· Dulwich Young Cyclists
· Officer presentation on cycling - what is the council doing about improving cycle routes and pedestrian safety.
· Officer presentation on 20 mph zone - how will this be rolled out to other areas.
· Representatives from TfL, and Network Rail.
Minutes:
The chair introduced the transport theme and explained the purpose of the theme was to address all aspects of transport in the community council area: trains, buses, vehicular or cycling.
The chair welcomed the community organisations and the council officers that spoke on the transport theme:
· Dulwich Youth Community Council
· Dulwich Young Cyclists
· Representatives from Transport for London and Southern Railway
· Council Officers
It was noted that Network Rail had sent their apologies to the meeting but agreed to respond to any submitted written questions and any actions if necessary. Additionally members of the public could contact them directly on their National 24 hour helpline on 08457 11 41 41.
Dulwich Youth Community Council
Representatives of Dulwich Community Council highlighted the following issues during the transport theme:
· The issue of buses especially buses, P13 and P4 being far too infrequent. They tended to come every 20 minutes and were at times crowded with school children before and after school. As the P13 bus would go through Sainsburys and was mostly by used by elderly people the bus would always be full.
· The other huge issue they had was access on buses. P13 and P4 had just one door. They asked if it was possible to increase the size of these buses, like buses 227 and 358 in Lewisham share the same bus width but have two doors. Access would be better when alighting from the bus.
· The 16+ (in education) oyster card allowed them to travel free on buses but it costs to travel when they used trains and the tube with the minimum travel costing £2.50 (adult fare). This they thought was a bizarre system when the idea of this was for them to travel free on public transport. They wondered why this was the case and if this could be looked into by the relevant organisations.
· For those young people who walk to and from their destination, it would help if street lighting could be improved in areas, for example in Court Lane and Gallery Road especially as it got dark much earlier now.
· Representatives of Dulwich YCC asked if cycling schemes in the area could be updated to encourage safer cycling.
Dulwich Young Cyclists
Claire Leithead from Dulwich Young Cyclists introduced herself to the meeting and explained that the group were part of safe routes scheme. Claire gave a powerpoint presentation and explained that part of the London Mayor’s vision was to improve cycling for children. The group wanted to ensure that it was safe to do so. Part of the proposal included designing safer cycling routes to school. This would be done alongside TfL and the council. Claire explained that the initiative for safer routes meant working alongside local ward councillors to improve cycling in the area particularly as statistics revealed that out of 14 schools in the Dulwich area only 2% of pupils cycled daily.
Survey
Claire reported that 966 parents had taken part in the survey and 71% of parents had said they were frightened to allow their children to go to school unaccompanied.
The survey highlighted that 94% would like to see the creation of a safe off-road cycle routes. People felt the junction at Greendale and Townley Road should be changed. The group had been successful in bidding for funding for this and the second bid took place on 22 December 2013. The survey revealed the south circular was the most dangerous road as a cycling route.
After taking questions, Claire agreed to send copies of the survey to Village ward councillors. Copies were also available on request.
The questions highlighted that fourteen schools were in the process of updating their School Travel plan.
Transport for London and Southern Railway
Steve Kearns from TfL spoke about the following during his presentation:
London Bus Service had been in operation since 1963 and the graph shown the reliability of waiting time. He said delays would involve financial penalties to the company.
The graph also demonstrated there had been a significant improvement in Route 3 access waiting time.
That by 2021 /22 bus usage would increase by 7%.
To prioritise the time of bus routes example, Kings College Hospital bus route, and the interchange would be produced to ensure there are frequencies through out the day in order to avoid stopping bus journeys.
Steve also said that he would feedback the 20 minute delay of the P13 which was raised by the young people.
Understood the bus routes were not meeting the standards or people’s expectations (e.g. the P13) because some of the countdowns outside Kings College had been taken away.
In response to questions, Steve said he would also feedback to TfL the concerns about the behaviour of some bus drivers towards people with disabilities.
It was noted that Andre Reid from Southern Railway was available during the break to take questions on transport issues.
Officer presentation
Eamon Doran from the sustainable transport and road safety team gave a powerpoint presentation on the use of sustainable transport.
The officer talked about the introduction of trixi mirrors which was a pilot scheme aimed at cycle safety. Southwark was one of the first London boroughs to introduce this as a new awareness campaign intended for cyclists.
The council had also introduced a scheme to secure on street parking cycle hangars on the highway. Several routes had been identified by the council, TfL, Southwark Cyclists and other stakeholders.
Eamon spoke about the 20 mph zones which were being implemented borough wide and highlighted the various initiatives that were operating in the borough:
· Safer urban driving courses
· HGV cyclists awareness days
· Run “park to park” cycle ride for children
· Running cycle campaign
· Maintenance training for adults and children.
The officer had mentioned the hydrogen buses which were first introduced in 2010 due to London’s poor air quality.
He said the council was committed to transforming the bus service in the area, one of the proposals and discussion included the extension of the 42 bus route. TfL had agreed to look at this for the foreseeable future. The other was the Bakerloo extension (e.g. Elephant and Castle, Hayes via Bromley, Old Kent Road and Peckham).
The chair thanked everyone for their contributions to the meeting.