Call Sign February 2008 - Page 7 - TOM GIVES BIG GEORGE ANSWERS TO LONDONS TRAFFIC!

Dial-a-Cab driver Tom Quigley (Y33) was invited onto BBC London’s Big George Show in January during the very early hours, to give his views on the West End’s traffic problems. Tom presented his views as someone who is in London frequently rather than as a licensed Taxi driver. He began with Oxford Street and suggested that during shopping hours there should be free bendy buses operating a shuttle service from Centre Point to Marble Arch. This, he said, could be sponsored by the large stores, with buses stopping at the major stores on a hop on /off basis. They could be painted in the colours and logos of sponsoring stores. Tom went on to say that all buses coming from the east would terminate at Centre Point and from the west at Marble Arch, leaving passengers with immediate access to shopper bendies, Marble Ach and Tottenham Court Road Stations and the taxi ranks outside the Cumberland Hotel and Dominion Theatre. So far as those two ranks were concerned, Tom said that taxis would only be able to pick up at the designated ranks on a queuing basis and not to stop for street hails when passing them. There would be marked zones for taxi U-turning. He went on to talk about having trained street marshals who would ideally consist of medically retired bus, tube and taxi drivers to assist in transport guidance. Most importantly, the ‘no cars allowed’ policy would be strictly enforced. He added that if implemented, his suggestion would lead to easy pedestrian access to Oxford Street, which would also mean much lighter traffic. Other transport ideas… Tom turned his attention to coaches and asked why they couldn’t set-down in Birdcage Walk, Horseguards Parade, Hyde Park’s South / North Carriage Drive, Westminster or Southwark	TOM GIVES BIG GEORGE ANSWERS TO LONDONS TRAFFIC!
	Tom Quigley (above) BBC London's Big George (L) Bridges facing north, with no residents to disturb at any of those places? You could then have taxi sharing to and from the theatres in Shaftesbury Avenue, Covent Garden and Victoria. These would be marshalled with cabs charging Ł2 a person – the same as a bus with a minimum Ł8 fare for fewer than four passengers. Tom claimed that this would free the theatre areas of coaches and reduce congestion. To make things easier, Tom’s ideas included buses and tubes displaying maps with information of where taxi ranks and bus or coach terminals were and where the closest stations were situated. He gave examples of Walthamstow, Tottenham Hale, Clapham Common and Morden stations being among many where there are bus and taxi connections, but no information to inform passengers about them. He also went on to question why unlike so many cities, there are no Park and Ride schemes in the London Area? "I know that Oxford Street and Regent St have had non-traffic days," he told Big George, "and they have had some success, but on the streets behind the scenes the traffic had been chaotic. My idea could be trialled without permanent road designs and has the flexibility to be operational during the 10 hours or so of shopping times. It could revert to	full access for the other 14 hours for deliveries and maintenance etc." Tom ended by saying that other concerns of his, involved the lack of trial situations and the time taken for redesigning road layouts before permanent structures are built. "If you take the situation of changing the route from Tavistock Place through to Torrington Place and converting it to one-lane and a 2-way cycle lane on the north side of the road, it then crosses Tottenham Court Road into Howland Street and the cycle lane changes to the south side of the road. This has caused problems for cyclists where they have to negotiate a busy junction as traffic turns into them. A similar situation occurs on other sections of the route where traffic is on its way to Euston, Kings Cross and St Pancras stations. Students leaving the university campuses on bike at Malet Street have to cross the road to get in the cycle lane. If that cycle lane had trials by putting out plastic road cones and other portable protection on the route, it could have been trialled correctly and I believe the cycle lane would have been put on the south side throughout the route." Tom continued: "Also, doing all this during St Pancras’ area major road closures and renewing water mains along the route has seen road closures with many traffic problems, especially for emergency vehicle access. It needed better planning…" After his live broadcast, Tom told Call Sign that he was pleased with the way things had gone and thanked Big George for helping him through what was a nerve-racking experience. "Big George has a great overnight show," said Tom in finishing, "and I know many of our night drivers listen in. I’d be interested in any of their views on my ideas."

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