Kingston Council over the moon with new Surbiton Crescent charging scheme
Colin Carwright spokesman for the Road Traffic Department of Kingston Council was over joyed with success of the scheme. "I can't explain it really" he said. "We put up some bollards and just changed the use of the road and didn't notify anyone. We thought the original fee of £65 to use the area was on the high side but local residents and people not so local had been using it and happy to pay. Any talk of residents being in a road rage over the traffic calming scheme is nonsense" he said in a statement. "It's turned into a nice little earner. Over 21000 tickets in 5 weeks is exceptional, bordering on premiership footballers weekly wages," he added. "We should be able to pay for additional developments to the Cycle scheme along the Portsmouth Road within a couple of months.
Following the success we plan to expand the programme and will probably pedestrianise Surbiton High Street. You'll find out with a fine when it happens" He added.
Watch this space for further news
Kingston council to introduce first Smart Cycle Lane
Following the success of the Smart Motorway programme which allows the use of the hard shoulder at busy periods by using over head gantries and a traffic light system and red Xs, Kingston council is to implement a similar solution on the new cycle lane along the Portsmouth Road.
Roger Roadrunner , Head of Road Efficiency at the council said in a statement , "At busy times the lights would change to green allowing vehicles traveling towards Kingston to straddle the curb edge, utilise the cycle lane and make room for cars travelling away from Kingston, especially outside St Raphael's Church where it gets a bit tight when parishioners park for mass.
The Smart system allows vehicles to have half the vehicle use the cycle lane and half use the main highway. As long as only 2 wheels use the cycle lane it is like a bike in a way, so it should be ok", he added. "There is plenty of room for bikes in the other half of the lane, or if pushed, bikes could hop onto the pavements and use that. Pedestrians can use the bloody great promenade by the river. It's about using space efficiently and providing cost effective services for the local community," he concluded. "We did run a survey amongst our team, and thought it would be a good idea."
Of course modifications to current vehicles maybe required to have sufficient ground clearance over the curb but local car dealerships were said to be excited by the news. "We can offer ground clearance checks" said a spokesman who also reported a spike in interest for the new vehicle classification - SUV Shopping Utility Vehicle. It's a normal 4WD with a £5k premium added for use of the scheme. Please pop into Coopers BMW Thames Ditton, Dagenham Ford,
Thames Ditton Honda or Guy Salmon where they can provide a range of large SUV vehicles with suitable ground clearance to meet any of your Smartt Cycle Lane use requirements .
