Freedom Pass 2010 renewals

If you’re over 60 years old or know someone who is or disabled and they/you want a Freedom Pass for free bus journeys applications need to be submitted between 4 January and 13 February.

My understanding of the process is:

For Older Persons Freedom Pass.
Get an application from local Post Office FROM 4 January. Fill it in then take it back to Post Office with proof of age, proof of address and photo. Post office issues a receipt. Post Office send form and photo to a documentation bureau. Bureau issue Freedom Pass within 10 working day via 2nd class post.

For Disabled Person Freedom Pass.
Get reassessment form from Southwark Council. Apply with required proofs and photo. Southwark checks form and if necessary arranged for occupational therapy assessment. Applicant takes letter of authorisation, prooft of age!, address and photo to Post Office who issue a receipt. Post Office sends documentation to documentation bureau. Bureau issues Freedom Pass within 10 working day via 2nd class post.

Any problems let me know ASAP. Last time these passes were renewed it all went pear shaped across London. Everyone working really hard to avoid this. So any problems please tell me.

Friern Road bus stands

The bus stands at the junction of Friern Road with Lordship Lane represent the terminal points for the number 12 and 40 bus routes and any buses from routes 176, 185, etc that are turned around earlier. Over the last ten years bus numbers have increased – all great stuff.

BUT this terminus has no facilities. No toilets for bus drivers. This means when desperate the bus drivers have had to ‘go’ wherever they can. This has spilled into anti social problems for the residents in Rycott Path and Friern Road. To such a degree that the Police are involved.

Transport for London obtained planning permission 2007 for a drivers toilet to be installed. I’ve finally tracked down the hold-up. EDF power lines. Council officers have agreed to waive the normal notice periods and try geeing up EDF a major supplier to Southwark Council.

Hopefully within the next eight weeks the toilet can be installed and the area become just a little bit more civilised.

Bus routes 12 & 37 review

The East Dulwich councillors have been asked to give feedback on local bus services.

We’ve said that generally the lack of bus stop real time information on when buses are expected is suppressing bus passenger demand. Improving this would have the biggest impact on improving custom and the customers experience of any measure that could be taken.

Expressed a niggle is that the onboard information systems are not aligned between bus routes. Some bus routes call the junction of Barry Road with Lordship Lane ‘the Plough’ others call it ‘Dulwich Library’. Ideally London Buses would be organised to agree a common naming convention. Frankly it makes London Buses look at best disorganised. Clearly with the frequent name changes of ‘the Plough’ public house in recent years it would seem safer to align on’ Dulwich Library’. Suspect other examples abound.

The bus stands at the southern end of Friern Road need to have toilet facilities for bus drivers. Currently bus drivers through no fault of their own get caught short with very anti social consequences. Planning permission was given November 2008 for a toilet cabin opposite 391 Friern Road but nothing built yet.

Specifically we’ve also highlighted,

Number 12. When can we have non bendy buses. Presume this is already planned.

Number 37. This bus route seems especially prone to buses bunching. The regulation of bus frequency needs greater emphasis to avoid gaps in service.

Number 68/X68/468. Having an express bus stop at Camberwell and Herne Hill would really help speed East Dulwich residents to get near the area more quickly even though they’d then need to change buses to reach East Dulwich.

What do you think could be improved about the no.12 & 37 bus routes through East Dulwich?

Salt!

For the last 10 months I’ve been making enquiries about Southwark Council salt levels. Last Winter during dreadful 1 in 50 year snowy weather the whole UK effectively ran out of salt and many London roads could’nt be cleared. Some climate scientists have predicted the next 10 years will be colder winters and more likely for more snowy winters before returning to trend for rapid global warming.

Southwark salt storage areas have been confirmed to me as full. 950T of salt. Work on increasing this to 1,100T is being considered.

