Coffee in the Square

Catching the Last Routebus Home

Spent a pleasant evening with Dr. Compost the other night, AKA Craig Benton the recyling expert from Seattle who has now settled in Dublin and runs his business from there. (doctorcompost@earthlink.net)
We were showing him the delights of soho. (dinner at Polpo followed by coffee and cakes in the Bar Italia), when this little beut caught our eye. The Vegan bus has had mixed gastronomic reviews, but it looked busy and the diners looked happy on the night we were there.

The bus has a website


www.veganroutes.org

and while checking it out I also found


www.veganbus.com

which is an old school bus in Massachusetts that runs on waste vegetable oil. Check out the slide show. They clearly have fun.

Transport for London have now placed the order for new routemasters, from Wright Bus. The new generation will be hybrid technology with 40% less NOx emissions and 30% less particulate matter emissions than normal diesel.
For reasons I don't get it will have three doors and two staircases. So once you have all that kit it takes 87 passengers instead of the 149 or so that the bendy bus takes.
It remains to be seen how popular the new routemasters are. But somehow I can't see them becoming cafés when they wear out.
Perhaps the Vegan bus is real recycling.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Soho Walking

Those observant among you will have noticed that I've started blogging from my iPhone. The iBlog programme, which is very good by the way, seems to want to boast this fact and also seems to put in ads. I'm sorry if this offends you all, but I don't know how to stop it. (Any advice welcome here)
But there is no getting away from it the Apps that can be downloaded are awesome and addictive.
The latest gismo I've downloaded is a little beaut called Cyclemeter by Abvio.
It uses the built in GPS to record your route by various means of transport.
Today, for example Astrid and I took a stroll to the Bar Italia in Frith St in Soho. Soho is always delightful and quiet on mornings like this. It took us 18.47mins to walk .87miles. Last night coming back from the theatre the same walk took over 20 mins.
It is said that we always over estimate how long it takes to walk and under estimate a drive time. Perhaps we should all be equipped with these little gismos?
Happy New Year by the way. This is my last blog of 2009.
PS if you look really closely at the image you can see Ronnie Scotts club opposite reflected in the window.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Equality for Bicycles!

I visited Freiburg over the New Year and the information I picked up was very rich.  You will see quite a few blogs on the new developments there over the next few weeks I guess.  Something one of our traffic engineers said before I went away made me think quite a bit about street widths.  Here is a tram in a really narrow street in Antwerp.  So don't tell me that you need a really wide street for a tram! (You know who you are.)

We measured this street out as 6m wide - and you can see that a good metre and a half each side is the footpath.  So a tram takes up about 3m.  (If you look very closely you will see my dog Astrid waiting at the side!)  Yes and cars are allowed down here as well - but woe betide them if they try and park.

However a thorough-fare for all types of traffic needs to be designed differently.  Vaubanalle in Frieburg, is the main road that runs through the Eco suburb of Vauban.

This street is 35m wide. Download the info sheet for a detailed section and more images.  What's really interesting is the fact that the roadway section - two way traffic and a line of parking - is only 6m wide while the pedestrian/cycle track is also 6m wide.  Designing cities for cycles does not seem to mean less tarmac unfortunately.  But it does mean a different balance between car uses and other uses.

First Catch Your Bus!

We’ve been looking for Eco-busses to go with our eco town for several months now.  You would think that it would be quite easy to buy or hire a bus but when you ring the manufacturers you get a rather luke-warm response.  Perhaps we are asking the wrong questions?

Anyway finally we have found an operator and a company who seem interested.  Yesterday we went to Dennis busses in Guildford with Countryliner and were treated to a tour around the works and the gen on all their busses.

We are looking at a very new model which uses 25% less diesel than normal models, the rest of the power being produced by electricity generated from brake power.  Andy Boulton, Dennis’s sales manager is a real enthusiast and let slip that he owned quite a number of busses himself!

We fell in love with some of their classic range, especially a beautiful little 22 seater from the 20’s complete with moquette upholstery and etched glass lights. 

