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Dutch method scores station to town centre walking routes
WALKING
by Andrew Forster
A NEW way to assess the quality of pedestrian routes between rail stations and town centres has been published by Dutch rail operator Abellio Group and environmental transport charity the Campaign for Better Transport. Abellio says the ‘Fixing the link’ method extends the concept of station travel plans beyond their typical boundaries of a station and its immediate environs. The method was developed for stations in the Netherlands but Abellio has now trialled it in three towns within its Greater Anglia franchise: Ipswich, Colchester and Ely. Pedestrian routes are evaluated according to four criteria: liveliness; human scale; legibility; and safety and comfort. Three charac-
teristics are scored for each: • Liveliness criteria include the presence of residences, offices, shops, leisure and educational facilities on the route. • The human-scale criteria includes scores based on the length of the route and the number of buildings per block. • Legibility includes the ease of orientation, the linearity of paths, and the clarity of maps and signage. • Safety and comfort covers factors such as the extent of pedestrian priority and the maintenance of the route, including provision of planting and public art. The three English towns scored poorly in the assessment. “In each of the three towns a large part of the pedestrian route to the town centre is on A roads and others that carry a high volume of traffic,” says the report.
“In Ipswich and to a lesser extent in Colchester much of the route to the town centre is lined by substantial, single use developments, often designed for access by car, which present a long, monotonous and unattractive face to the road.” At Ely, the pedestrian “emerges from the station into a car park, partly attached to the station and partly belonging to the neighbouring Tesco, which dominates the surrounding area”. The report recommends how the pedestrian routes could be improved including by using better signing; more pedestrian priority at junctions; and building higher density development. It also acknowledges that the methodology needs adjusting “to take proper account of the impact of traffic volumes on the pedestrian route and to recommend measures such as changes in road
to be introduced next year. Bus operations on Princes Street will remain unchanged for the time being, allowing the council to assess how the street functions with both buses and trams. Edinburgh’s director of services for communities Mark Turley said the council and bus operators would review Princes Street bus operations “with a view to reducing the numbers crossing the city centre”. The one-year trial will see George Street become a oneway street for general traffic, allowing footways to be widened and a two-way cycle route to be installed. The oneway direction of traffic has yet to be settled. Signal timings at some key city centre junctions are to be reviewed, with the aim of increasing pedestrian priority. A review of city centre parking provision will also be conducted “with a view to maintaining current levels, but creating more space for pedestrians and cyclists”. The council is also to commission a survey of origins and destinations of people in the city centre. “This would greatly help to inform a longer-term strategy on bus services in the city centre to be progressed with the main bus operators,” said Turley.
CABLE CAR
Edinburgh city centre bus shake-up ‘on ice’ TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT
COUNCILLORS IN Edinburgh have put plans to remove buses from one side of the city’s premier street, Princes Street, on ice following protests from traders and bus operators. Critics say Princes Street carries too many buses – consultant Gehl Architects described the street as a “big bus station” in a report for the council in 2010. With the city’s new tram line between the airport and the city centre is due to begin operating along Princes Street from next May, the council consulted earlier this year on introducing a one-way system for buses in the city centre, with east-west services operating along Princes Street and west-east services running on the parallel George Street to the north. But municipally-owned Lothian Buses opposed the plan, as did Princes Street traders who said the change would damage business. Traders on George Street, which has developed a reputation as a higher-class shopping street, also opposed the change, complaining that the additional buses on their street would damage its environment. Councillors have now agreed the details of a one-year city centre traffic management trial
design or the provision of alternative routes”. Abellio and CBT want the DfT and other franchise awarding bodies to emphasise the importance of good connections between stations and town centres in rail franchise specifications. They say local authorities should develop station master plans, including plans to improve station-town centre routes, as supplementary planning documents. The report suggests improvements could be funded from sources such as the Local Growth Fund; the Community Infrastructure Levy; the Government’s National Stations Improvement Programme; and the Local Sustainable Transport Fund. Fixing the link is available at http://tinyurl.com/oej55xy
Rethink cable car ‘flop’ Lib Dems tell Johnson
THE LIBERAL Democrats are urging Transport for London to rethink the operating strategy for the capital’s cable car because of disappointing passenger numbers. Weekly passengers on the Emirates Air Line in October were below 30,000, compared with over 40,000 in October last year. Transport commissioner Peter Hendy said last week that this year’s numbers were below forecast. Caroline Pidgeon, the leader of the Assembly’s Liberal Democrat group, said: “It is time the mayor and TfL admitted that they are failing to run it either as a successful tourist attraction or as a serious form of public transport.” She said it should be operated as a privately-run tourist attraction, “or as an integral form of public transport, where people with a travelcard or a relevant pass can use it for free and the Oyster fare
THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice is reviewing if Transport for London’s policy of allowing taxis but not private hire vehicles (PHVs) to use bus lanes amounts to illegal state aid.
HS2 Ltd probes Scots link
HIGH-SPEED RAIL
MINISTERS HAVE asked HS2 Ltd to study ways of increasing rail capacity between London and Scotland, and bring London–Edinburgh/Glasgow journey times below three hours. DfT director general for High Speed 2, David Prout, has set out the work programme in a letter to HS2 chief executive Alison Munro. “The work should consider high-speed options, upgrades to existing infrastructure, or a combination of the two, looking at both the East and West Coast rail corridors,” says Prout. HS2 and Network Rail will lead the project, which will also involve the DfT, Scottish Office and Transport Scotland. Councils along the routes will be consulted on a confidential basis. Scotland’s transport minister Keith Brown said: “I look forward to reviewing the report of the investigation with UK ministers and together deciding on the next steps.” HS2 Ltd will submit a draft report before next summer’s parliamentary recess.
In Brief
DfT asks Higgins to cut HS2 costs
Cable car: flop?
is no more than a bus fare”. TfL has rejected the criticism. Acting director of London rail, Jonathan Fox, said: “The Emirates Air Line is one of London’s real success stories. Since opening in June 2012 it has carried over three million people and as a vital new river crossing in east London it is already playing a key role in attracting new investment to the area.” The cable car connects Greenwich Peninsula on the south bank of the Thames with the Royal Docks on the north.
Bus lane case goes to Europe
TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT
News 9
The matter has been referred to Europe by the Court of Appeal, which is considering a legal challenge against TfL’s current policy brought by PHV operator Addison Lee. Transport commissioner Peter Hendy said a decision could take 18 months.
The Government has asked new HS2 Ltd chairman Sir David Higgins to explore how to cut the cost of HS2 below the current estimated £42.6bn (2011 prices). Higgins will present his findings to the transport secretary in March, before the second reading of the Hybrid Bill for the London to West Midlands line, which many MPs are expected to vote against.
Rail lobby group gets behind HS2 Pro-rail group Railfuture has declared its support for the Government’s high-speed rail plans. Many of the organisation’s members have been critical of the project but the group now says: “HS2 is the only game in town. If it is abandoned, we run the risk of losing this investment for decades. Therefore, we support the route of phase one with the exception of the HS1/HS2 link, which we believe needs to be reevaluated along the lines of the Euston Cross proposal [of Lords Berkeley and Bradshaw]. We support the proposals for phase two although we may want to make suggestions for a refinement of some station locations on the Leeds arm of the route.”