Reading Borough Council Transport Consultation
Discussion
If you've ever driven in Reading rush hour you'll know traffic can well be a nightmare.
Reading Borough Council are canvassing the public for opinions and given that they have a lot of skin in the game (they own the Bus Company, and Tony Page, Lead Councillor for Transport proudly does not drive), there is only one way this will go in the absence of a Third Thames Bridge - more bus lanes, more anti-car measures.
Apparently they are disappointed by the low level of responses to it. This is probably due ot the fact that they've made bugger all effort to promote it, in my view. Given that this is the regional bit of the country's most popular motoring website I thought some of you may wish to participate.
https://www.pclconsult.co.uk/transport2036
Got a week to do it, closes Friday 20th September 2019
Reading Borough Council are canvassing the public for opinions and given that they have a lot of skin in the game (they own the Bus Company, and Tony Page, Lead Councillor for Transport proudly does not drive), there is only one way this will go in the absence of a Third Thames Bridge - more bus lanes, more anti-car measures.
Apparently they are disappointed by the low level of responses to it. This is probably due ot the fact that they've made bugger all effort to promote it, in my view. Given that this is the regional bit of the country's most popular motoring website I thought some of you may wish to participate.
https://www.pclconsult.co.uk/transport2036
Got a week to do it, closes Friday 20th September 2019
Indeed it is ludicrously weighed in favour of 'cars are bad'.
Rush hour traffic in Caversham has been abysmal all week, thanks to one set of road works outside the Pru building on the Kings Rd gyratory which is due to be in place until 10th October. We're at maximum capacity and any kind of blip causes vast parts of the town to go gridlocked.
I am a long time critic of RBC and Tony Page. I have always been in favour of a third bridge, but it needs to be much more than that. I quite get why the residents of South Oxfordshire don't want a load of traffic dumped into their rural roads with no capacity upgrade, but the flipside of that is that many of their residents are able to live in their desirable locations thanks to well-paid jobs in the M3/M4 corridor, many of whom commute through Reading but never stop to bring anything to the economy. All they bring is congestion and pollution. I think the stat I saw was somthing like 35% of rush hour traffic was non-stop through traffic. Get rid of that and you've solved a large part of the problem - it flows pretty well, outside of rush hour.
Therefore, in the absence of any Central Govt funding for a complete road overhaul, including a northern bypass and associated road upgrades in South Oxfordshire, I think the best interim solution is ANPR based congestion charging on Reading and Caversham bridges for non-Reading residents, with all profits from it ring-fenced for improvements in public transport.
I think this will displace a lot of traffic that has no business being in Reading. Will it piss of the denizens of Henley on Thames and Pangbourne when people seek other routes across the Thames? Undoubtedly, yes. But it's only when places like that start to suffer will the people in power to make these decisions do something about it.
It also needs a lot more joined up thinking about rail travel. In my youth every train had a guard's van where you could stash your bike. Nowadays they don't exist and you are not allowed to take your bike on a peak time Waterloo train, Paddington ones need a reservation. Where is the sense in that? That's before you even scratch the surface of it being a really dangerous town to cycle in, and a bike theft problem at the Station that is worse than any I have known elsewhere in the country, all of these things are complete disincentives to getting people out of their cars.
Rush hour traffic in Caversham has been abysmal all week, thanks to one set of road works outside the Pru building on the Kings Rd gyratory which is due to be in place until 10th October. We're at maximum capacity and any kind of blip causes vast parts of the town to go gridlocked.
I am a long time critic of RBC and Tony Page. I have always been in favour of a third bridge, but it needs to be much more than that. I quite get why the residents of South Oxfordshire don't want a load of traffic dumped into their rural roads with no capacity upgrade, but the flipside of that is that many of their residents are able to live in their desirable locations thanks to well-paid jobs in the M3/M4 corridor, many of whom commute through Reading but never stop to bring anything to the economy. All they bring is congestion and pollution. I think the stat I saw was somthing like 35% of rush hour traffic was non-stop through traffic. Get rid of that and you've solved a large part of the problem - it flows pretty well, outside of rush hour.
Therefore, in the absence of any Central Govt funding for a complete road overhaul, including a northern bypass and associated road upgrades in South Oxfordshire, I think the best interim solution is ANPR based congestion charging on Reading and Caversham bridges for non-Reading residents, with all profits from it ring-fenced for improvements in public transport.
I think this will displace a lot of traffic that has no business being in Reading. Will it piss of the denizens of Henley on Thames and Pangbourne when people seek other routes across the Thames? Undoubtedly, yes. But it's only when places like that start to suffer will the people in power to make these decisions do something about it.
