Barking & Dagenham Access Group, working with Barking & Dagenham Council and Barking Park Users Group, will be holding fun packed, ‘all-inclusive cycling’ events for disabled people, their friends, families and carers.
Visitors can try out a wide range of bikes, trikes and group vehicles at Barking Park, Longbridge Road, Barking, IG11 8TA on Saturday 17 March and Saturday 24 March 2012.
These taster events are FREE of charge and will be held near the park entrance on Longbridge Road, close to the cafeteria/Lodge, from 11am to 3pm on both days. You can also view a selection of bikes available in the ‘All ability cycling’ section on their website.
For further details, please contact the Barking & Dagenham Access Group on (020) 8594 0409 e-mail: badaccess@hotmail.co.uk
Tuesday, 13 March 2012
Saturday, 28 January 2012
Micro hire vehicles
Although I am basically a fan of micro hire vehicles, such as Zipcar (and the former Streetcar), I am rather disappointed by their pricing structure. I drive so rarely that I don't want to pay £59.50 for a year's Zipcar membership in case I never use it. I also note that they give you a free (at the point of use) mileage allowance, which expires after a certain time, and the daily hire fee includes up to 40 miles "free".
I was briefly a member of Streetcar, though I never used one of their cars. They were a commercial organisation (as is Zipcar) and they sent me plenty of e-mails to try to get me to drive one of their cars. There's a paradox here.
If anything, I need a true pay as you go microhire. I'm prepared to pay a small one off fee for joining - and this should stop (or reduce the amount of) people joining frivolously, but then I want to pay for only what I use - the Oystercard model. I accept that a modest one off fee per hiring will reduce hires for very short journeys. As things stand, whilst it will work out cheaper than car ownership, there's still the same incentive, albeit much smaller, to use a car to get your money's worth.
I suppose in fairness the target market here is car owners, rather than non car owners, but I would quite like to have the insurance policy of having a nearby car for hire for short periods.
I was briefly a member of Streetcar, though I never used one of their cars. They were a commercial organisation (as is Zipcar) and they sent me plenty of e-mails to try to get me to drive one of their cars. There's a paradox here.
If anything, I need a true pay as you go microhire. I'm prepared to pay a small one off fee for joining - and this should stop (or reduce the amount of) people joining frivolously, but then I want to pay for only what I use - the Oystercard model. I accept that a modest one off fee per hiring will reduce hires for very short journeys. As things stand, whilst it will work out cheaper than car ownership, there's still the same incentive, albeit much smaller, to use a car to get your money's worth.
I suppose in fairness the target market here is car owners, rather than non car owners, but I would quite like to have the insurance policy of having a nearby car for hire for short periods.
Saturday, 31 December 2011
Gold Card Discount on Oyster PAYG
If you have an annual season ticket you will get a Gold Card that gives you a substantial discount on National Rail Fares. However, if you travel outside your season ticket's zones on Oyster PAYG, you won't get the Gold Card discount unless your Goldcard is linked to your Oyster Card. Apparently this is not automatically done when you buy the season ticket (at least at a station) and I have been told that some station staff have had to be pressed to do it - they don't always know about it and don't always check the written instructions
This situation arises where your employer is paying for your season ticket (perhaps a loan) by cheque. I imagine that if you buy on line the linking work is done in the back office.
The Gold Card Partner Card is essentially a Network Rail Card. http://www.railcard.co.uk/network is clear that the NRC does not give a discount on Oyster PAYG.
This situation arises where your employer is paying for your season ticket (perhaps a loan) by cheque. I imagine that if you buy on line the linking work is done in the back office.
The Gold Card Partner Card is essentially a Network Rail Card. http://www.railcard.co.uk/network is clear that the NRC does not give a discount on Oyster PAYG.
Saturday, 5 November 2011
B&D council don't know what they've done
On 15 August I asked B&D council for a list of all roads in the borough down which one cannot cycle in either / both directions fully. On 3 November I got this answer which can be reduced to "we don't know":
"We do not have a register classifying roads in this way, however with very few exceptions almost all roads in the Borough have provision for cycling in both directions and where a road or part of a road does not make this provision, it is our understanding that alternative routes for cyclists are available very nearby. You have been informed previously of the Council’s commitment and support for cyclists and I can inform you that [names of 2 officers] continue to be available to work with you for the benefit of cyclists and cycling as a whole."
Very few exceptions, eh? Please let me know the names of roads in postal Dagenham and Chadwell Heath that habe any kind of restriction on cycling. I wil try to compose my own list. I know Barking well enough to cover it myself, I think, but don't let me stop you!
"We do not have a register classifying roads in this way, however with very few exceptions almost all roads in the Borough have provision for cycling in both directions and where a road or part of a road does not make this provision, it is our understanding that alternative routes for cyclists are available very nearby. You have been informed previously of the Council’s commitment and support for cyclists and I can inform you that [names of 2 officers] continue to be available to work with you for the benefit of cyclists and cycling as a whole."
