| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Floating bus stops, not such a great idea…. | |
| Posted by: | Raymond Havelock | |
| Date/Time: | 10/07/25 17:45:00 |
| There have been quite a few incidents in Chiswick including a woman on a very expensive bike child carrier who laughed through a funeral entourage outside Chiswick Catholic Church 3 years ago. I witnessed that and have to say it was not accidental but sheer arrogance. But the stop just along near the old police station is lethal if you have anyone of a lesser disposition in your charge or if you have mobility or visual issues. And for obvious reasons a lot of Bus users do. It is their only means of safe travelling independence. Massive amounts have been spent, some successful and some not to enable" the ' emancipation of the disabled" Ken Livingstone words not mine. But in fact some of those improvements made it easier for those who are not deemed disabled but less able. Something that inflicts most of us later rather than sooner. The 'Bus Islands' or 'Enhanced bus stops' as TfL have misleadingly renamed them, are fine if deployed in the environment that they are burned from. Former Tram or Trolleybus routes in European cities where there are wide straight boulevards. Even then some are far from safe. Here, TfL have simply stuffed up a design and been nothing short of arrogant about it. Being quick to silence, ignore or freeze out critics. Even large charities for Age and disability. Being unwilling to refine and get some aspects right. The risk of getting hit in the head by HGV or Bus Mirrors ar a stop or getting hit by cyclists who whatever the signs say ride either way or straight through rather than round is constant. I suggest to anyone who smirks or scoffs at that experience to go volunteer and take someone with early dementia or a visual disability out shopping in Hammersmith Chiswick or Brentford by bus. What is supposed to be a feel good or assured trip ( for both volunteer and person ) has become in recent years a highly stressful experience. Rather like being left with a relatives toddler in a room full of glass tables and sharp edges and a over exuberant pet dog. It's simply badly designed and the 'Enhanced Bus stops in Brentford from Ealing Road to Kew are probably the worst. I have to say I still ride on the road, even as a Cyclist I feel far safer. I note that quite a few others do the same and then there are those who do not respect pedestrians or anyone else and ride on the wrong side, at speed and without due care. It's not just a problem from one source it from all means. 'A' and main 'B' Roads narrowed to a width that is too acute for current HGV and Bus Sizes. Meaning vehicles are now too close to the kerbs. From cyclist point of view, what idiot specified razor sharp kerbstones Amy of which are higher than pedal height which means you can Catch a pedal on a kerb if intimidated by a throw of passing cyclists riding at speed. A lot of money spent and a pretty poor end product which has made things more dangerous for just about everyone. Maybe now TfL and others will listen and be properly pragmatic and end computer modelling at junior level and solve the problems properly. |