Category: Services

A plan to introduce bus lanes along both sides of the busiest section of Barnet High Street — between the Wood Street junction at the Barnet parish church and Meadway — has been approved by Barnet Council and Transport for London.

Only six objections were registered after 456 letters were sent to nearby residents and businesses.

But an earlier council questionnaire and a petition organised by the former Chipping Barnet MP Theresa Villiers indicated there was much wider opposition among local car drivers and other road users.

An official consultation process was launched in July last year after TfL surveys indicated delays to both southbound and northbound bus services using the High Street.

TfL says timings will be improved by the introduction of rush-hour bus lanes – operating Monday to Saturday from 7-10am and 4-7pm.

According to data published by Barnet Council around 6,700 bus passengers either board or alight each weekday at stops in this section of the High Street which is served by 11 bus routes.

The northbound bus lane would be from the junction with Meadway to the junction with Fitzjohn Avenue and the southbound bus lane would from the High Street junction with Wood Street as far as the junction with Normandy Avenue.

No loading will be permitted when the bus lanes are operational (7-10am and 4-7pm) but the inset parking bays on the southbound side between Wood Street and Meadway will not be affected and there will be no parking loss as a result.

To improve access for buses the kerb will be re-aligned outside the Red Lion public house and a bus stop on the other side of the road, near the junction with Park Road, will be relocated by seven metres.

In setting out the case for the introduction of three-metre-wide bus lanes, the council says that passenger numbers on bus routes passing through Barnet have increased to 208,000 trips per day.

However, passengers wait approximately 20 per cent longer than intended on high-frequency routes and travelling within the borough by car is typically two to four times faster than taking the bus.

A public questionnaire was distributed last summer which produced 439 responses – and 52 per cent of those replying thought a northbound bus lane was important and 62 per cent considered a southbound lane was important.

But 54 per cent of those who responded said they feared the introduction of bus lanes would lead to increased congestion.

The questionnaire was followed by a three-week statutory consultation which closed on December 19, and which resulted in only six objections, five of which warned of increased congestion.

While the consultation was taking place Ms Villiers says she received well over 4,000 signatures to a petition against the plans for bus lanes in Barnet High Street, Whetstone High Road and Cat Hill.

Later, when TfL dropped the plan for bus lanes at Whetstone and Cat Hill, she maintained her opposition to bus lanes in High Barnet on the grounds that they offered no significant benefit and would only worsen traffic conditions at the already complicated junction of the High Street with Wood Street.

Although she was no longer the Chipping Barnet MP, she was still strongly opposed to the scheme and was anxious that residents’ views should be heard.

“I am a resident of Arkley and regularly use this route as a tube and bus passenger, car driver, pedestrian and cyclist,” said Ms Villiers.

“In my nearly two decades of representing Chipping Barnet no one has ever asked me for a bus lane in Barnet High Street.

“Barring cars and vans from using road space in this location would cause significant and unnecessary congestion.

“This would harm community life in our neighbourhood by leading to more empty shops.”