UK Low Traffic or Car Free Neighbourhoods - best practice ?

[Gunk]

I work right next to one of the East Oxford jobs, and while as a cyclist I agree with the principle tbh it's a bloody shambles.

It's resulted in awful traffic in the few rat runs that are left, with all the fun that brings. Alternative infrastructure provision has been negative (sod all cycle network, lots of bus services withdrawn) and the whole thing has proven a nucleation point for bitter conflict within the community.

East Oxford is an odd mix of yoghurt-knitting middle class / middle age professionals floating around on cargo bikes, as well as emotionally immature, populist men of a certain age who won't be separated from their cars by the shadowy socialist megalomaniacs. Bollards are only present for half the time due to being nicked / chopped off / run over, while I've seen a couple of pretty visceral confrontations between those of opposing opinion...

Further... while the purpose of the LTNs is ostensibly to reduce the frequency of short urban car journeys, it seems they fail to realise the benefits this should bring due to longer, less direct, more congested routes taken by people continuing to use their cars out of necessity, defiance or absence of legitimate alternatives.

I also live in Oxford and you are right it is a complete shambles. If you want to get people out of cars then provide a proper safe cycling infrastructure and heavily subsidise public transport so people have an option. These policies always seem to be stick rather than carrot.

 

[Chris S]

I live near to the one in King's Heath, Birmingham. It's great for cycling but pisses off the locals.

 

[mjr]

Further... while the purpose of the LTNs is ostensibly to reduce the frequency of short urban car journeys, it seems they fail to realise the benefits this should bring due to longer, less direct, more congested routes taken by people continuing to use their cars out of necessity, defiance or absence of legitimate alternatives.

I thought studies of some London LTNs showed they do in fact achieve those aims, confirming results from other countries like Spain and France. Sounds like Oxford have messed theirs up and need to fix the faults, not u turn.

 

[PK99]

I live near to the one in King's Heath, Birmingham. It's great for cycling but pisses off the locals.

LTNs are specifically designed to benefit locals, the clue is in the name: "...neighbourhoods..." any benefit to through cyclists is incidental.

 

[Chris S]

LTNs are specifically designed to benefit locals, the clue is in the name: "...neighbourhoods..." any benefit to through cyclists is incidental.

Well in this case it doesn't. Businesses have lost through trade and residents have to make huge detours just to use their cars.

 

[PK99]

Well in this case it doesn't. Businesses have lost through trade and residents have to make huge detours just to use their cars.

We successfully stopped the implementation of a local LTN for just those reasons.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

residents have chosen to make huge detours just to use their cars.

FTFY

 

[mjr]

Well in this case it doesn't. Businesses have lost through trade and residents have to make huge detours just to use their cars.

Can you show us the data on lost trade, please? That seems contrary to other reports.

 

[Chris S]

Can you show us the data on lost trade, please? That seems contrary to other reports.

It was on the news, "Some businesses said the measures are having a detrimental impact on trade"
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-60985170

 

[Chris S]

Anyway, I wish they would make Ladypool Road into a LTN, even the cycle lane is congested with cars.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NYm6qBDuPU

 

[mjr]

It was on the news, "Some businesses said the measures are having a detrimental impact on trade"
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-60985170

Only anecdotes and not even universal, then. In god we trust: all others must bring data.

 

[sheddy]

£70 motorists fine !
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...cars-cities-b2287175.html#leftaflg25mdb9ekysf

 

[Alex321]

£70 motorists fine !
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...cars-cities-b2287175.html#leftaflg25mdb9ekysf

Reading that one, that scheme DOES impose undue (IMO) limitations on travel. I would be protesting abiout it if I lived in Oxford.

The idea of LTN or Car-free neighbourhoods is supposed to be to reduce local traffic - principally to reduce the number of people just jumping in their cars to make 5-10 minute journeys.

That scheme (if the reporting is right) makes no limits on how much you can use your car within your own zone, but limits how many times you can travel into other zones by car per year. So it is limiting the journeys you would be unlikely to make by foot or bike, while making no restriction on those you would. IMV that is just wrong, even though the limit is quite high, at 100 journeys per year (and exemptions for things like taxis & delivery drivers).

 

[FishFright]

Any moves that help to curb the tyranny of the motor car is a good thing for everyone.

And yes that does include you.*

*please add your name here.

 

[mjr]

That scheme (if the reporting is right) makes no limits on how much you can use your car within your own zone, but limits how many times you can travel into other zones by car per year. So it is limiting the journeys you would be unlikely to make by foot or bike, while making no restriction on those you would. IMV that is just wrong, even though the limit is quite high, at 100 journeys per year (and exemptions for things like taxis & delivery drivers).

Surely whether it's limiting the journeys you would be unlikely to make by foot or bike depends on what size the zones are and how close to the boundary you live?

But I don't think the exemption makes any sense. That seems like a sticking-plaster to overcome objections to nonsensical zone boundaries.

As I understand it, the best practice would be to introduce a Circulation Plan so that drivers between areas go out onto the A roads and don't boundary-hop. In Oxford, it looks like it's almost done already, so that could probably be completed by limiting a few key points to bus/bike/blue-lights: Magdalen Bridge, the west end of Thames Street and the south ends of Turl and Longwall Streets. That would more-or-less split city driving into four areas (North, East, South and West) and moving between them by private car would mean using A or B roads, often the ring road. That may mean some tough decisions to close some smaller unlit junctions to avoid the loss of capacity to hard braking when people pull out, especially on the ring road (for example, Old Abingdon Road on the A423), but I suspect National Highways would be happy to lose some local traffic from the A34 and A40 parts of it (if they still control them).