Transforming London's transport

Greens have made a huge difference to the way transport is planned and funded in London.

Not just in public transport, but also dramatic increases in funding for cycling and walking, and major investment in travel management, reducing the need to travel and switching commuters and schoolchildren to greener ways of getting about. Here are some of their achievements.

Greener vehicles, alternative fuels and renewable energy
Travel reduction
Cycling and walking 2025
Car drivers
Waterways
Lorries and freight
Road safety
Aviation
Thames Gateway Bridge
Big one way systems
100 Public Spaces

Greener vehicles, alternative fuels and renewable energy

• There will be 40 hybrid buses being tried out in London by the end of this year. These vehicles partly run on re-chargeable batteries, thus reducing pollution by a third. The aim is to have them tested and approved within the next two years, so that all new buses will be hybrid buses from 2010 onwards.
• 10 hydrogen buses and 60 hydrogen or other very low carbon additional vehicles are to be introduced by 2010 for testing.
• There are plans for all new black cabs to become hybrid vehicles from 2009/10 onwards, with incentives to retrofit the majority of modern taxis with hybrid technology by the time of the Olympic games.
• Transport for London is now working on securing at least 20% of London Underground energy from local and renewable sources by 2025.
• The GLA Group is examining opportunities for working with innovative bio-fuel manufacturers and suppliers on pioneering projects to promote the production of strictly sustainable bio-fuels. In the meantime, the GLA Group will only use bio-fuels meeting the highest certification standards, not from environmentally damaging sources.
• From October 2008 there will be a £25 congestion charge for the most polluting cars, as well as discounts for the cleanest models to encourage the switch to lower carbon vehicles.

Travel reduction

London is leading the country in finding new ways of reducing traffic and congestion. Funding for measures which try to persuade people out of their cars has quadrupled since the Mayor's first term - reaching £24m last year and £30m this year.

Increased funding means that 150,000 employees a year are now being covered by workplace travel plans in London. A recent study of 60 London organisations showed that these travel plans have led to a 14% switch away from car use - similar results to those achieved by congestion charging. Car drivers often switch to more sustainable means of transport, but other options include car sharing, teleworking, or working at home some days of the week.

A further £150,000 has ensured people are being reached at home and being offered personalised advice on sustainable transport suited to their needs.

The Greens persuaded the Mayor to adopt a target of all schools having a travel plan by 2009. Over half of London's schools now have a travel plan and these have reduced traffic on the school run by an average of 7%.

Another of the schemes Greens secured funding for has been to apply all these traffic reduction measures to one area. The first of these town centre pilots is in Sutton, with another planned to start in Richmond later this year.

Cycling and walking 2025

As a result of the Green Party Group's budget package, the Mayor recently announced a £500m package of investment in cycling, with a substantial investment in walking as well. This set of proposals arises directly from a year-long study the green group commissioned and worked with TfL to deliver.

The strategy for meeting TfL's targets for a 400% increase in cycling by 2025 and an increase in walking, includes:

• A similar bike hire scheme to the successful Paris Velib scheme
• Around 12 new cycling routes for commuters to cycle into London
• Bike Zones aimed at shoppers and parents on the school run will be created in all the main town centres of London, where all the measures to improve cycling facilities are applied intensively
• The Legible London streets sign system, which provides clear information for people making short journeys by foot, will be expanded

  200 Streets of Gold walking zones will give urban makeovers to routes linking important local destinations like stations, schools and shops.

