A Labour member of the London Assembly has renewed her call for Sadiq Khan to “pause” the rollout of all forms of bus stop bypass in London due to concerns about their safety for blind people and other pedestrians.
In a letter to the Mayor, Elly Baker, who is the Assembly Labour group’s spokesperson on transport issues, reiterates concerns she has raised in previous letters, explaining that she was spurred to do so by the publication of a report commissioned by the charity Guide Dogs and a meeting she and Labour colleagues had with the National Federation of the Blind.
The new research, produced for Guide Dogs by academics at UCL, concludes that “vision-impaired people” feel this form of road infrastructure is “constantly a threat to their safety”, putting many of them off using buses.
Baker writes that any road design “that involves pedestrians having to cross cycleways to access their bus service” is a matter for concern, and reveals that she has “raised privately” her worry that any approach to reviewing safety “that relied heavily on collision data was not likely to be adequate” given that anxiety about using so-called “floating bus stops” and the like at all is a major issue.
“Our buses remain by far our most accessible form of transport,” Baker writes, “and we must remain committed to the network both in word and deed and expand, not reduce, access to an affordable, accessible and effective bus network”.
Responding on social media, dermatologist Edward Seaton told Baker she had “essentially’ asked the Mayor “for children to be made to cycle in the middle of busy roads” and academic Ed Davie said Baker should focus on cars instead.
Cycling activist Donnachadh McCarthy wrote that “far more blindness is CAUSED (his capitals) by lack of protected cycle lanes?!” and asked Baker: “Why do you hate kids so much u want them to cycle out in front of HGVs.”
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