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Stop Killing Cyclists pedal on Parliament – Saturday 13th October
Stop Killing Cyclists have organised a national protest calling for a £3 billion investment in cycling and a reversal of tax cuts on toxic diesel and petrol. A similar movement in the Netherlands changed minds, had the government construct a huge network of cycle tracks, and got an astonishing 25% of the population cycling every day. Meet from 12 noon at Lincoln’s Inn Fields, then at 1pm process down the Strand & Whitehall to the Treasury, where there will be a Die-In & rally from 2pm to 3pm. More information on their web site.
EOS and Arriva
Regular users of buses in Waltham Abbey and Loughton will know that over the summer, and after a brief hiatus, Arriva took over routes 66, 86, 87 and 251. There’s naturally a different web site to use to buy tickets, and (confusingly) a separate web site for route information and maps. The buses are appearing on more journey planning tools than before, but it seems like the arrival times aren’t always very accurate! Drop us an email with your experiences of the new service.
Bus Number 20
TfL’s number 20 service has become increasingly unreliable, and is currently the worst performing low-frequency service in London. EFTAG made the news when we highlighted our concerns about how often the service is terminating early, leaving residents of the Debden estate with a long wait at Homebase. Right now the service is disrupted anyway due to the closure of the High Road between Loughton and Buckhurst Hill, but we’ll keep holding TfL to account and it’s great to see Chris Pond and other councillors continue to press them on this.
Cycling Action Plan
The County Council has recently launched a new version of its Cycling Action Plan for Epping Forest. To respond to this properly needs local expertise, so if you are cycle regularly anywhere in the district, and would be happy to take a look at what it says for areas you know about, and perhaps join an occasional cycling sub-group within EFTAG, please get in touch!
Charlie Brown’s roundabout
It’s great at last to see work start on Charlie Brown’s roundabout in South Woodford. For years this place has been a small reminder in the East of the horrors of the elevated A4 in West London – flyovers and roundabouts with no space for anyone not in a car. Trying to do anything on a bike apart from turning left – even pushing your bike over the ‘crossings’ – has been taking your life into your hands.
Well – it’s changing now: lanes are being closed, bollards are being laid out, and new crossings laid down. We’ll be watching progress of this and other projects in surrounding areas, such as at Walthamstow / Lea Bridge Road / Whipps Cross roundabout, with interest.
AGM and membership scheme
Our first formal AGM was held on 25th June, and the first meeting of the newly-elected committee took place on July 23rd at the Plume of Feathers in Loughton. You can read the minutes of the AGM on our web site, and we’ll be launching the membership scheme soon: for just £5 you would be contributing essential money for campaigning, as well as making it more likely that we are listened to. Watch this space for details.