11 April 2007

Tile Hill Lane and Buses

As part of the ongoing Primelines bus project by the city council, there are plans to make the entrance to Tile Hill Lane, from the A45 end, bus-only.

It's a rat run, and it's a needed change. We need to create safer communities, and children have a far greater chance of suriving being hit by a car if cars are driving at 20mph, not 35mph or higher. Hull has been a pioneer in this regard, creating over one hundred 20mph zones.

The change (bus-only access at the A45 end) would be accompagnied by improvements to cycle facilities, bus stop and shelter upgrading, and landscaping works.

The problem, I've been informed by a local resident today, is that a local takeaway is gathering signatures for a petition against the changes (i.e. they fear a loss of business if people have to drive around to the Village Hotel end to enter Tile Hill Lane and double back).

It occurs to me that maybe they'd gain local customers if they were seen to champion a safer environment along Tile Hill Lane, or customers who are people who'd hop a bus to the takeaway and back. There's a win-win here somewhere. I think, with transit planning, it's about getting more people onto buses and out of cars, but it's also about rallying support through public education campaigns that go door-to-door in the community.

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