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Re: New markings to help cyclists cross tracks

avlowe — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 16:44:39 -0000

Cherry Island in Chicago has a shared rail bridge (1 train/week?) with infilled flangeways. From Germany comes Velostrail a crossing panel with a depressable insert approved for up to 80Kph - tested to 120Kph - and at least 1 million axle-passes. Used on bridge in Hamburg and elsewhere also on street running lines.

Crucial in rail crossings is not the slipperyness of the rails but the vertical profile. Try riding obliquely across a ridge of 1/2" or more or along a crack or edge of a manhole cover and wet or not the wheel will kick sideways. Railhead profile should be flush or slightly lower than road surface, so that the tyre bridges between areas with higher friction.

UK DoT did research on the tactile paving for blind pedestrians and the 'profiled' kerb lines in thermoplastic (ribs to wake up drifting drivers) and conclude that max height allowable was 5mm (1/4") with a carefully specified edge profile. Far too little research in this respect though wrt 2-wheel road users.

Still not finished that Burke Gilman Trail after 20 years then - I've the property values report that Peter Lagerwey had in 1989!

Check out www.fillthathole.co.uk and the Network Rail section

Re: Fault in train software leaves them unable to operate in snow and ice

avlowe — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 06:53:51 -0000

Third rail does operate in snow and OHE trains also arc - even more spectacularly in ice & snow conditions. One solution for all trains is to run snow patrol ghost trains through the night - this requires trains and train crew but DfT forces prices down for franchise so that TOC pares costs and has no spare crews or trains.

SWT <praise> immediately went to Snow mode with good informative website switched in, and thus had spare staff and trains to avoid that "waiting for an incoming service" excuse and a robust core timetable that they largely delivered as promised.

The lassitude of DfT over the past 40 years has allowed trains to be produced with a variety of coupling and operating systems generally to deliver the products as cheaply as possible. As a result we no longer have the ability that the old Southern Region had, to couple a diesel loco quickly on to either end of an electric train and drive it over a non electrified route. Virgin has got this for their Pendolino trains so it would not be beyond the wit of man to deliver a fleet of similar Thunderbirds locos for trains operating over the third rail network, and whilst we are doing this make it possible to connect the diesel units to the electric units and drive them as a homogenous 'train'

This would have immediate benefits and potential cost savings - diesel trains which run (taking a train path, & train crew and with a very limited number of carriages) with over 50% of their route over electrified tracks could be replaced by electric trains with a diesel loco over the diesel-operated sections. This could deliver improved services to Uckfield from Oxted and Ashford from Hastings, and make better use of trains that sit for long periods at Guildford or Reigate as through services on the North Downs route

Steam locos are expensive and inefficient - stick in 27MW of coal and you get barely 1.8MW to pull the train. The rest goes up in that glory of noise, smoke and heat that we have the fondness for - but gave us the irony of having to run coal trains to provide the coal for the locos to pull the coal trains to deliver the coal for the trains that carried the passengers and freight....

We should also - for London commuting especially, properly integrate the commuter coach services with rail services. Commuter coaches offer a seat guaranteed by law but are generally slower than the train, and work around the drivers' hours limit - which means no late evening or early morning services, but an ability to add or take out capacity not available for the railway. In 'crisis' conditions the options for coaches to offer spare seats to rail users or vice verse when a coach service is not available - the coach user can travel by rail at no cost or a small premium when working late in London.

Re: I love ice, me

avlowe — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 15:03:21 -0000

Annoyingly they don't yet make -349 tyres but I wonder of the secret weapon of the XC skier might work - moleskin. With moleskins on a fellow skier skied up Cairngorm with me using around a third of the traverses I was managing with my metal edges and wax.... Ski wax now there's a thought.

Re: High-speed rail madness: some useful links

avlowe — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 03:51:23 -0000

It is prescient to note that on the Sunday World at One the promotors claimed only 3 train (fast) services to Birmingham per hour - rather forgetting the trains that connect the local places en route and the soon to match service to Birmingham from Marylebone an an existing main line built to take the larger European trains fro much of its length , with land for 4 tracks (but often only 2 remaining after British Rail removed the fast lines) .

