On Friday 13th May Jenny started from Dalston Junction and rode with Hackney and Islington cyclists to Hampstead Heath Station for a ride to Camden Lock with Camden Cyclists, George, John and Jean.
Jenny asked us to take her to the junction of Camden Road and St Pancras Way so that she could learn about the location of the recent tragic death of young Polish student Paula Jurek. As a member of the London Assembly, she will be in a position to push forward on improvements at the junction, particularly for ASL boxes on Camden Road. Jenny asked for the background, which I have forwarded to her.
TfL consulted on a scheme for improving the Camden road junctions in 2004. A copy of the document is at:
Camden Cyclists responded to the consultation – mainly asking for ASLs at the junctions. We had a reply from Tony Chicharro the TfL officer who was then working on that project.
In that letter, he promised to install ASLs at the Camden Road junction. Louise Bond (Head of Transport Strategy, Camden Council) has been trying to chase this up since the fatality, but not much progress has been made.
On a happier note, we showed Jenny the Agar Camley link, which she didn’t know about even though it was funded by TfL. We then went via the towpath to Camden Lock for a picnic in the sun.
Cycle Hire Scheme
We agreed that it’s urgent to extend the cycle hire scheme beyond Zone 1. We mentioned that Camden Council has been told they will be able to install about 7 hire stations around Camden Town. But we also said that we would really like to have hire stations in Kentish Town and other places to the north of Camden Town, so the few extra in Camden Town are really just a start.
We parted from Jenny at Kentish Town West station where she was to take a train to North Acton, to meet Ealing cyclists before going on to Shepherds Bush, meet Hammersmith and Fulham cyclists.
All in all, this bike ride was an enjoyable and I hope productive way to talk to a politician.
