Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Waiting for Godot - and the Wightman Bus
In a recent 'Irish Times' piece columnist Fintan O'Toole slates planned bus service cuts as affecting mainly areas with large numbers of elderly residents for whom Dublin Bus receives a fixed State subsidy: since those areas are not a potential source of extra revenue they have a low priority for the bus company.
"Leave aside the bare necessites of life like food and shelter. Leave aside the tangled emotional thickets of love and affection. Otherwise, what is the single biggest cause of mundane misery for (Irish) people? Buses. Or rather the absence of buses.
Waiting for the bus that doesn't come isn't traumatic. It doesn't cause you physical pain or leave you emotionally scarred. But, repeated over and over, day after day, it is a powerful source of cumulative depression. Standing there in the (Wightman) weather, with a hypodermic wind injecting a metallic chill in your bones, you feel wretchedly, desolately forlorn.
The misery isn't just about the waiting, though there is something peculiarly unpleasant about the combination of tension and stasis. It is about the casually contemptuous message of powerlessness.
This is a public service that you're paying for twice, through your taxes and your fares. It is, literally, a connection to your city, your society, your country. And when it doesn't function, your society is telling you something. It is reminding you that you don't really matter, that even in the small, apparently banal things of life, you are a person of no importance. Public transport, in this respect, is a function, not just of an economy, but of a democracy. A decent service is a form of public respect. A bad one is a form of public disregard . . . ." And a non-existent one? Ah for that, my friend, you must reside on Wightman Road!
Yesterday, on my way from the corner shop, I was chatting to a couple who moved into their present Wightman home in 1957. They were told then by "some chap from the Council" that there would be a bus on Wightman within the year. She is in her 70's, her husband some years older and suffering the results of a fall from scaffolding about twenty years ago. They are delighted to have the W5 for regular trips to the Whittington. 'But tell "them"', she said, 'that we've been waiting 52 years for that bus on Wightman Road.'
Well, as Sam Beckett suggests, Godot may never arrive - but there again, s/he may well be on the Wightman Bus. Unlike Vladimir and Estragon (and indeed that elderly couple) most of my wightmaniac neighbours may not have been waiting together for half a century: it just feels like that. We meet daily opposite Mattison or Duckett or Pemberton, never sure whether we're just waiting to cross the road or for something more metaphysical, like the W1. In our joint exercise of fond hope to stave off bleak experience we stand and fidget with our orange covered badges of shame and identity.
'At least we have these,' says Neighbour 1. 'Vlad and Estragon would've been glad of these.'
'Oh yeah, our effin' Freedom Pass. Sure if they'd had their Freedom Pass Beckett might never have reached Act II - that's if an effin' Freedom Bus had ever turned up.'
'"Paid for by Your Local Council"', reads Neigbour 2. 'Isn't that very good of them?'
'No, it bloody well isn't. We're paying for it. £207.50 a month from me and the missus. But maybe you're one of these scroungers, on a state subsidy from my Council Tax?'
Neighbour 2 shifts uneasily and drifts off into a discourse on the concept of freedom.
'Well,' offers Neighbour 1, 'they give us the wheelie bin and the green crates ... And then there's Glyn and a couple of CPSOs and the odd chubb lock for free. That all costs a bit.'
'So, that still leaves £200 a month for this bloody pass. What use is a Freedom Pass if you're not free to use it on your own road? I'm off to look for a 29 or 141.'
[Exit OAE in an easterly direction. Neighbours 1&2 look after him nervously, then retire to the safety of their front rooms, gloomily content with their state of stasis.]
"Leave aside the bare necessites of life like food and shelter. Leave aside the tangled emotional thickets of love and affection. Otherwise, what is the single biggest cause of mundane misery for (Irish) people? Buses. Or rather the absence of buses.
Waiting for the bus that doesn't come isn't traumatic. It doesn't cause you physical pain or leave you emotionally scarred. But, repeated over and over, day after day, it is a powerful source of cumulative depression. Standing there in the (Wightman) weather, with a hypodermic wind injecting a metallic chill in your bones, you feel wretchedly, desolately forlorn.
The misery isn't just about the waiting, though there is something peculiarly unpleasant about the combination of tension and stasis. It is about the casually contemptuous message of powerlessness.