We also heard about  Plymouth Park and Ride, which has the most luxurious busses – the Enviro 400’s (not as green as the ones we are considering) but it’s the interior that interested us.  Leather upholstery and in seat audio!  This definitely means I’ll be off the

Plymouth some time soon to check them out.  By all accounts the service, which runs every 7 minutes from  6.30am to  8.30pm has been a phenomenal success.

What’s interesting about both the classic bus and the Plymouth bus is that someone had spent time thinking about the interior.  A lot of work goes into the exterior – modern busses have to have a smile!  And the operators are of course interested in the engine and the drive.  Pru Leith once told me that when you design a restaurant it’s the table arrangement, the plate and what’s on it that is the most important to diners.  I suspect that for bus passengers it’s the seat (and possibly the view) that is most important – yet how often have you sat on an uncomfortable seat – with a view of a blank plasticy wall in front of you. And how often have you had to suffer the inconvenience of looking inwards or backwards – both uncomfortable especially on windey roads? 

Of course the reason that bus interiors are so clunkey these days is that they have lowered the floor in order to get disabled access.  The lovely little 22 seater from the 20’s had a completely flat floor – but of course you had to climb up two or three steps to get into it.

 

Thanks to Brian Georg's Flickr site for these images.

 

 

Taking the last bus home

 

In the hedonistic 80’s Mike and I used to enjoy going to the cinema especially for the ad which showed a cool couple of blokes hopping from a golden shoreline into a fast white leather upholstered speedboat.  The tag line was “Taking the last bus home – if you’r drinking Bacardi”

I was reminded of this ad as I sat on the 5.22 Countryliner from Penns Place in Petersfield where I now work which extraordinarily is the last bus home!  There is no bus service to the Council offices or the adjacent leisure centre, or the adjacent housing neighbourhood after 17.22!   If I miss it I have to walk. It’s only about a 35 minute walk and quite a pleasant route – but that’s not really the point.  In fact the bus driver reminded me the other day that I had had the honour of having been his first passenger in the morning – at 7.38 and his last in the evening – and I didn’t think I had really worked a very long day.

What I find strange is the scarcity of people on that bus.  I’m often the only one.  In a recent survey that Hampshire County Council did they discovered that perception of the quality and frequency of busses was markedly different depending upon whether people actually used the busses or not. If they did not use the busses they had a much lower opinion of them.

I can’t say that my bus has any style but it is always on time and I enjoy the social aspect of the journey.  I have got to nodding acquaintance with several passengers including a very nice disabled guy who is always helped on and off the bus by the driver.   In fact this morning I knew all of the four other passengers!

One of the strongest arguments for getting people out of their cars and taking public transport is that it forces people to engage with their neighbours.  On the bus you might be sitting next to anyone – and of course if you travel by public transport regularly you soon learn that most of your fellow beings are really quite nice people.

So if the survey is correct and the experience is far better than the perception then we have to find ways of getting people to take the bus once or twice in the hope that it will help them to change their mind about busses.

Here’s a wacky example from Kobe in Japan, where Ikea dressed up the local trams as a publicity stunt when their new store opened. Now how come the Swedes always seem to come up with the answers?

Road Charging

As insomnia gripped the other night I had the good fortune to catch a very good discussion about road charging on the World Service. World Business Review It took as a starting point that the British government is laying the groundwork for what could be the boldest traffic management scheme ever undertaken. They stated the fact that opposition to road pricing is fierce in Britain as elsewhere, angry motorists seeing themselves as defenseless targets of a government plot to extract a new tax, while making them pay for their own surveillance. There has been a great surge of opposition on the government's website.  However I don't think this translates as opposition.  Its just fear of the new.  Most people I know who live in Central London welcome the congestion zone, and those who live outside welcome the improvement in buses.  if its modal shift we are after - then its clear that the congestion charge is successful.  Bus travel in London has increased by 37% in the last five years and London is the only world city where car transport has not increased; the decrease in the congestion zone being balanced by an increase outside the zone.

It is clear that traffic congestion is s global issue for congestion is a waste of time, money and energy as well as a completely unnecessary contributor to global warming.

