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Author Topic: London TravelWatch - Emerging from lockdown - Webinar summary  (Read 3615 times)
grahame
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« on: May 07, 2020, 08:54:12 »

Yesterday, I watched the "Emerging from lockdown Webinar" from London Travelwatch.
Agenda below. Notes follow that. Recording at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WnuxPhuJYQ

Very useful / very thought provoking. Information windows around the broadcast were showing around 200 in the audience.
Agenda and first speaker notes in this first post. Will follow up with other sections

2.30pm Introduction from Emma Gibson Opening words from Navin Shah, Chair of the London Assembly Transport Committee

2.40pm - Heidi Alexander, Deputy Mayor for Transport
passenger and transport issues that both the Mayor of London and TfL» (Transport for London - about) are thinking about as we emerge from lockdown
(A)

2.50pm - Bharat Mehta from Trust for London
how can we meet the needs of lower-income Londoners as we come out of lockdown?
(B)

2.55pm - Josef Schneider, Chair of the European Passengers Federation
insights into how some other European countries are starting to re-start their public transport
(C)

3pm - Kirsty Hoyle from Transport for All
what are the needs of disabled users as we move into the next phase?
(D)

3:05pm - John McGeachy from Age UK (United Kingdom) London
what are the needs of older people as we move into the next phase?
(E)

3:10pm - Robert Nisbet from the Rail Delivery Group (RDG(resolve))
the body that represents the train operators and Network Rail.
(F)

3.15pm - Questions and discussion

4pm Close




2.40pm - Heidi Alexander, Deputy Mayor for Transport
passenger and transport issues that both the Mayor of London and TfL are thinking about as we emerge from lockdown
(A)

No one knows how this will go forward. Unprecedented. 2nd most complex system after New York.
Awaiting Goverment details of how / what order things re-open

Know
- Tube travel down 95% bus travel down 85%
Easter Sunday - fewest tube passengers on one day since 19th Centrury  [Really?? Xmas Day?]
- Social distancing changes things. In Feb you could reach out and touch 6 people
2m separatation on Victoria Line, 1000 per train drops.  125 per carriage to 21
- Expectation of safety is key

Want to avoid a car based recovery.
50% of Londoners have no car. Car based recovery would replace one crisis with another

Reduce, Remode, Retime
- Run as many services as possible with resources
- Continue to encourage the 67% who are working from home to continue to do so
- Walk the first and last mile. Single public transport journeys rather than connesctions
- Safe routes for children to school
- Launch of mayor's street plan BUT said to be "temporary"
- Encourage use of quieter stations
- Mayor wants you to stop passing it on if you have it
- Will need co-operation not enforcement with 275 stations and 21000 bus stops.

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« Last Edit: May 07, 2020, 09:04:29 by grahame » Logged

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grahame
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« Reply #1 on: May 07, 2020, 09:03:40 »

(B)
2.50pm - Bharat Mehta from Trust for London
how can we meet the needs of lower-income Londoners as we come out of lockdown?

Lower Income earners are the essential workers
You see them travelling early
Contrary to popular belief, poverty is NOT Inner London - see map being speaker (below)



28% households in poverty, and 76% of children in those households are in WORKING households.
Imbalance - 21% houeshold poverty / white British, 35% none white
Imbalance - Dispropotionte poverty amongst 41% not born in the UK (United Kingdom)

Better off can disproportionatly work from home
How to avoid public transport becoming a poor person's travel system so a poor system overall?
Could there be a temporary release to allow electric scooters?
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« Reply #2 on: May 07, 2020, 09:12:27 »

2.55pm - Josef Schneider, Chair of the European Passengers Federation
insights into how some other European countries are starting to re-start their public transport
(C)

I need reliable and current information for my travel planning in the next 48 hours
I need reliable and current information while I travel
I need feeling of safety and cleanliness

All doors to open rather that having to push buttons

Cross acceptance of tickets and connections maintained especially where services are much less frequent

Where services are reduced to Sunday levels, they (however) need to start at weekday times

More road space for walking / cycles, less car space


(( I am going to come back when I have finished this series of posts and make comment for the UK (United Kingdom) model and where there are lessons outside London too ))
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« Reply #3 on: May 07, 2020, 09:31:24 »

3pm - Kirsty Hoyle from Transport for All
what are the needs of disabled users as we move into the next phase?
(D)

Beware Coronavius becoming a "return to lockout" for the disabled.

