Pause on new 'floating' bus stops welcomed by campaigners
They added: "That's why the government will ask all local authorities in England to halt the implementation of floating bus stops until new statutory guidance is created."There are currently 164 floating bus stops in the capital, London Assembly figures show.
There are two different types of so-called floating bus stops: Shared use bus border (SUBB) where the cycle lane runs across the front of the bus stop, between the shelter and the kerb where buses stopBus stop bypasses where the bike track runs behind the bus stop/shelterThe government announcement on a pause refers to SUBBs. There are no SUBBs on Transport for London's (TfL) road network but many exist on roads managed by London boroughs.The borough with the most floating bus stops is Tower Hamlets (34), followed by Waltham Forest (19) and Southwark (16).
Ms Gayton said she wanted the introduction of all types of floating bus stop to be halted.She said: "They're an absolute nightmare because if it's a SUBB, you have to board the bus directly from a cycle lane, or you have to get off into a cycle lane. "If you think that a blind person's got a white cane, you have to put your cane right out so it could be hit, it could be broken, it could be snatched out of your hand by a cyclist. "If you've got a guide dog, the guide dog sort of launches you forward down into the cycle lane and you can't see them [cyclists], you cannot hear them."A lot of blind people rely on their hearing so it's like playing Russian roulette because we know the majority of cyclists simply don't stop at these floating bus stops."
In a written answer to Parliament last month, Simon Munk, head of campaigns and community development at the London Cycling Campaign, denied suggestions that floating bus stops were dangerous.He said: "Indeed, they appear to have very low collision rates, and are safer for pedestrians than many other road features not under scrutiny in general – side road entrances, zebra crossings, signalised junctions, pedestrian refuges etc."While the lived experience of visually impaired and other groups of people finding floating bus stops difficult to navigate is clear and important to consider, there is no evidence that visually impaired, other disabled or elderly people are finding floating bus stops so difficult to navigate that they are avoiding them."
In a written answer to the London Assembly in May, the mayor of London stated: "TfL is awaiting further information from the Department for Transport regarding the proposed pause to the delivery of SUBBs across the country. "Once it has more information, it will carefully consider the implications for London and work with London borough councils to consider the appropriate next steps. "In the meantime, TfL is talking directly to boroughs with planned SUBBs to understand the current status of such works."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
25 minutes ago
- Reuters
Trump says US is close to reaching a trade deal with China
TURNBERRY, Scotland, July 27 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday his administration was close to reaching a trade deal with China, but gave no other details. "We're very close to a deal with China. We really sort of made a deal with China, but we'll see how that goes," Trump told reporters at the start of a meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Scotland.
The Guardian
25 minutes ago
- The Guardian
The Guardian view on talking in class: the writers speaking up for oracy education are right
Two years ago, Sir Keir Starmer enthused about teaching speaking skills. So schools campaigners were understandably dismayed when oracy – otherwise known as speaking and listening – did not appear in the interim report of the curriculum review for England headed by Prof Becky Francis. Peter Hyman, the former New Labour adviser who became a headteacher, has been a key figure behind the revival, over the past decade, of an idea developed in the 1960s. Steps to embed the importance of verbal communication in education have already been taken, with more than 1,000 schools working with the charity Voice 21, and a parallel project in Scotland. The hope expressed by children's authors and others last week is that its absence from the draft report was an oversight which will soon be rectified. The task before Prof Francis's commission is a daunting one, with reformers of all kinds looking to it for solutions. An evidence call attracted 7,000 responses, with the future of special educational needs provision, and a wish to reduce exams, among key issues raised. But it should be clear to the panel, and to ministers, that oral learning also matters. One reason is the rising number of children arriving in primary school with speech and language skills below the expected level. While some pupils catch up later, others need specialist help. Communication difficulties are one reason for the increase in the number of education, health and care plans (EHCPs), which set out what such support entails. The reasons for such complex changes are not yet fully understood, although the pandemic has had an impact. The challenge of artificial intelligence, in relation to university studies as well as schools, is another factor behind a renewed emphasis on talking. Given the easy availability of technological tools to aid writing, it is arguably more important than ever that people are equipped to share ideas and knowledge through speech as well. In many European countries oral examinations are far more common, in schools as well as universities, whereas in the UK 'vivas' are mostly reserved for postgraduate studies. In foreign language learning, the importance of speaking is taken for granted. But while oracy already features in the maths and science curriculum, as well as in English, it is often marginalised. The tricky task of reformers is to alter teaching practice so that more weight is placed on verbal communication, without making this yet another assessment hurdle to be cleared. For its champions, the core of oracy education is the ability to make connections. They want young people to be able to express themselves, and point out that this is a vital life skill – for example, in job interviews and the kinds of public‑facing work that seem least likely to be taken over by machines – for which school should prepare them. Big gaps in confidence about public speaking have long been recognised among the most glaring social inequalities. This doesn't mean that everyone should aspire to be a debating champion. Different accents, personalities and ways of relating should be valued, not ironed out. But if our schools are to keep pace with our frenetically changing world, it is surely right that they should maximise the facility for language, which is part of what makes us human.
The Guardian
25 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Remembering victims of historical injustice
Campaigners are right to say that the miners' strike, which saw the violent repression of strikers at Orgreave in 1984, remains an enduring source of injustice (Government launches Orgreave inquiry, 40 years after clashes at miners' strike, 20 July). And Pete Wilcox, the bishop of Sheffield, who is to chair the Orgreave inquiry, is right to recognise that the acknowledgment of truth is essential for long-term community healing. Sadly, Orgreave is not the only example of where truth and justice have been forsaken when excessive violence has been used against people on strike. Two hundred years ago, on 3 August 1825, six people were seriously wounded and seven killed by soldiers at North Sands, Sunderland, during the 1825 seamen's strike. The killings were met with anger and outrage, with many local people believing that those who died had been wilfully murdered. Soldiers had fired like target practice into a crowd of 100 from a boat on the River Wear. The threat posed by the crowd, made up of a combination of women, children, strikers, workers and bystanders, was greatly exaggerated. The only inquiries were two short inquests into just two of the seven deaths. At the time, the killings were reported in national newspapers and were undoubtedly one of the most significant events of 1825. What happened at Sunderland is not so different from that six years earlier at Peterloo, on 16 August 1819, yet knowledge and awareness of these two massacres are vastly different. The Sunderland seafarers' union, the Seamen's Loyal Standard Association, stated that 3 August 1825 should 'ever be remembered', but over time, the North Sands Massacre has been virtually forgotten. The denial of truth and justice at Orgreave is unfortunately just one of several incidents where those policing industrial action have used unnecessary violence and then placed the blame on their victims. All victims of historical injustice should be remembered and their communities allowed to David Gordon ScottThe Open University Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
