Mayor’s Transport Strategy- Public Consultation – Response by Colin

Buchanan and Partners Ltd.

Introduction

Colin Buchanan is a transport, planning, economic, urban design and market research
consultancy headquartered in London. We welcome this opportunity to comment on the latest
version of the Mayor’s Transport Strategy (MTS). Our comments are set out in response to the
stakeholder questions. We recognise that some of our comments go beyond the Mayor’s direct
responsibilities and in these instances we would envisage that the Mayor would work through the
relevant parties.

Transport proposals

National Rail, Crossrail, London Overground, DLR, Tramlink

Most of the proposals set out are continuations of existing policies which we support. The
development of the London Overground network highlights the potential to increase usage and
revenue of the suburban rail network especially off peak where there is surplus capacity. We
therefore especially welcome proposal 13 (The Mayor, through TfL, and working with Network
Rail, train operating companies and other transport stakeholders will encourage the provision of
rail services in London that meet common service standards including improved ambience,
amenities and wayfinding at all stations, and staff availability at each station. It is intended these
improvements will be rolled out as franchises are renewed) although it would be helpful if this
could be accelerated rather than having to wait till refranchising.

We support the development of orbital rail services (proposal 14) and improved interchange
between orbital and radial services (the lack of such an interchange at Brixton on the South
London line is a classic example).

Interchange generally remains poor between the rail network and other modes including cycling
and a greater priority should be accorded to the seamless journey – not only in ticketing where
much has been achieved – but also physically.

We are disappointed that no mention is made of personal rapid transit (PRT) which has great
potential in improving accessibility in outer London in a low cost and sustainable manner. Given
the development of PRT at Heathrow this oversight is surprising. London should be at the
forefront of applying the latest technology in public transport, unfortunately it has too often not
been.

We would support a detailed exploration of the potential of using PRT in the capital, in terms of
serving areas such as Park Royal and linking residential and employment areas to the
conventional rail network.

London Underground

We support proposal 22c (southbound extension of the Bakerloo line) given surplus capacity on
this line and the opportunities is provides to regenerate some very deprived parts of south and
south east London.

We remain disappointed that proposal 22d (Croxley Link) continues to make so little headway.

Proposal 22b (privately funded Northern Line extension to Battersea) would appear to be unlikely
to have much chance of coming to fruition if it is to be funded solely by local development. Whilst
limiting such an extension to Battersea seems short-sighted. If such an extension is proposed
then a detailed assessment of how it could be better integrated into London’s transport network
should be provided.

London’s Bus network

The attention given to the bus network in the MTS seems limited.

We would support a full scale review of London’s bus network to ensure a sustainable service
that meets present and short term future needs is provided. This includes examining the potential
for express and orbital services, integration with PRT (see above) and reducing the number of
services terminating in central London thereby significantly reducing congestion in this area.
Measures to reduce the present level of subsidy for bus services need to be made more explicit.
In particular the case for reducing the proportion of people travelling free on the network and the
heavy discounts provided on travelcards and one day bus passes need reviewing.

We support the retention of articulated bus on heavily used routes and do not see the justification
for using scarce resources on developing a replacement routemaster which given its double
staffing would also be far more expensive to operate than present OPO buses.

Bus to bus interchange remains poor with progress on time related bus tickets (ie ability to
transfer between buses without having to pay again) too slow. In order to improve multi-bus
journey options we would support an adjustment which would see Oyster single bus fare validity
extended so that passengers could board as many buses as they wanted within 90 minutes of the
first boarding without any additional charge. Better on board bus information is required in terms
of interchange possibilities especially bus to bus interchanges.

Taxis, coaches, minicabs

With the registering of minicabs and their drivers complete we no longer see why taxis and
minicabs should not be treated equally in terms of access to bus lanes and through encouraging
the provision of minicab offices at rail stations.

We would also propose that taxis/minicabs are only allowed in bus lanes in those locations where
they do not have a detrimental impact on bus services.

The extension of being able to use Oyster PAYG in taxis and minicabs will also help create the
seamless journey.

Information on taxi and minicab demand and supply still seems limited and more research is need
to better match demand and supply by location and time of day. Improved taxi ranks are needed
at busy locations such as stations to speed boarding.

Roads

We support many of the proposals outlined in 30 and 31 (smoothing traffic flow and managing
road works). However, we believe more can be done in terms of traffic signal innovation (for
example, switching off signals at quieter times and pressing the DfT for the introduction of
flashing amber).

The road network needs to ensure that it delivers priority to people not vehicles, that is, more
account needs to be taken of who is travelling on the road network and why and not just the
number of vehicles.

We encourage the use of average speed cameras to improve traffic flows on key routes and
greater enforcement of traffic regulations where these improve traffic flow and safety (eg not
blocking junctions and illegal parking).
To further improve utilisation of the road network we would like to see greater use of tidal flows
while recognising that this would require changes to many road layouts. We would propose that
the extra capacity provided should be utilised for cycling.