In the programme leading international road transport academic, Professor Stephen Glaister of Imperial College, London, and the London transport authority; former British Transport Minister and candidate for mayor of London, Steven Norris; high tech transport expert Jason Barnes, editor of ITS International; and newspaper columnist, traveller and former member of parliament, Matthew Parris discuss the outlook for road pricing.

While I don't agree with what everybody said, I felt this was a sane discussion between people who understood the problem and had spent a considerable amount of time considering the solutions.  Stephen Glasiter has also very kindly offered a link to his own pamphlet National Road Pricing: Is it fair and practical? and if you want to sign the governments petition to support road charging then go to http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Road-Charging/

Riding the Green Wave

A couple of experiences last week, one exhilarating and one demoralising has got me thinking about queuing theory in urban design.  Today is the start of the road pricing extension, which I hope works, though I am not too pleased about the prospect of seeing a lot more Chelsea Tractors in my part of Westminster.  When the experiment started a few years ago congestion in my part of town - I live within the old C zone - went down by 30% and for a brief an enjoyable moment I considered starting to cycle around town again!  The streets around here (Fitzrovia) became quite quiet and we even sent a petition to Westminster Council asking them to consider making a home-zone around here.  But of course they refused to countenance such a lefty idea. 
However a little known aspect of the congestion charging has been the fact that Transport for London has changed all the traffic lights around the edge - so that traffic flows more easily round the perimeter routes.  Euston Road, which bounds the congestion zone to the North has (I'm sure of it) been converted to a green wave.  On Friday I had the pleasure of riding that wave all the way along to the A40.  I don't know how they do it, but if you go at about 30 miles an hour along the road you are likely to receive green lights all the way along.  Now children, this does not work during times of congestion and even though some people say that it also works at 60 miles an hour I would not risk the ticket or the injury!  But at 30 miles an hour on a relatively clear day it is one of the small pleasures of London life!
The unpleasant experience of queuing theory was waiting in the freezing cold for my 10.00am appointment until 12.30pm outside the American Embassy in Grosvenor Square.  I got so angry at one point my mind went back to the anti-Vietnam riots in the square in the sixties.  I was sorely tempted to start one - but I was wearing my high heels so thought better of it and just  made polite conversation with my fellow queue members.  How is it that one of the so-called most civilized nations of the world have such trouble administering a queue that happens the same way every day?  If the 10.00am appointments don't really need to get there until 12.30 why not call it a 12.30 appointment? 
So for anyone who has the misfortune to need an American visa here are my top tips.
1. Book an appointment a few days ahead because the prelims take time.  e.g. you will need a 50mm square picture and to receive fill out , print out and return by email a form from the embassy.
2. Take the 8.00am appointment if at all possible and arrive at 7.30 - thus eliminating all queuing (I suppose)
3. Failing that arrive at the appointed time - make sure the man in the yellow jacket has ticked you off his list - and then toodle off to Oxford Street for a bit of shopping, meet your friends for coffee or have your hair done.
4. However resist all temptations to purchase anything as they don't let in mobile phones, liquids and all your metalwork (including belt buckles) has to be visible in a plastic bag.  There were a lot of embarrassed men in the queue with decidedly drooping drawers!
5. Check and double check that you have everything with you, including passport, photo, copy of form, copy of appointment letter, receipt for visa fee, letter from employer saying they want you to come back and any other salient proofs required.  However I didn't have a letter from my employer (me!) but they let me in anyway.
In true British fashion my queue was good humoured and I'm sure that people make friends for life sometimes.  But it sure is a bad reflection on the lack of organisation or the lack of care on the part of such a powerful nation.  if you really don't want to queue take a stick and gray your hair ......... or better still borrow a wheelchair from somewhere! 
However while we are talking about queuing there are times when bunching people up is just the right approach from an urban design point of view! Take for example the shopping street.  In most cases people tend to design these streets too wide but there is nothing more off-putting than a windy street scene.  In my view it is often the narrower the better.  For example St Christopher's Place located just off London's Oxford Street has an opening that must be less than a meter wide, but it is extremely popular and its little square at the back is always packed at all times of the year with people enjoying the quite and sheltered street life that it offers.  Dublin (above) is also a case in point, its narrow side streets, about 2.5m wide at most are far more attractive than its main shopping streets, and the better shops have tended to congregate in these lanes.

