Barking Halfords has closed

People in the cycling world have mixed feelings about Halfords, but for years it has been all Barking has had that could be described as a bike shop. Now, the Abbey Retail Park is being redeveloped and Halfords is closed. I remember when they had a shop in East Street.

https://goo.gl/maps/Aizl8

A little piece of local cycling history?

The signage in William St quarter (Anne Mews, King's Rd, Linton Rd, William St) has (largely) been corrected. (When originally installed it did not take into account that the one way restrictions did not apply to pedal cyclists.)

So, along with the fairly recently permitted "except cyclists" plates qualifying no-entry signs, at the other end of the road, signs (960.2 I believe) have been fitted that indicate contra-flow cycling (not a term I like, as cycling is "flow" too) without a lane.

These are surely a first in Barking & Dagenham. I haven't seen the in real life in this country, but that's not saying much.

Here are some photos of the signs in situ. I still think one or two of the signs are in error and I hope the council will correct this very soon.

Junction of Linton Rd and William Street

 Junction of King's Rd and Anne Mews

Junction of William St and King's Rd

As above, facing North St. The sign is wrong as the stretch of road is not one way for cycling - see below.

 The entrance to Kings Rd from North St. No entry except cycles means the road is not one way for cycling.

The entrance to Anne Mews from Linton Rd. The one way sign on the right is wrong. It should match the sign on the left. Not sure why the road is marked as a no through road.

Barking's hidden cycle storage

Take a look at the upper floor of the building containing the dentists in this view https://goo.gl/maps/ZvmRQ. I think these are the bike racks of building 5, as it's referred to in the travel plan helpfully sent to me by a potential resident. There are 233 of them according to the travel plan.

Go down the black and white path alongside the building and you will see an unmarked door leading to a stairs, secured by some kind of electronic lock.

Photos:

Next take a trip to Axe St and go down the service road next to the white block of flats - no 87 Axe St or "building 4". On the left you will see a low white building secured by a gate. I believe this is a bike store - capacity 40 according to the travel plan, though it looks like it's being used for rubbish.

Photos:

It seems to me that residents do not know about these facilities. They should be bought into use either for residents or for local workers, or even anyone who wants to use one.

Collecting train tickets bought on line at the station

http://stibasa.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/collecting-onlne-train-tickets-at.html

I went to Barking station today to collect tickets that I'd bought on line. I went to use one of the larger, older ticket machines (non Oyster) and noticed that it asked for a payment card to be put in. I put in one of my cards, but not the one I paid with. There was no problem with that, but I couldn't complete the transaction owing to a fault with the on screen keyboard.

I went to use one of the newer ticket machines. The display said to put in the card that I'd paid for the tickets with, but I used another one (as above) and still got the tickets.

Obviously both the cards in question are mine, but the one I used has not been in a ticket machine before, and has not been used to buy a train ticket. Therefore I have reason to believe that any valid payment card would work.

The tickets were for Euston - Rugby.

Barking & Gospel Oak Line Rail Users' Group AGM

Will be held on Wednesday 29 April at 7pm in meeting room 2 at Barking Town Hall. Now is the time to renew (or take out) membership. See the BGORUG website for information about the group and the line, and a membership application form which contains details of how to by bank transfer.

It will be possible to join just before the meeting starts, but please arrive early to do this. Once the meeting starts it is too late.

Beware of walk on fares being cheaper than fares booked for nominated dates on line

If I understand him correctly, fares supremo Barry Doe is saying (in Rail Magazine issue 770) that on some ticket websites (he does not name them) if you tell the system the date you are returning it doesn't offer you so-called open returns that are cheaper.

His example  is booking a journey where the out leg is a bargain basement £20 and the return leg is £73. Buyer assumes that £93 total is a good deal, but because s/he has not selected "open", the cheaper, walk-on return fare of £74 is not offered.

None of this is helped by the confusing and fairly recently changed nomenclature for the different tickets, especially as terms like "open" have changed their meaning - it is not an entirely new set of terms replacing the old ones.

Refunds at ticket machines - redundant Oyster Cards

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/fares-and-payments/replacements-and-refunds/refunds-at-ticket-machines?intcmp=26352

If like me you use contactless (ie a bank or credit card) rather than Oyster PAYG, you should be able to redeem your unwanted Oyster Card's deposit and unused PAYG balance at an LU ticket machine.

I tried it on Barking's non LU ticket machines but wasn't offered the option. Not really a surprise, but still a disappointment.