To ensure the salt is kept in a good condition it is kept covered by tarpaulins. Building a permanent structure over these stock piles has been considered – Eurodome or Cover-All– but the costs and time taken to build are not considered worthwhile compared to the small cost of salt wastage. Tarpaulins do feel a bit ‘Heath Robinson’ but do seem effective and certainly the cheapest option.

However, council officers have told me they are examining:

– ‘Dry Store’ a vented flexible covering. a step up from tarpaulins.

– Salt Union (national salt supplier) for a pan London salt distribution scheme.

– ‘Wet Salting’ involving pre wetted finer grade salt which uses less salt, quicker acting and less affected by high winds (a feature of last winter).

– Improving calibration of salt spreaders which would reduce the wastage and make salt go further.

Fingers crossed we don’t have another ‘1 in 50’ snowy winter. But if we do we’ll be better prepared.

London Bridge Station

At the last full council assembly we finally put in place in the new Southwark Planning bible – the Core Strategy – that London Bridge Station should prioritise links to buses and trains station in Southwark. Amazing that we’ve had to state what should have been obvious. But with so many proposed changes such as the South London Line being cancelled Network Rail have to be reminded.

I’m now much more hopeful that when Network Rail has a need to amend or apply for future planning applications to London Bridge station that changes will have to ensure changes make matter no worse for Southwark residents and usually better.

It is quite ridiculous that the huge barriers the railway viaducts and cutting in Southwark, yet the state operator of railway infrastructure Network Rail has to be reminded that the communities these obstacles carve up should actually see some benefit to hosting them.

What do you think?

Mayor Boris closes HGV cycle unit

London Mayor Boris Johnson has announced the closure the Commercial Vehicle Education Unit. This group of 3 Police sergeants and 9 Police constables specialise finding defective lorries and taking them off the road and working with haulage companies to reduce collisions with pedestrians and cyclists.

Not enough was being done to reduce such collisions. HGV lorries are the number one killer for cyclists in London. Even less will be done going forward.

The announcement was almost exactly nine years to the day when a previous treasurer of Southwark Cyclists, while I was the chairperson, Brigitte Robinson, was killed by a left turning lorry whose driver had a young child in the cab and had been working 12+ hour shifts 7 days a week for many months.

Loosing a close cycling friend was incredibly distressing. How many more people have to die to HGV’s before the few exempt from sideguards are no longer exempt and the limited resources are withdrawn from educating lorry drivers and cyclists.

Southwark – 10th most overflown London borough

Every year we have around 155,100 Heathrow flights and 9,900 London City Airport  flights going over Southwark at less than 8,000 where noise becomes increasingly disturbing.

Every day in my house I can tell when 6am is reached as a torrent of flights start overflying us.

Around 4am several flights come over and about 1 in 5 chance every day my 7 year old will be woken. Boy, does that spoli his school day with tiredness. And we have double glazing.

Fingers crossed this Labour government stops standing out by being the only political party in favour of a 3rd Heathrow runway.

Fingers crossed the Tories and Labour stop supporting a 50% increase in flights at London City Airport. I sometimes fly on business from this airport and I really don’t wont it to expand.

Air pollution – rubbish

London has the worst air quality of any UK city and one of the worst in Europe.

It’s so bad that its causes OVER 3,000 premature deaths each year and so we breach European laws. It costs a fortune in all the ill health this causes such as asthma, cardiovascular disease, etc.

Road transport is a major contributor causing 41% of NOx and 67% of PM10’s. London already has a Low Emission Zone which only applies to HGV’s, buses and coaches to Euro III emission standards. From 1 October it was meant to be extended to cover large vans and mini-buses but Tory Mayor Boris Johnson decided to postpone this and subject it to more public consultation. A duplicate repeat. I guess those 3,000 people don’t have names so easy to politically ignore them and delay anti air pollution.

What the Lib Dems at the GLA have proposed is to introduce a more stringent inner London Low Emission Zone focusing on  the 1 million Londoners living and working where the air pollution is worse. That this should happen before the Olympics arrive and the world is told how rubbish our air quality is. That would be humiliating for Londoners.