I raised a point of order & wrote to the Conservatives, Metropolitan Police concerning reports the Tories are operating Facebook groups with disturbing hate speech, & even depicting the killing of Sadiq Khan.

Susan Hall is a member of these groups - we need to know her involvement.👇🏾

This happened today in the cycle lane in Hammersmith.
Because there are only 175km of segregated cycle lanes out of 15,000km of London road, cyclists don't appreciate people like MJ18 ULT deciding to use them as a cut-through.
Mate — you'll get ten tickets a day doing this.

Five years since Hammersmith Bridge closed to cars!

We're ready for a proper cycle lane 🚲 and an accessible crossing for all 🚋

Sarah Olney Here’s an ever more likely possible solution! hammersmithbridge.solutions … and where will the junior cyclists go if we bring back the cars!?

Sarah Olney After 5 years, everyone is used to it. Traffic and pollution have dropped throughout the area and on neighbouring bridges. Castelnau no longer has a permanent traffic jam. Please stop campaigning to allow cars back onto the birdge, simply to please the SUV drivers of Barnes.

The council responsible entire social services budget is £138m so that gives you an idea of the scale of paying for a £250m repair. The cost is meant to be split between Hammersmith and Fulham, Tfl & Dft. But many argue national assets should be funded centrally.

So rather than waste column inches and angry social media posts this 5th anniversary, why not ask the real question:

'How many people can we get over #HammersmithBridge each day'. Walking, cycling, wheeling, on pedicabs?'

The answer might well be more people than before.

Of course, on a fragile old beauty like #HammersmithBridge , this is a hard, but not impossible, problem to solve.

Credit to London Liberal Democrats they've been proposing that new legislation on pedicabs is used to instate a licensed pedicab link. mylondon.news/news/transport…

There's a very good reason for Gareth Roberts to focus on restoring the bus services. In Richmond Council's own resident's survey, more than two-thirds of those who used the bridge before its closure to traffic crossed on the bus, not in a car:

So what is the problem statement for #HammersmithBridge ? I think it's...

'How can we get as many people across the bridge every day as possible?'

It's probable that, at least in the early days when the bridge was fully open to cycles, quite a lot of people chose to stop driving and walk or cycle as around 16,000 people were using the bridge per day hammersmithbridge.org.uk/p/188/displace…

The evaporation of traffic - a well-known transport policy phenomenon - since #HammersmithBridge 's closure to vehicles in 2019 has been significant.

Conversely, reopening the bridge to traffic would just induce traffic demand: hammersmithbridge.solutions/faqs#:~:text=F….

And yet, in H&F Council, 57% of households don't own or use a car.

On the Queen Caroline Estate right next to the bridge, this number rises to more than 70% ons.gov.uk/census/maps/ch…

The putative cost of reopening the bridge to motor traffic is £250m. Up until weight restrictions were imposed, 22,000 cars crossed the bridge each day.

lbhf.gov.uk/transport-and-…

The only time #HammersmithBridge has actually been closed is between August 2020 and July 2021. At all other times, it's been open to pedestrians and recently, the central carriageway was reopened for cycling.

Also, though deeply unsatisfactory, buses still run to each end.

But it's long been struggling with the weight of vehicles that didn't exist when it was built.

It's London's weakest bridge. For instance, since 2015 weight has been limited to 7.5 tonnes and only one single decker bus at once: hammersmithbridge.org.uk/s/14/about-the…

Of course it's probable that #HammersmithBridge would have fared better if councils had not had their central government grants virtually eliminated.

H&F Council owns and maintains the bridge so; bridge maintenance or adult social care and child protection?

🧵 Quick, local view on #HammersmithBridge as we approach the fifth anniversary of its closure (to vehicles).

TL:DR, it's not been 'closed' for most of the time, is not really a symbol of broken Britain, but rather of a failure to think outside the petrol-powered box.

anna holligan 🎙 Strange that you get criticised for riding an ‘expensive’ bike. I don’t think anybody would be critical about a £7000 car…
(but maybe people outside the Netherlands can not imagine that overhere, a bike can actually replace a car)

anna holligan 🎙 As I’m sure you know, if your employer was a Dutch company you would be paid something to cover your travel costs if you live more than 15kms from your place of work. Dutch employers also often subsidise the purchase of bicycles for getting to work - the Dutch govt promotes this.