 5 minutes walk from the House of Lords where Labour peers ignored the pleas of blind people to once again be able to catch the bus.
Warning 3 pedestrian cycle collisions.
Floating bus stops are not working. Routing cycle lanes through the pavement at bus stops has to stop @LordPeterHendy Access has to be direct from the pavement without having to cross a cycle lane first. They are dangerous & chaotic places.
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Early in the Pandemic London’s Cycling Czar, Will Norman, made a bizarre claim of a potential tenfold increase in cycling. He has never offered any commentary on this when it proved so wide of the mark, nor has he been held to account. 1/4
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I witnessed this yesterday. The cargo bike couldn’t get through the dumped Lime bikes and pedestrians couldn’t use the pavement. Amazing how politicians have been entranced by the cycle lobby.
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How on earth are blind people expected to cross to the bus stop. @simonlightwood @paulkohlersw19 @JeromeMayhew
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How useless is the strategic transport authority in this city. Their buses sit in queues of their own making awaiting a fictional tenfold increase in bikes that there officers know won't happen.
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For a cycling organisation that bangs on endlessly about road safety, the Highway Code, law breaking motorists, women’s & children’s safety to then have its lead campaigner bend over backwards to play down the anarchy that blights our streets is a disgrace. Where is the apology?
Whaaaat! In which Simon Munk of @London_Cycling excuses cyclists of the criminal offence of running a red light by telling @itvlondon that “in fact pedestrians are actually…slightly worsely behaved”. Can we have an apology from @London_Cycling?
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Hey @EdwardJDavey You are a brave man. How about donning a blind fold and crossing a bus stop bypass?
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This was put in because the cycle fanatics forecast a tenfold increase in cycling. It’s more like 10% and they are still making up cycle boom stories.
The last of the Euston Road cycle lane being removed last night
📹 @simonlamrock
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The cycle fanatics are ruining our streets on the strength of lies & overblown claims. This dog’s dinner of an Islington scheme is worse for pedestrians, bus passengers & cycles. It breaches the rights of disabled people who will no longer be able to catch the bus independently.
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This has to be the low point in Cycling and Walking Czar, @willnorman’s respect and understanding of the needs of pedestrians, disabled & older people, urban design and creating great city streets. The entire pavement is now lost to cycling.
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Hurrah! @Hackneycouncil have REFUSED all 9 of the awful @JCDecaux_UK advertising hoardings on the pavements of Shoreditch. Good policy, sound decision. Let’s now see them removed as per their application and temporary permission ASAP.
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The @mayoroflondon says the chance of an horrific crash at a bus stop like this is small. But he doesn’t really know because there is underreporting of such incidents. @NFBUK have seen as many in 4 days as TfL found reported in 3 years!
WARNING: We filmed at the Elephant & Castle Floating bus stop late last month. The clip includes a rental e-bike rider crashing into a child. The floating bus stop designs are not safe & they need to be urgently halted please.
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Disabled people are being denied their right to independent travel. They are being played by Cycling Czar, @WillNorman.
Thank you so much @MikScarlet @newdawn75 @SurreyCoalition for coming with us to @10DowningStreet to petition @RishiSunak @Mark_J_Harper @GregHands to stop anymore floating bus stops & shared use bus boarder bus stops in the UK. Our petition has over 250 supporting organisations.
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It’s pitiful that blind people have to plead with the @mayoroflondon to be able to use their bus service and are being ignored.
@MayorofLondon @SadiqKhan no more studies will change this behaviour at floating bus stops in London. More are being planned, constructed & made permanent. Our petition, our concerns & our access needs are still being ignored. This is blatant discrimination. It has to stop please
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This is an amazing image demonstrating how crazy bus stops with cycles travelling at speed through them is. Yes that is a blind man, wheelchair user, cargo bike, conventional cycle and bus at busy stop!
ALT Blind man standing next to bus stop flag at stop with wheelchair user boarding by ramp. Cargo bike and cyclist swerve through them.
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For the first time @TfL are now admitting blind people can be fearful of using their new bus stops designed for cyclists who won’t stop. Blind people have been telling them this for a decade.
This is what our President who is blind said about the bus stop design where you step off the bus onto a narrow bus boarder next to a cycle lane on Lea Bridge Road, Waltham Forest
‘Not fit for purpose. It really is totally inaccessible. These sorts of designs should be scrapped’
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Tesfai, a 70 year old blind man will never again be able to independently catch the bus from Streaham Hill because of the overblown nonsense of the fanatical cycle lobby and those politicians who have drunk the cycling Koolaid: metro.co.uk/2025/07/18/9-500… via @MetroUK
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