Cycling

There has been a massive 83% increase in cycle journeys on the capital's main roads since 2000, thanks to measures like these:

• An extra £40m over three years from 2007-2010 has been gained for cycling and an extra £10m has been budgeted in the coming year for the new package of walking/cycling measures.
• Work has been programmed to complete the London Cycle Network by 09/10. Over 550km of the LCN+ and a programme of green and off-road cycle routes have already been completed.
• An anti bike theft scheme called 'immobilise' has been introduced, linked into the Met Police database.
• A Mass Cycle Ride called the London Freewheel attracted over 60,000 people in September 2007 and the aim is to attract a 100,000 to thie 2008 ride.
• Cycle training is to be made available to every primary school that requests it, with half of all year 5 & 6 pupils receiving training to national standard level 2 by the end of 2008.
• Cycle parking programmes for schools, with over 10,000 cycle parking spaces in schools being delivered so far.
• A four-year rolling program to provide adequate cycle parking at all railway, tube and DLR stations has been set up.
• Funding of £1.5m a year has been secured for green and off-road cycle routes.
• Practical help and support for new cyclists is being provided.
• The 'Share the Road' campaign includes initiatives such as all bus drivers receiving training by the end of 2008 on giving space to cyclists.
• Reversal of Southeastern Railway's decision to ban bikes from its trains during the Tour de France UK stage in July 07.
• Advanced Stop Lines have been enforced by the Met Police for the first time and TfL are now required to report all the occasions when these are not installed, and the reasons for not doing so, when they are re-engineering junctions.

Walking

• Funding to boroughs for local walking schemes has been doubled (to £9.2m) in 2007/08, enabling local people top press for improvements in their area.
• A commitment has been secured to the delivery of the Legible London route finding strategy.
• Three trial all-day closures to traffic of Victoria Embankment were held in 2007/08 and the Mayor has announced plans to copy the Paris Plage idea and close it all summer and set up a beach by the river.
• A central London Pedestrian zone is being investigated, to create a set of high quality, minimal traffic routes linking key landmarks.
• All 'green man' crossings will meet Department of Transport timing standards during the current modernisation programme, and will be finished by the end of 2010 at the latest.
• After audits, to be finished in 2009, local authorities will be given money to improve walking access to, and the environment around, mainline stations.

Car drivers

• A "Share the Road" campaign, aimed at encouraging mutual respect amongst all road users, has been set up and includes partners from walking, cycling and motoring groups.
• The Met Police and TfL are now committed to working together to deliver a year on year decline in the number of uninsured and illegal drivers in London. Uninsured drivers add £30 to the average motor insurance bill.
• Previous cuts to the number of traffic police and an over reliance on camera enforcement in London have led to a decline in overall driving standards. The Green Party Group's Budget package, however, has started to reverse those cuts.
• London is doing more than any region in the country to dissuade people from making unnecessary journeys by car. The travel advice services run by Transport for London are tremendously successful and have helped reduce congestion for those who do have to travel by car.

Waterways

Jenny Jones set up and initially chaired the London Waterway Commission, which has been established to promote London's canal network. It is a high level board, with representatives of all major waterways interest groups.

Projects are now in place to increase the transport of waste and other freight on London's waterways and to deliver major engineering work such as West London Canal Construction. A refuse collection vehicle, which can transfer from road to water, has been developed.

Lorries and freight

Thanks to work by the Greens, Transport for London is committed to reducing CO2 emissions from the freight industry by a combination of new technology, better driving, better logistics and moving goods onto more sustainable modes of transport.

10,000 free safety lenses are being handed out to lorry companies to help protect cyclists from left turning vehicles.

Road safety

Road casualties in London have fallen faster than any other region in the country. A doubling of the road safety budget since Jenny Jones became the Mayor's Road Safety Ambassador, has meant that in 2006 the number of people killed or seriously injured on London's roads was 41% lower than in the late nineties. The number of child casualties has fallen by 58%.

