A report published by Transport for London (TfL) has revealed that around a quarter of people use public transport less, and a third drive more now than ever before as a result of cycle lanes implemented in East Greenwich in 2020.
The Greenwich to Woolwich Walking and Cycling Changes consultation report, published Friday, showed that 55 per cent of respondents felt there had been no difference in the amount they walked, with 16 per cent stating they actually walked less, while 62 per cent of respondents revealed they cycled either less or no more than before, undermining the Royal Borough of Greenwich’s ambitious plans to create a ‘greener, safer Greenwich’ through encouraging active travel.
TfL’s report also revealed that 28 per cent of respondents felt it was less safe to use public transport since the introduction of floating bus stops, which form part of the cycle lane designs, compared to 15 per cent who claimed it felt safer, while 74 per cent stated it felt no less or less safe to drive.
62 per cent of respondents believed congestion had increased and traffic flowed less freely where cycle lanes had been implemented, and 48 per cent of people claimed that accessing local shops and amenities had become more difficult since their inception.
46 per cent stated noise pollution had increased, compared to 19 per cent who said it had lessened, while 38 per cent felt that air quality had become worse, in contrast to 19 per cent who felt it had improved.
Almost half of respondents said that East Greenwich looked and felt less pleasant.
Local businesses also weighed in, with 38 per cent stating customers were concerned about being able to park nearby, and 36 per cent claiming deliveries were harder to accept. 40 per cent said the cycle lanes had a negative impact on trade.
A number of stakeholders were consulted as part of TfL’s consultation, including charity Blind in Greenwich, planning and design company BTW, the Brewery Logistics Group, More2Nurseries, Our Ladye Star of the Sea Church, the Greenwich Cycling Campaign, and London Cycling Campaign.
In line with comments previously shared by the National Federation of the Blind, Blind in Greenwich stated that the implementation of segregated cycle lanes presented a ‘significant risk of injury or death to VI [visually impaired] pedestrians’ while ‘creating fear and exclusion.’ They also noted the inconsistency of design elements, making it more difficult for visually impaired people to navigate.
Meanwhile, BTW raised concerns over the introduction of newly designed junctions as a result of the implemented cycle lanes and cyclists’ tendency to jump red lights.
The Brewery Logistics Group revealed that the cycle lanes had caused them to increase the number of lorries used for deliveries across the borough, while an increase in trips and a decrease in productivity were also cited.
Award-winning childcare provider More2Nurseries said the cycle lanes had made the area 'an awful place to live and work' while expressing concerns over the impact felt by emergency services, as previously revealed in correspondence between the London Ambulance Service and Greenwich Council.
Roman Catholic church, Our Ladye Star of the Sea, expressed concerns over gridlock created by the removal of the left/right turn lane onto Blackwall Lane from Trafalgar Road. It also referred to how underutilised the cycle lanes were and the dangers presented by bus stop islands.
The church's sentiments regarding the cycle lanes' popularity align with the figures for cycle counts presented in TfL's accompanying end-of-term findings report, where weekday cycling numbers (pictured below) show, on average, between 200 and 800 cycle journeys made - the equivalent of between 12 to 50 per hour.
Weekends paint a starker picture, with a significant drop in cycle lane usage. Data published (below) shows that the average number of cycling trips made ranges between 80 and 600 per day on weekends. This translates to a rate of between five to 37 trips per hour, a notable decrease compared to weekdays.
These figures cast doubt on the Royal Borough of Greenwich's 'Greener, Safer Greenwich' initiative, designed to encourage cycling through a range of measures, including making it more difficult to drive.
In contrast to negative feedback received, Greenwich Peninsula councillor, David Gardner, FlightCentre, based on Old Woolwich Road, and both the Greenwich Cycling Campaign and London Cycling Campaign lauded the addition of the cycle lanes.
Cllr Gardner (pictured) alleged that 'residents, pedestrians, and bus users had adapted to the cycle lane changes' while proposing his own modifications to the scheme, including removing the Angerstein roundabout, which supports traffic to and from the A2 and Blackwall Tunnel.
The self-proclaimed 'community champion' previously faced criticism on social media for a series of controversial posts, including one suggesting that all disabled people could use buses or pavements, which he later deleted.
Additionally, he publicly supported the installation of a barrier preventing wheelchair access to the Thames Path, a nationally recognised walking trail, suggesting that wheelchair and mobility scooter users make a detour instead, which would take an able-bodied pedestrian approximately 10 minutes to walk (below). The barrier has since been replaced with one which satisfies the Equality Act 2010, unlike the original.
Derek Small of FlightCentre also heaped praise on the cycle lanes, but expressed concerns over the complications regarding the priority of motor vehicles, bicycles, and pedestrians while highlighting issues including glass, loose gravel, and street debris which collect across the lanes.
Small, whose company promotes carbon-footprint-heavy flights to Las Vegas and uses the tagline 'the future of travel!', lives over seven miles away from the cycle lanes but offers bike rentals mainly geared towards tourists.
The Greenwich Cycling Campaign supported the cycle lane infrastructure in place but opposed TfL’s decision to remove 24-hour restrictions from the bus lane between Anchor And Hope Lane and Woolwich, which, since its implementation, has increased congestion and pollution on Woolwich Road.
The London Cycling Campaign, which faced controversy in 2021 after failing to sack senior employee Simon Still after a number of racist social media posts were unearthed which insinuated that 'young black men in silver Mercs' were 'gangsters', supported the Greenwich Cycling Campaign’s sentiments.
Notably, the London Fire Brigade was not consulted as a stakeholder, despite East Greenwich Fire Station’s previous complaints over the impact cycle lane wands had on emergency response times, as revealed in a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to Greenwich Council in 2021.
The TfL consultation, which was open between June and December last year, garnered just 1,309 responses despite extensive promotion via email, letter, print advertisements, and face-to-face meetings held at several local venues, including supermarkets and libraries. Of the 1,309 respondents, 380 identified as cyclists, 308 as pedestrians, and 248 as motorists.
TfL and the Royal Borough of Greenwich are poised to make the temporary cycle lane measures implemented across East Greenwich permanent, with limited scope to make substantial changes despite the feedback received.
The decision aligns with Greenwich Council’s recent decision to approve several low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) across East and West Greenwich as part of its Neighbourhood Management scheme. The scheme aims to close all hills in Greenwich to through traffic apart from Blackheath Hill, which shares its boundary with Lewisham, despite objections from up to 79 per cent of residents.
A public scrutiny meeting for the West & East Greenwich Neighbourhood Management scheme is scheduled for Wednesday, 31 July at Woolwich Town Hall.