This is a public service that you're paying for twice, through your taxes and your fares. It is, literally, a connection to your city, your society, your country. And when it doesn't function, your society is telling you something. It is reminding you that you don't really matter, that even in the small, apparently banal things of life, you are a person of no importance. Public transport, in this respect, is a function, not just of an economy, but of a democracy. A decent service is a form of public respect. A bad one is a form of public disregard . . . ." And a non-existent one? Ah for that, my friend, you must reside on Wightman Road!
Yesterday, on my way from the corner shop, I was chatting to a couple who moved into their present Wightman home in 1957. They were told then by "some chap from the Council" that there would be a bus on Wightman within the year. She is in her 70's, her husband some years older and suffering the results of a fall from scaffolding about twenty years ago. They are delighted to have the W5 for regular trips to the Whittington. 'But tell "them"', she said, 'that we've been waiting 52 years for that bus on Wightman Road.'
Well, as Sam Beckett suggests, Godot may never arrive - but there again, s/he may well be on the Wightman Bus. Unlike Vladimir and Estragon (and indeed that elderly couple) most of my wightmaniac neighbours may not have been waiting together for half a century: it just feels like that. We meet daily opposite Mattison or Duckett or Pemberton, never sure whether we're just waiting to cross the road or for something more metaphysical, like the W1. In our joint exercise of fond hope to stave off bleak experience we stand and fidget with our orange covered badges of shame and identity.
'At least we have these,' says Neighbour 1. 'Vlad and Estragon would've been glad of these.'
'Oh yeah, our effin' Freedom Pass. Sure if they'd had their Freedom Pass Beckett might never have reached Act II - that's if an effin' Freedom Bus had ever turned up.'
'"Paid for by Your Local Council"', reads Neigbour 2. 'Isn't that very good of them?'
'No, it bloody well isn't. We're paying for it. £207.50 a month from me and the missus. But maybe you're one of these scroungers, on a state subsidy from my Council Tax?'
Neighbour 2 shifts uneasily and drifts off into a discourse on the concept of freedom.
'Well,' offers Neighbour 1, 'they give us the wheelie bin and the green crates ... And then there's Glyn and a couple of CPSOs and the odd chubb lock for free. That all costs a bit.'
'So, that still leaves £200 a month for this bloody pass. What use is a Freedom Pass if you're not free to use it on your own road? I'm off to look for a 29 or 141.'
[Exit OAE in an easterly direction. Neighbours 1&2 look after him nervously, then retire to the safety of their front rooms, gloomily content with their state of stasis.]
Tags for Forum Posts: Freedom Pass, TfL, W1, W1 Bus, Wightman Road, buses, public transport, traffic
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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This from David Schmitz (THANK YOU VERY MUCH DAVID!)
The procedure is to prepare a case as to why the proposed route is needed and then to organise a petition in support. The material should then be passed to Transport for London. If you can work out how the proposed route might be married up with an existing route, that would improve its chances for approval.
I've asked Caroline Pidgeon, who is one of the Lib Dem members of the GLA and who is the Deputy Chair of the Transport Committee, as to precisely where the material ought to be addressed. She has offered to pass it on to the relevant person and has advised that it be addressed to the Mayor as chair of TfL.
Her contact details are:
Cllr Caroline Pidgeon AM
Liberal Democrat Group
Deputy Chair Transport Committee
London Assembly
Tel: 020 7983 4362
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Proposed route:
From Morrison's carpark at the back of Wood Green Shopping Centre,
out and down Hornsey Park Rd,
across the lights at Turnpike lane,
along Wightman Rd, joining the W5 briefly at Endymion Rd and having stopped a lot,
down Tollington Park Rd, across Stroud Green Rd and turning left into Hornsey Rd to join the 91 route,
across Seven Sisters and take the first right into Mayton Street which leads to the Waitrose carpark.
The return route would be the same except out onto Hertslet Rd,
left into Tollington Rd,
right onto Holloway Rd,
right again onto Seven Sisters,
join the original route at Hornsey Rd.
One modification might be to have it do a circut of the NRV and Campsbourne estate instead of going straight up Wightman, that area desperately needs a bus and it would be nice to help them.