Through the budget process and lobbying the Metropolitan Police Authority the Greens have ensured that:

• The decline in traffic police since the 1980s has been halted and further cuts rejected.
• Automatic Number Plate Recognition technology has been introduced to catch unlawful drivers and vehicles. These police officers have an arrest rate seven times higher than local police officers and includes many people caught for mainstream crimes such as carrying weapons and drugs.
• A pilot of "intelligent" speed limiters is being tested out on cars, buses and taxis in London.
• Driver improvement courses for speeding drivers have been introduced, giving them a positive alternative to having points on their licence.
• 20mph zones have been shown to cut casualties by half. Investment in these zones has trebled to £10m a year, as more local communities demand them.
• Transport for London will now encourage and support any local authority that wants to have 20mph as the default limit across all its residential areas. There will be exemptions for some main roads and the aim is to achieve a cultural shift in driver habits, rather than bringing in more enforcement structures such as road humps. New types of cameras, which measure the average speed of a driver across a short distance, are being trialled, these should remove the need for more humps.
• Neighbourhood police teams are being encouraged and supported in enforcement action against illegal drivers. Local public consultation on local police priorities will include road traffic policing as an option.

Aviation

A study commissioned by the Green Party Group led to the Mayor announcing a ban on all short haul flights to mainland Britain, Brussels, Paris and Amsterdam for his officers. A motion supporting a similar ban on short haul flights by Assembly members and staff was put forward by the green group and passed by the London Assembly.

Transport for London is now committed to using its system of workplace travel plans to encourage other companies and organisations to adopt the same approach. A large proportion of flights from Heathrow are short haul and it is hoped that a significant decline in demand for these flights will damage the case for expansion.

In 2006 the Mayor of London agreed to offset emissions from flights made by GLA staff and elected representatives, and to keep all flights to the "essential minimum". Flights made by the rest of the GLA family of organisations will also be minimised, and offset where taken.

The Green Party Group ensured the Mayor commissioned research into the health, environmental and socio-economic impacts of aviation expansion in London. Campaigners against the expansion of Heathrow airport have used this to help make their case.

Greens have ensured the Mayor will seek to minimise helicopter noise in London through the first national noise strategy, on which consultation is expected this year. The GLA will work on the issue of helicopter routing in East London, and in dealing with any planning application under the London Plan for new heliport provision.

Thames Gateway Bridge

Expert evidence against the proposed six-lane road bridge focusing on traffic, air quality, regeneration and health, was prepared and presented to the recent Public Inquiry. The Greens secured the £80,000 necessary to fund this work, which played a crucial role in the Inspector's rejection of the bridge and in the Government being forced to refer it back.

Transport for London has now put procurement for the Thames Gateway Bridge on hold until the outcome of the re-opened Inquiry. The Mayor agreed that TfL will make available funding as required of up to £15k for professional and consultancy assistance, approved by the Green Group, in reviewing and defining options to increase the role of public transport on the Bridge. At the moment the bridge would lead to a decline in public transport use. The options generated through this assistance will be assessed in TfL's own review.

Big one way systems

The London Development Agency, Transport for London and Design for London will undertake an initial assessment during the next three years of all major one-way gyratory systems in London, with the aim of assessing the benefits of restoring two way working.

Two way streets are more convenient to use for pedestrians and cyclists and help local businesses by improving local access.

Following agreement with the Greens, the Mayor is pushing ahead with the planned changes to four major one-way systems, and is looking at a further six schemes across London.

The top list of four is:

• A11 Aldgate East
• A2 Kender Street Triangle
• A10 Tottenham Hale
• A23 Brixton Square

Studies in progress are:

• A21/A205 Catford Town centre
• A22/A23 Purley Cross
• A3 Wandsworth Town Centre
• A1 Archway
• A1 Highbury Corner
• A10 Stoke Newington

100 Public Spaces

Greens have secured a commitment that Design for London will develop the following priority schemes under the 100 Public Spaces programme in partnership with Transport for London, the London Development Agency and the boroughs:

• Brixton Central Square (implementation 2008/09 to 2009/10)
• Parliament Square (consultation May 08)
• Tottenham Hale (finalise initial designs and funding package)
• Exhibition Road (finalise design and begin implementation)
• Victoria Embankment (detailed feasibility)
• High Street 2012
• Woolwich
• Euston Circus
• Waterloo area projects