ELT wins an award

The East London Transit is widely mocked for its name and the insistence that it's not a bus, even though it stops at bus stops, charges bus fares, is shown as a bus on maps and in journey planners as a bus, runs over the route of a bus that hasn't run since it was introduced, and - above all - uses the same vehicles as a bus. Writing "transit" on the side of a bus doesn't stop it being a bus, writing "Rolls Royce" on a Datsun Cherry would achieve the same - nothing except a laugh.

It was going to be  a tram, and at one point monorail plans were if not drawn up, given the artist's impression treatment.

Anyway, to crown it all it's now won an award, partly because it serves Barking Town Centre, from where buses were excluded in the early 1990s.

So that's divert buses away from a town centre and 15 or so years later undo your work, but calling a spade a material extraction device, and get an award for it. Hmm.

Cycle parking removed at Vicarage Field?

Why have the cycle parking stands that used to be in Ripple Road not been replaced? It would perhaps have been fair enough to remove them while the East London Transit works were going on, but now only informal locking sites are available.

Blakes Corner Abuse

The roadway from Station Pde to Ripple Rd is open again, mainly to let East London Transit (ELT) buses through. Each end of the newly re-opened stretch sports "no motor vehicles" signs with "except buses" qualifications or similar). Sadly, even before ELT starts to run, motorists are ignoring the signs and driving into / through the area.

If this were "cyclists" there would be calls for some cruel and unusual punishment to be inflicted, but motorists - despite their claims that they are put upon - can apparently get away with illegality such as this, even whilst driving past the police station.

Barking to lose 179 bus service

Edited 16 October following clarification from TfL


When ELT routes EL1 and EL2 start up in February, the 179 route will terminate at Ilford and no longer serve Ilford Lane and Barking. I missed the consultation on this - it's now a done deal.

The letter I have from TfL says the bus frequency in Ilford Lane will be 16 buses per hour (combined 169, EL1, EL2).

The two separate routes that will make up the ELT are:

• Ilford to Dagenham Dock via Barking town centre
• Barking town centre to Dagenham Dock via Barking Riverside

The second of these clearly won't serve Ilford Lane.

TfL responded to my query saying that from early next spring the 369 route will cease, EL2 will run between Ilford and Dagenham Dock and EL1 will run the same route but terminate at Thames View Estate. EL3 will start up in 2013 and run between Barking and Dagenham Dock via Barking Riverside.

East London Transit moves a step closer

I've had a letter saying there will be explanatory drop in sessions:

St Luke's Church, Baxter Road, Iford on Tu 2 December, 10-7
Vicarage Fields, Barking on Sa 6 December, 10-5
Sue Bramley Centre, Thames View,Tu 9 December, 1-7

In 2006 when they had a similar thing, I wrote to them and went to a drop in because the plans they were putting forward not only failed to tackle some long standing issues for cyclists, some of which had been formally identified by TfL in 2003 in a cycle route audit, but it also proposed to introduce further restrictions. It looks like I wasted my time, because the latest proposals as documented at August 2008 don't look much different - a bit worse if anything. See for yourself at http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/east-london-transit-maps.pdf

Do go along to the sessions, or write to elt@tfl.go.uk or phone 0800 587 3068