Road signage in London is poor – in terms of inconsistency, lack of signage, to much signage
and signage in the wrong location. A London wide signage strategy needs to be implemented and
maintained with coordination between boroughs and TfL.

Blue ribbon network

We support greater use of the River Thames and the need for more piers with better provision of
services at them. River services need to be fully integrated into London’s ticketing and
information system with proper pier/bus/rail physical interchange where applicable

Airports

Access to Heathrow remains poor for staff and travellers, we support the creation of an extensive
PRT network not only linking all parts of Heathrow and its carparks but also with surrounding
areas/hotels and transport hubs. The capital cost of such a network could be paid for from local
road user charging.

The Mayor needs to be explicit as to where additional runway capacity serving London should be
provided if he is opposed to a third runway at Heathrow and how links from London to this
additional capacity should be implemented.

River crossings

We would prefer to see emphasis given to more and improved cycle and pedestrian crossing of
the Thames rather than new road bridges. Where these are provided they are very heavily used
(eg Hungerford and Millennium bridges).

Integration

We have raised comments on integration under individual modes. In addition more work is
needed on developing real time multi-modal information that is accessible outside the network –
eg in shopping centres, hospitals, major employment sites. Information provision on the network
is now overloaded with trivial endless repeated messages that provide little useful information.
While more needs to be done to ensure staff on the ground have access to real time information
and are trained to provide it to users at times of disruption.

We welcome the extension of Oyster PAYG to national rail services and would like to see further
extension to taxis and minicabs.

Cycling

We would like to see more emphasis on the need to provide cycle parking, which is secure,
throughout the city enabling far more cycle and ride opportunities with public transport. And to
ensure planning permission for new homes includes requirement for secure cycle parking.

Enforcement of rules of the road for cyclists should be more rigorous (eg adults riding on the
pavement and ignoring traffic signals) but we would support the Mayor lobbying for a change in
the law so that the presumption is that the motorist is responsible for any accident involving a
cyclist or pedestrian.
Safety/security

We welcome improved safety at London Overground stations and would wish to see this rolled
out through the whole of London’s rail stations and services. The full gating and enforcement of
ticket requirements will also help to reduce anti-social behaviour and is often self-funding.

Environment

We are disappointed that the Low Emission Zone has not been rolled out as fast as first
envisaged and believe this should be given greater priority.

We would welcome more car free days in the centre of London and in some of the main outer
London centres. These have shown to be highly successful in bringing people back to our city
and town centres as well as improving local air quality. In particular we support the
pedestrianisation of Oxford Street, at first at weekends during retail hours and over time on a
permanent basis.

We believe more could be done to declutter London’s streets with the removal of much street
furniture and multi-use of the remaining furniture

Climate Change

Far greater measures are needed to address climate change in terms of reducing transport use.
The two main ways to achieve this are through price and rationing road space, eg extension of
differential pricing for parking based on emissions, extension and tightening of low emission
zones, greater road use pricing as well as more car free days and more cycle only roads during
peak periods.

Managing demand

Many of the measures outlined above will help to manage demand. In addition we would like to
see restrictions on night time deliveries reduced when made by low emission vehicles, for rubbish
collection to be stopped in central areas and on the TLRN during peak periods and for tighter on-
street parking controls.

In particular it is perverse that when public transport capacity is available in the evenings and at
weekends parking restrictions are generally lifted leading to high levels of road congestion. We
would support greater parking controls throughout London and in particular the removal of free
parking at all times.

Road user charging /WEZ

We are in favour of the retention of the WEZ and the extension of road user charging over time
throughout London starting with Heathrow and extensions of the central area. We propose
however, that charges are differentiated based on locations and emission standards.

Other issues

There are a large number of potential improvements to London’s transport network set out in the
MTS. Many of these will address climate change objectives and congestion and facilitate greater
social inclusion and economic growth. However, without funding they remain potential rather
than implementable schemes. We propose widespread road pricing and tolling key river
crossings (eg Blackwall and Rotherhithe tunnels) to raise revenues to pay for such transport
improvements.
Given budgetary constraints and increasing retirement age we also propose that the age when
people become eligible for concessionary fares should rise in line with changes in the female
state pension age, ie increase to 61 in 2010 and then to 62 in 2012 etc. until pension ages are
equalised and then continue to rise in relation to further increases in the state retirement age.

Incident control across all modes has still someway to go in terms of coordination between
transport operators and between transport operators and the police. Speedy restoration of
services needs to be given a higher priority than seems to receive at present.

Finally clear service standards should also be provided to users of all transport modes as to the
level of service they can expect to be provided with, this is especially the case for road users
including cyclists and pedestrians.