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Permalink Reply by StephenBln on
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I've tried without much luck, to find something on the web about 'Bus stop caps' and their affects on slowing down traffic..
A couple of days ago I took these 'example' photos.. I hope you don't mind me adding them.
The bus stops caps (staggered ..both directions) are built out into the road.
I'm aware that everything has to be scaled down (including the size of the buses) for the Wightman Bus.. but I think the photos give a clear idea of what I mean. During the buses' stop, all traffic comes to a halt. The 'impatient' blinking indicator on the VW shows clearly how the traffic has been slowed down..
Perhaps not possible on Wightman °Ö° - The bike lane passes behind the bus shelter:
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Permalink Reply by John D on
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I wonder --
As soon as the way ahead is clear, will not the impatient cars accelerate away as they do on speed bumps? Will they not sit there revving engines ? Will they not force their way past on the wrong side of the road ? Here they go the wrong side of the keep-left bollards.
Being nimby, I'm not sure I want queues of traffic held up outside my windows. If you deter traffic on Wightman, where is it going to go ?
My feeling is try to keep even flow of traffic and not incite road rage.
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The idea is to deter drivers from using the road as a cut through.. used presumably because currently they are not held up as much as on other roads.
I'm not sure if you are not being a bit disingenuous here and perhaps just want to roar off on your steed the moment you leave the house and are using the road rage argument as an excuse..
BTW, I'm not sure what you mean about road rage.. Do you mean drivers trying to intimidate pedestrians and other road users by not adhering to the rules of the road.. ??
And lastly, the road outside your house is public property and in my opinion it's 'sausage' what you think..
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But if drivers are deterred from using Wightman Road, which road(s) are they going to use?
I'm glad you're not sure because that's rubbish. If I wanted to roar off, I wouldn't be doing it on Wightman.
Road rage - yes that's exactly what I mean. Did something give you the idea I was in favour of it ?
Don't understand what you mean by"sausage" - you mean I'm getting the Wurst of it ? :-)
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By the way Stephen, do the authorities in Germany shut down vast tracts (tracks? ) of the railway network over holiday periods, thus forcing people to use cars instead of public transport ? Seems crazy to me. Here, they say there's no demand - that's because there are no trains.
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do the authorities in Germany shut down vast tracts (tracks? ) of the railway network over holiday periods
Occasionally, but very rarely...
John D. we are seriously OT here: Click on link add 'Berlin' in station box and click arrival... (when I looked - everything was on time!)
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Sorry, my fault.
Back on topic - I personally believe that running buses down Wightman Road will exacerbate the environmental problems, not cure them.
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But your arguments don't add up...
On the one hand you complain that trains not running cause people to use their cars.. I would therefore imagine more buses could/would perhaps persuade people to use their cars less too?
This is always the problem when introducing new bus services.. everyone wants them - but please no bus stop outside my house..
Eveyone wants to drive everywhere - but please no traffic outside my house..
I imagine it all has more to do with property prices being lower on bus routes.. than environmental issues.. Take a look at my photos again ..they're taken in a 'lower rent' working class area.. These people are not interested in property prices .. how much they can shaft out of the next buyer.. they are interested in having a good standard of living and a reasonable local environment with decent facilities
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Permalink Reply by Old-Age-Emporium(OAE) on
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I have just attended the first W1 Bus Meeting at the Salisbury - John and Stephen also present in spirit but without voting rights.
Meeting opened at 8.30pm. Following lengthy cogitations between Self and Pint of Pride, following decisions were arrived at:
1. There will be a W1 - whether to sail under that flag or some other yet to be decided.
2. All bus advertising will be split evenly down the middle, thus:
a. Starboard (probably) to John and Stephen on behalf of all Atheist Humanists;
b. Port side (maybe/maybe not) to OAE on behalf of all Agnostic Catholics.
We promise that all advertising will be more entertaining than dogmatically orthodox.
NEXT MEETING: Tomorrow, 29th April, 8.15 - 9.15 pm, at the Salisbury. PLEASE JOIN US!
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See you all tonight at 8:15. First and last rounds are on me. If someone could bring an iPhone that might prove helpful.
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