It also needs a lot more joined up thinking about rail travel. In my youth every train had a guard's van where you could stash your bike. Nowadays they don't exist and you are not allowed to take your bike on a peak time Waterloo train, Paddington ones need a reservation. Where is the sense in that? That's before you even scratch the surface of it being a really dangerous town to cycle in, and a bike theft problem at the Station that is worse than any I have known elsewhere in the country, all of these things are complete disincentives to getting people out of their cars.
On a side note, I cycled into Reading last night to go on a work do, went past the taxi rank at the main entrance of the station (Station Hill).
Despite the fact that RBC are regularly losing their s
t about climate change and NOX pollution there were (at least) 50 black cabs sat there, most of which had their engines idling whilst sat doing nothing.
Do RBC do anything about that? Nope, 'cos they are totally in hock to the Reading Taxi Driver's Association - head thereof is the very recent former Mayor.
Despite the fact that RBC are regularly losing their s
t about climate change and NOX pollution there were (at least) 50 black cabs sat there, most of which had their engines idling whilst sat doing nothing. Do RBC do anything about that? Nope, 'cos they are totally in hock to the Reading Taxi Driver's Association - head thereof is the very recent former Mayor.
ChevyChase77 said:
Reading is abysmal.
Far too many unnecessary traffic lights. Non-existent cycling infrastructure.
Page needs to step down.
Let's put our sparring from the 'Spoons thread aside CC, on this I completely agree with you. Far too many unnecessary traffic lights. Non-existent cycling infrastructure.
Page needs to step down.
The problem is that he runs (more than seemingly Transport) on that Council like a camp Bond villain.
However, Labour have a long-term hold on the Council so don't expect that to change any time soon. He failed in his bid to get elected as Labour candidate for Parliament so he's got his feet very much under the RBC table until retirement.
I'm also told that he doesn't drive, so probably does not GAF about car drivers.
ChevyChase77 said:
ElectricSoup said:
ChevyChase77 said:
ElectricSoup said:
.
Aside from that, a fairly harsh critique of Reading there. Not exactly Shangri-La, no, and I'll be delighted to leave the place once I'm retired, but until then it's not really much better/worse than any other major town in the London commuter belt.
Same here. It's getting worse/rougher all the time.Aside from that, a fairly harsh critique of Reading there. Not exactly Shangri-La, no, and I'll be delighted to leave the place once I'm retired, but until then it's not really much better/worse than any other major town in the London commuter belt.
I think we're planning on moving further west, depending where you can get much more for your money property wise.
Actual recorded crime rates are pretty static - 0.1% increase between October 2018 and September 2019, latest figures available.
https://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/SysSiteAssets/f...
TVP in Reading have limited resources, so are focussing them on dealing with the County Lines drug dealers, before they get (too much of) an established foothold in the town, exacerbating the problems you describe to a much higher level.
That is why you will see the stats for drug trafficking are up 40% year on year - because they are nicking more dealers - but possession stats are down by 22%, because they don't have the resource to also deal with the users. Hence it appears to be more of a problem than it was before, when in reality it has always been there. It would be a lot worse, if resources were not being focussed on the dealers. Our easy connectivity to London is brilliant for commuters, but drug dealers love it to. That's who was trying to chop each other on the Occy Road.
ChevyChase77 said:
ElectricSoup said:
ChevyChase77 said:
ElectricSoup said:
ChevyChase77 said:
ElectricSoup said:
.
Aside from that, a fairly harsh critique of Reading there. Not exactly Shangri-La, no, and I'll be delighted to leave the place once I'm retired, but until then it's not really much better/worse than any other major town in the London commuter belt.
Same here. It's getting worse/rougher all the time.Aside from that, a fairly harsh critique of Reading there. Not exactly Shangri-La, no, and I'll be delighted to leave the place once I'm retired, but until then it's not really much better/worse than any other major town in the London commuter belt.
I think we're planning on moving further west, depending where you can get much more for your money property wise.
RemyMartin81D said:
PurpleTurtle said:
That's because, nationally, there is more drug dealing going on, and less Police to deal with it!
Unless Reading have played at home against Millwall (Saturday just gone). Never seen so many coppers around the station. At least four proper big riot style vans and mix of BTP and TVP, plenty of cops when they WANT them to be.ChevyChase77 said:
PurpleTurtle said:
RemyMartin81D said:
PurpleTurtle said:
That's because, nationally, there is more drug dealing going on, and less Police to deal with it!
Unless Reading have played at home against Millwall (Saturday just gone). Never seen so many coppers around the station. At least four proper big riot style vans and mix of BTP and TVP, plenty of cops when they WANT them to be.Gassing Station | Thames Valley & Surrey | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff