Sadiq Khan recommits to meeting blind campaigners amid concerns over floating bus stops

Sadiq Khan acknowledged near-misses with cyclists at floating bus stops can be particularly “distressing” for pedestrians, as he committed again to meeting a national blind group on the issue.

Floating bus stops, or bus stop bypasses, provide cycleways between a bus stop and a footpath, enabling cyclists to pass stationary buses without pulling into lanes of passing vehicles.

The designs, which have been implemented across the capital, have been criticised by campaigners who argue they put pedestrians disembarking buses at risk, as they attempt to cross onto the footpath.

Mr Khan has previously said either he or his deputy mayor for transport, Seb Dance, would meet with campaigners, and that Transport for London (TfL) is reviewing the safety of floating bus stops and the data around collisions.

At Mayor’s Question Time on May 18, Mr Khan said floating bus stops were widely understood to be “the safest way to segregate cyclists and road traffic in many locations”, and that they are included in official Department for Transport (DfT) guidance.

However, the mayor acknowledged concerns around the schemes, and that he wishes to see a network “that is as inclusive as possible for all ages and abilities, including for pedestrians and for those who are more vulnerable”.

He added TfL’s report, which  is due later this year, will include a range of sources, including video surveys and feedback from various organisations.

Conservative Assembly Member Emma Best queried Mr Khan as to why the National Federation of the Blind of the UK (NFBUK) received a letter in April stating he was unavailable to meet the group, despite promising he would do so on Eddie Nestor’s BBC show on February 15.

In response, the mayor said he is “more than happy to meet the National Federation and other groups”.

“It may make more sense to meet with them once the review is further down the road, but I’m happy to meet with them,” he added.

Ms Best also pushed the mayor to ensure a consideration of near-misses is included in the review of floating bus stops, rather than purely focussing on collisions.

She said she hoped the mayor would agree that the monitoring via video footage of floating bus stops should be used to create a data set “from what is happening in real time, as opposed to looking at past reports”.

Mr Khan agreed there are clearly instances which currently go unreported, but can nonetheless be “quite distressing”.

He continued: “The video survey idea is one made to incorporate the incidents that aren’t recorded in the stats, and this applies to cyclists in regards to bus collisions and HGV collisions. Short of a collision and injury, there are many cyclists that have incidents that aren’t aren’t recorded as collisions or serious injuries, but which are quite serious.”

However, he stopped short of committing to an enforcement campaign around floating bus stops this summer, as requested by Ms Best.

Following the meeting, Andrew Hodgson, president of NFBUK, told LondonWorld he is happy the mayor promised publicly to meet the group, though he remains to be convinced it will materialise.

“We hope that he will hold us to that promise,” Mr Hodgson said, “but I think it’s a case of watch this space.”