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World Car Free Day London - disability provisions?

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GodAtum

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In promoting a car free city, the Mayor has seemed to have forgotten about those of us with mobility issues. This day involves closing various roads and making people walk or cycle, which is obviously difficult/impossible for those of us with mobility issues. Am I overreacting?
 
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GodAtum

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Probably. What journey are you trying to make?

I probably wont travel as I believe the Mayor should take everyone's transport needs into account, not just the environmentalists and be promoting wheelchair accessible buses, even though they are polluting.
 

yorkie

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I probably wont travel as I believe the Mayor should take everyone's transport needs into account, not just the environmentalists and be promoting wheelchair accessible buses, even though they are polluting.
What journey have you been put off making then?
 

Terry Tait

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Millions of pounds have been spent making busses, tubes and trains accessible, you can't have it all ways no more than the rest of us can, that's equality.
 

[.n]

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In promoting a car free city, the Mayor has seemed to have forgotten about those of us with mobility issues. This day involves closing various roads and making people walk or cycle, which is obviously difficult/impossible for those of us with mobility issues. Am I overreacting?

Yes you are overreacting

press release said:
Public transport will be available to get people to the central London event, with buses continuing to run on a dedicated route through the event footprint and Santander Cycle docking stations conveniently located. Designated taxi drop-off points are also available for those with accessibility needs
 

deltic

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I probably wont travel as I believe the Mayor should take everyone's transport needs into account, not just the environmentalists and be promoting wheelchair accessible buses, even though they are polluting.
Every bus in London is wheelchair accessible
 

sprunt

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Every bus in London is wheelchair accessible

Yes. What the Mayor should actually be doing is telling the drivers to ensure that the wheelchair spaces are available to wheelchair users, and that people who are reluctant to move their buggies out of the wheelchair space are not given the option not to, rather than the drivers giving up (or sometimes not even asking them to move).
 

PeterC

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In promoting a car free city, the Mayor has seemed to have forgotten about those of us with mobility issues. This day involves closing various roads and making people walk or cycle, which is obviously difficult/impossible for those of us with mobility issues. Am I overreacting?
Overreacting? No.
In my more paranoid moods I get the feeling that certain boroughs want to drive out everybody except young cycling Corbynistas.
 

yorkie

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Overreacting? No.
In my more paranoid moods I get the feeling that certain boroughs want to drive out everybody except young cycling Corbynistas.
Strange comment given the problems caused by cars and how much the naissance and damage they cause is tolerated and/or encouraged by many of our existing policies to a far greater extend than is remotely sensible.
 

AlbertBeale

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Strange comment given the problems caused by cars and how much the naissance and damage they cause is tolerated and/or encouraged by many of our existing policies to a far greater extend than is remotely sensible.

Yes - if cars were only ever used by people with mobility problems or other needs (like stuff to carry) that made it hard for them to use regular public transport (ie trains, buses, black cabs), then 90% of cars would disappear from the roads, we'd all have increased health and better mobility, and there'd be no need for car-free days. I sympathise with anyone whose transport needs are impacted by a car-free day, but the proper target for annoyance is not attempts to cut car usage, it's the selfish people who use cars who don't need to ... ie almost all of them in London.
 

apk55

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Outside London a in many provincial cities such as where I live near Manchester a similar proposal would not work as public transport would not be able to cope. As it stands public transport which is often at capacity in the peaks and takes less than 50% of commuter traffic even a modest switch would cause chaos with people not being able to get on - so many people would say "never again"
 

AlbertBeale

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Depends where it is they need to get to, what they're doing, what they need to take with them, and the time of day they need to do it.

Firstly, if the car is for regualar work use - maybe a doctor or other medic carrying equipment round on out-of-hours visits - then that's not a private car really, it's an essential work use.

I can see that there might be occasions when the above comment does nevertheless apply for purely private purposes, But for almost everybody such occasions will be very rare, and so don't justify owning a car, which was the original point being made. These rare situations can be catered for by a taxi, or by belonging to a car-sharing club.
 

Surreytraveller

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Firstly, if the car is for regualar work use - maybe a doctor or other medic carrying equipment round on out-of-hours visits - then that's not a private car really, it's an essential work use.

I can see that there might be occasions when the above comment does nevertheless apply for purely private purposes, But for almost everybody such occasions will be very rare, and so don't justify owning a car, which was the original point being made. These rare situations can be catered for by a taxi, or by belonging to a car-sharing club.
Fair enough for Central, maybe Inner London, but once you get into the surburbs, all the trains go to London, and all the buses go to the local town centre. And night buses aren't that prevalent in Outer London. Unless you work in a shop or office in your local town centre, then you will usually need a car, as most people will work in neighbouring towns, or even outside London. And when you go shopping to the out-of-town Tesco you need a car to get there, and then to carry your shopping home.
I'm not saying public transport in London isn't good, it is - but for workers, a lot of the time you need your own transport.
 

Starmill

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Outside London a in many provincial cities such as where I live near Manchester a similar proposal would not work as public transport would not be able to cope. As it stands public transport which is often at capacity in the peaks and takes less than 50% of commuter traffic even a modest switch would cause chaos with people not being able to get on - so many people would say "never again"
Exactly. And unfortunately it goes beyond that - those who make the right choice to drive only minimally or indeed never are not given any credit for their choices. They're overcharged, receive uncomfortable vehicles, poor service and have very few rights when things go wrong. In many cases I've experienced personally, the existing rights we do have are actually ignored by the companies running public transport. Complaints are handled with an absence of expertise. Disabled people are refused the reasonable adjustments to which they're legally entitled.

Capacity is only half the problem - the experience has to be actually bearable too. In my experience it's not a significant minority of the time.

Like climate change generally, access to good public transport is an ethical and moral issue in my view - as well as crucially one or consumer rights.
 
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TrainTube

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Fair enough for Central, maybe Inner London, but once you get into the surburbs, all the trains go to London, and all the buses go to the local town centre. And night buses aren't that prevalent in Outer London. Unless you work in a shop or office in your local town centre, then you will usually need a car, as most people will work in neighbouring towns, or even outside London. And when you go shopping to the out-of-town Tesco you need a car to get there, and then to carry your shopping home.
I'm not saying public transport in London isn't good, it is - but for workers, a lot of the time you need your own transport.
Exactly, people are forgetting that a lot of work takes place in business parks, usually in sparsely populated areas without much transport. Anyone should have a car if they want, there might be places outside of London that people would want to go to, for example if you live in Basildon and want to go to Lakeside, youre not gonna get a train to Upminster and then another train to Chafford Hundred, your gonna drive!
That's not to say public transport is bad, if I didn't like it I wouldn't be on here, but personally I think in terms of accessibility, London is spoilt.
Yes. What the Mayor should actually be doing is telling the drivers to ensure that the wheelchair spaces are available to wheelchair users, and that people who are reluctant to move their buggies out of the wheelchair space are not given the option not to, rather than the drivers giving up (or sometimes not even asking them to move).
On most occasions space is made up for wheelchairs users, that might be due to the part of London I'm from but I can guess it happens elsewhere, buggy users seem to think theyre more important than anyone.
What drives me nuts is when im travelling with a bike on a 455, the driving coaches have slots for 2 bikes on one side and a buggy/wheelchair space on the other. And which do the buggy users put their buggy when both are empty? The bike slot!
 

Starmill

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Even in the areas of the Home Counties which are right on the fringes of Greater London the quality of public transport can be utterly diabolical by the standards of zone 2/3 Greater London. Massively overpriced, unreliable rail services which run on thin timetables, absence of night bus services with poor evening and weekend service and bus operators which compete, leaving massive gaps in the market, unfair fares and tickets which are not inter-available (and London Buses in these areas which refuse to accept the otherwise inter-available tickets!!!).
 

Starmill

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London is spoilt
I wouldn't use the term spoilt. But I would say they receive a service which is far closer than the general average to that which all of the people of the United Kingdom deserve.
 
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