1. Cycle-only early-start traffic lights with a cycle-only Advance Stop Box which will be 18 metres deep. This is an unsatisfactory compromise solution that has been effectively critiqued by the London Cycling Campaign (LCC) here.
2. Cycle Bus Stop By-Pass. This is, by contrast, a very impressive idea since it will prevent cyclists coming into conflict with buses at the bus stop on the approach to the roundabout. Buses are a inescapable feature of London's traffic and as such are not going to go away anytime soon. However, cycle bus stop By-Passes are a very rare, even non-existant, sight in London at present. The implementation of a successful and popular Cycle Bus Stop By-Pass at Bow Roundabout could pave the way for their installation across London's busier roads which is really a very exciting prospect indeed.
(For pedestrians getting off buses that need to cross the By-Pass, TfL are also intelligently proposing a specific pedestrian crossing on the cycle lane which is visible on the map below. This is a much better idea than having a general-crossing free-for-all for the duration of the By-Pass because it limits pedestrian-cyclist conflict to a specific area and gives cyclists a specific location where they need to look out and give way to pedestrians, thereby reducing the risk of pedestrians and cyclists not seeing each other.)
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| Map of proposed changes. Click here for a PDF download of the image. |
I would urge, in no uncertain terms, that anyone interested in Cycling in London visits https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/betterjunctions/bow_roundabout and takes the 'Online Survey' sometime between now and 19 Dec 2012 in order to let TfL that they are doing the right thing.
It's just as important to let know organisations like TfL know when they are doing stuff right as it is to let them know when they are getting it wrong (c.f. the closure of Upper Ground covered impressively well by Cyclists in the City).
That way we can hopefully see more Cycle Bus Stop By-Passes (and Cycle Early Start systems) being rolled out all over London; i.e. not just at junctions where people have to die before TfL start doing anything about the road layout situation.
#cyclesafe
Don't even live in London but would like to see this across the UK. Filled the survey out in support
ReplyDeleteI really like the ideas and the intent, but I am sceptical over whether the Advance Stop Box will ever NOT be filled with cars. I live in Bow near this roundabout and the traffic lights staggered around the actual roundabout itself coupled with the extremely heavy traffic chomping at the bit to get onto the motorway-esque A12 (A102(m)) invariably cause very solid queues of traffic, which I'm assuming will get "caught" in the box on reds, and sit there in the way of cyclists and probably pull away on the early green bike lights. (I'm assuming here that the policing of the ASL will be as good as it is elsewhere in London ...)
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