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Post by vjaska on Jan 6, 2016 23:06:41 GMT
A blog entry from a local S London resident who attended a TfL and Lambeth Council consultation about the gyratory proposals. onionbagblog.com/2015/12/06/vauxhall-bus-station-blues/Doesn't suggest there's much prospect of the bus station being retained in any meaningful way. If the staff present really did smirk behind the man's back then that's really very poor indeed. Pretty much everything he said is right. |
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Post by snoggle on Dec 16, 2016 11:33:33 GMT
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Post by vjaska on Dec 16, 2016 12:14:08 GMT
Let the destruction of Vauxhall sadly commence & bus passengers receiving slower journeys for good as well as bus passengers losing arguably the best bus station to interchange within London. |
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Post by vjaska on Jan 11, 2017 2:17:15 GMT
Now I've only lived in Vauxhall for 5 minutes but honestly, as a pedestrian, the gyratory is quite easy to navigate using the crossings and even then, when Vauxhall Station is open, the majority of it can be avoided if needs be by using the entrances to the tube station to walk underneath the gyratory & the footbridge to cross over Kennington Lane.
The one issue for pedestrians I've noticed is the cycle lanes on the pavements of South Lambeth Road & Wandsworth Road where they just end all of a sudden leaving you at the mercy of cyclists - already, I've seen many near misses between pedestrians and cyclists.
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Post by snoggle on Apr 20, 2017 15:06:02 GMT
TfL have released what looks like a mini update on progress on the works to rebuild Vauxhall Gyratory. There is a short video plus some images of what the new layout and bus station will look like. tfl.gov.uk/travel-information/improvements-and-projects/vauxhall-gyratoryI'm still not remotely convinced by any of this. I can't really see how the new bus station structures afford real protection from the wind, rain and cold especially given how many tall buildings there are in the area with even more planned. |
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Post by redbus on Apr 21, 2017 18:31:17 GMT
TfL have released what looks like a mini update on progress on the works to rebuild Vauxhall Gyratory. There is a short video plus some images of what the new layout and bus station will look like. tfl.gov.uk/travel-information/improvements-and-projects/vauxhall-gyratoryI'm still not remotely convinced by any of this. I can't really see how the new bus station structures afford real protection from the wind, rain and cold especially given how many tall buildings there are in the area with even more planned. I am not convinced at all, seems to be another case of bus passengers getting a raw deal. One thing that does interest me in such schemes is how beneficial the public realm changes actually are to the average person. Do people really benefit more from the changes than the losses (eg bus station, more traffic jams). I know these public realm changes are flavour of the month and some indeed are sensible, but I am not sure all are. What are the thoughts about Vauxhall? |
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Post by vjaska on Apr 21, 2017 19:38:19 GMT
TfL have released what looks like a mini update on progress on the works to rebuild Vauxhall Gyratory. There is a short video plus some images of what the new layout and bus station will look like. tfl.gov.uk/travel-information/improvements-and-projects/vauxhall-gyratoryI'm still not remotely convinced by any of this. I can't really see how the new bus station structures afford real protection from the wind, rain and cold especially given how many tall buildings there are in the area with even more planned. I am not convinced at all, seems to be another case of bus passengers getting a raw deal. One thing that does interest me in such schemes is how beneficial the public realm changes actually are to the average person. Do people really benefit more from the changes than the losses (eg bus station, more traffic jams). I know these public realm changes are flavour of the month and some indeed are sensible, but I am not sure all are. What are the thoughts about Vauxhall? I've been living in Vauxhall for three months now so I will offer my views on the whole project though I'm happily moving back to Brixton this weekend. I'm against most of the scheme because I've always felt gyratories are being needlessly removed for no reason. They say that it's imitidating to pedestrians & cyclists but since the 2005 works, there has been cycle lanes installed on the pavement which cyclists regularly ignore by riding outside the lanes on the pavement or use the bus station as a shortcut whilst last year, a segregated cycle lane was built from Vauxhall Bridge Road to Kennington Oval which gives easy north south travel through the junction. There are plenty of crossings around the gyratory and with traffic flowing one way, it makes it easier for the pedestrian to know what way traffic is flowing - furthermore, Vauxhall Underground Station also has a subway that allows pedestrians to walk from Wandsworth Road & Bridgefoot to Vauxhall Bus Station & Vauxhall Station which is well lit, has CCTV and is only open when the station is open which seems to deter anyone from loitering in the subway. The bus station has always been, IMO, the best bus station in London for one reason - interchange. It's so easy to interchange between bus and bus or train & bus especially if coming from the Underground nearly no crossing the roads at all bar South Lambeth Place which is generally buses only. With the new bus station, interchange becomes more difficult especially when some buses need to be accessed by crossing the road not to mention the new shelter being inferior to the current one which does a good job of keeping out the weather. Mini rant - It would not surprise me to see Lambeth backing it 100% - anything to keep the yuppies happy. After all, they're the ones who voted in favour of the plans as Vauxhall & Lambeth is awash with them pricing everyone else out - Mini rant over! |
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Post by snoggle on Apr 22, 2017 0:01:00 GMT
TfL have released what looks like a mini update on progress on the works to rebuild Vauxhall Gyratory. There is a short video plus some images of what the new layout and bus station will look like. tfl.gov.uk/travel-information/improvements-and-projects/vauxhall-gyratoryI'm still not remotely convinced by any of this. I can't really see how the new bus station structures afford real protection from the wind, rain and cold especially given how many tall buildings there are in the area with even more planned. I am not convinced at all, seems to be another case of bus passengers getting a raw deal. One thing that does interest me in such schemes is how beneficial the public realm changes actually are to the average person. Do people really benefit more from the changes than the losses (eg bus station, more traffic jams). I know these public realm changes are flavour of the month and some indeed are sensible, but I am not sure all are. What are the thoughts about Vauxhall? I think a proportion of interested locals are deeply opposed to losing the current bus station. As vjaska says it functions well. The worst vagaries of the old Vauxhall of the 1980s are long gone in the area. It did used to be horrendous then and I used to change for buses to Wandsworth and Battersea quite regularly back then and it was a horrible experience all round. I think some people are seduced by pretty artists impressions which is what the architects promote of course. They never point out the drawbacks and the new bus station design with the need to cross what will be a busy access road into / out of the bus station to reach some stops is a massive error in my view. At present all bus stops are accessible on the central island. There *will* be accidents and possibly deaths in the new design but no one seems to care if you read the blithe words TfL have provided in previous consultation responses. It's astonishing that no one has stopped the design work and forced a reworking of the road layout to allow buses to enter Bondway from the south and to have a solid pavement line along the Wandsworth Road axis so no roads have to be crossed to reach the stops that will have to be located there. Having looked at the planned layouts and stops TfL could, if they wished, scrap that central access road entirely and send buses round the layout in different ways without having to change the layout. Depending on what stops were used then you could possibly get away with not having to change any bus stops sizes either. There may be some run time issues but those exist today as some routes have convoluted ways through the current road layout. I doubt there would be much net effect across all routes running through Vauxhall. |
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