The Selfishness of People -Road Pricing

So Downing Street's website is jammed with people complaining about road pricing.  Being a citizen of London and subject to central London's congestion charge - I really can't see what all the bother is about.  True, we in London have excellent public transport and so we are used to leaving our cars at home and using the bus/tube/train.  Also the standard of living in London is high so we can afford public transport which is admittedly costlier than driving.  And here is the nub of the issue.  Drivers currently don't pay the price of their road use or their environmental impact.  Other modes of transport are economically incomparable.  If we want a brighter future we should learn that we all have to make sacrifices in order to achieve it.  This rush to complain of road pricing is just selfishness.
People who live in the countryside should not despair.  These country roads are not overcrowded and the environmental impact of their use is not great.  A short trip to a transport hub should be the order of the day. At the same time the costs associated with smaller, greener cars should be less than the gas guzzlers.  (Benefiting the less well off)
Remember you may have a car now and enjoy its use.  But we will all grow old and at some stage you will be forced to give up driving.  How then will you get around?
I have received a positive response from Westminster Councillor Harvey Marshall, who agrees with me about pedestrians raw deal in Westminster. See my post Feb 9th Westminster's Folly  Unfortunately he tells me he is no longer my councillor and that Cavendish Square is neither in my or his ward - so I suppose we are back to square one.  No news from the New West End Company or the Developers!

Westminster's Folly

Parking in central London can be expensive and a drag.  But I have nothing against small green cars and even these need somewhere to park.  So underground car parks like the one in Cavendish Square just behind John Lewis and Oxford Street should provide a model for other developments.  This was rather miraculously built after the war, managing to maintain the fine Plain trees which now sit on top of the spiral car park.  (There is a similar car park in Russel Square which is one of the oldest squares in London - but that is a double spiral!).  Even on a gloomy day like today Cavendish Square provided a green respite from central London's hustle and bustle.

However the car park itself is gloomy and needs sprucing.  And the square, which is potentially beautiful, is cut off for pedestrians by roads on all sides.  I think that Westminster councillors must hate pedestrians.  They certainly have a fear of pedestrianisation and here the roads and footways have been configured so that there is NO WAY to access the gardens except by taking your life in your hands across traffic lanes.  There are no pedestrian crossing or lights. 
Yet the roads around here are only local distributor roads.  There is no need for traffic around here to go fast!
The New West End Company have obviously recognised the problem and in 2005 they conjured up a scheme with adjoining landowners Marchday Group PLC who are the freeholders of the square.  But since what is reported to have been a positive consultation nothing more has been heard.
It is simple schemes and partnerships like this could progressively improve central London, but Westminster, one of the richest of London Boroughs drags its feet.
What New West End Company realises, and what Westminster Councillors should understand is that Oxford Street is losing out to the dead - but admittedly convenient - hand  of places like Bluewater.  Central London has no God-given right to remain central.  The website gives no credits to the designers of the proposals.  (They probably were not paid anything!)

I'm sending this article to New West End Company and to my councillor - I am a Westminster ratepayer.  So we'll see what response we get.  (If any)

Green Cars 3 The Urban Mover

No I know its not a car - but it can fold into one!

This must be the future for urban travel as we all get a little older and in need of a little bit more puff.  The Urban Mover is a Cheltenham company who have perfected the lightweight battery.  This bike, which works as an ordinary pedal bike has a rechargeable battery which cuts in when you flake out.  It detects the torque or pressure you are expending on the pedals and adds more power as the pressure increases.  Its got a range of about 40miles if you pedal and takes about 4-6 hours to charge up at night.  Its got six speed of gears and it only weighs 22.5KG.  I've found them at £699.00 for sale over the Internet. Go to Urban Movers Website for more info.  There is a very good comparison chart and don't forget to catch the video clips of the Gadget show and an Aussie TV report, both of which really sell the machine.  Now that's a lot cooler than any of the electric cars I've so far reviewed.  I'm off for a test ride!