This line is currently being redeveloped to increase the line speed by 33% and has the potential with existing trains and much of the track (but not the signalling) to actually increase the running speeds by 67% (from 75mph to 125mph). What is even more attractive is that the current High Speed line project for a London-Birmingham service is being funded by revenue from the existing operator - Chiltern - not the public purse. Chiltern has even provided for the Y junction by retaining the high speed 'flying junction' earthworks at Ashendon (between Haddenham and Bicester) by thoughtful relaying of the second track in their Evergreen 2 Project to permit the reconstruction at a later date. This new high speed line currently under construction is nominally called Evergreen 3 but I suggest that it should be referred to as High Speed Zero which aligns well with the small group of Platform Zeros which have appeared - fitted in to existing stations - and this would appropriately be a High Speed line fitted in to the existing railway.

More worrying is the idea that the line needs a 10,000 space car park in the middle of Warwickshire - a potential congestion creator turning trips which would have previously been short and local - a walk or ride to a local station, into CO2 raising car journeys - although the experience of Ebbsfleet suggests that these spaces may well lie unused, and the numbers on HS1 should be ringing a few warning bells - UKP24m -worth of trains are laid -up as demand has not reached the expected levels from North Kent, and for some commuters it is often quicker (and cheaper) to still use the direct trains in to London Bridge for their City-based jobs

So by way of being positive I urge all to make the case for High Speed Zero - a high speed rail line to Birmingham & the North using existing and abandoned rail lines more effectively (with small enhancements where appropriate and fully integrated with the existing rail system to deliver faster door to door journeys for the widest range of locations. I think that a case for HS0 - shown to deliver the desired faster journeys and capacity at lower cost, faster, and with less disruption than a project which primarily lines the pockets of the firms negotiating, doing land deals and building the new route,

Re: Cyclists 'left unprotected by police and courts'

avlowe — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 16:12:08 -0000

Interesting debate so far especially the rantings from Bleachers.

I note the 2 Oxford fatalities referrred to, especially the Cowley Road one. The reports indicated that the bus driver was talking to another driver on the bus, as he drove - it is, for very good reasons illegal for a bus driver, with up to 100 lives in their care to do anything besides driving the bus when it is moving - yet I see them regularly talking to other drivers, passengers, using a PA microphone (sometimes even a hand held one!), using a mobile phone, and even cashing-up for the end of their shift (this at 62.5 mph on a motorway, drifting on to the hard shoulder as he steered with his knees. Some bus drivers can even be spotted on Saturday afternoons with a discretely hidden pocket radio listening to the football, something that a cycle user as another moving road user is more likely to spot than say a pedestrian.

But let's follow through on that Conduct of Bus Drivers, &c...& Passngers Regulations detail. Here the law does move in the the direction of strict liability, and it has a major parallel with the way other licences are issued for people using equipment that can kill - Guns. If you have charge of a gun and someone gets killed or injured by that gun few would question the immediate liability incumbent on the licence holder with whom that gun is registered. What is the difference between a gun and a motor vehicle, especially as it is clear that motor vehicles are killing a lot more innocent people than guns, and this is especially the case for the large and heavy motor vehicles that require a 'professional' licence to drive.

The need for the strict liability connection for 'professional' licence holders is emphasised by the disportionate death toll linked to these vehicles - in London, and I suspect other major cities, over half the cyclists are killed by large goods vehicles, yet these represent 5% or less of the motor traffic. So clearly by specifically addressing this small element of the total traffic volume, we could make a dramatic impact of casualty figures. So let's press for a start by having strict liability applied to Professional Drivers, and assess the results to inform progress to a wider application.

Two other details in the commentary to date relate to observation and anticipation on the road. Ben Hamilton-Baillie, and others have identified a key element in the 20's Plenty regime - 20mph is the maximum speed for humanity to operate at without external aids (like traffic signals, and road markings, and all else that regulates traffic movement). We've evolved to operate at a maximum of running speed - ancestors who broke bones running into trees and falling on to rocks disappeared from the gene pool, as did those who did not have peripheral awareness at such speeds. This is confirmed by observation of the narrwing field of genuine 'vision' as the speed of travel increases. At 20mph a driver will be more likely to notice the child running towards the road a few metres ahead than the speed merchant focussed on a point tens or hundreds of metres distant (or the bright yellow speed camera). Remove the regulating systems like road markings and signals and it becomes necessary to actually look at what is happeing on the road around you - and guess what, traffic speeds fall to around 18mph - the natural maximum speed for human locomotion, without external aids.

