Forest bikes suggest creating parking spaces on the road for bikes. Makes a lot of sense. 10 bikes fit into one car parking space. No bikes on the pavements. Badly parked ebikes in London are a menace – but other cities have shown us the solution | Agustin Guilisasti | The Guardian
I would agree. I think we have to recognise that travel habits are changing.
Our generation tended to ride bikes when we were young and then graduate to cars. For many younger people today that isn’t necessarily going to happen. Many cannot afford to own and run a car, and some don’t even bother getting a driving licence. 49% of 18-34 year olds rent an e-bike at least once a week in London.
So we should make it as easy as possible for people to travel by bike, while keeping bikes off the pavements.
Using road space for designated bike parking makes a lot of sense. We don’t always need bays that fit 10 bikes. On smaller residential streets, space for four or five bikes may be enough. What matters is having more bays, spread around much more widely.
Asking someone to park a rental bike in a designated bay 400 metres from their home or the house they’re visiting is probably unrealistic. I’d rather see lots of small on-street bike parking areas, so people can park close to where they’re actually going without blocking pavements.
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The final Windrush line train from Canada Water connects with the final service from London Bridge at New Cross Gate.
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On Thursday last, the Perry Vale bike park at the station was very full. I counted 48 bikes not parked in the tiny authorised bay.
Any chance of the street trading at the ‘new’ restaurant at 31A Perry Vale being sorted? I understand they are permitted to street trade on the bricked portion of the pavement. However often their barriers are situated on the paved area reducing the available pedestrian width to barely over 1 metre. Their black umbrellas are often erected too low with the points at eye height over the paved area.
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Lewisham to enforce no pavement parking on Perry Rise. It’s a well-used pedestrian route but parts are single file because vehicles are parked on the pavement. You often have to wait until an oncoming pedestrian has reached an unobstructed section before you can proceed.
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Another thought:
I would love to see Free Gym and Swim for over 65’s in Lewisham/Forest Hill.
We used to get free gym and swim for over 60’s and that stopped a few years ago…
I suggest over 65’s because many people now work beyond 60 and can afford to pay the membership.
With the increase in fees at FHP and the Better gym sites I find I can no longer afford to go as much as I need to or would like, and have had to become a pay as you go member.
They could do the free gym/swim/classes for over 65’s in off peak hours only
The entrance of Montrose Way from the South Circular end is a fly tipping hotspot.
I’d love Lewisham council to install cameras and better lighting in the whole street.
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This thread has produced many demands, most of them reasonable IMHO.
Does anyone know how to ‘push for’ these things - many of them being basic maintenance - to happen?
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Perhaps initially meet and brief your councillors on issues - either at their regular surgeries or at public events - such as a ward assembly like this one?
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Exactly. This isn’t due to lack of space, it’s just lazy. This is where my journey ends… I don’t care anymore DUMP.
So frustrating and something that just impacts the future of the schemes.
Why people feel that is acceptable is beyond me. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
So many people get off trains at Forest Hill compared to other stations along our line there’s a strong argument for two of the fast trains LBG-ECR to stop here. Which would reinstate the direct to Croydon train.
Also Norwood J is not fit for purpose as an interchange especially with lack of lift.
Any journey I make to south coast/gatwick was increased by 30mins by that service being removed so would love it back.
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Totally agree. BUT we’d need to reinstate the island platform between tracks two and three. It used to be there, but no longer. No doubt one of our citizen historians can tell us when it was removed (if not why).
Too narrow, couldn’t be connected to a lift, access was from the subway (wrong side of ticket barriers), the train companies don’t want fast trains stopping at New Cross Gate let alone another station before Norwood Junction.
You can’t run frequent services on the same line as a fast train. You get more capacity with stopping trains and fast trains segregated.
Perhaps if we could move the railway under Forest Hill we could sort out these issues but it might be cheaper to provide a helicopter to every resident.
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I used Thameslink for the first time from Crofton Park the other day…I wish we had a direct connection onto Thameslink trains from Forest Hill
the train companies don’t want fast trains stopping at New Cross Gate
Do we know why? It’s not that long ago that a few fast trains made that stop.
A proper playground! Somewhere, anywhere!
The basic answer is that now that we have overground as well as London Bridge services using the line there isn’t space for a semi fast service to skip stations without being held up by the train in front.
When we did have semi fast services there were a maximum of 6 trains per hour (2 skipping HOP and Brockley). We now have 12 tph and this will increase to 14 tph in Demember. With the signalling restrictions there just isn’t room to add in a semi fast service. The same is roughly true on the fast lines, which is why Southern don’t want occasional trains stopping at NXC particularly on the way into London Bridge - causing other fast trains to slow down on the approach.
There have been plenty of mistakes made on the timetabling - such as the year they forgot that trains terminating at London Bridge take more than 2 minutes before they can head off again. That was a mess.
The other big change on the railways is that services are much more segregated - there was a time when you could get a train from Forest Hill directly to Epsom or Brighton or Charing Cross. By segregating the services they reduce the impact of faults - an obstruction on slow line doesn’t have a knock on impact to services throughout Sussex and Surrey (and vice versa). And passengers on the slow line can take the fast line to Norwood and come back on the slow line.
So what we have now is a more frequent, more reliable service but with slower trains. Lucky we still have two routes running on the slow lines, serving London Bridge and Overground, that can cause problems but generally works well because of the extra track at New Cros Gate.
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Although a fast train to EC would be ideal, given where we are a direct stopping train would be a close second and significant improvement? Say 2 an hour, without having to change at unreliable and non accessible NJ or go on Overground to West Croydon and take a tram.