Transport News - May 2009
Gearing up for summer
Residents can take part in a range of cycling events and challenges across the borough in June.
National Bike Week runs from 13 to 21 June to encourage people to get on their cycles. Dr Bike will be giving tips at a cycle picnic in London Fields from 7-9am, on 17 June, organised by Hackney Cyclists and Bike Yard East.
A free-to-enter London Cycle Challenge gets under way from 1 June and continues for the whole month. The aim of the TfL scheme, now in its second year, is to urge secondary schools and workplaces to get the most people commuting by bike. Last year the Council clocked up more than 4,000 miles making it the biggest contributor.
More information
To find out more visit: www.cyclechallenge.tfl.gov.uk; and: www.bikeweek.org.uk
On good authority
The Council has been shortlisted as local authority of the year in the National Transport Awards 2009.
It has also been nominated in two other categories – for cycling improvements, and in road safety, traffic management and enforcement for its ‘InRoads’ road safety DVD, aimed at young African Carribean pedestrians, who are involved in a disproportionately high number of accidents.
The awards, organised jointly with Transport Times magazine, recognise Hackney’s investment over the last decade in walking and cycling networks, street improvements, road safety schemes and travel awareness programmes. The winners will be announced on 22 July.
Cllr Alan Laing, Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods, said: “These nominations are further recognition of the investment Hackney is putting into making sustainable forms of transport such as walking, cycling and public transport, safe, attractive and growing in popularity.”
The nominations come after Hackney was named London Transport Borough 09 at the London Transport Awards for its achievements in increasing green transport methods. It was also commended in the cycling improvements category.
The Council has used a number of ways to raise awareness of cycling, including last year’s Tour de Hackney, in partnership with the Shoreditch Trust, to highlight routes for inexperienced cyclists; and Wheels and Heels a fashion show to convince women that cycling can be stylish as well as ecofriendly.
Dalston diversion extended
A traffic diversion in Dalston allowing Transport for London (TfL) to extend the East London Line to Highbury & Islington is to remain in place until late October.
Two-way traffic was due to be reinstated at the end of May, but work to replace a Victorian road bridge, which runs above the new line between Ashwin Street and Kingsland High Street, will take longer as additional steelwork has been found and needs to be removed.
The diversion arrangements (below) are unchanged. One lane of traffic in this area will remain closed. Westbound traffic, including buses and bicycles, will be diverted from Dalston Lane along Queensbridge Road, then on to Richmond Road and Kingsland Road.
Bus route numbers 30, 38, 56, 242, 277, and N38 will be diverted along this route.
Eastbound traffic will be unaffected and pedestrian access will be maintained at all times.
Residents are advised to avoid using Dalston Lane as a through route, and use the TfL journey planner to find alternatives: www.tfl.gov.uk
Don’t walk on by
Put on your walking shoes and discover Hackney on Get Walking Day 09 with two free walks organised by the Ramblers.
Everyone is invited to register for the free walks at Hackney Central Library, in Reading Lane, E8, on Saturday, 30 May at 10.30am. The first walk takes a 2.3 mile route past St John at Hackney Church, then on to Clapton Square, Mother’s Square and Sutton House. It should take around 45 minutes. Alternatively, a 2.4 mile route will take walkers around 55 minutes. It goes through London Fields, past Broadway Market, along the Regent’s Canal, and then to Victoria Park.
For information call: 020 7364 3780, or email: maike.neuhaus@ramblers.org.uk, or visit: www.walklondon.org.uk
Use your brain and cycle safely
Young cyclists are being urged to get into the habit of wearing a helmet during Action for Brain Injury Week.
Headway East London, which supports people living with the long-term consequences of brain injury, has teamed up with Finsbury Cycles in Seven Sister’s Road, N4, to give away a free cycling helmet with every bike sold to a child during the week – which runs until 17 May.
Primary schools in the Hackney area are supporting the initiative.
Manager of Headway East London, Anthony Bonfil said: “I work with people who have had a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), many of them as a result of a road traffic accident, including cycling accidents. The outcome of a brain injury can be devastating, changing a person’s life for ever. There is clear evidence to demonstrate wearing a helmet can help save lives and reduce the risk of sustaining brain injuries, however even if you’re not keen on statistics, surely wearing a cycle helmet will offer you more protection than not wearing one.”
More information
Contact Katrina at Finsbury Cycles on: 020 7263 0007; or Anthony, at Headway East London on: 020 7749 7790.
Deposit for your Oyster
Transport for London (TfL) is to introduce a £3 refundable deposit for all Oyster cards issued after 17 May.
This means passengers who require a season ticket for a week, month, or longer will have to pay the deposit when they first buy a card, or need to replace a lost, stolen or unregistered one. (Passengers who use Oyster pay as you go already pay a £3 refundable deposit.)
Shashi Verma from TfL said: “Over a million Oyster cards are discarded or lost each year. We want to reduce the environmental impact of all this waste plastic, as well as help cut queues at ticket offices that may result from people seeking replacement cards.”
To find out more visit: www.tfl.gov.uk
Road code for works
Utility companies are signing up to a new code of conduct aimed at cutting delays and congestion caused by roadworks in London.
Firms pledge to clearly display public information boards whenever they dig up roads, and carry out repairs outside peak hours when possible. The voluntary code also says they will strive to give local authorities more advance notice of works to prevent situations where the same road can be dug up again and again. In one of the worst examples cited by TfL, 500 different works were carried out in Holloway Road, Islington, in one year.
Hackney residents are being encouraged to play their part to ensure the companies keep to the code by reporting works that have no information signs, are untidy or unattended for a number of days. TfL will then ask the utility companies to provide an explanation.
Nick Morris, Director of Road Network Performance for TfL, said: “This new way of working with London’s utility companies will improve the way road works are undertaken in London, with better coordination and more accountability helping to minimise the disruption works have on London’s road users.”
To report works that are unsigned or causing disruption visit: www.tfl.gov.uk/
Page updated: 15 Jun 2010
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