The second detail relates to a fundamental tenet of the Police Driving Manual and rule of the Highway Code - "Always drive at a speed such that you can stop within the distance you can see to be clear". CTC fought hard in the late 1940's to oppose the requirement for red rear lights on cycles, on this very principle, and I have on a few occasions been thankful that my own observation has managed to match the standards promoted, when the 7-pin connector that transfers a lighting supply from the tractor unit to the trailer has failed on the vehicle in front. Travelling along you suspect a vehicle is ahead of you and only when it turns a corner do you realise that there is 30 feet of unlit trailer rolling along, the driver perhaps blissfully unaware that it is only the ability of those behind to spot the substantial unlit object in front to avoid colliding with it. It does make an interesting case for dispensing with rear lights entirely and relying on the use of reflectors illuminated by the following vehicle's headlights, restoring the onus on the driver behind to drive appropriately, especially in poor visibility conditions like fog. We might suffer a short period of mayhem until the greater driving population gets the hang of the idea - perhaps Darwinising those who fail to adapt, but as those in the Highlands will know, deer do not wear high visibility vests, and kill some of the drivers who drive into them.

How do we get this message through to the blinkered minds of some drivers. Simple - the fear of damage both to the vehicle (my experience of having my bike lock & chain casually swinging about hooked on the (right-side) end of my handlebars saw drivers making a clear effort to move well out when overtaking), and then damage to the paperwork - well proved by the way drivers clearly notice speed cameras but have a blind spot for the amber traffic signals indicating that they should stop, but less likely to generate a fine and penalty points. The damage to paperwork also embraces that 'no-claims' discount, that is potentially worth several hundred pounds per year. Strict liability would deliver a good 'fit' in this respect

We might also avoid the pigeon-holing of some of the vocabulary - most people riding bikes are cycle users, about as enthused about cycling as a car user is about motoring, all are road users, and with an ironic twist the percentage of cycle users who are also licenced to drive motor vehicles is far higher than that for the wider UK population. Some of those driving cars, laying in verbally to someone riding a bike might ponder on holding their tongue - regular riders include Edmund King - Mr Automobile Association, hardly inexperienced behind the wheel - and several senior Police officers.

Re: Cyclists 'left unprotected by police and courts'

avlowe — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 06:14:27 -0000

I didn't think to comment earlier but the article quoted Debra Rolfe as CTC spokesperson, and it has been some time since Debra worked for CTC. I must admit that it made me re-check the date as I though this was an older article despite refernces to the first cycle user fatalities of 2011. This does emphasise a clear principle for good journalism, that when quoting a person, especially as the represntative of a significant representative organisation you should endeavour to make sure they endorse the 'quote' as their true opinion or policy. You can come seriously unstuck, as one recent example of a successful complaint, when the person quoted on a current issue had been dead for over a year.

Re: Cyclists 'left unprotected by police and courts'

avlowe — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 06:40:47 -0000

Chris I think you might do well to sit at a few major junctions with traffic signals and count the sheer number of cars, and buses, that crash through, accelerating, when there is a clear STOP aspect displayed. On a few occasions I have set off cycling with a green signal only to force a car driver to pull up, or I have to take avoiding action as they power through against a red signal (it is REALLY satisfying to force a driver to stop, stuck out in the embarassing position well past the stop line and target for the disapproval of the drivers going through on green, who have seen the whole event unroll in front of them).

Clearly there is also a parallel universe issue over the offence covered by s.72 of the Highways Act 1835. If there was a problem with pedal driven carriages (the definition of a cycle for the 1835 Act) then we would see a clear roll of injuries and possibly deaths when cyclists collided with pedestrians on footways. We don't have such figures but we DO have a significant number of pedestrians killed by petrol driven carriages also violating the law - including Police vehicles - by the driving such carriages on the footway. What is more walk through any town and you will see dozens of cars which can only be parked where they are if the drivers have driven on the footway, where is the action to hit these offenders with the same FPN's being showered on cyclists?

Re: Bike licensing doesn’t work, just ask Boris

avlowe — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 11:39:46 -0000

I recall that a good number of the places that have had bicycle registration plate schemes gave the idea up as both an admninistrative nightmare and of little or no benefit for the claimed deliverables.

Need to quickie with the Wiki but how about a listing of the places where cycle registration is or was in use - we've over a century to look back over.

Re: London Cycling Campaign - Council sees sense as No Cycling signs removed from South Bank

avlowe — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 12:37:12 -0000

The solution is to have a sign, with possible legislation, many are campaigning for. That is a clear sign for pedestrian priority over ALL wheeled traffic. It can be used in large car parks, pedestrianised streets and squares and has a clear definition. Any wheeled vehicle user MUST yield to a pedestrian making progress across the path of their wheeled vehicle, unless a clear indication to proceed is given by the pedestrian - basically an extension of Rule 170 of the Highway Code to apply to any carriageway or space available for use by wheeled traffic and pedestrian traffic.

