Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Give us access to Finsbury Park - petition
Here's what the petition has to say:
In a City the size of London, the Underground system is the quickest way to get around and we are disappointed with the Mayor's decision to shelve 22 of the 45 planned step free access projects across London only committing himself to providing step-free access at 29 per cent of all stations by 2017. This is a major step back from previous plans to provide step-free access on a third of the network by 2013. As a result, many disabled passengers, older people and parents with young children are being denied access to this mode of transport. This is particularly concerning in the run up to the 2012 Paralympics and makes us wonder how the Mayor is planning to keep his post-Beijing pledge to make London’s Games the most accessible ever.
It makes little sense that Finsbury Park, where the current 49.1m passenger journeys a year are likely to increase by 40% over the next 15 years, is not being made step-free whilst Kingsbury and Amersham, both serving less than one tenth of Finsbury Park’s passengers, are being made accessible. We believe that money would be better spend on projects in areas where a larger number of people would benefit.
The decision makes even less sense because Network is going ahead with plans to provide step-free access from the overground platforms to street level at Finsbury Park. It has now given Transport for London and the Mayor until the autumn to change their minds on working together to make Finsbury Park step-free.
These are the reasons why we (Jeremy Corbyn MP, Jennette Arnold AM, local councillors, the Islington Disability Network, Islington Mobility Forum and Transport for All) are working together to collect as many signatures to pass to the Mayor to convince him to change his mind. If you agree that Finsbury Park Underground station should be made accessible to all passengers then please sign this petition. We are aiming to hand the petition over to the Mayor in the Autumn.
Here's the petition
In a City the size of London, the Underground system is the quickest way to get around and we are disappointed with the Mayor's decision to shelve 22 of the 45 planned step free access projects across London only committing himself to providing step-free access at 29 per cent of all stations by 2017. This is a major step back from previous plans to provide step-free access on a third of the network by 2013. As a result, many disabled passengers, older people and parents with young children are being denied access to this mode of transport. This is particularly concerning in the run up to the 2012 Paralympics and makes us wonder how the Mayor is planning to keep his post-Beijing pledge to make London’s Games the most accessible ever.
It makes little sense that Finsbury Park, where the current 49.1m passenger journeys a year are likely to increase by 40% over the next 15 years, is not being made step-free whilst Kingsbury and Amersham, both serving less than one tenth of Finsbury Park’s passengers, are being made accessible. We believe that money would be better spend on projects in areas where a larger number of people would benefit.
The decision makes even less sense because Network is going ahead with plans to provide step-free access from the overground platforms to street level at Finsbury Park. It has now given Transport for London and the Mayor until the autumn to change their minds on working together to make Finsbury Park step-free.
These are the reasons why we (Jeremy Corbyn MP, Jennette Arnold AM, local councillors, the Islington Disability Network, Islington Mobility Forum and Transport for All) are working together to collect as many signatures to pass to the Mayor to convince him to change his mind. If you agree that Finsbury Park Underground station should be made accessible to all passengers then please sign this petition. We are aiming to hand the petition over to the Mayor in the Autumn.
Here's the petition
Tags for Forum Posts: access, finsbury park, transport
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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Hilarious. He's looking after the people who voted for him first. Of course.
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Permalink Reply by james walsh on
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Londoners voted him into power now they can see what a mistake that was. I'm suprised he isn't leaning even more to the right.
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Nope, he was voted in by the doughnut affect. All the outer boroughs voted for him, all the inner boroughs voted for Ken.
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Permalink Reply by John D on
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I don't think it's hilarious and I don't think the disabled, aged and parents will be laughing either. Businesses and offices of all kinds have to provide step-free access and I don't understand why this doesn't apply all across the tube.
It's shocking, when you look at the tube map, to see how few stations can be used by those in wheelchairs.
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Permalink Reply by StephenBln on
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Boris has got himself in tangle..
The improvements mentioned have probably been chosen because of the big result with as little expenditure as possible.. and the added benefit that those that live there are tory voters.. although Amersham isn't within the London Boroughs Area, so they wouldn't have been able to vote for him anyway. The station there probably only needs a couple of ramps installed and that's it..
Finsbury Park on the other hand, will need millions spent on it - money wasted in replacing the bendy buses and continuing with the half-baked new RM idea.
The thinking goes, that since London has a 100% low floor bus fleet - it isn't necessary to convert all the tube.. But it's exactly the buses that provide the best access for wheelchair users that Boris now wants to scrap/ is proudly scrapping.
When I was working for Munich Transport from 1992 -2002, we had a scheme to convert all pre-1980 built stations that weren't 'Barrier-free' - If you're interested, take a look at the map here: You'll find a map of disabled friendly stations under: 'Barrierefrei Gesamt U-Bahn / S-Bahn'.. We acheived 99% of the Network!! (so much for London being a world-class city - that's why it's ratings are so low)
I hope Boris' successor will be pro-active in this area and let's hope the 'double whammy' for Boris is that 'double bendies' like this will be introduced in London :o)
OT: the department store in the background isn't allowed to use signs on the building to advertise itself.. An idea for Green Lanes..?
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Thanks for the that Graham - I can't ever remember using Amersham so I'm not clear of the situation there.. Although I do have a photograph of Chesham station so must have been out there at some time.
I also do understand what you're saying about spreading the money about..
BUT there's going to come a time when only 'expensive' stations conversions are left to be done -OK, I know that judging by the speed of the conversion plan, that I will probably be dead before that stage is reached. Even so, surely it's better to convert both at the same time now. A two pronged approach? Also, most of the expensive conversions will be in the central area and therefore the point where most journeys begin or end.
What I'm not sure I understand about the Finsbury Park conversion is that the underground part of the station is not really very deep - therefore not that complicated - were they intending to have lifts that serve all levels or separate ones for each section..?
The London situation is a lot different to what I experienced in Munich - at least in the fact that in M generally only lifts needed to be installed (German stations are all 'open' - with no ticket barriers). Sometimes unusual solutions were necessary - like lifts that travel up alongside escalators rather than regular up and down lifts.. Surely this type of lift would be 'quite' easy to install at Finsbury Park (underground)?
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The petition sneaks this in at the end -
" as well as ticket control gates to improve safety and accessibility "
I'm not quite sure how ticket control gates will improve access " for parents/carers with prams and young children "
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Permalink Reply by Liz on
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When they install modern barriers there is usually an extra wide one for wheelchair, buggy, luggage access operated by your ticket (rather than having to wait for a member of staff.)
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Yes I understand that but still don't see how it IMPROVES access. I wonder why this was added with no mention of it in the preamble. I have always assumed there were no ticket control barriers at FP because of the masses of crowds going to the football.
To my mind this weakens the argument for step-free access at FP (which I fully support ) since they can turn down the whole petition on the basis that they can't put in ticket control gates. Paranoid ? Meeee ?
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What would be the consequence if all public transport were free ?
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Oh I think you mean.. Free 'at the point of use'.. like the NHS
- It would have to be funded somehow - from a London & SE levy?
-- You'll never get it through parliament..
---(irony on) too many tories (irony off)
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