Also think about the people who can’t afford a car, are trying to do the right thing and have paid to sit/stand on a busy bus whilst it sits in traffic with everyone else.
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Indeed. These are the kind of people affected by the arbitrary closures of residential roads, which pushes more traffic onto main roads, and lengthens journeys for everyone.
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…everyone who chooses to drive despite having alternative options that are faster. And to be crystal clear I am talking about people who are fit, healthy and mobile and only going a couple of miles.
Is there any data to show there are enough people that fit the ‘could cycle but drive’ category that converting them all (or some percent of them) will clear up the traffic problem?
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In the UK, statistically speaking, that’s not a lot of people.
@Londondrz but we are in London - categorised as a small space with lots of cars and short journey which do tend towards bikes
Of course the reason I don’t is because I get hot and sweaty
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http://content.tfl.gov.uk/technical-note-14-who-travels-by-car-in-london.pdf
1/3 are <2km, the next 1/3 is under 5km. 3.7million total car trips per day. Even if you assume half these people could walk or cycle then that’s potentially a million less cars on the road. Even if you expect only 20% of those able people to do something about their lifestyle, then it’s still car 200,000 trips a day saved.
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It’s a good report that - but the analysis fails to split much of the data between weekend and weekday use which I think would be much more informative. For example, from the summary:
- Six in ten car trips are made for shopping, leisure and personal business purposes and a fifth for work purposes. A third of car trips are shorter than 2km.
- There are more car journeys on Saturdays and Sunday than during the week, and the
peak time periods for car travel and the inter-peak (10am-4pm) and afternoon peak
(4pm-7pm).
Since there are more journeys at weekends, these stats will lean towards those findings, which is probably how we find 60% of trips are being made for shopping, leisure and personal business purposes, and are less than 2km. Given shopping and leisure are more likely to involve transporting goods or passengers, it’s no surprise we have more car use there.
Of course it would be better if these journeys could be made on foot or bike or whatever, but journeys at weekends will be spread across more of the day, so won’t have the same peak traffic as a weekday rush hour.
Looking at it from the otherside, we don’t really learn much about what makes up the traffic during the weekday ‘rush hours’ and whether those journeys can be replaced with walking or cycling. Put simply, the report is not about traffic levels, just the demographics of journeys as a whole.
Given this viewing of the stats, and the need for the economy to recover post-Covid, perhaps it would be more sensible to enact the Low Traffic Neighbourhoods only at weekends and have a “weekend’s are for walking and wheeling” campaign? It raises a question in my mind whether the school streets program is missing the mark, given those closures will only be effective around weekday peek times when most journeys are outside that bracket.
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If you read further 20% are people who don’t live in London. Which presumably means 20% of journeys are vastly more than 2km - massively distorting the statistics.
Parents are 60% more likely to drive. 60% are single person trips - which suggests those kids aren’t actually in the car when the parents drive
The biggest factor seems to be borough - with Outer London having more journeys. The blurb isn’t good enough to say whether this is because of a lack of public transport or just because the 20% of non-residents must travel through Outer London.
Sadly I suspect a lot of people drive because they can and often it is cheaper (if you own a car). Plenty of people drive in from outside london to park in FH because it is cheaper than the train (plus car pack outside london). These would be massively discouraged by introducing 24hour parking zones around the station and policing them. It would be simple to allow a 1 hour free period to keep local shop keepers happy
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“This paper presents the following analyses, each for London residents only”
http://content.tfl.gov.uk/technical-note-14-who-travels-by-car-in-london.pdf
Why only for residents?
Because it’s TfL and L is for London?
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If everyone not wearing a “mask” on TFL services and not exempted actually got fined and the money passed to TFL then their deficit would soon start to reduce! I haven’t been on a 185 or 122 locally for weeks without at least a third of passengers either not wearing a mark at all or wearing it under their nose or chin which renders it useless. 
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This might not be the same 60%. I don’t think the survey data is good enough to make that link.
The demographics of income vs trips shows those with < £25k income make fewer trips, at all life stages. It’s a shame if those on lower incomes can’t afford cheaper modes of transport, if this is the case.
Or make travel by trains cheaper? Doing both is also an option.
And more convenient - which basically isn’t an option if it means building new lines. It has to be a carrot (cheaper by train) and a stick (more expensive otherwise).
Sadly it still remains cheaper to hire a car and drive to Newcastle than take a same day train
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Flying to Edinburgh can also be cheaper than catching the train unless booking in advance. That feels severely wrong too!
Something I have done many times because of the money savings (and the times)
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We’re going slightly off topic here so yes I would like to see say Dartmouth Road being a ‘no traffic weekend zone’ and get some market stalls, tables and cafe’s out on the street a la north Cross Road in East Dulwich.
The problem with other roads weekends only is someone would have to move the bollards twice a week. It also doesn’t help make streets safer for people cycling on their commutes. I very much appreciate that people have disabled relatives who need to be driven, but my wife and kids would very much like their dad alive when he cycles home from work. I’ve been hospitalised twice in the last 3 years by careless drivers, once so badly they almost came in an air ambulance. So yes I will keep going on about safer streets for cycling.
Having said my piece, I’ll rest it there, suffice to say my main point was simply to remind people bus lanes 24/7 are happening - please don’t get caught out if you are driving.
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That isn’t a bad idea - sadly the fact that bus routes go that way it is probably not feasible
The stretch of Perry Vale from A205 up to Finches could be an option (or we could go whole hog and get the A205 from the station up to Honor Oak Road junction 
)
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That’s usually the problem with any suggestion - different people are impacted in different ways. You’re absolutely right about bus routes.
I do always enjoy the art fairs along Havelock - that’s a dead end anyway, although quite narrow and obviously residential.
There’s obviously the Horniman market on Sunday - that’s getting really good.
The North Cross thing in Dulwich just works really well because it’s mostly commercial and not a bus route.
Well if you are back in the discussion… 
The school streets would need setting and clearing each twice a day, so they are using ANPR for Adamsrill: https://lewishamschoolstreets.commonplace.is/schemes/proposals/adamsrill-school/details
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