Failure to give pedestrian priority should be easier to define than 'inconsiderate cycling' and will give a toughened response when any collision or near miss occurs. It would also give a better tool for discretionary policing against a simple judgement on the speed of cyclists in some places which will vary for different times of day.

Re: Save our cyclists: Clamour for flood of avoidable road deaths to be stemmed

avlowe — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 22:02:16 -0000

The contention that the principle problem is created by cyclists riding up the inside of trucks is rubbish, the majority of incidents arise when a truck overhauls a cyclist and turns 'through' them, and look a little more closely in to the roll of the fallen and the drivers involved. No forest of mirrors and sensors sticking out from the cab would have saved Eilidh Cairns as the driver was not fit to drive through defective eyesight, nor would it have saved Catriona Patel - not on your list - killed by a driver taking out a truck under the influence of drink, nor the 2 women killed in near identical incidents by the HS1 construction site at Camley Street.

I actually arrived at the scene of a fatal crash which changed one corporate policy and reinforced the detail - the concret mixer truck had made an illegal left turn to take a short cut through a narrow lane with a ban on use by HGV's. To do this it had to turn from the right hand lane on London Wall directly through the path of the cyclist. This truck had, like a wartime fighter, racked up one other kill and another cyclist in a wheelchair over a period of around 3 years - twice with the same driver, and yet it took the mother of one of the cyclists buying shares and standing up at an AGM to challenge the board to deal with the issue.

This gives two strong pointers for effective action from those who carry the responsibility back at director level - the owners and operators and the clients who contract, often for vehicles in the corporate livery of a major construction industry name, to face up to their corporate liability for ensuring vehicles operated under their management are driven by by staff fit for the task, and maintained to an equally high standard. It was very significant that in one recent Police and VOSA operation almost every truck stopped failed to comply with the law in one way or another, some with very serious failings of those operating the vehicles - not the drivers - to demonstrate the good repute required by their operator's licence. In one recent incident captured on camera by the cyclist the vehicle filmed was a blue truck but the Police check revealed it was registered as a white one. One presumes the Traffic Commissioner will be checking this operators credentials and fleet details appropriately.

The second operator duty has been something that HSE has long recognised as a gaping hole in getting management and employees to deliver a duty of care to themselves and the wider public when the workplace is not in a defined factory or office site but on the road. Deaths and injuries liked to staff driving for work purposes represent one of the biggest areas where H&S legislation has failed have an effect and over a third of the reported road casualties. In this case it isn't just HGV's - it is the business community which sees no risk to staff or the public in requiring an employee to make a long distance and stress filled motorway drive for 3-4 hours, complete a full day's work and then drive back. Two Midlands cyclists were killed late one evening by a manager who was returning from a day's business in London who would have left that morning in the early hours to drive down. In another fatal crash, this time killing the occupant of a car, the kitchen fitter was jailed but the trail was not pursued back to the organisation that scheduled his madly packed work plan with over 600 miles of driving in addition to his working shift.

Turning to the victims there is one detail that has regularly been noted. In percentage terms, women make up less than half of the regular cycling population on the streets but are disportionately represented as victims in HGV incidents. One detail that has come to light is the result of a survey of 5000 cyclists in Oxford and Cambridge where a key differnce between male and female cyclists was the ability to perform the 'lifesaver' rearward look whilst cycling, and lead to a major campaign to get all cyclists to perfect that 'rearward look'. This prompted me to consider how I rode and interacted with other road users and conclude that there is a key safety campaign which not one road safety agency seems to have picked up, and it uses 4 integral safety devices which most road users have - 2 eyes and 2 ears.

The basic tenet of this message is that the only contact one road user should make with another road user is EYE contact. Eye contact is that clear assurance that the other road user has seen you and generally the non-verbal communication delivered in this way is equally effective - like the pedestrian glare demanding their right of way on a crossing. Sight is well recognised as a key way to deliver information but the ears provide that added insurance, and so many pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers put hemselves at great risk by shutting off this safety system. Both youngmen killed by riding out into the path of a tram in recent years had personal stereos/ipods and headphones found with their mangled bodies, and even in a car the slightly opened window can alert the driver to something they might have missed in a visual check - cars have mirror blind spots too. So please, to deliver a road environment which is safer lets all look at the other road users and make sure they are looking at us - and if not, act to make sure they do look - or get well clear of them

