‘Planners need to take into account all road users’

• AS a non-driver and frequent (pre-lockdown) public transport user in Camden, I can sympathise with both cyclists needing safe road space and residents concerned about displacement of excess traffic to side roads.

But how much – if at all – do the council’s planners take non-cyclists into account when devising new schemes?

As an example, Camden’s grand Tottenham Court Road scheme of widening pavements and creating a contra-flow lane has been disastrous for anyone trying to take a bus northwards.

The extreme narrowness of the road causes solid tailbacks from Leicester Square to Warren Street, and a journey that used to take around 10 minutes (though allowing extra for Crossrail delays at the Oxford Street junction) now takes easily 20 minutes or more.

Incentivising people to walk or cycle might be admirable, but central London roads still need to function for public transport users, especially those too old or infirm to get on a bike or walk far; or, in this case, also on buses passing through.

Too often the funnelling effect of roads constricted by cycle lanes doesn’t just target private cars but inevitably hits buses as well, forcing them into log-jams of slow-moving or stationary traffic.

Camden’s mantra of “two wheels good, four wheels bad” may be admirable in intent, but I’d suggest planners need to take into account all road users and recognise that some four-wheeled vehicles serve a vital function too.

DON KELLER,
N15