Floating bus stops

The Sunday Telegraph recently sent a journalist to report on a “floating” bus stop, about 500 metres from my home in east London – one where pedestrians have to get across a cycle lane that runs between it and the pavement. Their intrepid reporter, showing levels of courage rarely seen outside war zones, stood next to what he called “Sadiq Khan’s ‘death trap’ crossings”, even though they were introduced in the mayoralty of Boris Johnson. Nor did the article establish that such crossings have even come close to causing death, though it did link to a report that the actor Joan Collins had got annoyed (not at a bus stop, floating or otherwise) by a cyclist.

The problem, claimed the writer, was that bikes didn’t stop, as they should, when pedestrians want to cross. In a bid to share the inevitable Pulitzer with the Telegraph’s man, and as a user of this facility both on foot and on wheels, I’d like to report that a review promised by Khan into these crossings’ safety is welcome, but also that most people use them calmly and reasonably. They are less dangerous than the alternative, which is for cyclists to go around stationary buses.