Comprehensive Transport Departure Board

I originally found this on TfL's website - but I can't find it there now. It's really good. You use the stop name. If you type in "Barking Station" you get all the departures of buses from the bus stops of that name - and all the Underground and National Rail departures. You get tick boxes so you can deselect routes / lines you aren't interested in (though National Rail is lumped together).

This is really handy for knowing what's happening at your local bus stop - and if you're not certain of the name of the stop you can enter a search string.

If you search the web for "XSLT_DM_REQUEST" you will find similar facilities for other world cities.

http://journeyplanner.tfl.gov.uk/bcl/XSLT_DM_REQUEST?language=en

HGV driving and cycling mutual awareness

7am - 7pm on Tu and Wed 26 & 27 June, in Trafalgar square. Come any time

This is your chance to get up close and stay safe.Sit in the driver's cab, see what you look like in the driver's mirror.Walk / cycle around the lorry, discover where you can be seen and whereyou cannot. Talk to the police and some drivers, explain what it's likecycling near a lorry. One objective is to educate cyclists by getting to understand lorries. The other objective is to educate lorry drivers and trainers. You can take part in video filming of your moves and reactions, tell them whatyou think and feel. These videos will be used to help train lorry drivers in London. The aim is to reduce the number of collisions and deaths. If a lorry hits a cyclist - it's the cyclist who hurts.This show is put on by the Commercial Vehicle Education Unit of the MetPolice. They are working to make freight transport safer.

Please pass this information on to other cyclists . . . . .

Paying before you travel on Silerlink Metro

The posters on B & GO trains warn you that you must pay in advance if possible when travelling on Silverlink Metro if you can. If you don't or can't you won't be able to buy certain reduced fares.

But the posters suggest that you have to buy your ticket in advance at Barking or Gospel Oak. These are possibilities, but there's also the internet for Oyster products and individual train tickets.

One Day Travelcards and Oyster

Poor chap on the Gospel Oak Line today had asked for a zone 1-4 (one day) travelcard at Seven Sisters station. I don't know what he finished up with, but he produced an Oyster receipt for PAYG (Prepay), for about the cost of the travelcard. It seems the Underground ticket clerk had assumed he was only travelling on PAYG lines (ie Underground, DLR and a smattering of National Rail lines).

Not impressive. The one day travelcard is not available on Oyster. Instead, the PAYG system caps the PAYG fares at the cost of a travel card - but PAYG isn't available on most National Rail Lines.

No car developments

I have heard that a fairly senior council officer resigned over the issue of no car developments in the borough - in particular I believe this was about the dwellings above the new Library (Learning Centre) in Barking. It is widely known that someone has bought up all or most of the flats in that development before they were finished / off plan. (No source for this info at present).

If this is correct, the speculator clearly doesn't see a problem. Neither do I. When people buy or rent these flats, they will know what the car parking situation is and if they don't like it they will go elsewhere if they can. Without a car, they're more likely to spend their money locally, thereby stimulating the local economy. Without the expense of a car, they'll have more money left over to spend, too. And they won't have do get involved in bickering about where to park and how much it costs.

Of course, we'll need the right support for cycling and public transport - we don't want to confine people, but a car free life is possible.

Urban Design Framework for Barking & Dagenham

The council is consulting on the Urban Design Framework. This is residents' opportunity to comment on the design of buildings and public spaces in B&D.

Sounds good. Consultation closes on 30 July 2007.

Kilsby Walk

The Barking & Dagenham Post describes this as an alleyway (p21 of 13 June edition) but one of the residents says "it's completely damaged from the morning rush of lorries and cars". Apparently it is owned by the hops in Porters Avenue that back onto it. Anyway the Royal Mail have refused to deliver to three addresses because of the quality of the surface and dumped rubbish. A postman fell off his bicycle there and broke his ankle.

Let's hope the postman is soon back on his bike and the problems at Kilsby Walk are soon sorted out to everyone's satisfaction.

No pain no gain at Heathway diversions

After the Dagenham Town Show (14 & 15 July 2007) Heathway will be closed to southbound traffic between Reede Road and Church Elm Lane - ie the bit by the station. The closure will last 3-4 months. Buses (173, 174, 175) will go on a two mile detour through Reede Road, Rainham Road and Church Elm Lane. (I guess it will save time to walk down the closed stretch instead).

This is all so that work can be carried out to improve Heathway for pedestrians and cyclists. Plans were drawn up by the council based on recommendations from Living Streets. I believe these will be worth the wait.

Eat the seasons

http://www.eattheseasons.co.uk/

Web site which tells you which foods are in season in the UK. Cut down on those food miles.

Vekso NDS parking stand

http://www.vekso.com/dynamisk/produkt_enkelt.asp?ProduktID=62&La=UK

Interesting design with an "umbrella" saddle cover. These can be seen in large quantities in Barking. Where? - about here http://www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?&pc=IG117BG&mapsize=big

(This is a weird part of Barking. The Royal Mail lists it as Freshwharf, Highbridge Road. Most maps show Freshwharf Road. There's now a newish road, with no name, between Freshwharf Road and the A406. Go down there and you'll see a low grey buiding - you turn left into what I believe to be Handtrough Way.)

NuVinci CVT

http://www.fallbrooktech.com/NuVinci.asp

A new hub gear that is continuously variable. It is already being fitted to Batavus bikes on the continent - but the UK Batavus site doesn't mention it.

At last the answer to the question "how many gears have you got" can be "infinity"?

Liftshare Day Thu 14 June 2007

http://www.liftshare.org/nlsd.asp

A chance for car drivers to do their bit.

Bikely

www.bikely.com

This is a system for sharing bike routes with others. You can record your routes by mousing points onto an on line map, or you can upload data from a GPS unit (.gpx format).

I tried out the mouse-map combination and found it pretty easy to use.

Posted by

Seats --> Chairs and bridges --> tunnels

Perhaps I'm [turning into] a fuddy-duddy. I increasingly notice how people have started to refer to seats on buses and trains - and in cinemas - as "chairs". Perhaps we don't need two words - but aren't chairs the ones with legs?

I was reminded of this when someone on a Barking & Gospel Oak Line train said that it went through tunnels - tubular holes in the ground I thought. Talking on her mobile phone, after we went in cutting under a road bridge, she said to the person on the other end that we'd just been through a tunnel. What made it more odd was that she asked the person next to her to verify that the line went through tunnels - and she did.

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