Re: Save our cyclists: Clamour for flood of avoidable road deaths to be stemmed

avlowe — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 22:46:23 -0000

PS (and please excuse typos in main response)

For construction sites the site operations have to have a risk assessment and a method statement to meet the CDM regulations, in effect for every task that is to be carried out. For trucks and other equipment where the operator cannot see the presence or people or equipment which the operated vehilce or plant might collide with the presence of a banksman is a near mandated requirement, yet tour the public roads - and especially the so called pedestrian precincts and you will regularly see refuse trucks and delivery vehicles operating in frighteningly close proximity to pedestrians with no vanguard on foot to manage the very serious risk of a young child or elderly person falling under the wheels. For construction sites the process is established - simply apply the rigour of CDM documentation to the routes and operational protocols whiuch remove the hazards created by the time pressure delivered by the needs of continuous concrete pouring, and removal of site waste before limited storage space gets filled and work stops.

Supermarkets, DIY warehouses, multi storey car parks and other sites where pedestrian and motor vehicle movement shares the vast area of car parking should seriously consider adopting a regime for which the UK has a failing in the official road signage portfolio, we need a clear signage and recognised regime for pedestrian priorty - all wheeled vehicle traffic MUST yield to moving pedestrians (unless invited to proceed) with a presumption of liability in the event of any collision, this would certainly promote more careful driving and cycling in such places.

Re: Julian Baggini: A hard shoulder to cry on

avlowe — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 02:15:59 -0000

Interesting to read both this and Tom Peck's piece, and with the latter just how information manages to get jumbled up - the reinforced concrete structure has been compromised because the concrete has been damaged to a great depth such that the embedded steel reinforcement no longer functions to fulfill its designed load bearing capacity. Sorting this out presents a major conundrum as there has to be a thickness of material below the reinforcement to restore the function of the beams, and a telling point on how improved design of beams has moved us away from the old arch built from discrete blocks or bricks. The latter having substantial reserves of strength and an ability to retain their integrity when movement or local damage takes place. The survival of many arches and well built setted streets through hundreds of years with minimal attention highlights some features of older systems which perhaps offer greater contingency and lower long term costs of maintenance - with the current pothole and historic patching up interventions required for many of the structures, and tarmac flexible pavements from the 1960's and 70's boom in road building, whilst older roads and structures show a more robust 'constitution' with often minimal attention in over 100 years of existence and the current use by vehicles many times more damaging that they were originally built for.

Contingency and demand management have also been highlighted by incidents like this , and the less prominently reported instances of rail routes north from London being almost totally blocked - the most recent, less than a month ago when a wiring fault and then a fatality shut down the line from Euston, with a signalling failure at the same time of the line from Kings Cross and no routes around via Banbury due to closure of both the Paddington and Marylebone lines through that key junction. By contrast I enjoyed a roads network with contingency and flexibility when I travelled North on Saturday night. Here, between Dishforth and Scotch Corner, the A1 is in the process of a massive rebuilding exercise. We were simply diverted over an established link to the A19, where the lower overnight traffic levels were easily accommodated, allowing the contractor safe and total access to work on the new road. Perhaps we need to do this more often with roads in the same way that the rail network shuts a route completely to deliver more efficient maintenance and repair works. It also presents an opportunity to show that if road capacity is removed, the traffic actually goes away because people are forced to properly evaluate the need for frivolous trips. We might well be able to take some valuable lessons from this incident, to develop interventions that can be used to reduce road traffic levels, and resulting pollution.

That said the levels of traffic on many major routes are at present substantially reduced. Domestic upheaval means I face a fortnightly weekend trip on the M6, A1, or other cross-Border routes, and on the 50 miles between Scotch Corner and Penrith on Sunday morning I passed just one truck, and one car, and was passed myself by 2 other cars, so greatly diminished is the traffic. On daytime trips via the Edinburgh by-pass it is notable that the regular queuing at the Dalkeith junction is vastly diminished. Please don't let such opportunities slip by.

Re: Bike Messengers Pedal Past Bandwidth in Data Race

avlowe — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 19:17:10 -0000

Yous are missing some key markets here - In the automotive industry in the UK, servicing agents recognise that it is a waste of valuable labour to have a car mechanic dropping tools to go and collect parts. They have small vans chasing around (and getting stuck in the congestion created by ... small vans chasing around) to deliver the vital parts from warehouse to workshop as the workshop finds the need for a part. Less organised are other trades - plumbers, electricians, joiners who often waste their clients time by heading to a warehouse for valves sockets etc. Imagine the enhanced earning power for a tradesperson if they can simply phone for a part to be collected and delivered in 30 min or less.

