Caroline Pidgeon AM joined local parliamentary campaigner Robin Meltzer on Friday 13th February to look at a number of transport issues that had come out of a detailed survey conducted by Robin and the local Liberal Democrats.
Caroline's first stop was to meet Emma Robinson, the Barnes Town Centre Manager, and local residents, to discuss their wish for the cycle hire scheme to come to Barnes over Hammersmith Bridge.
Caroline then viewed several level crossings and saw first hand the risks people take to rush across before the barrier comes down. Crossrail 2 could have a major impact on the down times of the barriers at these crossings.
Robin then showed Caroline the issues at Upper Richmond Road and Clifford Avenue. There were major works at the traffic lights at the end of January that caused major tailbacks and gridlock. Caroline is trying to find out what TfL has learnt from these works to avoid these problems in the future.
Caroline then joined local Councillor Penny Frost and residents to look at the issue of the K5 bus route and the need for it to be extended nearer to Kingston to support local shops and the new school. The need for more countdown signs was also flagged by Penny.
Finally Caroline looked at Kingston station and supported Robin's calls for the Richmond Road entrance to be opened at least at peak times to help passengers who use the station.
Robin and Caroline discussed in detail the findings of the survey and Caroline agreed to raise with Transport for London and Network Rail a number of issues including concerns with the reliability of bus route 65 as well as Chalkers Corner and any planned works by TfL to improve the traffic light sequence.
"Many issues came out of the survey which show some serious transport and congestion issues in the Richmond area. I will continue to work with Robin Meltzer and the local Lib Dem team to try to resolve some of these ongoing problems" commented Caroline.
You can read more about Robin's campaigns on bus issues in the Richmond & Twickenham Times.