NOW
Note impact of expanded lockdown for some groups.
Can more use be made of "Dial a Ride"
Free travel for carers?
How long will initiatives be in place?

SOON
How to enforce social distancing for wheelchairs and those who need a hand
- staff and 'customer' concerns
How to avoid a rise in friction between disabled and staff - training; learn from Supermarkets
Fear of fare hikes which will hit more transport dependent and poorer groups (higher proportion disabled)

FUTURE
Need for human interaction at barriers
Need for ticket offices and to retain "turn up and go"
Ensure retension of facilities and new projects to improve access; fear of regression




3:05pm - John McGeachy from Age UK (United Kingdom) London
what are the needs of older people as we move into the next phase?
(E)

Confirm previous speaker - half of disable Londoners are over 65
End of lockdown - WHEN - for these groups.

Question asked (survey - qualitative not quantitive results)
"Will your use of public transport change from what its was before"
No - I am confident it will all be worked out
No - I have no choice but use it
Some - I will travel on top of the bus where it is quieter
Some - I will make more use of taxis
Some - I will stay more local
Yes - I will not travel until there is a vacine
And noting that Isolation will get far worse

Suggestions /requests
Sanitise handrails
Open Windows
Provide more toilets across the network
Provide better hand washing
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« Reply #4 on: May 07, 2020, 09:38:47 »

3:10pm - Robert Nisbet from the Rail Delivery Group (RDG(resolve))
the body that represents the train operators and Network Rail.
(F)

Under EMA (Emergency Measures Arrrangements) Government is taking the risk on Network Rail
50% of services are running.
Need for PPE (at what level?) and social distancing if possible makes a huge difference

Loss of staff - sick, self isolation, also drivers loss of route knowledge will need to relearn

Slow ramp up best. "Some extra stops" added.

97% ppm at present.

Need strong, clean, consistent, multimodal working

One way flow in carriages?

A shared endeavour between prople running the trains and people using the trains to make it work
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« Reply #5 on: May 07, 2020, 09:57:21 »

3.15pm - Questions and discussion

EScooters (Answer from (A))
They are illegal and there have been serious incidents.TfL» (Transport for London - about) / Mayor would want
* A safety regime with consistant standards and checking
* Regulation as to where they could be used
* Powers to limit rentals
- Concern at too many types of vehicle trying to share same space.  Not road, not pavement?

Levels of travel change
The peak has moved and is now 05:45 to 07:30, with busiest places West Ham, Seven Sisters, Brixon, Canning Town mentioned
Trains are being none-stopped through hot spots such as Stratford at the last minute to avoive overcrowding
London Bridge and Liverpool Street crowded - need to persuade people to use nearby alternatives

TfL needs to be multligual - has been getting message out 1n 15 languages.

Suggestion of 20 m.p.h. limits across London but would need government funding

Could there be more express caches?
Could a carriage be reserved for old people?

Last mile support fo the disabled?
Social distancing at taxi ranks?
Problmem with information being inconsistent

Staff concerned at getting too near to people to help them [wheelchair]
Concern for hard of hearing - not able to lip read during interaction with face shielded staff. Visors for lip reading?

Rail to refuge has helped 50 people so far.

I will follow up with personal comments ... after I have had a coffee!
« Last Edit: May 07, 2020, 10:18:50 by grahame » Logged

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« Reply #6 on: May 07, 2020, 12:15:41 »

I will follow up with personal comments ... after I have had a coffee!

