Black Taxis coming out of Station Place

wisteria53

Any ideas on who should be written to (local MP/Haringey/Islington/British Transport/Met Police) in order to get the traffic circulation changed at Finsbury Park station? Ever since they put a taxi stand on the refurbished Station Place side of Finsbury Park, the black cabs have to either: turn left illegally to come up Stroud Green Road, or turn right and then make a dodgy U-turn to do it. The legal route is to drive all the way around in a circle via Blackstock Road, Rock Street, Seven Sisters Road and then left turn back onto SGR. No one wants to pay a cab to do that! I can understand no left turn for buses (having seen a few double decker red buses with their tops sheared off over the years), but a few cabbies have said that they have tried in vain to get a "left turn taxis only" permission there. The mini cab in front of the station used to charge £5.50 to go "beyond Stapleton Hall Road". The black cab fare is almost always £5 or under.

graeme

Assuming FP station is in Islington, this might be a first port of call for issues on permanent traffic management issues.

Public Realm, The Municipal Offices, 222 Upper Street, London,
N1 1YA

Public Realm Division, on extension 020 7527 2000
public.realm@islington.gov.uk

While your at it, can you ask them to beat the Mini Cab Diddies who double park outside their office, tvm.

wisteria53

Thanks, I will start by emailing them....

markpack

Looks a good point to me. I've emailed one of the London Assembly members with a transport expertise (Caroline Pidgeon) who says she will look into the issue too.

matt

Hapy to support this

wisteria53

__Islington's reply in full__ (email dated Thursday 16 July):) I refer to your email dated 11 July 2009 regarding the above. The toucan crossing which is located immediately north of Station Place has a pedestrian phase which can only operate in its current form on the basis of all vehicles exiting Station Place turning right. Should taxis or any other vehicle be exempt from this prohibition, the signals cycle time (i.e. the time between pedestrian phases) would be significantly increased. This would compromise pedestrian safety at this busy crossing. Current best practise advice states that 72 seconds is the longest time that a pedestrian would be prepared to wait before attempting to cross against a green light for vehicles. If vehicles were allowed to turn left from Station Place, the period between pedestrian phases could possibly be extended by the amount of green time given to those vehicles exiting Station Place. The current pedestrian phase is referred to as 'walk with'. This can only occur when no vehicles can proceed through the crossing and pedestrians can safely walk with traffic movements at the junction. This is recognised as a safe compromise between traffic congestion and pedestrian safety as it allows vehicles and pedestrians to negotiate the junction at the same time. The close proximity of the Station place exit to the crossing would be a cause of concern as the vehicle is immediately on the crossing as soon as they exit, this is compounded by there being no pedestrian refuges. Crossing from south to north with an exemption to the left turn prohibition also raises pedestrian safety issues due to the acute angle of approach from Station Place (i.e. the vehicle is approaching over a pedestrian's right shoulder. The road layout has been designed for the right turn only. Apart from the work needed to realign the kerb profile to carry out the left turn, we would also need to relocate the CCTV column, which has three cameras attached, the pedestrian call button and, I would anticipate, 2 or 3 traffic signals poles. All of this would cost a considerable amount of money which would be difficult to justify spending given other parts of the borough have a worse accident record. I am sorry that I cannot be more helpful but hope you will appreciate the reasons why we are currently not in a position to introduce the left turn. Should you wish to discuss this matter further, please do not hesitate to contact me on the number below. Best regards Peter Hazzard, Principal Engineer (Traffic & Parking Projects), Traffic and Engineering, Public Realm, Islington Council, Tel 020 7527 4797, Fax 020 7527 2145, Alternative contact: Michelle Thompson 020 7527 2116, www.islington.gov.uk

David

Makes sense. Move the taxi rank? Get another rank on the North side?

graeme

Yeah does make sense. Shame no one thought about it before they redeveloped the station front. Thanks for posting.

mapsa

Who would have thought that someone called Hazzard would be so concerned about pedestrian safety?

krappyrubsnif

I was nearly knocked down by a black cab turning left out of Station Place this morning. Well not nearly at all. I was expecting it.

How many cabs are there? Why can't they just put an extra phase in linked to a 'request' button?

Alex

Hazzard's answer seems fairly comprehensive: even with a request button, putting in an extra phase would cost quite a bit of money and it would make the crossing quite a lot more dangerous, as some pedestrians would be tempted to jump onto the crossing (despite a red man signal) just as a cab was turning left.

andy

Mr Hazzard's alternative option was to paint all the cabs orange with a confederate flag on the top and have them jump over the lights. But Mr RP Coltrane of Islington Council wouldn't let him.

ShaunG

That option would be even more dangerous given the inevitable pedestrian distraction at Daisy's legs hanging out the window.

wisteria53

I guess it will have to be the dodgy U-turns then....

sg_mike

I think originally there was a cab rank on Wells Terrace (turn left out of the tube station), but it never really caught on.

That's the trouble with Finsbury Park station, it's almost like the river Thames trying to get from Stroud Green to anywhere south. Makes you wonder how much different SG and CE would be if they were ever able to fit double decker buses under that bridge ...

David

I think the most reasonable solution is the original suggested but also fair is the response that its not worthy of the expense.