A further detail comes from the local embedded cycle courier being the best means to deliver that final mile for the before 09.00/10.00/12.00 premium service offered by blue chip national and international firms. Local knowledge means fewer wasted 'no signatory' calls, bikes mean a significant reduction in parking fines*, and a drop capacity of typically double that which can be achieved by vans (which have to park, secure, and walk) when bikes can often ride-in to the delivery counter, especially where clients have become bike oriented for deliveries. (*one blue chip operator told the cycle couriers delivering his premium service that their charges were less than his parking fines bill for the previous van-based operation)

The TA Bicycle Blueprint for New York (1994)(some B** has borrowed my printed copy and not returned it) notes that 90% of packages delivered in most cities weigh under 30Kg - the sort of load easily moved by bike or on a sack truck, and as noted comparative trials of van vs bike for a collection round in London saw the bike complete the round in half the time it took the van.

Yes guys you have a product in cycle freight which is the future and it delivers successfully and sustainably in the only proven way, by being financially more effective than the alternatives. We just have to build some clear case studies that show just how dumb it is to buy a vehicle capable of 70mph, with 3 people and a ton of payload aboard, and use it to travel around at 15mph or less with one person and a box of mail when the task can be carried out as well if not better by a vehicle costing a fraction of the price.

I really want to gather in the good news and develop the movement for cycle freight - even if some of my efforts are a bit extreme. If you want to drop me a note use Hgrps - an aol.com account.

Dave H - my bike carrying trailer (q/r 1-wheel) was featured last year in Velovision

Re: Bike Messengers Pedal Past Bandwidth in Data Race

avlowe — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 19:23:28 -0000

PS have you featured the Copenhagen Sperm (delivery) Bike? Oh and the cycle courier company delivering for the blue chip internationals has many staff who have stayed with them for over 10 years - unlike the mad dash merchants, where many staff burn out in a couple of years.

Re: Drivers: if your car wheels were on stilts you could do this too*

avlowe — Sat, 07 May 2011 19:07:06 -0000

This is a good 2+ miles of cycling - the length of the Switchback Road from the junction with A81 South to Anniesland (blue railway bridge at Temple/crosses canal) then down Crow Road (2 railway bridges at Jordanhill) practically to the mouth of the Clyde Tunnel.

I think it would be fantastic if CM rides did this instead of deliberately blocking traffic flow and annoying drivers, just imagine the vision of dozens of cyclists flowing through a traffic queue like water through a sieve.

Maybe an early start for a small group to all ride through with Magnatom one morning.

Re: Pay £5 and ride on a White Elephant

avlowe — Thu, 12 May 2011 14:02:57 -0000

The population of Scotland is slightly over 5 million people but the working population is actually around 2.7 million. and through working and taxation they deliver an annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of £1bn but only around £104m of this comes from the value added (GVA) from actually producing tangible 'products' rather than the churn of taxation and other funding sources.

So here is a road which in a Scottish context will cost 70% of a year's GDP but take 7 years to pay for from genuine earnings. In its place we could have had around £260 for every working person to spend on alternative transport or other projects, Or we might ask for our individual £260 shares as a refund since we won't be using this road.

The road uses time savings made by drivers using the road to justify the cost so I wonder how much that is per second (anyone got the figures?) However the time costs in local journeys blocked or extended should I suggest be put up against this figure to ensure a properly balanced financial case.

At present I have been avoiding the use of Rutherglen Road, through from Shawfield to the Gorbals, because it has been transformed from its old long and straight alignment into tortuous snaking route through a building site

Re: How train companies could learn about customer service

avlowe — Thu, 12 May 2011 16:43:53 -0000

There is an element in the way management empowers their front line staff and stand by the decisions made by those staff. One Derbyshire bus operator does this and drivers happily accept the old souls who forget their bus passes ("Have this one on us") but generally spot the persistent fraudster, through getting a good 'feel' for making the right decisions from the hot seat. This gets them a huge PR benefit as well treated passengers come back AND tell their friends about the good service. Contrast this with the notorious reputations of some of the South London 'redcaps' the TOC equivalent of MP's treating every minor transgression as if the passenger was a squaddie going AWOL. Treat your passengers with such a disgraceful attitude, and they will respond accordingly. Putting posters up decrying staff assault is a bit hollow when said staff present such a confrontational position in enforcing many 'rules' so unreasonably that they positively invite an abusive response*.

EMT staff are possibly ruefully regretting laying down a blunt company line with a certain rather famous pensioner who just happened to be filming for a Channel 4 documentary - at least they did do the right thing in offering him the option of proving his identity (I don't belieeve it - he was not recognised!) and pay later, rather than deliver a humiliating ejection from the train. However I've seen some dreadful performances which have left passengers without cash in the centre of a strange and hostile town in the early hours, with even BT Police just dumping them without first finding out whether the passenger could get home safely. What was even worse was the 1 hour delay to the train from this performance eating in to a much needed possession, when the whole issue could have been resolved by accepting the documentation held by the passenger proving that he had purchased a ticket on-line and clearly seeing that the machine at the station had broken down. One passenger who will never travel with that train service again, and 15-20 others who like me will re-tell that story many times.

A few years ago my niece was reduced to a quaking wreck, only saved by supportive fellow passengers when an MML TTI threatened her with police picking her off the train - for an error delivered at the ticket counter, and a difference in ticket price of a few pence. She happened to be returning from Nottingham to New Cross Gate, but the ticket clerk had issued a ticket for Newcastle. A reasonable reaction would have been to point out the error, and if a price difference did exist use the most appropriate way to sort out the problem, delivering a good impression of the operator and the individual employee. However I suspect that having taken the route of robust enforcement, the TTI had placed himself in a position from which he could not stand down without losing face, apologising for the initial outburst, and settling matters.

I make that last point because I wonder if the current hiatus over Lymington's stationmaster may have some element of this in the sequence of events - a manager has applied the rules and the one size fits all disciplinary action, and may not now be able to revoke the penalty for fear of precedent, leaving all parties greatly upset and embarassed by the outcome, when a better judgement - albeit this opinion formed at a distance from the full history of the case - might have been a strong disciplinary sanction, but not summary dismissal. We now have something which places black cloud over the relations between the operator and the local community which will linger for some time, and one which will not be easily resolved.

Re: Business leaders believe high-speed rail will help northern cities to grow

avlowe — Mon, 16 May 2011 09:01:06 -0000

Perhaps they should take a more careful look at HS1- loadings not as predicted (nice empty trains outside peak hours (eg 30 going STP AFK at 07.00 on weekday) and it actually takes longer for many journeys once you add in the drive to AFK or EBB - even GVD-LBG is 10 minutes faster on the old trains as STP is not exactly where City workers want to arrive in London.

An example going North here & now is how the EUS-GLC trains do not stop until WBQ Because of this most travellers from the midlands face journey times longer than that for the longer trips from EUS (often well over an hour due to the poor connections)

The current 500 seat trains may be full for some of the time but it takes a remarkable leap of faith to believe that a frequent service of 1100 set trains is going to be viable.

My suggestion - solve the Heathrow and other airport expansion issues, deliver a second rail ink to Europe (as the Chunnel has at least one hiatus shut down per year and none to date have been massive disasters), Build a huge offshore airport between NL and UK - 24/7 operation with no flying over populated areas, no land restrictions, no noise mitigation 3 or more runways for the biggest planes imaginable, and supreme security as an island, plus of course the option to include a deep water port with rail connections by fast freight to UK and Northern Europe. Of course the land reclamation project could take spoil from Crossrail and resolve the crisis on landfill. Simply delivering all the local and transfer passengers to international flights by high speed rail will easily fill a regular service of 1100 set trains, releasing many fine airport sites for redevelopment as they are basically mini cities already.

Re: New Alstom Pendolino train to enter service with Virgin Trains

avlowe — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 15:26:43 -0000

I wonder if the branding on this train (shouting Alsthom 11-Coach Pendolino in place of the Virgin logo on the driving trailers) will remain in place whilst the 'Redactolino' is operating as a 9-coach unit - I'm sure this will provide great joy to the folk on board when trains are full and standing for the 4h 10/20m trip EUS-GLC as 50 of us were on one trip. Yes 50 pax standing for over 4 hours.

Re: Cop Nearly Doors Cyclist, Then Chases And Arrests Her

avlowe — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 06:59:36 -0000

About 10 years back a review of NYPD officers & staff using vehicles revealed a significant number driving vehicles for which they had no valid driving licence I guess you'll need to look it up , but sounds like their driving standards have not improved.

I hope the cyclist who crashed into back of her has been in contact

Double standards seem to abound - spoke to folk who stood in baggage reclaim at US airport watching abandoned bag for 30 min and drew security staff attention to it. We don't touch it - "procedure sir" was response. Later said observer happened to get introduced to senior security person and repeated story Cue blanched of face - head in hands - back to training the chimps!