Very few exceptions, eh? Please let me know the names of roads in postal Dagenham and Chadwell Heath that habe any kind of restriction on cycling. I wil try to compose my own list. I know Barking well enough to cover it myself, I think, but don't let me stop you!
Saturday, 17 September 2011
High Speed Rail
I'm not taking a view on the benefits of high speed rail for the UK, or of HS2 in particular, and it's not particularly relevant to Barking, but I do want to expose some logical flaws in an Economist editorial - at least as reported in 'The Week' (10 September 2011).
The first - and easiest to deal with - flaw:
Talking about "Second-tier" towns [like Stoke] , the writer calims that "their own rail services are likely to be reduced when the new line [HS2] is built". There is clearly no causal link here. Whether or not HS2 is built, rail services on the existing lines can be improved (subject to capacity) or worsened. I hope the writer was not being disingenuous rather than just illogical.
Second, the writer claims that high speed rail in France and Spain has benefitted the larger cities, rather than the smaller towns and cities linked to the high speed network. Maybe so, but exactly the same argument pertains to 'improving existing services'. Faster, more frequent and higher capacity rail services to/from London are likely to cause more people to go to - say - London, whether or not they comprise entirely new lines.
Proponents of HS2 say that the capacity increases possible on the existing network are not enough, and would bring too much disruption when lines and stations are closed during works. Quite obviously new lines bring additional capacity to the network as a whole, and the pro HS2 camp argue that the existing lines can be improved more easily once HS2 is built, quite simply because the proportion of an increased network that will have to close for upgrade work is smaller.
The first - and easiest to deal with - flaw:
Talking about "Second-tier" towns [like Stoke] , the writer calims that "their own rail services are likely to be reduced when the new line [HS2] is built". There is clearly no causal link here. Whether or not HS2 is built, rail services on the existing lines can be improved (subject to capacity) or worsened. I hope the writer was not being disingenuous rather than just illogical.
Second, the writer claims that high speed rail in France and Spain has benefitted the larger cities, rather than the smaller towns and cities linked to the high speed network. Maybe so, but exactly the same argument pertains to 'improving existing services'. Faster, more frequent and higher capacity rail services to/from London are likely to cause more people to go to - say - London, whether or not they comprise entirely new lines.
Proponents of HS2 say that the capacity increases possible on the existing network are not enough, and would bring too much disruption when lines and stations are closed during works. Quite obviously new lines bring additional capacity to the network as a whole, and the pro HS2 camp argue that the existing lines can be improved more easily once HS2 is built, quite simply because the proportion of an increased network that will have to close for upgrade work is smaller.
Sunday, 4 September 2011
Real time bus information on the web
http://countdown.tfl.gov.uk/
Branded as countdown, real time bus informatiom as displayed at bus stops is now on line.
Branded as countdown, real time bus informatiom as displayed at bus stops is now on line.
At last a unified London Connection Map
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/passenger_services/maps/London_Rail_Tube_map.pdf
The National Rail website "London's Rail & Tube services map (which replaces the former London Connections map) shows all National Rail routes and stations within the Greater London area, together with London Underground, Docklands Light Railway and London Tramlink services and stations.
The map highlights principal interchange points and London Fares / Travelcard zones. It also shows the extent to which Oyster pay as you go is valid.
Leaflet copies of this map (with the London & South East map below on the reverse) are normally available from staffed National Rail stations in London and the South East and should now also be available from most London Underground stations."
Should say "replaces the former London Connections Maps" as for many years TfL (and its antecedents) puboished a map under this title. It was fairly recently displace by a map showing where Oyste PAYG could be used. Nevertheless, I welcome at long last one map (not two rivl versions) showing all London's Railways, along with the zones.
"Should now be available from most London Underground stations" is rather tentative, but the old ATOC map (and antecedents) never was. Is there reluctant acceptance that public transport is about where people want to go, and not about who runs which railway?
The National Rail website "London's Rail & Tube services map (which replaces the former London Connections map) shows all National Rail routes and stations within the Greater London area, together with London Underground, Docklands Light Railway and London Tramlink services and stations.
The map highlights principal interchange points and London Fares / Travelcard zones. It also shows the extent to which Oyster pay as you go is valid.
Leaflet copies of this map (with the London & South East map below on the reverse) are normally available from staffed National Rail stations in London and the South East and should now also be available from most London Underground stations."
Should say "replaces the former London Connections Maps" as for many years TfL (and its antecedents) puboished a map under this title. It was fairly recently displace by a map showing where Oyste PAYG could be used. Nevertheless, I welcome at long last one map (not two rivl versions) showing all London's Railways, along with the zones.
"Should now be available from most London Underground stations" is rather tentative, but the old ATOC map (and antecedents) never was. Is there reluctant acceptance that public transport is about where people want to go, and not about who runs which railway?
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