Melksham is not Orpington. Topsham is not Brixton. Bristol is not London.  So what can we learn from the London TravelWatch "Emerging from Lockdown" seminar I have documented at http://www.passenger.chat/23410 ?  Quite a lot, as it turns out.  The Mayor's office, Transport for London, the Rail Delivery Group and various experts and special interest representatives have looked at their city and their issues - but their issues and their city has similar issues - but on a very different scale - to we have in the South West of England in our much smaller cities, market towns, villages and countryside.   Some of the issues in London are far larger than we will face, but there are some issues that will rear their heads in Wiltshire and Devon that simple aren't issues in London.

What did I pick out from the seminar?

We do not want to return to an even more car dominated society.   For sure, people feel they can isolate more easily in their own private vehicle, but a move to more private vehicles is a move to greater congestion, the need for more parking, less efficient use of limited resources, worse for the planet.   It turns public transport into a "poor man's solution" which, alas, it already is painfully close to in parts of the South West, with an "us" and "them" of car owners. And there's a concern that provision for the poor is likely to be poor provision.  Build up private vehicle numbers on the road, and you build up traffic jams to catch the buses in too ... reduce the passengers using the buses, and buses get less frequent so less people use them.

A need for accurate and consistent information. Correct information about what's running over the next couple of days, and correct real time updates as things change over coming weeks and months.  And have that information consistently reported.

Consistent ticketing too. For London, there's an integrated system, but even there this was raised. Here, as things change and change about and services are not back up to frequent (even if they were once) the ability to use any reasonable route be it train, bus, whoever operates it, becomes all the more valuable - especially if the information systems are joined up and consistent.

The very great difficulty that social distancing will bring. Although our scale is less in the South West, we still have very busy (or potentially busy) trains and buses and the capacity simply may not be there.   And will buses and trains be able to run in service from dawn to dusk and beyond with 5 minute turn arounds at the end of the journey, or will they need to stop for cleaning?   Bit of an issue where a railway line is a single track branch to a stub track - half an hour to clean at Barnstaple may be a problem.

Connections become more important where a service is thin.  Even in London, talk was of long waits. Here in Melksham, connecting (sorry to take a personal example) off the bus from my home into Bath ... I change in the Market Place - just 3 options per day where there were 40 direct buses a year ago - with waits of 47, 37 or 37 minutes.  Granted I can walk the "last mile".  Similar things with trains.  Time them to connect.  With a thinner timetable, have them wait if one is running late.   All very well to be proud of a 97% ppm, Mr RDG(resolve) ... but if that's achieved with long waits at changes and with only one in twenty of those pesky passengers travelling, is it really the best measure to be using to judge yourself?

Journey distances are likely to get shorter and Journey times are likely to be staggered. So within reason - and especially with services at the 70% level or so that's likely soon, trains running all day every day, and with a slightly fuller calling pattern, make sense.  I can come up with specifics later where for the sake of a few minutes, a usably frequent service is provided to many more people.  Other jottings suggest that 15 minutes + 15% on a journey is not unreasonable to maintain decent and flexible service for everyone - sometimes it will be much MORE frequent than it was (up from every 2 hours to every hour, but a bit slower)

There is a fear of fare rises. For sure, short term is "get people back to work", but how is it paid for in the medium term?   Not just ground transport - air too - I've see suggestions that fares could go up 50%.   With trains ... "why have peak fares any more when there is no peak" is countered by the question "why have off peak fares any more when we already have any time fares"?

Social distancing and the last mile.  Walk, cycle if you can. That final section with a connection onto or off another piece of transport adds a whole extra cycle of loading, social distancing and unloading issues.   Headed via Paddington to Leicester Square?   For goodness sake get off at Piccadilly Circus!

How long is a temporary measure?  Bus passes (if you have busses!) all day - temporary measure. More London road space to walkers and cycles - temporary measure. Allowing eScooter - let's do it as a temporary measure?  Yes BUT if people invest in a cycle, or an eScooter, or adjust their lives to making use of these measures, should they not be permanent?  If so, it would sure help uptake.  I can recall comment "I won't start using the train because it's a trial service" ...

These notes are not intended to be a complete review of next stage for the South West ... rather, lessons and thoughts brought on by the London TravelWatch presentation; certainly it has helped inform me and get me thinking and I hope it's done the same for a few readers too.
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