It's not better by bus!
The other day we posted regarding the car park at North Greenwich station. As we said back then, the number of spaces for station users is going to significantly reduced in January to make way for car park spaces. According to the Council we shouldn't really be that bothered by such things we can all use the wonderful public transport system instead.The picture you see in this post (click for larger version) is Greenwich this morning. Total gridlock. Why? Well it appears that someone thought it would be a brilliant idea to have roadworks at the Blackwall Tunnel approach lane and on Trafalgar Road at the same time. You're better off by bus? No, you're better off on foot, it's quicker.
posted by greenwich.watch at 4:36 pm
5 Comments:
Tell me about it. I take my dog to Greenwich Park every morning, and we used to catch one of either the 129, 177, 180 or 286 buses from opposite East Greenwich Library to the Park Row stop. The journey used to take 10-15 minutes.
Then, about a month or so ago, everything changed. We were lucky if the bus journey took 30 minutes. I could walk the distance in less than 30 minutes but it is a boring walk for the dog, through the backstreets.
So now we catch the 286 up Westcombe Hill to the Standard and walk to the Park from there. Ludicrous. Pathetic planning by the Council. I at least am able to vary my route but all those people sitting in the nose-to-tail queue along the Woolwich Road EVERY DAY NOW are doing so presumably because there is no alternative. All those exhaust fumes must be making air quality much worse in an already bad area for asthma-related conditions. And it is not going to improve any time soon, I gather, not for another 12 months.
Yes the slightest problem in the Blackwell tunnel and the whole area grinds to a halt. Then, maybe because the council can’t be bothered to re-paint the box junctions, or its just down to selfish drivers, but the traffic blocks the junctions and all the other roads gridlock and the buses are stuck. The same for Trafalgar road.
I cant count the amount of times I’ve been on the bus from Greenwich to North Greenwich station and am stuck in traffic just because cars cant keep the junctions clear.
I wonder if the council is taking the fact that these roads are full to bursting point into consideration when its planning new development such as the Peninsular and the East Greenwich hospital. But hey we need new homes – no matter if it make life a misery for people who already live here. As a very famous Scotts man said ‘Captain she cannae take any more’.
This morning, there was a hearse (followed by a funeral car) caught in the gridlock. Its "payload" was, by the look of it, going to be very late for his/her last appointment on this earth. I do feel sorry for the family and friends who will have been waiting for their dear departed to arrive at the church/crematorium.
2006 population estimate for Borough of Greenwich 230,000
Latest 2016 estimate 272,000
Help.
An increase of 42,000 in 10 years.
Equivalent to
* the entire population of Banbury, Oxfordshire; or
* the population of the Cayman Islands (in 2003); or
* the population of St Kitts & Nevis; or
* the number of people evacuated from New Orleans on 3 September, post Hurricane Katrina; or ...
To me, this does not sound planned. It sounds as if the developers' carts are pulling along the Council "horse". Common sense suggests that this rate of increase is going to be problematical - health services, traffic, water supply. And the total amount of Council Tax these new residents will pay will NOT make up for the £4.9 million plus £4.5 million that the Council has failed to collect over the last two years.
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