Some of the tales of the front line grunts working for DHS would be hilarious if they were not true.

Re: PIC AND PUB Tired driver hit with fine for taking a nap

avlowe — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 20:39:38 -0000

Moto lease the site from DfT who in theory set the contract terms, although I find the house-style roundel signage a potnetial hazard as not only does it not comply with the UK and international standards, some signs are technically implying the complete opposite to the officially recognised meaning - most notably the roundel for which the official interpretation is "Giving Way Prohibited" rather the "Give Way" Instructed. No surprise then that they have a problem with this parking issue.

There is a serious question of abuse and revenue loss, with truck drivers gaining free overnight parking instead of risking a fine for parking on street or a charge for using a lorry park, and other drivers avoiding the use of the hotels now available at most service areas for overnight accommodation.

Moto also let me down on last Christmas Eve when I stopped to top up at Southwaite and the fuel service station was shut. Fortunately I was not letting the tank drop to the last dregs and filled up further South, much to the benefit of the guy I picked up on Christmas morning trying to reach Bristol after missing a connecting flight in Edinburgh.

Re: Speed sells

avlowe — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 04:52:56 -0000

Of course in the absence of any official commitment to a Green Wave we get the age old issue of cyclists creating one for themselves by riding through red lights . Isn't it about time from the DfT and roads authoritiers to wake up to the fact that his is not law breaking with malice aforethought but law breaking because the law is an assinine construct.

The most dramatic increases in cycling - over 1000%* in 2 months were not formally surveyed but blindingly obvious and happened simply because cycling delivered the faster cleaner journey than the other offerings available. * at one site since 2004 I extimate that cycle use for onward travel from a rail journey has grown by over 3000% since 2004, at another site the key proviosion of cycle parking has grown from 30 to 320 spaces, and has plans to grow even further (with nearly 300 Boris bikes also being hired out from the same location) - a 2000% increase in bikes collected from the station to which we add the massive increase in folding bikes coming in with the trains of which 2/3 are Bromptons.

Glad I took B to Liverpool for Labour conference transport fringe events, cut 28 minutes from the 4 hour trip that National Rail said was fastest, and from Station to conference in 7 minutes - meant I could stay for full session which was held in the replica Cavern Club (a fine hook to attend that one!) Left venue at 20.05 and comfortably with around 10 minutes wait before 20.22 to repeat the process for my return trip.

Re: Buying a car for university

avlowe — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 21:19:12 -0000

Typically following the British misunderstanding of the term car sharing - car sharing is sharing the use of a car the term you really should be using is ride-sharing or lift-sharing and you miss out the UK's main lift-sharing website naturally called Liftshare.

Some car share clubs are open to under 25's and you pay by the hour for a car. There are however some excellent weekend hire rates typically around £12/day for a basic small 3-door car (Enterprise). I gave up long term car ownership in 1976 and have never regretted the move.

Worth noting that historically (for several hundred years in some cases) universities have had travel management regimes that have banned students from keeping cars, and before that carriages, on campus. As a result cycle use in University Towns like Oxford and Cambridge is a long established regime.

Advice here is to adapt your thinking, and work out the regime to fit in with the local culture. Oxford especially has cycle carriage on the Oxford Tube and Espress coach services to London as an accepted practice, and widespread use of folding bikes. Cambridge does see exceptional levels of cycle carriage on the trains (and some coach services, including the X5 which runs half-hourly to Oxford) Occasionally the line has to be drawn when trains are full and standing and around 10% of the passengers want to take bikes as well, but generally the regime works.

Re: Buying a car for university

avlowe — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 21:23:17 -0000

PS When at University we did get casual work driving cars for the local car hire operators - ferrying them to depots or to the car auction when the new fleet came in.

Re: Trams back in favour

avlowe — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 08:35:32 -0000

Take a look at the Street Films videos of Bus Rapid Transit as is should be delivered in Bogota and Curitiba (not the half-hearted efforts we have - perhaps with Swansea the exception). Watch as 100 passngers swarm onto the 4-(double)door buses in under a minute and these buses run at 3 times typical bus speeds carrying 35,000 passengers per hour more like a tram than a bus at a fraction of the cost and delivered in a fraction of the time, using ordinary paved carriageways to get the service running whilst the core route is completed.

With real BRT we could deliver Uxbridge Road and the Cross-River route. Oh just one detail you use 25 metre articulated buses to carry the 200+ passengers